Code Geass: The Rise of the Black Prince
by nanoman79
Summary: Follow Lelouch vi Britannia's rise from the beginning. Marianne does not die, and Japan is not invade in 2010. It starts a little slow, but really gets rolling after chapter 15.
1. Meeting of a lifetime

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This is an attempt to write an original story using Code Geass characters and concepts. This is basically a Lelouch stays in Britannia story with lots of twists. The basic premise is that Marianne doesn't die and Japan isn't invaded in 2010. The story is called the Rise of the Black Prince not the Black Prince has risen. So it will be about Lelouch's rise to the top from almost the beginning. This story does start out slow. It takes a few chapters for the characters to develop. Things get really rolling around chapter 14 so skip to that if you want You just have to accept the fact that Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly develop feelings for each other and that Nunnally is not blind or crippled and can kick ass. . If you have any comments or ideas, don't hesitate to review. I usually get back people if I can.

...

It is the little events that sometimes make the biggest difference. You never when you are having a meeting that will change your life until much later. Therefore even the most insignificant meeting can turn out to be the most important. One must always pay attention to even the most trivial situation.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Deithard Reid  
The Rise of the Black Prince  
Neo-Pendragon Press 2020 ATB

...

Even the smallest thing can be the difference. For want of a nail a kingdom was lost. It can be a dance, a walk in the park, a missing soldier, or a missing pen. You never know when something will affect the rest of your life. That is why it is important to treat everyone with respect.

Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld

Deithard Reid  
The Rise of the Black Prince  
Neo-Pendragon Press 2020 ATB

* * *

**February 17, 2010 ATB**

It is a picturesque day in Pendragon so Lelouch, Euphemia, and Nunnally are playing outside the gardens at Aries Palace oblivious to the world around them. They are currently playing their favorite game which in reality is nothing more than just running around the garden. The garden isn't the kind of gardens that most people know. It has several sculptures and statues created by some of the most famous people from around the world. There are also three large fountains. Leading from the garden up to the palace are stairs although there are several doors on the ground level. If not for the grandeur of their surroundings, they would be just three children playing.

A little before lunch, Milly Ashford comes out to join them. She is the granddaughter of Ruben Ashford who is a court ally of Empress Marianne, Lelouch and Nunnally's mother. They met her a few years ago but only recently has she become a constant visitor to Aries Palace. The Ashfords are also heavily involved in the construction of the Ganymede Knightmare Frame. However that was several years in the past. The family is in need of something new to continue to be seen favorably by the crown, however this is not a concern for the children playing in the garden. All they care about is having fun.

Lelouch takes the girls through the garden. He has several hiding spots throughout the garden. He can tell that is what his sisters are looking for. As they walk along the wall, they begin to hear noises on the other side. Lelouch knows that it is probably the servants playing with their children. Every few months the servants of the various palaces on Saint Darwin Street gather in a large field and have a festival of sorts. Most days they gather in the field during their free time. It is a way for the Emperor and the royal family to show appreciation for their hard work.

Nunnally tries to peek over the wall.

"Big brother, what is happening over there? Is it a party?"

Lelouch shakes his head.

"No, it is probably just the servants playing with their children. They do it every few days."

Euphemia leans up against the wall.

"I want to see."

Nunnally nods in agreement. Milly just shrugs her shoulders. Lelouch sighs and helps them up onto the wall. Milly doesn't need his help and climbs up herself. Soon they are all on the wall, and it is just as Lelouch explained. Children from all the nearby palaces and estates are out there playing different games. Lelouch wonders why Nunnally and Euphie have never noticed this.

Euphie looks at her older brother.

"Can we go and play with them?"

Lelouch grimaces. He knows that there will be extreme consequences if they do that and not for them. The servants will probably be reprimanded for letting them play.

"No, we aren't allowed to go past this wall."

He points down to the wall they are sitting on.

"Well if we can't go out there we can just play up here," Nunnally says as she stands and begins to walk atop the wall.

Lelouch looks over to his sister.

"Nunnally be careful."

"It's okay big brother. Look I can run."

Nunnally begins to run up on the wall. As she does, she begins to wobble.

"Nunnally be careful."

But its too late because she falls down. Luckily she falls into the palace grounds. Lelouch quickly jumps off and goes over to her. Euphie and Milly follow him.

"Euphie run in and get someone to help us."

Lelouch looks down at his younger sister who appears to be out of it. Milly stays with him. A few minutes later Euphie returns with a few servants. They carry Nunnally inside. Lelouch is glad that his mother is not here but of course Cornelia is. They take Nunnally to her room. Euphie doesn't feel good so she goes to rest in her room for a while. Milly stays with Lelouch by Nunnally. After a while Euphie comes over to join them. She lies her head down on Lelouch's lap and falls asleep. As the day turns into night, servants come for Euphie.

Milly looks around and notices that it is late.

"Lulu, I think I have to go," Milly says standing up.

He only nods. Not paying attention to the nickname he dislikes She kisses him on the cheek.

"Bye Lulu."

"Milly wait."

"Yes Lulu."

"Thanks for staying."

"It was my pleasure."

The next day the emperor is busy with meeting so Lelouch has to wait a few days before talking with his father. At least the Ashfords are gone. Lelouch does not mind Milly but he has other plans for the time being. He feels he is too young to worry about arranged marriages.

He is walking down the hall not paying attention when he runs into a red headed girl knocking them both to the floor. He helps her stand. He is little glad that Cornelia took Euphemia out with her today. Lelouch looks at the girl. She looks a little familiar. Of course Lelouch has met so many girls. It seems as if everyday one of his brothers or sisters brings over a daughter of one of their various acquaintances. Lelouch looks at the girl again.

"What's your name?"

"Kallen Stadtfeld," she says a little unsure.

He thinks about where he has heard that name. He can't put his finger on it, but he remembers the name Stadtfeld from the emperor's itinerary.

"Oh your dad must be meeting mine today."

Kallen thinks about that for a little bit. She knows that her dad is meeting with the emperor today. He eyes open wide when she realizes that she must be talking to a prince.

"I'm sorry your um highness," she says as she bows awkwardly.

"It's okay," Lelouch replies with a smile, "Do you want to go to the garden?"

She lightly nods. He takes her hand and drags her out to the garden

"I love this garden. Is it not pretty?" Lelouch asks.

Kallen only nods.

Lelouch looks over to the girl.

"Um well, you are pretty too."

Kallen's face turns as red as her hair.

"Are you staying here for a while?"

"I'm only visiting with my dad. I am going back to Japan to stay with my mom soon. We have a home there."

"Oh you're leaving."

"Yes, I miss Japan. Being able to run free through a field and paying around."

"We can play around here," Lelouch comments.

They go out into the garden for a while. Lelouch shows her the fountain and the roses that he helps his mother take care of. They climb up Lelouch's favorite tree.

"I like it up her because my sisters can't reach me."

He doesn't add that he usually needs the help of a servant or two to make the climb. Kallen nods and looks out onto the city which is slightly visible from up in the tree. Then Jeremiah brings Kallen's dad out to the garden.

"Kallen dear, it's time to go," He sees who Kallen is with, "Oh I'm sorry my dear. I did not know you were with the prince. Well perhaps I can come back for you later."

Lelouch nods, "Come on Kallen let's go," He pulls her away as she yelps, "We have fields here too and if Jeremiah let's us go we can go."

Jeremiah allows the prince to go where he wants. Jeremiah learned his lesson early on in his stay here at Aries Palace. Prince Lelouch does as Prince Lelouch pleases. They spend the rest of the day playing in the garden and a nearby field. Some of the servants children come out to play with them. As they walk back to the palace Lelouch still can't remember where he knows this girl from. He is sure he has met her before but doesn't remember where. When they get back to the palace, Kallen's dad is waiting for her. Lelouch approaches the man.

"Lord Stadtfeld."

"Yes Prince Lelouch."

"Is it possible for Kallen to come here again or perhaps I can visit where you are staying?"

Lord Stadtfeld considers this. Kallen is ambivalent to this.

"I think that can be arranged, your highness," He looks down at Kallen, "Well dear it is time to leave.

Lelouch goes inside the palace after they leave. Euphemia is there waiting for him. Even through her normally happy expression there is a sense of jealousy that her brother spends the whole day with another girl. Lelouch knows he is going to have to make it up to her. Euphemia is playing with the fabric of her dress.

"Who was that, Lelouch?"

"Some girl I met today."

"Oh."

Lelouch senses Euphemia's sadness and kisses her cheek.

"Let's go see Nunnally."

Jeremiah interrupts, "Master Lelouch, the emperor will see you now."

"Very well Jeremiah. Euphie, go ahead. I will be there in a while."

Euphemia only nods. Lelouch goes to the emperor's conference room. He is waiting for Lelouch alone.

"So you spent the day with Lord Stadtfeld's daughter."

"Yes, your majesty."

"In due time I believe that girl would make a fine bride for a prince," He looks down at his son and slightly grins as he says this, "However that is not the issue here. What is this matter about?"

"Father, I would like to attend a military academy."

"Oh I see. So you will leave your sisters."

"No well you see I would like to receive some training that is all. I feel I can best serve the empire that way."

The emperor nods, "Well I can't say I am disappointed in you my son although your brother Schniezel may be," Schniezel has chosen to go into politics, "Very well I will see what can be done."

Lelouch leaves the room and heads over to Nunnally's room. He knows that Cornelia will be upset about the fact that he did not consult her. There is also his mother to consider also. Of course Nunnally and Euphemia will be upset about him leaving. He will deal with that when the time comes. He also has to get into better shape. He hears that military life is physically demanding. After all he can't perform his duties if he can't do simple physical tasks. Lelouch goes over to Nunnally's room. She is feeling better now. The doctors say that she should stay in bed for a few more days. As he enters the room he can hear his sisters talking.

Nunnally looks up at her brother.

"Oh big brother, you finally came."

Of course she was ignoring the fact that he spends most of the morning with her. Nunnally smiles as she looks up from Euphie up to her brother.

"Euphie says you made a new friend today."

Lelouch sighs. He figures that Euphie would do something like this.

"I spent the day with the daughter of a noble who was meeting with the emperor.

Lelouch spends the next day with his sister. He reads stories to her all day. Many of their half siblings come over and help with the reading. Cornelia, Euphemia, Schniezel, Odysseus, even Guinevere come. Clovis arrives with costumes and guards, and everyone groans because they know what Clovis is up to.

Instead of simply reading a story to Nunnally, Clovis suggests they act it out. Nunnally chooses Snow White. Since Nunnally is the audience, Euphemia is Snow White. Cornelia is the witch/queen. Lelouch is the prince. Clovis doubles as the hunter and as a dwarf.

Everybody else including 3 guards play dwarfs. At the climax everybody was waiting for the kiss. Lelouch gives Euphemia a simple peck on the cheek. Nunnally claps and cheers so Clovis finally releases them. He does, however, state that since they all performed so well that perhaps they should do it in front of a larger audience. Nunnally goes to sleep early since the day was so tiring with all the reading and acting.

As Lelouch heads over to his room he is stopped by his mother.

"So how is Nunnally?"

Lelouch wonders why she hasn't visited Nunnally yet or why the emperor has yet to inquire about her well being.

"She is fine, mother."

Because his tone is so formal, Marianne cannot help but chuckle at him.

"Dear tomorrow they are having a knightmare demonstration."

"Are they?"

"Yes everyone will be there, your father, brothers, sisters, and even the Ashfords with Milly."

Lelouch's eyes light up. He wonders if that girl is going. What as her name? Kallen, that's it. His thoughts trail off. Marianne looks at her son. She wonders which of the comments gets to him. She notices him wondering off towards his room with a dreamy look in his eyes.

In the morning servants come in to dress Lelouch. For an important occasion like this, it is important that the prince look his best. If anything is wrong with the prince's appearance, they understand that they will be looking for new employment before lunch is served. He has to look impeccable.

Lelouch walks out and is joined by his mother. Nunnally is going to have to stay here. Apart from her injury she is a little young and delicate to be worrying about such matters. Upon arriving at the venue for the demonstration they are seated in a place of honor. Marianne's status as the Marianne the Flash supersedes her court standing in this situation. Of course as the Emperor's wife, Marianne has good seats either way.

The Knight of One, Bismarck Waldstein, comes over to their booth and bows.

"Empress Marianne, it is a pleasure and an honor to have you at our little demonstration."

Marianne laughs, "Are you upset that I will not be your opponent today?"

The Knight of One laughs and notices Lelouch looking around.

"And what is the young prince here for?"

He looks over to where Lelouch's eyes are looking. Bismarck sees the Ashfords and Milly waving at Lelouch. He notices that the young prince does not return the wave. The empress nudges her son's elbow. Bismarck feels the prince's silent groan. The young prince waves back at the young lady. She smiles and sits down.

Bismarck nods, "Remember your highness, you must never disappoint a lady."

The young prince continues his visual scan of the arena. Now he is looking towards his half sisters, Cornelia and Euphemia. The pink haired Euphemia is waving at the young prince rather violently, but he ignores her as well. This time the empress's nudge is more forceful. The young prince waves back to his sister. Bismarck smiles at the young prince who is still searching for something or someone.

"Well it seems as if the young prince popular with the ladies."

Marianne laughs, "Yes, if only he was as attentive to them."

"Then why would we need armies. Our young prince Casanova would rule the world in a matter of days."

Now Marianne laughs very loudly attracting the attention of people nearby. Lelouch ignores them. He finally finds what he is looking for. He smiles and sits down. The show is about to begin. The Knight of One excuses himself and goes to his place by the emperor. He then goes down to the arena floor.

Lelouch finds the demonstration to be a waste of time. Everybody already knows what knightmares can do. Even the new Glasgow does not impress him. He notices that his mother is very interested in it. She was one of the people that proved that knightmares were superior to convention weapons of the time. The new Yggdrasil Drive proved to be a better power source than anything used before. Apart form a physical demonstration of the knightmare's capability there was also video of it performing against convention weapons and the under powered Ganymede.

Lelouch looks around and sees all his older siblings there except for Clovis who volunteers to stay with Nunnally. Lelouch shudders thinking of what those two are planning now. After the demonstration the extremely privileged get to go down and see the knightmare first hand. Empress Marianne takes Lelouch down to the knightmare. They are the first and only ones there. The Knight of One disembarks and waves at Lelouch who nods back. The Knight of One laughs as he walks off with the empress towards the emperor.

Lelouch looks around and sees his older brothers, Odysseus and Schniezel, talking with a group of nobles. Despite being several years younger Schniezel seems to be leading the conversation. Lelouch wants to laugh. It seems pretty obvious that Odysseus will never contend for the throne. Lelouch sees his sisters talking to another group of nobles. Again the younger sibling, Cornelia, seems to be dominating the older Guinevere.

Lelouch looks up at the Glasgow. Throughout the demonstration he has been thinking of ways to change and improve its effectiveness.

"Hey Lulu, what's up."

Lelouch turns around and sees Milly standing there smiling.

"Hey Milly."

Lelouch notices that they are the only ones that are standing by the knightmare.

"Grandfather says that they are working on making the Ganymede better."

Lelouch nods. They stand there quietly for a few minutes.

"Oh I have to go. Grandfather is calling me. Bye Lulu," Milly states skipping away.

Lelouch looks around and finds what he is looking for. He walks to the edge of the arena and signals for a guard to bring someone down to him.

"Hello Miss Stadtfeld."

The red haired girl looks at him nervously and bows.

"Hello Prince Lelouch."

He smiles as he takes her over towards the knightmare. Nobody else including Euphemia is allowed to approach it.

"It's interesting isn't it, um Kallen."

They stand there for a few minutes looking up at the knightmare. This is the closest Kallen has ever been to a knightmare. Unlike most girls things like this are very interesting to her.

"Yes father says that this weapon makes Britannia strong."

"Wouldn't it be cool if they let us get in the knightmare?"

"Yes that would be cool indeed little brother."

Lelouch turns around and sees Schniezel standing there with Kallen's father. They are smiling.

"Kallen dear, it is time to go. If the prince would like he can come and visit with his brother Schniezel tomorrow."

Euphemia is standing by her sister Cornelia who thinks it is important for her to be here. Of course she is happy that Lelouch is coming and had expected to sit near him, but that is not to be because Cornelia wants to sit at a different angle. She also wants Euphemia to be at her side afterwards while discussing the demonstration with several nobles. She notices Lelouch first talking with Milly and then with the girl from the other day. To top it off the girl's father was talking to Schniezel. The fact that Lelouch is beginning to show interest in other girls is quite upsetting to the pink haired princess.

Just as Lelouch fears Clovis and Nunnally are up to no good. They decide to schedule another acted out story reading for tomorrow. Nunnally looks at Lelouch.

"You'll participate, right big brother?"

Lelouch nods, "Of course."

As Lelouch walks away, everyone is surprised that he doesn't put up more of a fight. Clovis and Nunnally begin planning things out.

In the morning Nunnally gets up early to prepare for the day's events. She stays in her room because the doctors are still worried about her so they bring breakfast to her room. As she is eating Clovis and Euphie come in looking very upset.

"Clovis, Euphie what's wrong?"

Clovis is too upset to say anything. So Euphie answers her.

"Lulu left."

"What do you mean?" Nunnally asks.

Finally Clovis has recovered.

"The little rascal went off with Schniezel to some meeting."

Euphie thinks about it.

"Maybe we should tell sister."

Nunnally shakes her head.

"No, let's tell mom."

She begins to laugh at her own scheme. She tells Clovis and Euphie to come in closer so no one overhears her plan. She has the perfect way to get back at Lelouch for his inconsiderate actions.

Lelouch is in the car with Schniezel who is explaining to his younger brother what his business with Lord Stadtfeld involves. Lelouch nods. He just wants to escape from the palace, but making friends is also important and he views Schniezel as a mentor.

Schniezel thinks of the possibilities that this meeting could bring. Sure there are many numerous business and imperial considerations. Now there was perhaps another matter. Sure it is a few years off, but it could greatly benefit him. As Schniezel begins his twenties there is pressure to marry. If perhaps he could arrange a marriage one of his younger siblings with Lord Stadtfeld's daughter, it could free Schniezel from this pressure and secure him a powerful ally. Schniezel could then settle into a long engagement.

Kallen is standing there with her father. They are waiting for the two princes to arrive. She is going back to Japan in a few days. She has spent two weeks here. The only fun she had was the day she spent with the prince and the day of the knightmare demonstration.

The doorbell rings and the servants go open the door. The two princes come towards them. There is no need for introductions. Her father takes Prince Schniezel over to another room. Prince Lelouch and Kallen are left alone. Kallen takes Lelouch up to her room. They sit on her bed.

"I'm sorry but we don't but we don't have much of a garden here."

"It's okay. I don't mind just sitting around."

They spend the day talking about the knightmare demonstration. Lelouch tells Kallen about time he was actually allowed to get inside a knightmare. This story gets Kallen excited. She wonders if she will ever get to ride in a knightmare. Kallen then begins to tell Lelouch about Japan. They spend most of the day talking about their family. Finally Schniezel comes for Lelouch.

When they arrive back at Aries Palace Lelouch asks Schniezel if he wants to play chess. Schniezel is about to answer when he sees Nunnally, Euphie, and Clovis standing there with mischievous smiles. Schniezel is afraid and makes a run for it. Nunnally runs over to her brother. She gives him her most serious look.

"Big brother, where were you?"

He smirks, "I was at a business meeting with Schniezel," He walks away and sees his mother standing there, "Hello mother, how was your day?"

Empress Marianne looks down at her son.

"My day was fine, but your brother and sisters were waiting for you."

Lelouch shrugs, "Schniezel asked me if I wanted to come with him to his meeting."

Yes Marianne knows all about the meeting with the Stadtfelds. She had a plan of her own for her son. Tomorrow it would continue its course.

"Very well dear. Everybody dinner is ready. Clovis, are you staying for dinner?"

Clovis shakes his head. His mother is waiting for him. He has spent most of the week here. So Lelouch is alone at dinner with his mother and three sisters. In the morning the empress takes the girls out leaving Lelouch home alone or so he thinks.

"Hey Lulu what's up."

Lelouch looks and sees Milly standing there.

"Nothing I'm just sitting here reading this knightmare manual."

Milly shrugs and sits next to Lelouch. She leans into him. He begins explaining what he is reading. Milly is very attentive. Lelouch thinks back to the first time he met Camilla Millicent Ashford.

**December 5, 2005 ATB**

It is Lelouch's sixth birthday. Many of his siblings came to the celebration. Even the emperor makes an appearance. Eventually emperor makes his exit but leaves the Knight of One behind. Lelouch is being introduced to several nobles by his mother. He knows that they are not here to see him but to gain favor in the royal court. Lelouch is brought to an elderly couple. His mother explains that they are distant relatives and also her allies in the court. He is introduced to their granddaughter.

"My dear prince, this is our granddaughter Camilla Millicent Ashford."

A girl about Lelouch's age comes out from between the elderly couple and bows.

Lord Ashford continues, "Milly dear, this is Prince Lelouch vi Britannia."

Lelouch bows. The girl, Milly, smiles at him. Lelouch gathers his courage.

"Well Miss Ashford would you like to dance."

The empress makes Lelouch take dancing lessons. He has gotten pretty good for his age.

Milly gingerly puts her hand out. Lelouch takes it and leads her out to the dance floor. He puts his arms around her. Lelouch's dancing partners thus far have been limited to his sisters (Nunnally, Euphemia, and Cornelia) and his mother. Only Euphemia is the proper size to make a decent dance partner.

Milly lets Lelouch lead in the dance. She seems a little unsure. She looks over on notices that her grandparents and the empress are watching the two of them dance. Milly has heard her parents and grandparents talk about keeping alliances within the royal family. As Lelouch dances with Milly he looks around and notices that his younger sisters are look upset. He is going to have to dance with them after this.

**Back to the present, February 2010 ATB**

Lelouch looks over at Milly who is now talking about what her grandfather told her about knightmares. Lelouch puts the manual down.

"Hey Milly want to go outside."

Milly shrugs, "Okay Lulu."

They go outside and play in and around the fountain. The servants bring out lunch.

"Hey Milly, are you coming over tomorrow?"

Milly smiles, "I think so. Why?"

"I think mom is going to have us act out one of Nunnally's stories now that she can leave her room. We had to do Snow White the other day,"

Lelouch tells Milly about the reenactment of Snow White. Milly laughs as she hears this. She imagines herself as princess in one of those stories. Of course Lelouch is her prince. In the afternoon the empress and the girls return. Once again Euphemia and Nunnally are upset at the fact that Lelouch spent the day with someone else. Even Cornelia seems a little put off at her younger brother's recent attitude and actions.

Nunnally comes over to her brother.

"Mother, tell brother what we are doing tomorrow."

Lelouch grimaces. Empress Marianne looks over at her son.

"Yes dear. Lelouch, a few days ago you promised your brother and sister that you would participate in their story reenactment."

Lelouch grimaces and walks away. Behind him he can hear his mother inviting Milly to come over. Lelouch goes to his room. He decides to go to sleep early. It has been a hectic week and tomorrow promises to be more of the same. As he lies down there on his bed Lelouch thinks back to that birthday party where he met Milly. Of course now he remembers that night with better clarity.

**December 5, 2005 ATB**

Lelouch and Milly leave the dance floor. She goes back to her grandparents. Euphemia comes over to her brother and smiles. Lelouch takes his sisters hand and leads her out to the dance floor. After a few dances Lelouch knows that he has conformed with his duties as a brother. His mother comes over to him, and he continues with his rounds. He meets some more nobles who are more interested in his mother than him. Lelouch looks up at his mother.

She notices his expression.

"Very well dear, just one more introduction."

They walk over to a noble who bows.

"Hello empress Marianne and who is this young man."

"Allow me to introduce the reason for the celebration my, son Lelouch vi Britannia."

"Ah nice to meet you Prince Lelouch. Perhaps I can interest you in a dance."

Lelouch raises his eyebrow at the man.

The noble seems to understand the prince's concern.

"Allow me to introduce my daughter, Kallen Stadtfeld."

* * *

Author's note: This story is rated M because of language and explicit sexual content including incest. I don't yet whether I will get graphic with it. I just wanted to point out that incest and very heavy consequences of said incest will occur. Of course that happens in later chapters. It isn't going to be a huge part of the story but it will happen. It won't drive the story but it will drive certain characters.

The basic premise is that Marianne doesn't die and Japan isn't invaded in 2010. I will start the story near the time all of this should have happened. It will be quite a few chapters until they reach their cannon years around thirty or so. The characters will have some changes. For most it won't be an extreme makeover. Suzaku and Kallen have the biggest changes. Lelouch will change slightly. He will adapt to his new environment.

The story will be divided into a few arcs. The first will be between twenty and twenty five chapters. It will cover Lelouch's early teen years including his time at a military academy. It will also build up the relationships between the major characters. So obviously if you want major knightmare action it is not occurring for about fifteen or so chapters.

Japan is not going to be area eleven. Each area is thus going to be bumped up in number. The important more ones will be Indochina (10), the Philippines (11), and Cambodia (12). Although the others in between will come into play as well.

Cornelia and Euphemia's mother is dead and they live at Aries palace. Cornelia is in command of the palace guards at the beginning. She will go off and do other things later on.


	2. Visiting the Land of the Rising Sun

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

The future is not what we wish it to be, but what we make it to be.

Lelouch vi Britannia  
Memoirs of the Black Prince  
Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

...

The problem with the Japanese. The problem with any nation is too much pride. A nation can never be too proud of what it has accomplished that it refuses to look towards the future. What I have done is not as important as what I will do. Any nation or group of people that has a eye o the future will inevitably be victorious.

Suzaku Kururugi  
Inside the halls of power  
Neo-Pendragon Press 2019 ATB

**

* * *

**

August 10, 2010 ATB

Britannia invades Japan. Well that is if you count three young children and their protective older sister as an invasion. Of course when you include all their bodyguards and servants, it certainly looks like a small army. Empress Marianne is already there visiting the Ashford family. They are here to spend the last few weeks of summer before returning to school. When they arrive at the Ashford home, Milly comes out running to greet them.

"Lulu, Nuna, Euphie." She hugs the three of them.

This upsets the two sister because now they have someone else to compete with for Lelouch's attention. Milly leads them inside the house. The house is simple with a few paintings along the wall. Near the door is a staircase that leads upstairs. They can hear people in what must be the kitchen working. Empress Marianne comes over to show them their rooms, and they put their things away. Milly takes Lelouch over to his room which is next to hers.

"Hey Lulu, how long are you staying here?"

"For two weeks."

"Did you hear? Grandfather is opening a school here, and I'm attending."

Lelouch thought about that. He wondered if he could come here. It would give him separation from his sisters. Maybe it would help him later when he went to the military.

But now. "Milly, let's go somewhere before Euphie and Nunna come over."

Milly thinks about it. She grabs Lelouch and they run off. After a while Lelouch has to stop because he is out of breath.

"Wait Milly, I have to catch my breath."

Milly frowns. "We're almost there."

Marianne brings the girls to Lelouch's room. They look around for him.

"Lulu." Euphie yells

"Big brother, where are you?" Nunnally calls out.

"Hm where could he be?"

Cornelia comes over and sees her younger sisters looking around as if lost. "What seems to be the problem?"

Euphemia goes over to her sister. "Lulu isn't here."

"Well he must be here somewhere. Maybe the young Miss Ashford took him somewhere."

The girls groan at this. They go out to the garden to play. After a while Milly and Lelouch come out of their hiding place. They spend the day playing in the garden with Milly. Empress Marianne and Milly's grandparents join them. They tell embarrassing stories about the children even Cornelia is not exempt. One particular story catches the ear of Lord Ashford.

**

* * *

**

Aries Palace June 2007 ATB

Lelouch is sitting up in the Ganymede. He is pretending to take down the enemies of the empire.

His mother walks in. "Lelouch, what are you doing up there?"

"I'm destroying my enemies."

"Humph" she mother says as she looks up at him. "Your sisters are looking for you."

Just then two young girls walk into the hangar. Euphemia, age 6 with long flowing pink hair, and Nunnally, age 4, with light brown hair come in screaming for Lelouch.

"Lulu," Nunnally yells, "where are you?"

They stop when they run it Marianne. Nunnally goes up to her mother.

"Where is Lulu?"

Marianne points up to the knightmare. The girls gasp. They know that the children aren't allowed in the hangar much less on the machinery. Of course Lelouch has a way of flaunting the rules.

Marianne looks up to her son. "Okay Lulu." She knows how much he dislikes that nickname. "Come down now before anyone else comes in here."

It is too late someone is here. It is the Knight of One, Bismarck Waldstein. He looks over to them.

"Oh I'm sorry Empress Marianne. I had no idea you were in here. Are you giving the princesses here a tour? Do they envision themselves as futures versions of Marianne the Flash?"

Marianne blushes, and the girls giggle. Euphemia points up to the knightmare. Lord Waldstein looks up and sees the young prince up there. He laughs.

"Bang, Knight of One, you're dead."

Bismarck pretends to be shot. The girls giggle. Lord Waldstein is normally so serious so it is refreshing to see him act this way.

Bismarck then looks up to the prince. "That is enough young prince. One day perhaps you will lead the empire's forces. But today these lovely you ladies require your attention."

As he says this the girls preen and blush. Lelouch gets down from the knightmare. He refuses to be helped down. One day he thinks not only will I command knightmares; I will design and build them. He walks away with his sisters. They begin to pull down on his arms. Each professing how much they love their brother.

* * *

After the telling of this story Lord Ashford looks over to the young prince. "So prince Lelouch you're interested in knightmares."

Lelouch shrugs. It seems obvious that knightmares are the weapon of the future. Apart form the Ganymede that the Ashford Foundation was working on, a few small groups were working on their own visions of what a knightmare should be. Lelouch remembered the Glasgow demonstration a few months again and their successful deployment in Indochina and the Philippines.

After dinner Lelouch goes over to Lord Ashford to ask him a question.

"Um excuse me Lord Ashford, may I ask a question?"

"Oh yes, Prince Lelouch ask away."

"Do you know Lord Stadtfeld?"

"Well yes I know who he is and where he lives."

"Do you know if he or his family is currently here? If possible could I visit?"

"Well I shall look into it."

Lelouch only nods in return.

**August 11, 2010**

The next morning after breakfast Lord Ashford calls Lelouch over. "Well about the matter you asked about." He winks as he notices the girls are looking in their direction. "It seems as if what you asked for is possible."

Lelouch smiles. Marianne and Cornelia wonder what this is about. However there are more important matters for them to consider.

Later that morning Lelouch is driven to Stadtfeld manor. He goes up to the door. He rings the doorbell. He hears voices inside.

"I'll get it mom."

He straightens himself. He wonders if he wore the right clothes for such an occasion. He could have asked for help but he knew the consequences of that. He would have to tell someone where he was going. By the time he was leaving, his sisters would be all over him. As the door opens, Lelouch sees her.

"Um hello." She realizes who is at her door. "Oh I'm sorry Prince Lelouch." She bows slightly.

Lelouch waves her off. Her mother appears behind her. "Who is it, Kallen?"

Lelouch looks up at the woman. She is Japanese. Lelouch shrugs. He sighs as he now begins to speak Japanese. "Hi, I'm Lelouch vi Britannia. I met Kallen back in Britannia. I was wondering if there is chance that I could come in and spend some time with her."

Kallen's eyes open wide as he speaks. Kallen's mother looks down at her. Well her son, Naoto, is out of the house today. Kallen looks up at her mother and smiles. Well maybe Kallen wants the boy to stay as well.

"Well young prince come in. No need for you to stay outside."

Lelouch walks into the house. He looks around and is impressed by the house. Kallen grabs him by the hand and takes outside. They spend the rest of the morning playing. Kallen's mom brings lunch out to them. Then Kallen takes Lelouch up to her room. Kallen is lying down on her bed. Lelouch is sitting on the floor at the edge of the bed. They sit around talking. Lelouch tells her stories about his sisters and palace life. It's almost dinner time.

"Um Kallen, where is your dad?"

Kallen gets off the bed and sits by Lelouch. "He stayed in Britannia for business."

"Oh okay."

"Kallen, Mom says come down for dinner." Kallen's brother calls from outside. "Kallen, did you hear me?"

Naoto opens the door to her room. He sees Kallen and Lelouch sitting on the floor by the bed.

"Who's this?" He asks angrily (in Japanese).

Kallen is stunned at the tone of her brother's voice. She begins to stutter.

Lelouch stands up to introduce himself in perfect Japanese. "I am Lelouch vi Britannia. Pleased to meet you, Naoto-san" He bows.

Naoto ignores him. "Is father going to sell you to this Britannian brat? Is status that important to him?"

Kallen stands up. "No, Naoto, he's my friend. He came to visit me."

Naoto ignores his sister. "Answer me you damn Britannian. Or are you to good to answer."

Lelouch shrugs. For someone he's never met this boy sure is angry at him.

Kallen runs to the door. "I'm going to get mom."

Naoto pushes his sister back in the room. "You shut up and stay here. "

Lelouch gets up. He can't have Kallen get hurt because of him.

Naoto sees the prince get up. "So the little Brit shit wants to fight does."

"Naoto that will be enough." It is his mother coming up from behind him.

Naoto scoffs at his mother's words. "Whatever I'm going to Ohgi's house." He leaves.

Lelouch goes over to Kallen and helps her up. "Are you okay, Kallen-chan?" (still in Japanese)

"Hai, hijō ni arigatō gozai mashi ta," She hugs him. "Yes, thank you very much. Let's go eat."

He smiles and follows her out.

After dinner Jeremiah comes to pick Lelouch up. As they ride back to the Ashford house.

Lelouch sighs.

"Is something wrong, Prince Lelouch?"

"No, it's just a good thing I took the time to learn Japanese."

Jeremiah shrugs at that. Lelouch shakes his head. It's going to be an interesting two weeks.

Naoto is walking over to his friend Ohgi's house. It's bad enough that his mother gave in to their father, a Britannian noble. Now he and Kallen aren't even full Japanese. Britannia has invaded and conquered Indochina and the Philippines in the recent months. So instead of standing firm the Japanese government gave in to Britannian demands to stop from being next. They even allowed Britannia to maintain a small military base near Tokyo. Both sides say it is an effort to curb encroachment from Chinese Federation. But Naoto knew what it was, Britannia was taking Japan over one piece at a time. Now their father was setting his ten year old daughter up with some prince. He will never forget the name of that little bastard, Lelouch vi Britannia.

**August 14, 2010**

After spending two days exploring the Ashford House grounds, they are going to visit the Kururugi Shrine. They have been invited by the Prime Minister of Japan. It's just the four of them now. Empress Marianne has returned to Britannia and Milly is off with her grandparents. They begin to climb the stairs which are long.

Cornelia has to half carry Nunnally. She is usually energetic but today she seemed a little tired. Euphemia has to help drag Lelouch up. Lelouch wonders how he will survive military life. He figures even a little military training could probably kill him.

They finally reach the top. Standing there are Prime Minister Kururugi, his son Suzaku, his niece Kaguya Sumeragi, and Taizo Kirihara.

Lelouch goes over and greets them in Japanese. His sisters stay back in awe at what their brother is doing. Lord Kirihara returns Lelouch's greeting in Japanese.

Suzaku scoff at the prince's attempts to be diplomatic. "We speak English, you know"

Kaguya greets them in halting English.

Lelouch bows to her and continues in Japanese. "You must be Sumeragi Kaguya." He stops and continues in English. "I suppose we should speak in this language since my sisters don't know any other language."

Suzaku grunts. Prime Minister Kururugi glares down at his son. He speaks to his son in English so everyone can understand him. "Now Suzaku, these are our guests. We will treat them with respect."

Suzaku nods. They are taken inside. They spend the day there. Euphemia seems to have some luck with Suzaku. Nunnally plays with Kaguya despite the fact that neither girl really understands what the other is saying. Euphemia tries to get Lelouch to come play with her and Suzaku. She succeeds in getting them to at least be cordial to one another. A little before dinner they go back to the Ashford House.

Lelouch is a little glad to be back at the Ashford House. In the last few days he has seen lots of anger. Kallen's brother, Naoto, hated him for being Britannian despite the fact that he had never met him. Suzaku Kururugi hated him for attempting to speak Japanese. Lelouch wonders if he should go out anymore. But if he doesn't, he will have to spend his time with his sisters. If he wanted to do that, he could have stayed back at Pendragon. Well at least he could visit Kallen again or maybe visit this school that Milly was talking about.

**August 15, 2010**

After visiting the Kururugi Shrine, they decide to go out the next day Cornelia takes the girls out into the town. Lelouch goes with Milly and her grandfather to the site of Ashford Academy. Due to the large number of Britannians living in Tokyo. The Ashfords decide to open a school. At this time the school only consists of two buildings, but Lord Ashford hopes to expand it over time.

"Isn't it great, Lulu?"

Lelouch shrugs. "I guess."

Milly looks over to him. "You'll come, won't you?"

"It is possible I could come for a bit."

Milly nods. They spend the rest of the day visiting classrooms and speaking to teachers. It is just before dinner when they get back to the house. Euphemia and Nunnally tell Lelouch all about their day. They are all sitting down at the dinner table with Milly and her grandparents.

Nunnally begins to talk excitedly about where they went. "Oh Lulu, you should have been there."

Euphemia interrupts her sister. "Yes, you should have seen the way they were dressed."

"Oh and the food we ate."

Lelouch turns to his sister. "Speaking of food." He takes a tablecloth and wipes Nunnally's mouth. "You two should slow down. I'm not going anywhere. We still have a week to do all those things again."

Nunnally takes the tablecloth from her brother and wipes herself. The girls continue to speak about everything they did that day. They try to get Lelouch to talk about his day. He just shrugs. Milly is not quiet, however, she talks about her family's school.

Milly glances over at Lelouch. "And our dear Lulu has promised to attend the school if he can."

Euphemia and Nunnally gasp. If Lelouch is coming to Japan to go school, they have to come with him. Even Cornelia is little upset about the fact that Lelouch would even consider coming to this Ashford Academy in Japan. Lelouch shrugs.

**August 16, 2010**

Schniezel has been meeting with the Japanese government all year, but he recently left for the mainland. Cornelia is sent to continue negotiations since she had a better grasp of the military situation in the world. Today she has a meeting at the Kururugi shrine. She takes Euphemia and Nunnally with her. Lelouch feigns exhaustion to get out of the trip because he has other plans. Cornelia looks down at her brother lying down. She shrugs. If he doesn't want to come, she can't force him.

Lelouch sees them leave. He runs back to his room to get dressed. Milly is waiting for him at his door.

"Grandfather has a car waiting for you."

Milly appears a little sad as she says this. Lelouch shrugs it off. There is still a whole week to spend with Milly and his sisters here before having to go back to school. He goes out to the car. He dresses himself again. It's a lot harder than people think it is. A commoner can just grab the next thing in the closet or drawer, but a prince has to be selective about what he wears. He chooses something he can run around in. Maybe in a few years he can begin to wear clothes for inside activities. He arrives at the house. He walks to the door. He gathers himself as he rings the doorbell. The door opens. It's her. He wonders what this funny feeling is.

"Hello Kallen."

She smiles and bows. "Hello Prince Lelouch."

Her mother doesn't bother coming over to find out who it is. Kallen takes Lelouch outside. They play in the garden for a while. Finally Lelouch falls down from exhaustion. Kallen lies down beside him. She looks over to him.

"Um Lelouch."

"Yes."

"Why did you come and visit me?"

"I don't know I just wanted to get out of the house."

"Oh is that it."

"Hm of course not. Didn't you have fun that one day we played in the palace garden back in Britannia?"

"Yes it was fun. Why did you come back again? You were just here a few days ago."

"I wanted to play with you again." He gets up. "I think it's lunchtime."

Kallen's mom is bringing lunch out to them. After lunch they go up to Kallen's room. Kallen goes over to her bad. She signals for Lelouch to join her on it. He sits down beside her. Kallen shrugs. Nobody has really been in her room especially any boys. They sit around and discuss their family again. A few hours later her mom calls them down for dinner. He stays after dinner for a while.

It is late when Lelouch gets back to the Ashford House. Everybody should be asleep or at least getting ready for bed. Lelouch ascends the stairs. Cornelia is waiting for him at the top.

She looks down at him. "Who is she? Does she come from a good family?"

Lelouch is startled by his sister. He pauses and gathers himself before answering. "Her name is Kallen Stadtfeld."

That made Cornelia think. She knew the name of Stadtfeld. A Lord Stadtfeld was a close confidant of her father and brother Schniezel. It would make sense that he would have a house here in Japan.

Lelouch sees his sister contemplating what he has said. "Good night sister."

He walks towards his room. As he approaches his room Milly is standing by her door.

"So who is this Kallen girl?"

"Someone I met a while back."

"Do you like her?"

Lelouch shrugged. What was everybody's deal? He was a few months from turning eleven. "She is just a friend. I like playing with her." Lelouch sighed. "I mean I see my sisters everyday. And when I attend Ashford Academy, I will see you everyday." He knew that would get Milly to calm down and smile.

Milly slightly smiles and goes back to her room. Lelouch shakes his head. He goes to his room. He gets ready for bed. He knows that Nunnally and Euphemia were listening to the conversations he had with Cornelia and Milly. Tomorrow Cornelia will either visit the Stadtfeld estate or set up a meeting to have Kallen and her mother come over.

**August 17/18, 2010**

As punishment Lelouch has to spend the next two days playing with his sisters and Milly all day while Cornelia attends meetings.

**August 19, 2010**

This is the day the entire house is waiting for or at least Lelouch's sisters and Milly. This is the day they got to meet the girl that Lelouch has already ditched them for twice in ten days. Milly, Euphemia, and Nunnally are told to stay in the living room. Cornelia and Lelouch are waiting near the door. They can see Kallen and her mother walking towards the house.

"I assume that is the girl and who is that woman behind her."

"It is her mother."

Cornelia grimaces. Lelouch turns to sister. He glares at her. In his most proper and serious voice he says, "Cornelia li Britannia, you will treat our guests with the same respect you expect to receive yourself."

Cornelia is taken aback by Lelouch's demeanor. He smirks. Kallen and her mother are at the door. Lelouch runs to the door as the doorbell rings.

He opens the door and smiles. He gets all serious. "Hello Miss Stadtfeld."

Kallen smiles back. "Hello Prince Lelouch."

Lelouch steps back to let them in the house. "This is my sister, second princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Cornelia li Britannia." He waves back towards his sister. Now he waves back to Kallen and her mother. "This is Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld and Ayana Kouzuki."

They bow before Cornelia. She bows back. Lelouch grabs Kallen's hand and leads them to the living room where the girls await them. The pink and light brown haired girls, Kallen recognizes as Lelouch's sisters from the pictures he's shown her. The blonde haired girl looks to be about her age. Kallen thinks she is that Milly Ashford girl Lelouch spoke about. The look on their eyes reminds Kallen of lions or hyenas from some nature show. Lelouch glares at them that only makes the girls smile more.

The living room contains a large couch that fits up to three or four people depending on their size. There is a small couch that seats two and several chairs. The girls are seated in a way that will force Lelouch and Kallen to sit apart. Lelouch goes over and makes Milly get out of the small couch. He motions for Kallen to join him. Cornelia and Kallen's mother come into the room. They are followed by Milly's grandparents and servants with tea and cake. They all take a seat.

After being introduced they drink their tea quietly. Lelouch gets up and cuts a piece of cake. He offers some to his younger sisters and Milly first which they take it. He then brings some for Kallen.

Kallen's mom breaks the silence. "Lord Ashford, my daughter tells me that you are opening school here in Tokyo." Lelouch had told Kallen about the school and that he might attend.

Lord Ashford answers. "Yes well seeing as how there is a large contingent of Britannian citizens here in Tokyo. I thought that it would be a good idea to open an academy here."

Milly smiles. "Kallen, maybe you can come to the school. Our dear Lulu is thinking of attending."

Lelouch shoota Milly a glare. Even Euphemia and Nunnally thought that Milly went too far.

Her grandmother gave her a look. "Now Milly please try and have some respect for our guests."

Lelouch smiles. "It is fine Lady Ashford. Perhaps our dear Camilla Millicent will learn some manners while attending school."

He says this while avoiding looking towards Milly who is pouting. Kallen still feels everybody looking at her even the elderly Ashfords.

Cornelia looked over to her brother. "Lelouch, did you inform Empress Marianne of your intent to attend this academy here in Tokyo."

Lelouch never said that he intended to the Ashford Academy. In fact he had told the emperor a few months ago that he wanted to attend a military academy for a few months or so.

"To be truthfully honest sister I have informed the emperor of my desire to receive some form of military training."

The girls gasp. Even Cornelia was taken aback by this. Neither the emperor nor the empress had informed her of Lelouch's desire to join the military. Her brother is so young. Even this silliness with this Stadtfeld girl or even the young Miss Ashford is nothing compared to this matter. Cornelia would have to discuss this later with Lelouch's mother.

Lord Ashford notices that the girls are becoming fidgety. "Why don't you kids go outside? It is such a lovely day. Milly take young Miss Stadtfeld with you."

Nunnally and Euphemia run out of the room and go outside. Milly gets up and grabs Kallen's hand. She sticks her tongue out at Lelouch. He ignores her. Milly practically drags Kallen outside. Lelouch looks at the adults. He shrugs and decides he better go outside. He can't leave Kallen alone with them. At first Cornelia wants her brother to stay but thinks better of it.

When Lelouch goes out the door, he sees that his younger sisters and Milly have cornered Kallen. He goes over to help her. Despite the fact that her father is a noble, Kallen does not appear to know much about the way things work with nobles and royalty. The way his sisters are looking at him and Kallen reminds Lelouch of the look that predators have in those nature shows on television. But now away form Cornelia and Empress Marianne, Lelouch doesn't have to hold back from scolding his sisters.

Milly seems to be a little more diplomatic. "So what do you guys want to do today?"

Nunnally and Euphemia think of all the games they like to play. Normally when they are alone with Lelouch they play house or doctor. But with Milly and this Kallen girl here, they have to think of something else. Maybe hide and seek. That won't be any good because Lelouch has probably already found some good hiding spots in the yard.

Milly finally thinks of something. "I have an idea. Why don't we have Kallen tell us about herself?"

Kallen nods. "There isn't much to tell. You met my mother. My father is in Britannia on business. I have an older brother. He is going to start college soon."

That makes Nunnally and Euphemia perk up. So she has an older then why is she trying to steal theirs.

Euphemia comments first. "Don't you love your brother?"

That comment startled Kallen. "Of course."

Nunnally jumps in to try and talk some sense into the girl. "Don't you like playing with your brother?"

"Well when we were younger we played all the time. But now he's going to college and doesn't want to play with his little sister." As she said this, she was visibly sad.

Euphemia and Nunnally feel bad. Milly goes over to Kallen and hugs her. Despite their misgivings about her relationship with Lelouch, they decide to accept her. Euphemia looks at Kallen. For some reason she looks familiar. Nunnally suggests that they play hide n seek.

Lelouch agrees. "That is a good idea Nunnally. And since Milly is oldest, she's it."

He grabs Kallen's hand and runs off to hide. Euphemia and Nunnally do the same. Milly sits in shock at the speed of her friends. She shrugs and begins to count to on hundred.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred. Now to find them."

She knows that finding Euphemia and Nunnally will be easy. However Lelouch is going to be the difficult one. Despite the fact that he has been here only a few days, Milly suspects that he has a few hiding spots that even she hasn't thought of. She thinks about her strategy. She decides to find the sisters first. Since it is probably better to get someone, then to spend all day chasing after an invisible boy.

She finds Euphemia trying to hide behind some roses. Milly supposes that the princess thinks the pink roses provide good camouflage. She finds Nunnally nearby behind a tree giggling. Now to find Lelouch. Milly wonders if Lelouch will try to hide Kallen along with himself or is he is just using her as a decoy. Of course he could be doing both. Milly sees two figures moving back towards the house from opposite directions. The two princesses scream. Milly knows she's been tricked. Milly picks one of the two to chase. Lucky for her it's Lelouch, but he has a lead.

Lelouch and Kallen reach the 'base' safely so Nunnally is it. They only play once more since it becomes obvious that only Nunnally and Euphemia are going to get caught.

Euphemia wants to play house so Lelouch can choose which one of them gets to play the mommy. Because back home, it's always her. Nobody else wants to play house especially Lelouch because there is no way for him to win that game.

Milly has an idea. "Let's play truth or dare."

Nobody knows what that game is but it sounds interesting. Milly explains to them the basic rules of the game. Her version of the rules: one of them would ask another to do a truth or dare. Once completed that person would get to ask someone else to do a truth or a dare and so and so. The first time around they had to ask someone new so everybody would get a turn. After that there are no limitations.

Milly smiles "Okay I'll go first." Milly contemplated who to ask first. "Okay Lelouch truth or dare?"

Lelouch gulped. He didn't want to think about what Milly's dares would be. "Truth."

Milly thought damn. "Let me see. Is it true that you are madly in love with me?"

Milly bats her eyelids at him.

With no hesitation Lelouch answers. "It's true,"

Everybody gasps. Milly smiled. "I knew you cared Lulu."

It was Lelouch's turn. He makes the obvious choice. "Nunnally, truth or dare?"

Nunnally answers with a smile. "Dare Big Brother."

Lelouch almost laughs. He thinks about it. "I dare you to give Kallen a hug."

Nunnally shrugs. Just like her big brother to make her do something not dangerous. Nunnally goes over and gives the red haired girl a big hug.

She goes and sits down. She has a huge smile on her face. "Kallen, truth or dare?"

Kallen gulps. "Truth."

Nunnally grimaces slightly. She was hoping to make her do something dangerous. But now she has another idea. "Is it true that you love big brother Lulu?"

Kallen's face is blank. "Lulu."

Euphemia points at her brother. "Answer the question!"

Kallen is a little stunned at the girls' fierceness. "I like him. He's my friend."

Lelouch nods and shakes his head. But Nunnally and Euphemia aren't satisfied. Milly tries to get the game going again.

"Okay Kallen now it's your turn."

Kallen looks around. Her choices are Milly and Euphemia. For the first time since she arrived, Kallen smiles.

"Euphemia, truth or dare?"

Euphemia smiles. "Dare." She knows that Kallen is going to make her do something dangerous. Now it's time to show Lelouch what kind of person this girl was.

Kallen contemplates what to ask Euphemia to do. It can't be something to dangerous because it is obvious that Lelouch is extremely protective of his younger sisters. But Kallen has an idea.

"I dare you to run inside where the adults are talking and yell," Kallen pauses as she thinks of something for Euphemia to say. "I'm a cake eating monster and you have to grab a piece of cake and stuff it in your mouth."

She smiles at her own idea. She looks around and notices that Milly and Lelouch are smiling at her dare.

Euphemia gasps at the deviousness of Kallen's dare. She wants to point out that Kallen is asking her to do multiple things, but she notices that the others are waiting for her to be the first to falter. She nods and runs inside. She screams very loudly so that they can hear her outside. She comes back out. She still has cake in her hands and mouth. When she gets there, everybody is conveniently gone. Cornelia comes storming out after her. Euphemia eyes open wide at the sight of her sister.

"Euphemia li Britannia, you will explain yourself."

Euphemia is stunned and hurt at the fact that her siblings abandoned her. Lelouch comes back.

"It wasn't her fault. We were playing truth or dare, and I dared her to do that. I know it was the wrong thing to do, and I will accept my punishment."

Both Euphemia and Cornelia are stunned at what Lelouch has said. Euphemia glares at her brother. Why is he defending that girl? Cornelia is about to say something when the elderly Ashfords and Kallen's mom come outside.

Lady Ashford defends the children. "Now let's not forget that even though these children are of noble and royal birth, they are still children."

Milly smiles at her grandmother's comment. She comes out of her hiding spot. Kallen and Nunnally come out slowly.

Lord Ashford smiles. "Well it is almost lunch. Why don't the children join us inside? After lunch we can make a quick trip to the Academy. It located just behind this property. There may be something there that will even interest you, Princess Cornelia."

They all go inside and sit around in the living room quietly. The servants prepare lunch early. They sit around eating lunch very somberly except for Lelouch. He has a slight smirk. At first Cornelia can't understand why. Then she realizes what he has done.

First of all Euphemia will not be punished for her rude behavior because it was part of a silly game. Secondly of course Lelouch did not dare Euphemia to do such an audacious act. He was obviously defending one of the other girls. Thirdly it probably wasn't his idea to play the game. Finally he wasn't going to receive any sort of punishment himself. In one fell swoop Lelouch took the blame away from everyone else and placed it on himself. In doing so he liberated himself from the consequences.

Cornelia slightly shuddered at the way her younger brother's mind worked. She had played many a chess game with him and noticed that even at a young age; he was a brilliant strategist. With some discipline and strategic training, the armies of the empire would be unstoppable under his leadership. To top it off he seemed to have some sort of power over girls. Obviously Euphemia, Nunnally, and Milly were infatuated with the young prince. Despite only meeting him a few times even this Stadtfeld girl seemed to have sort of attraction or fascination to him. Why else would she be here? In less then two weeks and having only met a handful of times there was an obvious friendship there.

After lunch they go over to the site of the Ashford Academy. Euphemia and Nunnally run around. It is the first time they have been allowed to mingle with commoners on their own. Milly gives the other girls a tour of the buildings. The Ashfords give Kallen's mom a tour of the campus. They leave Cornelia and Lelouch alone.

She looks at him. "Very well Lelouch. I have accepted that no one will be punished for what occurred today. But I would like to know exactly what happened. Who was behind the game?"

Lelouch shrugs. "The game was my idea. As I told you before I was the one who asked Euphemia to do that silly dare."

"If I ask the girls the same question, the answer will be the same."

He is looking away from her and now he turns to face her. "They may want to take some of the blame so I receive a less severe punishment, or they may lie to put the blame on someone else."

She considers this. "Very well Lelouch. Tomorrow we are visiting the Kururugi Shrine once again. Please be civil with the Prime Minister's son. He is near your age. Seeing that you have no problems making new friends." Cornelia glances down at him. He turns to look away from her. "Try to make some that will benefit the empire."

Lelouch sighs. He tried to be friendly the last time. Maybe he doesn't understand people as well as he thinks. Kallen loves it when he speaks Japanese and she is only half Japanese. Suzaku was angry at his attempt to be cordial and he is full Japanese. Even so Lelouch detests the thought of another encounter with him, Suzaku Kururugi.

* * *

Author's note: Ohgi's age is 26 so Naoto should be the same. About 9 years older than Kallen/Lelouch.

Naoto's anger is because Japan and Britannia had been involved in sort of a Cold War over sakuridite. We all know how Britannians feel about the rest of the world, but racism is a two way street.

Lelouch's military training will be mostly strategic. He will receive basic training. But his training will be mostly about planning not fighting. Can anyone guess what he did between February and August 2010?

I had no idea where I was going with that game of truth or dare when I started it. We are talking about children here. So I had to make it tame.

Wes brought up the point that the characters seemed mature for their age. Certainly court life has much to do with making them more mature. Another thing that makes Lelouch different than normal 10 year olds is the fact that he has several older and younger siblings. This creates competition. For Lelouch that competition makes him mature quite rapidly. He knows he can do things better than Clovis who is seven years older, and he wants to do all the things that Schniezel does. So I guess maturity comes along with that. Euphemia and Nunnally will probably act closer to their age as will Kallen.

Despite the fact that Marianne is still alive, the Ashford situation isn't perfect. Lord Ashford still likes to throw his parties. This mentioned in one of the picture dramas. The development of the Glasgow adds pressure to the Ashford Foundation to complete something of their own. Seeing their court status threatened the obvious solution is to pair Milly with Lelouch. This also gives Marianne powerful allies in the court.


	3. The day a new demon was born

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Time isn't measured by seconds and minutes but rather by what you do. If you have all the time in the world, in reality you have nothing.

The green haired witch  
Memoirs of the Black Prince  
Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

...

One man's hero is another man's villain. Not every man is everything to everyone.

Rivalz Cardemonde  
_Adventures of Zero and his Black Knights  
_LL Entertainment

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August 20, 2010 ATB

They are all going to the Kururugi Shrine today. Just in case things don't work out Cornelia asks Milly and Kallen to come as well. Kallen's mother is apprehensive about letting her daughter go to such an important meeting. But if it will help [prevent an international incident, she is willing to let Kallen go.

Nunnally and Euphemia run ahead up the stairs. Cornelia paces herself because the stairs are long. Lelouch trails behind with Milly and Kallen. He explains to them why they are here. He tries to give them a unbiased picture of Suzaku but is unable to. Kallen doesn't like the fact that Suzaku doesn't like speaking Japanese. Milly doesn't like the fact that he was rude to Lelouch despite the fact that Lelouch was only trying to be nice.

As they walk up Nunnally and Euphemia don't like the fact that their brother keeps leaving them for these girls. Euphemia and Nunnally keep looking back at them walking up slowly at the rear.

Waiting at the top are Prime Minister Kururugi, his son Suzaku, his niece Kaguya Sumeragi, Atsushi Sawasaki, and Taizo Kirihara. Despite the fact that his sister warned him to be nice, Lelouch can't help himself. He sees Japanese people and wants to speak Japanese.

"Asa watashi no aisuru josei to shinshi yoi." (Good morning my dear lady and gentlemen)

He bows deeply to show his respect. Once again everybody but Suzaku seems pleased at the young prince's gesture.

However he decides to follow along. He is almost giggling as he responds. "Asa anata ni, Lelouch-sama yoi." (Good morning to you, Lelouch-sama)

Lelouch smirks. "Anata ni wa, Suzaku-sama to onaji" (The same to you, Suzaku-sama)

Cornelia introduces everybody with her. The introductions of Milly and Kallen are met with slight contempt by Atsushi Sawasaki and Taizo Kirihara. Of course Kallen's perfect Japanese dissipates some of this. Milly attempts to greet them in Japanese. Lelouch and Kallen coach her a bit on the way up. This also met with approval. Cornelia joins the three Japanese men for meetings. Her knight Gilbert GP Guilford and advisor Andreas Darlton are already there. They go into the conference rooms behind the Shrine.

Nunnally and Kaguya go off and play together. Suzaku takes Lelouch and the three girls to a forest behind the Kururugi Shrine. They play around in the forest. They decide to play hide n seek. Suzaku is it since he knows the forest best and would be impossible to find. They all run off to hide. Lelouch makes sure he is separated from the rest of them. He thinks he has found a good spot to hide.

Lelouch looks around the forest which seems endless. He knows this is one of the greenest areas in all of Tokyo maybe Japan. In the distance he sees a small plateau. All around him Lelouch can hear the sounds of nature. He wishes he could spend a whole day just sitting here alone. He hears a noise behind him.

"I think I found it. My"

Lelouch turns around. He wonders what that was. Lelouch begins to look around the forest. He has forgotten about the game. He hears the noise again. He walks in the direction of the noise. Standing there is a girl with long green hair wearing traditional Japanese clothes.

"So is there a reason why you have been following us this whole time."

The girl doesn't respond. She looks slightly familiar. Lelouch thinks he may have seen her with his mother back home. He has seen her following them around since they arrived hear in Japan.

She moves towards him. Lelouch stands still. She begins to speak to him. "I offer you power. It is a contract. In return for the power you will grant one of my wishes. If you agree to the contract, you will live as human, but different from other humans. A different source, a different time, a different life… The power of the King will make you isolated."

As she speaks Lelouch begins to see images of different worlds and lives. Are these her lives? How is this possible, he thinks?

She continues. "If you are prepared for that."

Lelouch looks into the girl's eyes. They are beautiful and golden. The power the king, yes, this is what the wants. Despite the comfortable life he has led, he feels as if something has been missing. Is this it?

"I accept the contract." The words come out of his mouth before he realizes it. He wonders if he should have gotten more information from the girl.

Lelouch is staring out into the forest. He looks around the girl is gone. He feels the power in him. He begins to think of what it is. Geass, that is what comes to his mind.

"Lulu! Lulu!"

Lelouch turns around. He hears Euphemia yelling out his name. Should he test out this power on her? No, he needs to find someone else. Perhaps tomorrow they will go back to the Ashford School or into town. That would be the perfect time to test this new power he has been given.

Euphemia jumps at him. She is on top of him. "Now I have you all to myself, Lulu."

Lelouch looks up at his sister. She is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. "That's silly you can have me whenever you want."

Euphemia looks down at her brother. She smiles at his comment. She bites down on her lower lip. "What about these other girls?"

Lelouch tries to get up but Euphemia puts all her weight on him. She is waiting for an answer.

"You know you are my first love."

That makes her smile, she lets him get up. They hear Milly and Kallen calling for them. Lelouch gets up. Euphemia holds onto him.

Euphemia yells out. "I found my brother."

Milly and Kallen approach them. Milly is used to Euphemia's jealousy and general attitude. Kallen wishes that she could be that close with her brother. Suzaku comes over. Since he is an only child seeing Euphemia and Lelouch together makes him wonder what that is all about.

Suzaku approaches them. "We better go back." He looks down.

Lelouch wonders why. Of course he isn't allowed to be out here. If anyone asked why they were out here, Suzaku could blame them for wanting to come out here.

Lelouch takes his sister by the hand. "Let's go back. We don't want Suzaku-sama to get in trouble." He smirks as he says this.

Suzaku glares at him. Kallen and Milly follow Lelouch and Euphemia back. It is almost lunchtime when they get back. Lelouch wonders how much time he spent out there with that green haired girl. He wonders what the contract she was talking about involved.

When they get back to the Kururugi Shrine, Nunnally runs at her brother and begins to tell him about what she did with Kaguya. Lelouch smiles and hugs his little sister. After lunch Jeremiah comes to take the children back to the Ashford house.

Lelouch has an idea. "Maybe Suzaku and Kaguya would like to come with us to Milly's house."

Nobody appears to like that idea except for the adults. If the children are at the Ashford house there is no chance of them interrupting these intense negotiations. On the way home Lelouch suggest that they should go over to the Ashford School. Jeremiah is unsure but does as Lelouch requests.

When they arrive at the Ashford School, Lelouch suggests that Milly give Suzaku and Kaguya a tour. Everybody tags along. Lelouch excuses himself to use the restroom. Lelouch tells them to go ahead. He will catch up to them. He leaves them and heads for the restroom. He sees a group of older kids walking towards him.

He decides now would be a good time to test his power. He walks over to them.

"Excuse me." The group stops in front of him. They look down at him. "I command you all to do five jumping jacks."

They do as he says. After they are done, they look down at Lelouch. It was a if the last few second did not happen. "What did you want kid?"

Lelouch thinks of another command. "Why don't you guys do a few push ups?"

They look at him strangely. "Whatever kid. Let's go."

They walk away from Lelouch. He wonders about what happened. The power obviously worked. It apparently has limitations. It appears to only work once on a person. For some reason they also didn't seem to remember what happened. He definitely needed to conduct some more tests. Lelouch felt to very familiar arms around him.

"Hi, my Euphie."

That got a giggle from her. "Lulu, are you done using the restroom."

"Yes I am."

"Isn't this school cool. We should come here." She seems very excited.

"Maybe we should. I'll have to talk to mother."

That makes Euphemia smile. Even though these other girls are here in Japan being away from the palace will give her the opportunity to spend lots of time with her Lulu.

Lelouch thought that being here in Japan would give him the perfect opportunity to test out his power. If he tested it around the palace, there might be consequences. He is almost certain that he has seen that girl with his mother.

"Come on Euphie. We better go find the others."

They walk back to where the others had been going. The others are not too far.

Nunnally comes over to them and looks a little angry. "Euphie, where did you go?"

Even Milly seems a little concerned. "Yes Euphie, you shouldn't run off like that."

Euphemia looks confused. "Why not isn't it safe here?"

"Yes but you can still get lost. If it hadn't been for Nunnally noticing you were gone, we would have left you behind."

Of course Nunnally is the one that noticed that Euphemia was gone. Euphie tries not to glare at her younger sister.

"It's okay. I'm with Lulu." She hugs her brother.

Lelouch looks over to Milly. "Let's keep going."

They continue the tour of the school. Suzaku and Kaguya seem impressed. At the moment the school was only two large buildings with several more under construction. They go back to the Ashford house. On the way there Lelouch notices the sky looks very cloudy. He hopes it doesn't rain. He was hoping to get some alone time in the garden.

It begins to rain. Cornelia just makes it back to the house in time. Suzaku, Kaguya, and Kallen have to stay over because the rain gets very heavy. Lelouch lets Suzaku borrow some clothes to sleep in. Nunnally and Euphemia let Kaguya and Kallen borrow clothes. Milly thinks it is a good idea if they gather around the fireplace and tell scary stories.

Milly does most of the story telling. Euphie and Nunnally squeeze Lelouch during the scary parts. After a while they have to go to sleep. Kaguya sleeps with Nunnally and Euphemia. Kallen sleeps with Milly. Suzaku sleeps with Lelouch. The former two situations are fine. The latter one is a bit difficult.

During the night the thunder and lighting is very loud and violent. Euphemia gets scared as she always does whenever this happens. She gets out of her bed. She leaves the room. She knows Cornelia will be mad if she goes over to her room. Of course she knows someone who won't get mad. She wanders down the hall to another room. She opens the door quietly. The room is dark. She looks over to the bed. There is only one person there. Maybe Suzaku went to another room. Euphie goes over to the bed and lies down next to Lelouch. He wraps his arms around her. He mumbles something. She falls asleep.

Lelouch gets up. His neck hurts. This is the last time he is going to sleep on a couch. This is another reason to dislike Suzaku Kururugi or rain. He still hasn't decided which. He grabs his notebook from the desk. He goes down to the living room. It was still early so he didn't bother changing out of his pajamas. He sits down. He takes out the knightmare manuals. He has one for the Ganymede and one for the Glasgow. He takes out his notebook.

He begins to look over his notes. After the knightmare demonstration a months ago, he began to talk to people about knightmares. He took notes on what they said to him. He hears someone coming. It's Kallen. She comes and sits down besides Lelouch.

"Good morning Kallen."

"Good morning Lelouch."

Lelouch is too consumed to greet her in Japanese. Kallen looks over at what he is working on.

"Are those knightmare plans?"

"Yes they are. I'm working on my own knightmare. I trying to improve on the Ganymede and the Glasgow."

"What's it called?"

"Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon. So I decided to name this one Callisto." Lelouch points to one of his drawing. "This one is named Titan."

Kallen wants to ask Lelouch what those names mean but they hear a scream coming from upstairs. It's Cornelia.

Euphie is waking up. She squeezes her brother tighter.

"Thanks for letting me sleep here, Lulu."

He mumbles something. Euphie shrugs. He keeps mumbling. Euphie looks up at her brother. He is looking down at him. It isn't Lelouch. But before either of them can say anything, there is someone yelling at them from the door.

"I demand to know what is going on here."

Euphemia looks up and sees her very angry older sister at the door. Lelouch and Kallen come up behind her.

"I asked a question."

Euphemia gets up. "Well the thunder scared me last night so I came over to Lulu's room."

Lelouch scratches his head. He forgot that thunder scared Euphie. Now Cornelia was looking at him.

"Didn't you notice that Euphemia was in the bed?"

Euphie is now up. "No, he wasn't in the bed."

Cornelia notices that Lelouch came up to the room with Kallen. "Where were you?"

Lelouch's eyes open wide. "I slept on the couch." He point over to the small couch in his room which thankfully still has a blanket and pillow on it. "When I woke up I went downstairs. I wanted to work on something and didn't want to turn the light on here."

Cornelia does not look satisfied. All the commotion wakes Milly up.

"What's going on?"

Lelouch looks over at her. "Oh nothing just Cornelia overreacting to something again. We should get ready for breakfast. Then everybody can go home."

That settles it. Even Cornelia knows that saying anything else could start some sort of incident when Euphemia made the error. Euphemia went back to her room where Nunnally and Kaguya were just waking up.

Everybody is down for breakfast. Suzaku still doesn't know what happened, but he figures that it was probably all Lelouch's fault. After breakfast Kaguya, Suzaku, and Kallen go home.

They spend the rest of the day inside because the yard is muddy. Guilford and Darlton come over to discuss things with Cornelia. The girls are instructed to leave Lelouch alone. Lelouch continues to work on his knightmare designs. Later in the day Lord Ashford allows him to use the computer. Lelouch continues his research there. Despite the fact that everybody is inside, it is a pretty quiet day at the Ashford house.

Lelouch is getting ready for bed when the door opens. Standing there is the pink haired princess. Lelouch smiles at her. He puts his arms out. She runs to him. He kisses her forehead.

"You owe me for last night, Lulu."

"I'm sorry I should have remembered that you are afraid of thunder."

Euphie grumbles.

"Maybe you should have looked to see who was on the bed."

"I tried but it was too dark. I didn't think you would be so nice to that boy."

Lelouch smiles. He had begun to feel that Euphie had started to like Suzaku. Of course she was just being friendly to Suzaku to make him jealous. He had no idea that his friendship with Kallen and Milly had that effect on his sister.

"It doesn't matter now." Lelouch pauses. "Do you want to play your favorite game?"

Euphie's eyes glow as he says this. She wanted to squeal but held back.

Lelouch continues. "Well dear I believe it is time for bed."

Euphie smiles. "Yes sweetheart I think it is."

They go to the bed. As they lie there Euphie knows this is the way it is supposed to be. They are face to face. They wrap their arms around each other. She knows that Lelouch is her prince. Nobody else loves him like she does. Nobody else deserves him.

**August 22, 2010 ATB**

They spend the day at the Ashford house. It just the three of them. Cornelia is busy with meetings. Milly is off with her grandparents at the Ashford Academy. Nunnally and Euphemia leave Lelouch alone for the day. He continues to work on his knightmare designs.

A little before dinner Cornelia takes Lelouch over to Ashford Academy. They go over to a conference room. Cornelia arranges for Lelouch to have a conference call with his mother. Cornelia was hoping this would solve this Ashford Academy situation. She hopes to be back in Pendragon with her younger siblings within a few days.

Despite his protestations Cornelia knows that Lelouch would like to attend this school. She knows that he tires of life at Pendragon. The problem is that if Lelouch stays here. Nunnally and Euphemia will want to stay as well. Cornelia admires Empress Marianne. However recently Cornelia has noticed that the empress has been lax in her motherly duties. The empress shows up on the screen.

Lelouch happily greets his mother. "Good morning mother."

Cornelia looks up. It is evening here but it is morning in Pendragon.

"Hello Lelouch. Now dears, what is this about? You are due to return in a few days."

"Yes well your highness, there is a matter that needs to be discussed." The empress nodsfor Cornelia to continue. "During your stay did the Ashfords inform you of this school they have opened here in Japan."

"Yes Cornelia, Ruben told me all about it."

Cornelia clears her throat at the empress's lack of formality. Since the death of their mother, Cornelia and Euphemia have to come to consider Empress Marianne as a mother. She was there for them in the aftermath of their mother's death when others in the royal family including their father just ignored them.

"I see your highness."

Cornelia nudges Lelouch. He looks at his mother. "Well mother I wanted to ask if it would be acceptable if I could attend Ashford Academy."

Marianne looks at Lelouch and Cornelia. She seems to be considering this.

"Oh is that the way you feel dear."

"Well yes mother I feel it would help the empire if I experience some life away from the palace."

The emperor mentioned to Marianne the fact that Lelouch wanted some form of military training.

"I see dear. I was hoping that you would ask for that. Things have been hectic here. Is there any way you can convince your sisters to stay with you?"

Cornelia was shocked. She never imagined this turn of events. Not only were her younger siblings going to be around commoners. Cornelia was told that even Japanese would be allowed to attend. Of course they had to pay a substantial tuition which meant that only the extremely rich or noble could come but even so.

"Your highness, are you sure this is correct for the children's educational needs?"

"Oh Cornelia dear. As you know I'm in no condition to be running after the children. And you are going off to join Schniezel in Africa."

"But." Cornelia didn't know how to answer.

Lelouch nods. "Very well mother I will tell Euphie and Nunnally that we are staying here for school. Good bye mother."

Lelouch leaves the room. Empress Marianne is still there. "Was there anything else Cornelia dear?"

"No your highness."

"You can stay there with them if you like. However Schniezel will not wait. He will go to Africa with or without you."

Cornelia nodded. There was no need for her to remain here. Negotiations with Japan were complete. In a few years there might be a need to return to the negotiation table.

"Very well your highness I shall return."

With that the empress cuts the feed. Cornelia is left alone in the room. Lelouch is waiting for her outside. They begin to walk.

Lelouch looks up at his sister. "You know it might be a good idea if we didn't tell people we are royalty."

Now Cornelia had had enough. It was bad enough that they would be mingling with commoners but to be treated as one.

"We can tell them that are parents are nobles. Of course the three of us will act as true siblings."

That comment didn't do much to alleviate Cornelia's concern. However it would be good if Euphemia began to treat Lelouch as a true sibling. They continued to walk out of the building. Sometimes it seemed to Cornelia that her younger sister was too infatuated with Lelouch. Cornelia signals to Lelouch that they will walk back to the Ashford house. If they boy wants to receive military training, it is time that he begin to shape up his body.

When they reach the Ashford house Lelouch is extremely our of breath. Nunnally and Euphemia are in the living room watching television with Lady Ashford. Normally Cornelia does not approve of the girls spending so much time watching. But since they are with Lady Ashford, she excuses it.

The girls look up at Lelouch in anticipation. They know that Lelouch and Cornelia went over to the school to have a conference with Empress Marianne. Milly and her grandfather walk into the room at this moment. They all look at Lelouch in anticipation. Of course one look over at Cornelia would have told them the answer. But they wanted the answer to come out in a positive manner, something Cornelia could not do.

Lelouch takes his time and sits down. He asks Lady Ashford about the program they are watching. He tries to get the girls to talk about it. Lelouch smirks. Even the elderly Ashfords wish the boy would just get on with it.

"Well I talked to mother. She says hi wants me to tell everyone that she is doing fine." Lelouch pauses. Everybody is looking at him. "I asked if I could attend Ashford Academy. She said yes."

Nunnally can't believe her brother is dragging this out. "So she said you could come."

"Well I also."

Cornelia lost her patience. "Oh Lelouch just tell them. The empress thinks it would be a good idea if Nunnally and Euphemia attend as well."

The girls lose it. They began to run around screaming. Cornelia wonders if the elderly Ashfords will be up to the task of taking care of three more children. Despite the fact that Cornelia was brought up to feel that royalty is superior to everyone else. There was no denying the fact that her three younger siblings are a handful. Cornelia will have to discuss matters tomorrow with Jeremiah and the Ashfords.

That night Nunnally and Euphemia are having trouble sleeping. They begin to think of how great it will be to go to a normal school. And of course most important of all they will have Lelouch all to themselves. They never once consider the fact that Lelouch will be in a different grade level and will make new friends.

Lelouch is sitting on his bed looking over his knightmare plans. He wonders if he could find someone to help make these. He hears the door open. He expected Euphemia and Nunnally to be asleep already dreaming of what school life will be like. It isn't one of his sisters. It's the blonde haired Ashford heiress. Lelouch goes back to his knightmare plans. She walks over to the bed and sits down. Since the royal children's arrival the two of them have spent very little time alone. Lelouch wonders if that is one of the reasons his mother wants him to stay here and attend Ashford Academy.

Milly points at Lelouch's notebook. "Are those knightmares?"

Lelouch nods. "Since that knightmare demonstration I have been working on my own knightmare designs."

Milly shrugs. She wonders if her grandfather would like to look at Lelouch's designs. Of course the way her grandfather spends money on parties. Lelouch begins to explain to Milly the names of his knightmares. He also talks about what he has learned about knightmare from talking to different people. After a while Lelouch gets ready for bed. Milly goes back to her room.

**August 23, 2010 ATB**

The next morning after breakfast Cornelia, Guilford, Darlton, Jeremiah, Lelouch, and the Ashfords have a meeting. They discuss how the new arrangements for the children. For the moment they will remain at the Ashford house but Jeremiah would begin to look for new housing within what is called the Britannian settlement.

Later on in the day they all go over to Ashford Academy to register for school. Cornelia meets with their teachers. They pick up their school uniforms and head back to the Ashford house. The girls spend the rest of the day telling everyone about the teachers and a few of their fellow classmates that they met.

**August 24, 2010 ATB**

The next day Cornelia leaves back to the mainland. They all go to see her off. On the way back to the Ashford house Lelouch makes a detour. He has Jeremiah take Nunnally and Euphemia back while he stops by to visit Kallen.

He runs up to the house and rings the doorbell. Kallen answers. She smiles.

"Hello Lelouch."

"Hello Kallen. "

"Come in. I'm almost ready to go."

They go up to her room. Kallen goes to her bathroom to change. Lelouch wonders what is wrong with what she is wearing. Sometimes girls confuse him. Okay, girls always confuse him. It doesn't really matter since they have to wait for Jeremiah to return. After she is finished changing, Kallen comes out. Lelouch shrugs. She looks about the same as she did before.

After a few minutes of sitting around talking about Ashford Academy, they go out of her room. At the door they hear raised voices. It is Kallen's brother and mother fighting.

"Kallen, why are they fighting?" Lelouch hopes it isn't because of him.

"Naoto wants to join the military, but mom doesn't want him to go."

Lelouch thinks about it. If Naoto wants to go, nothing can really stop him. Lelouch leans in to listen. Kallen leans away towards the room. She has been hearing this same argument for over a week.

Naoto comes stomping upstairs, and he sees Lelouch.

"Well your highness it seems as if one day we may meet on the battlefield."

Naoto goes to his room and slams the door. Lelouch's eyes open wide. Kallen comes back out of her room.

Lelouch turns to her. "Your brother is joining the Japanese military."

Kallen nods. Lelouch wonders if he will ever meet Naoto on the battlefield. He knows that negotiations have gone Britannia's way. He never considered that many Japanese people would be upset over that. It seems as if Naoto is one of them.

Kallen comes over to Lelouch. "Let's go I think Jeremiah is here for us."

Lelouch looks down the stairs and see Jeremiah speaking with Kallen's mother. They go down the stairs. They go out to the car. As they travel towards Ashford Academy, Lelouch is staring at Kallen.

She is a little nervous. "What is it Lelouch? Is something wrong with the way I'm dressed? Or is it my hair?" Kallen's hand goes up to her hair,

Lelouch shakes his head. "No, you look fine. In fact you look very pretty."

They both blush as he says this. Lelouch continues to stare. Now he remembers.

"I remember know."

"Remember what?"

"The day we met."

"Wasn't it just a few months ago at the palace."

"No, we met before that day."

**

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December 5, 2006 ATB

"Allow me to introduce my daughter, Kallen Stadtfeld."

The girl nervously bows towards. Lelouch greets her with a bow of his own.

He asks her, "Would you like to dance?"

She looks up to her father who nods slightly. She puts her hand out and Lelouch takes it.

"Don't worry. Dancing is easy just follow me okay."

The girl nods. Lelouch takes her left had into his right and lifts it. He places his left hand on her hip and tells her to place her right hand on his.

"Are you ready?" He pauses as he tries remember her name. "Kallen."

She nods. He begins to lead her around the dance floor. They only dance for a few minutes but to them it seems like an eternity.

Her dad comes over and gets. "Daddy, can I have dancing lessons?"

"Of course dear."

Lelouch goes back to his mother. He knows that they will continue to go around meeting boring nobles. They do. It only lasts a few more minutes. They are now walking away from the party. It is winding down.

"Did you enjoy the party Lelouch?"

"Yes mother."

"What part did you enjoy the most? Was it dancing?"

"Yes I like dancing with that girl I met today."

That was enough to satisfy his mother who had forgotten that Lelouch had met two girls that day.

* * *

Author's note: Translations are courtesy of Google translator so if anything is wrong with them blame it on Google translator. It was the only translator I could find with romanization of Japanese.

The character's motivations are obviously going to be different. Suzaku and Kallen's feeling about Lelouch, Japan, Britannia, etc will be a major part of the story.

I'm pretty sure that neither Suzaku nor Lelouch should be calling each other sama, but they did it out of spite. Suzaku doesn't mind speaking Japanese. He just doesn't like Britannian royal children. He considers them pampered. And also he went to tall the trouble to learn English since it is the language of international negotiation.

In cannon Code Geass CC was in Japan on August 10, 2010. She left the palace and the Geass Order in the aftermath of Marianne's death. Possibly also abandoning Mao for the final time.

Here since Marianne is still alive, CC is theoretically in charge of the Geass Order. So she comes with Marianne to Japan and stays for a while after. It's pretty obvious that CC never truly agreed to the Ragnarok. This obvious by her making contracts with Mao and Lelouch. Also CC tries a different strategy with this contract. Since Lelouch is obviously safe and doesn't need her help, CC leaves him to his own devices for now.

One of the things that always bothered me about Lelouch's early use of his power was amount of one time commands he gave. It wasn't until his questioning of Kallen went wrong that he decided to test the limitations of his power. How hard would it have been for him to command her to answer his every question or something like that. It was silly of him to believe that the power was unlimited. In this story geass will be one of Lelouch's many weapons rather than his main weapon.

So the first two chapters were very Kallen-centric, I suppose. But it is because they contain the only five meetings between Kallen and Lelouch. She is only a new friend at this point. I was trying to make this one more Euphie-centric. Euphemia is very much the love of Lelouch's young life with Nunnally coming in second. That begins to change from here.

As I was writing this I read every Lelouch/Euphemia fanfic on this site for inspiration. A few are about the Special Administrative Zone being successful. Most are angst filled after Euphie's death stories or pre exile Lelouch and Euphie are in love stories. Obviously the former two don't matter for this story. The latter type of story does. But it's a lot easier to right a Euphie and Lelouch are on love one shot because then it's a cute story about two ten year olds in love. It's a little harder to incorporate it into a larger story.

One thing that I find missing from most Lelouch stays in Britannia stories is the lack of Euphie/Lelouch interaction. Now it can be passed off as they grew out of it. In other words they realized that there is no way the can be together. I don't think that it's that simple. I think most 'Lelouch stays in Britannia' writers want to get to the Lelouch kicking ass parts and forget about all the other stuff. When that other stuff is what makes Lelouch well Lelouch.

In cannon Euphemia grew out of it when Lelouch 'died'. Lelouch grew out of it when he was struggling for his and Nunnally's life. Sorry about the little rant.


	4. Ashford Academy pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

In case anybody was wondering the emperor is still trying to activate Ragnarok.

Education isn't only about books and experiments. It's about experiencing life.

Milly Ashford  
Milly Ashford's Guide to Getting a Real Education  
Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

…

School is where you learn who you are in life, but it is more than just that. You can't expect you future to just come at you. You have to go get it.

Nunnally vi Britannia  
A Princess's Guide on Making Your Future  
Tokyo Towers Press 2024 ATB

**

* * *

**

Back to August 24, 2010 ATB

Kallen thinks about it. So much has happened in the four years since that she didn't really remember. She did remember the dancing lessons which were a failure.

She smiles. "Was that day so important to you?"

"Well apart from being my birthday I also met you and Milly on that day. So I guess it was pretty important."

Kallen twists her face. "Why are you guys staying at Milly's house?"

"Her grandparents are my mom's friends."

"Oh."

Kallen's dad told her to be nice to Prince Lelouch if she ever got to see him again. It wasn't that hard to do since he was so nice to her.

"Hey Kallen, do you want to see my knightmare plans again?"

Before she can answer, Jeremiah interrupts. "Your highness we are here."

That earns him a glare from Lelouch. "Jeremiah."

"Sorry. Master Lelouch, we are here."

"That's better. Remember Jeremiah, you are in charge of our security here. If you falter, how can we expect the others not to."

Jeremiah nods. "Yes sir."

Kallen looks over to Lelouch. He explains. "I thought it would be easier for us if people didn't know we were royalty. We will act as nobility. I have created this whole background and even thought of new names for us. So remember we are now children of a duke."

Kallen nods. "Okay."

They step out of the car. Lelouch takes Kallen to the registration area. They already have her information. She just has to pick up her uniform and school supplies. As they are walking Lelouch begins to explain the Ashford school divisions: K-5, 6-8, 9-12. They are in grade five. So it is the last year of the first section. He also explains how the school is governed. Milly explained all this stuff to him during the week. Milly is in grade six. Euphemia is in grade four. Nunnally is grade two.

Milly also explained that each section has their own student government. She suggested that Lelouch run to be president of his section. Rounding a corner, Lelouch accidentally knocks over a fellow student. Apologizing profusely, Lelouch helps the now dazed girl up before introducing himself.

"Hello I am Lelouch Lamperouge. This is my friend Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld."

The girl just stands there staring at Lelouch.

Kallen looks over to her. "Are you okay? Can you talk?"

The girl nods. Her hair goes all over the place. She has beautiful long orange hair.

She finally blurts out as she puts her hand out. "Hi, my name is Shirley Fennette."

Lelouch and Kallen take turns shaking her hand. The girl looks at them nervously. They aren't sure what to do next.

She asks them. "Are you guys coming to this school?"

Lelouch looks at the girl. She doesn't seem very smart or maybe she was just nervous. Kallen is carrying around a school uniform and Lelouch is carrying her books.

He is about to say something sarcastic when Kallen interrupts him. "Yes, we are." Kallen gives Lelouch a look.

He looks back at her. He thinks am I that obvious. Kallen smiles at him. He shrugs. Maybe he is that obvious.

The girl is still standing there. "What grade are you in?"

Now Lelouch answers. "We are in the fifth grade. We are in group 3-D."

"Me too."

"Shirley dear, are you ready to go?"

Two adults walk over to the orange haired girl. Lelouch assumes that they are her parents.

Her dad asks, "Oh honey, are you making friends already?"

Shirley nods. "Yes, they are." She has forgotten their names.

Lelouch looks over to the girl's parents. "I am Lelouch Lamperouge and this is Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld. Pleased to meet you."

"Well we're pleased to meet any friends of Shirley. Let's go dear."

The girl walks away with her parents. As they walk away she turns back and looks towards Lelouch and Kallen.

Lelouch and Kallen are already walking away. Once back in the car Lelouch begins to show her his knightmare plans again. They are only rough drafts. He begins to describe what things are to her.

Kallen sighs. She wonders why every time they are together she feels funny. "Well I guess I'm home."

Lelouch twists his mouth. "I can walk you to your door."

As they walk to her door, Lelouch has a funny feeling in his stomach. He wonders if it's his lunch trying to come back out.

"Thanks for taking me to get my stuff, Lelouch."

"It's okay. I wanted to hang out with you again."

They stand there looking at each other. "Do you want to come into the house?"

"I don't think I should. They are waiting for me at home." Lelouch begins to wiggle around. "Oh in a few days we are moving into a new house. Just the three of us and the servants too, I guess. So you can come over to visit us."

The door opens. Kallen's mom is standing there looking down at them. "Are you two coming in?"

"Hi mom. No, Lelouch has to go home."

"Okay well don't just stand out there. It's getting late."

Kallen's mom goes back into the house.

Kallen turns back to face Lelouch. "Um well bye." Kallen pauses. "Lulu."

She smiles as she leans over and kisses him on the cheek. With that she goes into the house. Lelouch stands there. He puts his hand up to his cheek. Does this make Kallen his girlfriend? He begins to walk back to the car. They have only met a handful of times. For the second time today Lelouch is confused by Kallen's actions.

As the car begins to move Lelouch looks up towards Jeremiah. "Um Jeremiah, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes Master Lelouch." Jeremiah remembers to stop calling the prince by titles that will give away his true identity.

"Are girls always going to be this confusing?"

Jeremiah begins to laugh. "No master Lelouch."

Lelouch sighs in relief. "Oh I see."

"They get more confusing."

That comment startles Lelouch. "I see."

"Master Lelouch, may I comment on something."

"Go ahead Jeremiah."

"From what I can see you have no problems with girls. Just allow things to come naturally. You are still young and will have plenty to chances to discover just how confusing girls can get."

Lelouch nods at that comment. Jeremiah looks back towards the prince. He knows that his mother and various other members of the court have plans for the prince. But Jeremiah has decided to allow the prince to make his own decision. It was one of the many items that he and Princess Cornelia discussed before she left. As long as Jeremiah knows that he is serving in his prince's best interests, his conscience will be clear.

A few days later the 'Lamperouge' children move into their new house. It is near the Ashford house within the Britannian settlement. This is a large Britannian section within Tokyo. The house is also close to Kallen's house. They spend a few days moving in their things. They are also introduced to their servants and bodyguards.

Lelouch, Euphemia, and Nunnally are sitting in the dining room. They are about to meet the staff that Lelouch, Jeremiah, and Cornelia have assembled. Jeremiah steps forward.

"Well young masters these are the member of the house staff and security. "

Jeremiah waves over to the group of people standing along the wall.

"Miss Villetta Nu and I will be with Master Lelouch."

Jeremiah point at the dark skinned silver haired woman. Lelouch know that all those assigned to him are those with military aspirations.

"Assigned to Mistress Euphemia are Monica Kruszewski and Paul Levesque."

Jeremiah points to a young blonde woman and a light brown haired man standing next to Villetta.

"Assigned to Mistress Nunnally are Alice Liddell and Rolo Halliburton."

Jeremiah points to a girl and boy about Nunnally's age.

Lelouch wonders about his sisters' bodyguards. He knows that both of Euphemia's guards are candidates for Knights of the Round positions. He wonders if this assignment is part of that. Nunnally's bodyguards worrying him the most. However one look into their eyes tells Lelouch that they are more than they seem.

"Now assigned to the general household security are corporal Kewell Soresi and Major Fayer."

Jeremiah points towards to the men standing along near the door.

"Miss Alicia Lohmeyer is also assigned to the young mistresses to ensure that everything is done properly."

Jeremiah points to the older woman standing near Kewell.

"Lastly there are two young ladies assigned to the house Anya Alstreim and Marika Soresi. They are here to attend school with the young master and mistresses as well as to learn how conduct themselves within proper society."

Lelouch nods to Jeremiah. He sends everybody away. Of course there are also maids, butlers, and cooks serving the home. However the personnel that had been in the room were the most important. Miss Lohmeyer remains in the room. Lelouch glares at her. She leaves grumbling on the way out.

"Jeremiah."

"Yes Master Lelouch."

"Does everybody here understand the situation?"

"Yes."

"Very well then. School starts in two days so we should rest."

The girls nod.

**September 4, 2010 ATB**

It's the first day of school. They are in their uniforms and on their way. They stop by to pick up Kallen.

Lelouch looks over to his sisters. "Do you remember our new identities?"

The girls nod. "Yes Lulu."

Lelouch walks his sisters to their classrooms. He begins to walk back to his classroom. Suddenly he is assaulted from behind.

"Hi Lulu."

It's Milly who is standing there in her school uniform. She is wearing a white shirt and a long pink dress with a red tie. Lelouch's uniform is blue. It is simply blue pants and blue top. He notices the girl uniforms are more ornate than the boy uniforms for all sections.

"Hi Milly. I better get going. I think I'm going to be late."

Milly nods and Lelouch runs off. As he approaches the classroom door, he stops to catch his breath. He walks into the classroom and notices that most of the desks are already occupied. He looks around for an empty desk. He sees that orange haired girl he met the other day and walks over to her.

"Hello Shirley."

"Hi." She pauses as if thinking of his name.

"Call him Lulu." Came from the door. "He loves it when they call him that."

Lelouch turns to face the door. Standing there is Suzaku Kururugi.

Lelouch grinds his teeth. "Hello Suzaku-sama."

Lelouch turns back to face the class. He sees Kallen sitting in the back and against the wall. There are no empty seats by her. Lelouch walks in that direction anyways. She is talking to the students around her.

She looks up at him. She smiles. "Oh hi Lulu."

The students talking to Kallen look up at Lelouch.

He looks down at them. "Hi Kallen."

He is trying to decide which of the boys surrounding Kallen he wants to make move.

Lelouch feels a hand on his shoulder. It's Suzaku. "Oh don't you guys know Lulu-sama here. His father is a duke." Suzaku smiles at Lelouch. "And he could probably buy all of us here. Don't forget you happen to be sitting by his girlfriend there." Suzaku points to Kallen."

Just like that all the seats around Kallen empty. Lelouch picks the seat behind her. Kallen turns around.

"I tried saving a seat for you but."

"It's okay."

Just then the teacher walked in and everybody found somewhere to sit. Suzaku conveniently sits next to Shirley. Suzaku turns around and smirks at Lelouch.

Even though Suzaku did him a favor Lelouch still doesn't like him. Now everybody knows that he is the son of a duke. At least it is better than them knowing that he is in reality a prince. Lelouch can sense them all glancing back at him. He had wanted to spend a few days as just a regular person.

The teacher begins to take roll call. "Rivalz Cardemonde…Nina Einstein…Shirley Fennette… Lelouch Lamperouge."

Rivalz Cardemonde is a blue haired boy sitting next to Lelouch. Nina is a black haired girl with glasses sitting at the front. As the teacher calls out names Lelouch looks over at the person responding to them. When they call his name his name, he is lost in thought. The teacher calls his name out again.

Kallen turns around and taps him. "Lelouch."

He looks up at her. "What is it?"

The teacher is looking at him. "Are you Lelouch Lamperouge?"

"Oh yes sorry ma'am."

The teacher shakes her head and continues. "…Suzaku Kururugi…Kallen Stadtfeld…"

The first day is quite boring. They are finally succored by lunch. As they go to lunch they see Euphemia leaving with a group of girls. Lelouch and Kallen sit together. They are joined by Shirley.

"Can I sit here?"

Lelouch looks up at her. Before he can say anything, Kallen answers. "Of course Shirley."

The orange haired girl sits down. She sits there eating quietly. The black haired girl with glasses comes and stands by the table.

Lelouch looks up at her. "Can we help you, Nina?" He made it a point to remember every student's name.

She looks at them nervously. "Milly said I should eat lunch with Lelouch."

Lelouch shrugs and gestures for her to sit down. Kallen decides to break the silence.

"So school seems interesting."

Shirley agrees. "Yes it sounds fun. I hear there is going to be a school cultural festival next week."

Lelouch shrugs. It's just school to him. "I guess it just seems a little boring."

"What do you mean? The festival sounds like fun."

"I guess."

Kallen looks over to Lelouch. Over the last three weeks she thinks she has gotten to know him. She's pretty sure he is the only real friend she has ever had.

"He loves it here. It's just the way he is."

Lelouch smirks. Was he that obvious? Of course the two of them have been spending a lot of time together even Jeremiah seems to be getting jealous. He was about to say something when a bell rang. It was the signal for them to go outside to the playground.

Lelouch stands up. "You know I never checked where the playground was."

Shirley smiles. "I know where it is, follow me."

Shirley leads them out to the playground. On the way out the see Milly walking in surrounded by other students.

She came over to Lelouch. "Hey Lulu, I need to talk to you." She looked around at the large group of students encircling them. "Alone. There is something we need to discuss."

The two of them walk away. Everybody else sighs as the two of them walk away.

"What's up Milly?"

"So you know about the Ashford Cultural Festival next week?"

"Yes, what about it?"

Milly didn't know how to go about this. "Well you see grandfather is a big spender."

Lelouch had heard all of this before. Lord Ashford's parties were legendary. "So what happened? Did he overspend for the festival?"

Milly begins to squirm nervously.

"Is something wrong Milly?"

She decides to just come and say it. "There is no money for the festival. Grandfather spent it all." She looks into his eyes. "Is there any way you can help out with funding the festival?"

Lelouch frowns. Of course he could get the funding for a thousand school festivals. The problem would be how to explain it. Well one festival couldn't hurt.

He looks into her eyes "Okay Milly, I will pay for everything. Just come over or tell me where we can meet."

Milly squeals and hops. She leans over and kisses Lelouch on the cheek. "I knew you wouldn't let me down Lulu."

Lelouch shakes his head as she skips away. He begins to walk out. He still doesn't know where the playground is. But just his luck because that Shirley girl comes back for him.

"Hi Shirley."

That seems to startle her. "Oh hi Lelouch. Was that Milly Ashford? How do you know her?"

"Yes, our families are old friends."

"Okay let's go outside."

Shirley takes Lelouch outside. Shirley goes off to a group of girls. When he gets outside he notices that Kallen is surrounded by a group of boys. Suzaku amongst them. Lelouch wonders if this was how his sisters feel whenever they saw him talking to other girls. He walks over to where she is. Everybody parts for him.

As the son of a duke he is probably the highest ranking noble at this school. Of course everybody knows the Ashfords are noble. He has never thought about the exact rank of the Ashfords. Lord Ashford must at least be an earl or a margrave. As Lelouch walks towards Kallen he thinks about that. He wonders what title Kallen's dad has. It must be something important to be doing business with Schniezel.

"Hi Lelouch, what's going on?"

"Oh just Milly being Milly. She wants some help with the Ashford Cultural Festival."

"Okay you want to push me on the swings."

Lelouch shrugs. She puts her hand out and he takes it. He doesn't move because he has no idea where the swings are. Kallen smiles. She leads the way. As they approach the swings something hits Lelouch from the side.

"Hey Lulu. Hi Kallen."

Lelouch looks over and sees his sister. "Hi Euphie"

She twirls in her uniform. The girls' uniform for the elementary section is a brown two piece sailor's uniform looking thing.

"Are you going to push Kallen on the swings?"

"Yes."

"Cool, here push both of us."

Kallen and Euphemia hop on their swings. Lelouch sighs. He knows he would have trouble pushing just one of them. He begins to push them. He starts with Euphie since she is lighter. He begins to alternate. Pretty soon he is having trouble keeping up. One of them, he isn't sure which one, knocks him over. They jump off their swings and run over to him.

"Oh did Lulu-sama get knocked down."

Lelouch looks up and sees Suzaku standing over him. The Japanese boy does not offer any help. Kallen and Euphemia come over to help Lelouch up.

"Sorry brother." A bell rings. "Time for me to go. "Bye Lulu." Euphemia gives her brother a kiss on the cheek and runs off.

Suzaku smirks. "Oh Kallen-chan, it looks like Lulu-sama is cheating on you with another girl."

Lelouch glares at Suzaku. "Well thank you for caring Suzaku-no kimi. But you know of course that that was my sister,"

Lelouch dusts himself off. Now Suzaku is glaring at Lelouch. Just like some damn Britannian brat to dredge up some archaic title like that. Suzaku smirks. A crowd has gathered. First because of Lelouch getting knocked down and now because of their little back and forth.

"Of course I care Lulu-denka."

Kallen's eyes open wide at this. She trips Suzaku to shut him up. She hopes that nobody understood what that meant.

Suzaku glares up at Kallen. He calms himself down. He knows that there would be heavy consequences if he did anything to this Britannian brat. Lelouch puts his arm out towards Suzaku. At first he wants to reject it but thinks better of it.

Lelouch pulls him up slowly. He really has to get in better shape because this is ridiculous.

Kallen pulls Lelouch back towards the swings. "Now you get on and I'll push you."

Before Lelouch can protest the red head has him sitting down. She begins to push him. After a few pushes Lelouch is really going fast. Since he has never been on this side of it, he never realized how fast and high one can actually go. He begins to get a little frightened.

"Now jump off Lelouch."

He shakes his head. Is she crazy? If he jumps, he'll probably break his legs.

"Come on it's not that bad."

He shakes his head again.

"Okay I'll slow you down."

Lelouch thinks about it. Well it can't be that bad. His sisters jump off all the time and they survive.

Kallen reaches out to grab the swing as Lelouch jumps off. The swing twists around. Lelouch falls off face down. He is on all fours. At least he didn't hit his face. Lelouch sighs. He closes his eyes and lets his body fall to the floor.

"Ugh, hey get off me."

Lelouch opens his eyes. He is on top of Kallen. He slides off her.

"Hey what's going on here?"

Lelouch looks up and sees a smiling Milly. He shakes his head. "Nothing I fell off the swing."

Before Milly can interrogate him some more, the bell rings.

"Sorry Milly time to go." He jumps up and helps Kallen up.

When they reach the classroom door, Lelouch stops to catch his breath. Kallen goes in without him. After Lelouch has recovered, he goes into the room. He notices that everyone is staring at him. He wonders why. As he sits down the blue haired boy, Rivalz is looking up at him.

"Is it true?"

Lelouch looks over to him. "Is what true?"

But the teacher interrupts the conversation from going any further.

"Attention students. As many of you know this school has an elected student council. Each section of the school, elementary, Jr. High, and high school, has there own student council. If you would like to run for a position." The teacher points to the bulletin board near the door that lists the positions. "Just put your name and position in the box." The teacher points to a box just below the bulletin board.

Suzaku raises his hand.

"Yes Mr. Kururugi."

Suzaku stands up smirking. "Teacher, I would like to nominate Lelouch Lamperouge for president."

"Well that's not really how it works."

Shirley stands up. "Teacher, I want nominate Lelouch as well."

"Miss Fennette, take your seat."

"Well it seems as if Mr. Lamperouge is very popular. So can I add your name to the list of presidential candidates, Mr. Lamperouge?"

Lelouch nods. The teacher takes a piece of paper and begins to write Lelouch's name.

Three students stand up. "Teacher."

The teacher looks over to the students. "What is going on here?"

Shirley gets back up. "Teacher, when do we vote for the student council?"

"Well elections take place next week after the students have gotten to know the candidates." The teacher frowns. "This is only the first day of school correct."

"Can't we vote now?"

"Well I don't think that would proper."

Now Rivalz stands up. "Teacher, I think we should vote now."

The teacher is getting a little annoyed at what is going on. "We still need to get the other candidates form the other classes and grades. If you had paid attention the student council president can be from the fourth or fifth grade. The voting grades also include second and third."

Suddenly there is knock on the door. The teacher goes over to answer it. The students can hear the teacher talking to someone. She points towards Lelouch. The teacher comes back into the room.

"Well students let me see. How many of you would vote for Lelouch Lamperouge for student council president?"

Everybody except for Lelouch raises their hand. Kallen turns around and frowns at Lelouch. He raises his hand as well. The teacher nods and heads back towards the door. She is talking to the same person again. After a while she returns back to the front of the room.

"Well it seems as if every student in every class thinks that Mr. Lamperouge should be student council president." The teacher sighs and continues. "There is even talk amongst the jr. high and high school students at have him be on their student council. It is rumored that kindergarteners and the first graders rioted until they were allowed to vote for Mr. Lamperouge."

With that out of the way the teacher began the lesson. Lelouch wondered when he became so popular. It couldn't just be because he was the son of a duke. He knew that there were other noble children in this school. Well there goes his year. He was hoping to spend it quietly. After school everybody congratulates him. Others who want to run for office ask him to endorse their candidacy. He says he will think about it.

"Lulu."

Nunnally jumps at Lelouch. She is followed by Euphemia.

"Isn't it great Lulu? This festival that the school is having."

Lelouch manages to get his sisters off him. He begins to walk towards their car. Kallen comes up after him as does Milly.

Milly appears to be pouting. "It's not fair Lulu. How did you get to be so popular?"

Lelouch shrugs. "I don't know."

Of course Nunnally knows the answer. "It's cause big brother is the best." She hugs her brother.

Euphemia seconds that. Lelouch shrugs again. "So when do you want to talk about the festival."

Milly twist her mouth. "Come early tomorrow. Then we can start planning."

The 'Lamperouge' kids and Kallen get in the car. Lelouch sighs.

"What happened today?"

The girls are a little confused.

Jeremiah calls out from the front. "Master Lelouch, it is a good deed what you are doing."

Lelouch looks up at his bodyguard. "What do you mean?"

"Offering to pay for the school festivals."

Lelouch corrects him. "You mean school festival."

"Well Master Lelouch that's not what I heard."

"What do you mean you heard? You've been at the house all day."

"Well Master Lelouch gossip travels fast. I heard that you offered to pay for all school festivals during the year."

Lelouch looks over to his sisters and Kallen who are nodding.

"Wait, I did what?"

**A few hours earlier at lunch**

Shirley is walking Nina and Kallen out towards the playground.

Kallen looks back inside. "You know we shouldn't have left Lelouch inside. He still doesn't know where the playground is."

"I'll go back to get him."

Kallen looks over to Shirley. She seems excitedly obliging. "Okay."

Shirley runs back in to get Lelouch. He is still talking to that blonde girl from before. Shirley thinks that it is Milly Ashford, the granddaughter of the school principal. She can't help overhearing what they are talking about.

"Is there any way you can help out with funding the festival?"

He looks into her eyes "Okay Milly, I will pay for everything. Just come over or tell me where we can meet."

Milly squeals and hops. She leans over and kisses Lelouch on the cheek. "I knew you wouldn't let me down Lulu."

Shirley backs up a little. Did he just offer to pay for the school festival? He must be really rich and nice. Shirley thought he is really cute, but he is also super nice.

"Hi Shirley."

Shirley is startled. She doesn't know what to say. She finally blurts out. "Oh hi Lelouch. Was that Milly Ashford? How do you know her?"

"Yes, our families are old friends."

"Okay let's go outside."

Shirley takes Lelouch outside. Shirley goes off to a group of girls.

One of the girls, Sophie Wood, looks over to Shirley. "What were you doing with him? Isn't he a son a duke or something?"

"I was showing him how to get to the playground. They say he's the son of a duke. But listen to this, he offered to pay for the school festival."

"He did. All of it."

Shirley nods. "I saw him talking to the principal's daughter."

The girls think about it. The Ashford family is known to be noble. In fact most of the students here have some nobility in their family or at the very least are rich. That's the reason why their families are in Japan to conduct business. Many also have vacation homes here that have turned into permanent homes.

A lavender haired girl named Meeya I. Hillmick squeals. "That is so cool that he would offer to pay for all the school festivals. We should tell people about this."

Before Shirley can say anything the group of girls spreads out. Pretty soon word spreads throughout the school that Lelouch Lamperouge who is the son of a super rich duke has offered to pay for all school festivals and activities.

Villetta Nu, one of Lelouch's bodyguards, is working at the school posing as a Physical Education teacher. She is in the teacher's lounge enjoying her lunch. She gets stares from both male and female faculty members. Mostly because of her age and look. A few because of her light schedule. She only works about half as much as the others. Of course her stated salary is less than the others but who cares about that. She is listening to two teachers talk. When she hears the name Lelouch Lamperouge.

"Wait what did you say about Lelouch Lamperouge?"

The elderly teacher turns to face Villetta. "Well it's all over the school. They say that the boy is the son of a duke and has offered to pay for all school festivals and activities. There is also talk that he may give money away at the festival."

Villetta simply nods. She knew that the young prince is allowed to do anything he wants with his money but this seemed excessive. She excuses herself from the lounge. She takes her phone out.

"Jeremiah dear." She struggled to say that. It was another part of the prince's plan. She and Jeremiah had to pretend to be married. In the prince's mind it would help take care of any gossip. "There seems to be a situation at school.

The week passes by with everybody thinking that Lelouch is going to pay for the year's activities. He didn't bother correcting them. He didn't do it for his sake because he really didn't care what they thought about him. But his generosity had boosted the popularity of his sisters. He wasn't surprised that his sister spent their first morning at school being very unpopular. It certainly didn't help that both young princesses were brats. Lelouch was thankful that neither of them had given away their secret.

By the end of the first week Lelouch has his choice of friends. The blue haired boy, Rivalz, who sits beside Lelouch, finally gathers the courage to speak to him. Lelouch decides to keep the boy around for comic relief and beside he seems like a good lackey/sidekick.

Of course Kallen is his best friend so they do everything together. Suzaku hangs around because he doesn't know anybody else. Also Lelouch is told to be nice to him because of international relations were important. Shirley and Nina tag along because they need some girls in their little group. It turns out Nina's grandfather had previously worked with Milly's grandfather. Sometimes Euphemia and Milly sit with them.

Since they are all were seen hanging out with Lelouch, they were all elected to the student council. Nina is elected treasurer because she is good with numbers. Rivalz is elected secretary because he is a good listener. Shirley is elected as student council party planner since she seems to be a fun person.

The only tight race is for vice president because people weren't sure who Lelouch's best friend is, Kallen or Suzaku. Even though Suzaku and he are always fighting, people think it is just how their friendship works. Lelouch gives Kallen his endorsement so she wins. Suzaku was still elected to the student council. Euphemia and Nunnally wae also elected as their grades' representatives. Rolo and Anya are selected as third grade representatives.

The election takes place on Tuesday so the first student council meeting was before school Wednesday. They are all sitting around a table. Miss Villetta is assigned as their advisor. Alice and Marika are appointed to the student council as auxiliary members.

Lelouch begins the meeting. "Well since the high school and jr high students have to set up everything for the festival, there isn't really anything for us to do."

The others simply nod. Nobody really has any idea what to do. This is their first time doing something like this.

Lelouch continues. "We do need to make two booths for the fourth and fifth grades each."

Nunnally grumbles. "Brother, what about us."

"Well we could give one of the booths to the lower grades."

Lelouch looks over to Anya who is fidgeting in her seat. "Yes Anya."

"We want a booth too. Right Rolo?"

Rolo looks up and nods. Out of all the assignments he could have received. He has to help baby-sit these brats.

* * *

Author's note: In case someone doesn't know anything about Japanese honorifics. Sama is used mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself and toward people one greatly admires. No kimi is a term from the Japanese classical period that refers to lords and ladies of the court. Denka means your royal highness.

If anyone thinks that Lelouch and Kallen's relationship is too forward let me know. I think they are pretty much past the stage where they think the other sex has cooties. They aren't yet to the stage where they begin to notice the opposite sex. Kallen is basically replacing Suzaku as Lelouch's first and best friend.

Suzaku and Lelouch's relationship was a frigid one at first. A few things change this. The first being the exile of Lelouch and Nunnally. The second being Nunnally's handicaps. The third is their constant interaction. When put together these things created a situation in which a friendship developed between Lelouch, Nunnally, and Suzaku.

Suzaku dislikes Lelouch and Nunnally for some reason. A part of it is possibly because they are Britannian royalty. In the "Nightmare of Nunnally" Suzaku also dislikes them because they take one of his hiding spots (secret base). He is a real brat in his attitude towards them. Lelouch obviously is very protective of Nunnally and defends her with no regards to the consequences.

In this story none of those things happen. Nunnally and Lelouch aren't exiled. In fact they come of their own free will. Nunnally isn't handicapped. In fact she is a very energetic young girl. Lelouch, Nunnally, and Euphemia are from Britannia which is taking over Japan little by little. Britannian culture and way of thinking is taking over Japan. They are being helped but that is for a later chapter.


	5. Ashford Academy pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_In this chapter a few characters will be speaking in Japanese. This will be marked by italics. This will only be for this chapter. Italics may mean something different in another chapter. _

...

A nation's future is based on what we learned in the past and what we teach our children. A great education is the cornerstone of any great nation. If you want your nation and children to fail do nothing. If you want your nation and children to succeed than you must strive to succeed yourself. There is no greater lesson than the visible one.

Jeremiah Gottwald

The Orange Papers

...

Where there is no vision, the people perish

Proverbs 29:18

**

* * *

**

October 30, 2010

After school Kallen comes over to Lelouch's house. They are upstairs in his room planning their grades booth for the festival. His sisters wanted them to make it a kissing booth with Lelouch as the attraction. As they sit on this bed Miss Lohmeyer enters the room.

"This situation seems very improper."

Lelouch looks up and glares at the woman. Miss Lohmeyer grumbles as she leaves the room.

"Lelouch, who is that woman?"

"Someone that is supposed look out for Euphie and Nunnally."

Kallen shrugs. "Oh."

"Kallen, I'm going to get some more snacks."

"Okay hurry up." She smiles. "So we can finish this."

Lelouch goes out of the room. Miss Lohmeyer is still lingering in the hall.

"Miss Lohmeyer, can I speak with you?"

The woman turns to face Lelouch. "Yes master Lelouch."

Lelouch looks up to the woman. "I command you to pay no attention to the girls that enter my room. Allow any girls to enter my room when I am there. There is nothing improper about it."

The woman stands there for moment. She then looks down at Lelouch. "What did you want master Lelouch?"

"Nothing Miss Lohmeyer. You can go back to your duties."

The woman walks away with a confused look. Lelouch nods. It seems as if this power works through glasses. Lelouch still has to conduct a lot more tests. He needs to test duration and distance. He also need to know if it works through video. He will have to write down what her learned today. He will have to wait until Kallen leaves. As he begins to walk back to his room, he stops. He promised to get snacks so he goes to the kitchen.

In the end every grade got at least one booth. The Festival is that Friday. Of course the kindergarten, first, second, and third grade booths are manned by the parents. Of course this made Nunnally and Anya unhappy so Lelouch let them help with the fifth grade booth. The festival is a success. It is a little tamer than Lelouch thought it would be, but he could sense the Ashford flair behind it. He wonders what Milly will plan in the future.

That night Euphie sneaks into Lelouch's room. Lelouch wonders what happened to Miss Lohmeyer. Then he remembers his command to her. Lelouch is going to have to remember that some commands need to be more specific. He still has a lot to learn about this power. He wonders what happened to that green haired girl.

**November 1, 2010**

Lelouch and Kallen are in his in room. They are finalizing their part of the upcoming festival. In two days the school along with the rest of the city is celebrating Culture Day. Tokyo is also celebrating Jidai Matsuri which is a celebration of the city's past. Since that day he cast his geass on Miss Lohmeyer, she hasn't been a problem.

Most of the other student council members are sort of useless. So Lelouch and Kallen just decide everything and make everyone else put everything together. They are attempting to finalize the idea for their booth. Once again Nunnally and Euphemia want to make it a kissing booth with Lelouch. Rivalz wanted to make it a ninja fighting booth. They settle for wagashi which are Japanese sweets. They just need to coordinate with certain parents to get everything ready. They work on it for a few hours before Kallen has to go home. Lelouch rides over to Kallen's house to make sure that she gets there safely.

**November 3, 2010 ATB**

It is the day of the festival. After the festival everybody is going to stay at Lelouch's house. Euphemia and Nunnally thought it would be a good idea if everybody in the student council dressed up in traditional Japanese clothes. Rivalz comes dressed as a ninja. He convinces Suzaku to come as a samurai.

Given that they are all going to be at the same place. Miss Lohmeyer and Major Fayer are in charge of watching the children. Despite this fact the rest of the security team comes to the festival. Since they are off duty, they are all relaxed.

This time Milly spares no expense when it comes to the festival. Well it's actually Lelouch who spares no expense but that is just a minor detail. Over the last few months the school has become known for its festivals and activities. There is no need to disappoint this time. There are so many traditional Japanese dishes that it is hard to describe them all.

They are working at the fifth grade booth. After working for an hour Kallen and Lelouch leave the others to work for a while. They walk around to all the booths to try different types of food.

"Here Lelouch try this."

Kallen gets Lelouch a plate of korokke and tempura.

"What is it?"

"This is korokke. It is a breaded and deep-fried patty that has mashed potato mixed with minced meat. This is tempura. It is deep-fried vegetables. Mom makes them all the time."

Lelouch tries what Kallen offers him. "It tastes good. I should take some to my sisters."

He looks over to where his sisters are. Nunnally is having fun with Alice and Rolo. Euphemia is playing games with Suzaku and Anya.

"I guess they're busy." Lelouch looks over to Kallen. "Let's go sit down and eat."

Lelouch has Kallen pick out a few more selections. He pays of course. Kallen tells him what each of the dishes are. As they sit there Lelouch looks over to Kallen. Her kimono is simple. It is light blue and has flower patterns along the bottom and sleeves. Lelouch has a simple black kimono on.

"Um Kallen, you look very pretty."

Well she did look pretty. He didn't say it just to be polite.

She blushes. "Thank you." She thinks about it. "You look very handsome."

Lelouch smiles.

"Hey Lelouch since everybody is staying at your house, maybe we could go into the town and see what the celebration is like there."

Lelouch thought about it. Ashford Academy was near the edge of the settlement which itself was near downtown Tokyo. So it was possible to go through the rest of Tokyo to get to Lelouch's house and not go too far.

"Okay but do you want to play some games here first."

They finish eating. Lelouch goes over and throws away their trash. He comes back to the table where Kallen is waiting for him. He puts his hand out. She takes it and stands up. They walk around holding hands.

They stop at the dunking booth which happens to be inhabited by their teacher. Lelouch is unable to hit the target but Kallen succeeds on her first try. They play several other games. Lelouch has very little success winning any of them well except for basketball. See because when you take into account wind resistance, the weight and circumference of the ball, the distance to the rim, the velocity of the ball and the gravitational pull of celestial bodies on the Earth, you get a very tired game attendant. He just hands Lelouch a prize and tells him not to come back.

Lelouch is carrying all of Kallen's winnings. Kallen is carrying Lelouch's one prize which happens to be a life size pink bunny. Nunnally and Alice come running over.

"Oh big brother, are any of those for me?"

Lelouch grimaces because he doesn't want to disappoint his little sister.

Thankfully Kallen has the solution, "Of course Nunnally," She reaches over and grabs one of her many stuffed animals and hands one to Nunnally.

"Oh this is great. What about one for Alice?"

Kallen takes another and hands it to Nunnally's friend. "Here you go."

"Hey Kallen, did brother win that big bunny for you?"

"Yes, yes he did."

"Cool."

With that Nunnally and Alice skip away. They go and play a few more games. Lelouch still can't win. Kallen adds a few more prizes to her collection. Lelouch goes around gathering everyone for the sleepover. They all like Kallen's suggestion of walking through part of downtown Tokyo. Well except for Jeremiah and Villetta but they don't count.

As they walk through the city the smells are the same as back at Ashford only magnified and overpoweringly pungent. Even though most for them are stuffed, they manage to find room in their stomachs for more. Lelouch looks around, apart form the many citizens of Tokyo; he sees people from around the world. After a while they begin to get tired.

Lelouch looks around for Jeremiah, "It seems as if we have walked pretty far."

Suzaku has an idea, "I know a shortcut. Just follow me. It's right up here."

Euphie looks at Suzaku's shortcut dubiously, "What's this street called?"

"It's Nakamura Street. Don't worry we'll get back in no time."

Suzaku smiles inside. Of course they'll be back quickly because they'll be running.

When Kallen hears the name of the street a look of horror comes over her face. She has been into the city many times with her mother and brother. Both have told her to never enter this sector. Shinjuku, Naoto called it.

They follow Suzaku slowly. The area is very dark. It is obvious that no one here is celebrating. Despite being very afraid Rivalz tries to play it off. He begins to act as the ninja he is dressed as. This lightens the mood a bit. But it doesn't last because they hear as scream down a nearby alley. Lelouch moves towards the noise. Kallen follows him. Naturally Euphemia, Nunnally, and Alice go after them. Milly, Shirley, and Nina stand still.

Suzaku stares after the Britannia prince. The fool where does he think he is. As they near the alley, the scene before them is something that none of them has ever seen before. It is likely something that they will never forget.

Several men are accosting someone. The one closest to him has a knife. They are speaking Japanese

"_Listen just give us the fucking money and maybe we'll only rape your wife."_

That makes the children look behind the men where. A woman and two girls are being held down by a few other men. Lelouch looks further and sees two more men beating on what appears to be a teenage boy.

The man responds in Japanese. "_I don't have that kind of money. But but in a a few days. Just give me a few days."_

They hear something being said softly. It is too hard to make out. But Lelouch realizes that it is not Japanese.

He murmurs quietly. "A Britannian."

However he is heard by the gang of men. The man with the knife turns and faces them.

"_What do we have here? Schoolchildren. Scram unless if you want some of this." _

The man goes back to his victim and slices across the victim's stomach. Blood begins to seep out. The man lets out a yell.

One of his daughters runs over. _"Please, don't hurt daddy any longer." _The girl looks down_. "You can have me all you want. Just leave everyone else alone."_

The man with the knife goes over to her. He pushes her to the floor. _"Oh don't worry you'll get your turn. As soon as we take some out of your dad and mom."_

Lelouch looks over to Kallen. "Get the other girls out of here."

Her eyes open wide. "What are you going to do?"

"Just go Kallen. You know the way back."

She nods her head and grabs Nunnally and Euphie. She drags them away. Milly, Nina, and Shirley follow after them.

Lelouch gets closer to the men. If he can only get them to look this way, it will be over.

Rivalz knows he should have left with the girls. But if he leaves Lelouch and Suzaku alone, what little reputation he has will be ruined.

Lelouch get seven closer to the men. _"Why are you following the orders of some damn Britannian?"_

Now all the men look in his direction. The man with the knife begins to flip it in his hands.

"_I thought I told you little fuckers to leave. Now go!"_

Lelouch doesn't back down even as the man approaches them. _"Don't you have any pride? Is this what your lives are worth?"_

The man looks over at Lelouch. He switches to English. "You speak good Japanese for a Britannian. Judging by what the quality of what you and your companions are wearing, you must be rich and noble. Just like our friend in the shadows," The man waves to what is obviously his boss, "One day you'll understand that this is the way life goes. Now I'm only going to say this one last time. In fact we'll let you take the little girl with you. The boy too. We have no need for them."

He waves back to his companions to release one of the girls. She appears to be about ten. They drag the boy over. They have beaten him to the point where walking has become difficult. The girl goes over to her brother. The knife man walks back to his victim.

"_Now beat it kid."_

Lelouch has a simple answer for him. "_No."_

The man looks incensed. He is walking towards Lelouch with a treacherous look in his eye.

Suzaku looks over. He can't anything happen to Lelouch. Since the girls have gone to get help, he knows that no matter the outcome he will get punished for this. He steps in front of Lelouch.

"_Stupid kid. Do you think you're a samurai for real?"_

The man kicks Suzaku in the face. Rivalz runs off. It doesn't matter what people will think of him. This has gone too far.

The man points his knife at Lelouch. _"This is it kid. If you want to be next."_

Lelouch looks into the man's eyes_. "Lelouch vi Britannia commands you. To drop your weapons and go drown yourself in the bay."_

The man freezes for a second. He drops his knife and guns. _"Yes your majesty."_

He runs off. His fellow gang members stare after him. Now their attention is turned to Lelouch. They leave their victims alone for a few moments. After all they aren't going anywhere. There are about eight of them. Lelouch backs up a bit. He needs to make sure they can see each other's eyes.

"_What did you do to Yoshita, you little bastard?"_

Lelouch looks at them. _"Lelouch vi Britannian commands you to drop your weapons and go join your friend and drown yourselves in ocean."_

The men stop walking, _"Yes your majesty."_

They drop everything they have and begin to run away.

Lelouch picks up one of the guns. He walks to where the men came from to their leader.

The man scowls. "It sure is tough to find quality help in this town."

The man approaches Lelouch. "Lelouch vi Britannia that makes you a prince. Well that will bring a fine ransom to make up for my trouble here."

Lelouch begins to think of how to dispose of this man when he hears a noise in the distance. The man appears to hear it as well.

"Well it seems as if this will have to end now," The man raises his gun at Lelouch. "Any last words."

Lelouch looks up at the man unfazed. "Yes just one. DIE!"

The man pauses for a second, "Yes your majesty," He puts the gun to his head and fires.

Lelouch knows he has to act quickly. He goes over to the little girl.

"_What's your name?"_

"_Futaba Ayame_"

"_Get up and leave. Here help your brother."_

"_Okay."_

The little girl goes over to her brother who has managed to get up. They go over to the rest of their family. Their mother and sister help the boy walk away. Their father staggers away with his had holding a cloth to his stomach to prevent the bleeding.

Lelouch picks up the man's gun. The girl comes running back to him. She carefully comes up to him.

"_Arigatō gozai masu."_

"_You're welcome."_

The little girl runs off with her family. Lelouch is left standing there holding a gun. There are various weapons on the floor. Of course there is also a dead body and some blood from Ayame's father. Jeremiah, Villetta, and a group of police officers show up.

"Your highness, are you alright?"

Lelouch looks up to the aqua haired man. "Yes Jeremiah."

Jeremiah looks down at Lelouch. The prince was standing there holding a gun. Both the gun and the prince had drops of blood. Even though the prince was attempting to act as if nothing was wrong, Jeremiah could tell he was terrified.

The policemen go over to the dead man. Of course by the angle of the shot they can tell that this was a suicide.

Suzaku begins to groan.

"Oh I forgot. Suzaku was knocked out. He probably needs some medical attention."

Kallen comes running up behind Jeremiah and Villetta. She sees Lelouch standing there holding a gun. The gangsters are gone. So is the family.

The police officers know that there is going to have to be a lot of covering up to do here. There is a noise from the other side of the street.

"_Hey you what are you doing here?"_

A red haired Japanese teenager comes over, _"I was over at the festival."_

The officers look the young man over, _"What's your name kid?"_

"_I'm Tamaki Shinichiro. I go to school over at Komakura School."_

He was obviously shaken. The officers look at him again. He seems a little shaken about what is happening.

"_Okay kid scram or we'll have some more questions for you."_

Tamaki runs off. He couldn't believe his bad luck. He was late for the job. It wasn't his fault he was having so much fun at the festival. The man on the floor with a hole in his head appears to be the boss. So maybe it was good luck after all. Nobody else from the gang appears to be there.

Now he is going to have to think of a different way to come up with money for college. Nothing is going to get in the way of his dream of becoming a bureaucrat. He is just glad the officers didn't take him in for questioning. If his mother finds out he is out here, he is a dead man.

Villetta can't believe the police officers let that man go. From his reaction to the scene it was obvious he knew the dead man on the ground. Villetta looks over to the man. He appears to be Britannian.

The officers look over to Jeremiah. He points towards Lelouch. "This is the person you were looking for, correct?"

"Yes this is the prince," Jeremiah looks over to Lelouch who is now standing over by Suzaku. He is still holding the gun, "Your highness perhaps you should give the officer that weapon so they can begin their investigation."

Lelouch nods. He walks over and hands the gun to the apprehensive policeman.

Lelouch helps a groggy Suzaku up. Kallen comes over to help him, _"Mommy is that you," _Suzaku looks over at Kallen, _"When did you color your hair red?"_

Kallen smiles and begins to stroke Suzaku's head. He groans when she touches the spot where he was hit. A group of men led by Suzaku's father comes over. They take Suzaku from Kallen and Lelouch. They leave without saying a word.

Jeremiah and Villetta come over to Kallen and Lelouch.

"Your highness, it is time to go," Jeremiah says forcefully.

Lelouch gets the clue. "Where is everybody else?"

"They should be arriving at the house. They have been informed of your safety."

Lelouch looks down at his clothes. "Maybe I should change before we get to the house."

Jeremiah looks down at the young prince. "Of course your highness. Villetta run ahead and purchase something else for his highness to wear."

Lelouch changes as they head back to the house. The ride is silent. Jeremiah decides not to ask his highness anything about it tonight.

Once back at the house Nunnally and Euphemia run to hug their brother. Lelouch looks over to his friends. He wonders if he should use his power to make them forget. He decides not to. It could lead to problems later. Since the night's action was more than they expected, they all decide to go to sleep. There will be plenty of time tomorrow to play.

Lelouch is sitting in his bed. The night's events have only just started to get to him. The way they were threatening that man and his family. The poor girl having to stay there while her father and brother were being beaten. Also having to watch her mother and sister be raped. There probably was a strong possibility that the little girl would have been raped as well.

Lelouch was old enough to realize that not all Britannians were good. He knew that Britannians could be evil. He knew that Japanese or Europeans could also be good or evil. It didn't matter where you were from. Lelouch begins to cry. It was all too much for him. For the first time since arriving in Japan he wishes for his mother or at least Cornelia.

Villetta is standing outside the prince's room. She and Jeremiah decided that they would take matter into their own hands. The lives of the royal children were endangered tonight because they got careless. She knew that her career now depended on the prince. She was still young. At nineteen she had already acquired such an important assignment. Villetta gently opens the door to the prince's room. She just wants to check on him. She sees the prince crying.

"Your highness, is something wrong?"

He looks up at her. No Miss Villetta, it's just."

Villetta goes over to the prince. As an only child she has very little experience dealing with this. Of course the prince refused to talk about what happened after the girls ran off to get help. Villetta sits down on the bed.

Lelouch looks up at Villetta. He had imagined himself to be grown up. He had imagined that he didn't need his mother anymore. There was no way that his parents could ever find out about this. He lies his head down on top of Villetta's lap.

As the prince lies down on top of Villetta, she is a little unsure but she adjusts herself to make it more comfortable for him. She begins to play with his hair. Villetta is a little uncomfortable with this arrangement. She is nothing but an ordinary commoner and here she is with a prince's head on her lap. She laughs a little inside. The prince is only ten years old and has just been through a very traumatic event.

After a few minutes of lying on Villetta's lap, Lelouch lifts his head. "Miss Villetta, I think I will be fine now."

Villetta nods. She gets off the bed. She slowly walks out. She will continue to keep watch at the door. As she opens the door, she notices that someone is standing at the door. She had been expecting one or both of the princesses to come but it was someone else.

"May I help you, Miss Ashford?"

The girl looks up nervously, "Is Lelouch alright?"

Villetta smiles. "Why don't you go and see for yourself?"

This was one of the things the empress told Villetta to keep in check. The prince was to spend as much time as possible with young Miss Ashford.

Milly walks into Lelouch's room. "Lulu, are you okay?"

"Yes Milly I'm fine."

Milly can tell by his eyes that Lelouch had been crying. She goes over to the bed. She hugs Lelouch.

"Lulu, what happened?"

"Don't worry about it. Milly, can you spend the night here with me?"

Milly looks over to Lelouch. She seems unsure. But she knows that if she went through a terrible experience, she would want Lelouch to be with her. She lies down beside him. They put their arms around each other. They both feel very comfortable in this position.

Suzaku is lying in his bed. His father yelled at him for a while until he realized the pointlessness of it. The doctor said that Suzaku is going to be fine. He just suffered a slight concussion from the blow. As he lies on is bed he is filled with hate for the person responsible for this. Sure he led them down that road but the opportunity to leave was there, but that brat wouldn't leave. Suzaku said his name with all the scorn he had inside of him.

"Lelouch vi Britannia."

Ayame was saying the name over and over. Her family finally made it home. She saw the look of sadness on her parents' faces. They were faces of disgust and shame. She hopes her parents aren't going to do something bad. Her father always spoke about how the Japanese people are a proud people. She silently sobs as she tries to sleep.

In the morning as the children are eating breakfast, Lelouch gathers the security staff in the living room. Lelouch is staring at them, and they are staring back.

He begins. "I don't think that the emperor or empress should be informed of what happened last night."

Miss Lohmeyer doesn't agree. In fact she was on her way to call Pendragon when she was called into this meeting. "I don't agree with that your highness. We were instructed by His Majesty to inform him of anything going on."

"That may be the case but I'm in charge here," he says that in a manner that leaves no argument. "I don't believe any of you want the truth to come out," He looks right as Miss Lohmeyer as he says this.

She knows he is right. Nothing would happen to the children. Apart from being children, they were royalty. It was their job as guardians to govern their actions. They would be the ones punished. For her and Major Fayer who had agreed to watch over the children that night, the punishment would be severe.

Knowing that they will do as he wants, Lelouch leaves the room. He goes over and joins his friends for breakfast. They are all afraid to ask Lelouch about last night. Since he doesn't seem bothered by it, they decide to forget it. They spend the day playing in the garden.

Later that day Lelouch checks the news.

"_Earlier today several men were found dead in Tokyo Bay. Authorities report the men seem to have drowned. In addition a few of the men seem to have been rescued earlier in the day near the location where their bodies where found. At the moment there is no explanation for these odd events."_

Lelouch nods as he hears this. The men did as he commanded them. In fact several were rescued, but they continued to follow the command. He needs to conduct a few more tests. Duration and distance are two things yet to be tested. He closes his notebook and gets ready for bed.

* * *

Author's note: I wanted to make the scene with the family getting accosted more violent. I wanted to make that the reason why Nina in particular is afraid of Japanese people. But then I ran into a problem, Lelouch's need to protect his sisters and hide his power.

While it's obvious that the emperor could care less about his children, I believe that Marianne's opinion matters to him just a bit.

Ayame Futaba is one of the girls that helps run the Ikaruga, the purple haired one. I just like pink and purple hair. She will have a little bigger role here.

Salacia Ravenguard is a character I have used before as a Knight of the Round usually Knight of Five. It has always annoyed me that there is not a full complement of Knight of the Round. Why make twelve spots if you are only going to have eight? Even then only a few of them even do anything.

I probably should have done this last chapter but oh well. Alice Liddell is basically Alice from The Nightmare of Nunnally. She will have the same geass but a different mission. The rest of the Irregulars will probably make appearances with a different purpose as well.

Rolo Halliburton is the one from the anime, obviously, with the same geass. Paul Levesque will be gone in a few chapters. Monica Kruszewski will also be gone soon when she is named Knight of Twelve.

Major Fayer or rather Lt Colonel Fayer was the person that told Suzaku to hold Zero in place on Shikine Island, season one episode 18. He also makes an appearance in season two episode 20. In this story he will be the same just a military lackey.

Alicia Lohmeyer plays more or less the same character but on a smaller scale.

Marika Soresi is Kewell's sister.

Finally Anya does not have Marianne's spirit inside her so I have decided to make her more cheerful. She isn't going to be like Kaguya or anything. Just not so emotionless.


	6. Ashford Academy pt 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass to its characters.

...

School is where you learn stuff for the future. At least that's what big brother Lulu says.

The Diary of Evelyn vi Britannia

...

Ashford Academy is the best. It is where I met the love of my life and his mortal enemy. I guess that makes him my mortal enemy as well. Although they are on speaking terms now.

Shirley Fennette

_Diary of a mad orange haired woman_

Neo-Pendragon Press 2021

...

The key to getting someone of noble birth to do something is blackmail. It doesn't have to be true. It just has to scare them.

Milly Ashford's Guide to Getting a Real Education

Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

**

* * *

**

December 5, 2010 ATB

The month flies by. They have mostly put the events from the previous month out of their minds. Today is a special day. It is Lelouch's birthday. Since it is Tuesday, his party is going to have to wait a few days, but details like that do nothing to detain Milly. She decides to make it a school wide celebration. Of course she makes it an animal costume party, and nobody informs Lelouch until he arrives at school.

Everybody else is in costume. Milly and Shirley are dressed like cats. Nina is dressed like a turtle. Suzaku and Euphemia are dressed as dogs. Rivalz is like leopard because he said they are stealthy like ninjas. Nunnally is dressed as a kangaroo. She has always wanted to visit Australia. Kallen is dressed as a pink bunny.

Milly is holding up several costumes for Lelouch to wear. "Hold still Lelouch."

"No let me go," He manages to fight his friends off for a bit.

Now Milly is upset. "This is all for you."

"I don't remember asking for this," He looks at Milly again, "Anyways you don't even go to the same section as we do."

Milly grumbles. "That doesn't matter. I'm here for the same reason as everyone else because we love you."

"If you loved me so much, you wouldn't be doing this to me."

They try to hold him down. Milly has a devious plan. Nunnally is holding Lelouch by the legs. While Euphemia is holding his upper body. Neither sister is holding too tight because they do not want to hurt him. He fights them off with ease. He makes a run for the door but is tackled by Kallen.

"Oh no Lelouch, you're not getting away."

They wrestle around. Euphemia looks down at them. "That looks like fun."

Nunnally grins. "It sure does," She tackles her older sister.

Euphemia screams, "That's not what I meant!"

But Nunnally already has the older girl in some kind of hold that she learned from Suzaku.

Rivalz begins to play wrestle with Suzaku but ends badly because Suzaku doesn't know how to hold back. Eventually Kallen manages to get Lelouch under control but not before he manages to tear her costume.

Milly comes over to them. She looks very angry. "Lelouch!" she slightly pauses. Her anger almost caused her to say his true name. "Lelouch Lamperouge, why can't you behave?"

Lelouch looks over at Kallen. He helps her cover up. They slowly walk over to the dressing room. Kallen adjust her costume so she isn't showing too much skin. Lelouch has his back to her.

"You can look now Lelouch. I look sort of decent."

Lelouch shakes his head.

Kallen smiles. "You're the best Lulu," Kallen thinks about it, "Can I call you that?"

He nods. "Sure," For some reason that nickname doesn't sound all that bad coming from her.

Milly comes into the dressing room. "Now are the two of you going to behave or am I going to have to tell everyone what I saw in here"

They stare at her blankly. They weren't doing anything. Then it hits Lelouch. He knows the way Milly's mind works.

He looks over at his costume choices: dog, cat, bunny, lion, and bear. He is tempted to choose the bunny outfit but selects the lion. He is king for the day after all or so he thought. The celebration continues without any other major glitches.

As the 'Lamperouge' kids and crew arrive home, they are surprised with a new addition to the family, Evelyn VI Britannia. They want to stay up late to get a look at their new sister but to no avail. There will be plenty of time for that in the morning.

* * *

A few weeks later school lets out for winter break. They are headed back to Pendragon to visit and of course to see Evelyn. They even invite Kallen and her mom. Milly is going to hang out with her grandparents and plan some school events, but a personal invitation from Empress Marianne changes that.

The girls run to their rooms. They quickly drop off their things and run off to Evelyn's room. When they arrive the baby is in Lelouch's arms. Kallen and Milly are sitting beside him. Euphemia is not too happy about this arrangement.

Euphemia frowns, "Hey how did you get here first? We ran fast."

It is obvious that both princesses are out of breath. Lelouch smirks at his sister's comment.

"I guess I have my priorities straight."

Nunnally and Euphemia shrug and walk towards Lelouch and Evelyn. Milly and Kallen are polite enough to move so the girls can get close to their sister. Lelouch brings Evelyn closer to Nunnally first. The baby giggles. Nunnally giggles back.

Lelouch smiles. "Well I think she likes Nunnally."

Lelouch holds her there for a few seconds. Then he brings her by Euphemia. The baby begins to cry, Euphemia frowns.

Lelouch looks over to his sister. "Well maybe she's had a long day and needs a nap."

Lelouch sets her down on a blanket. She seems to like everybody except for Euphemia. Eventually Empress Marianne comes to check on her children. They are finally overcome by their weariness. They spend a few days playing with their new sister. After a while Evelyn stops crying whenever Euphemia comes near.

* * *

After a week there Lelouch is called into a meeting with his parents and Cornelia. Jeremiah and Villetta are allowed to attend. Both are too in awe to say anything in front of their majesties.

The emperor begins. "Well Lelouch, we have decided to enroll you in a jr. military academy."

Of course by we, the emperor actually means Marianne decided.

Lelouch simply nods. He knows not to speak until given permission.

The emperor continues. "Your choices are Los Angeles Military Academy and West Point Military Academy. The choice is yours."

By the tone of his voice Lelouch knew that to the emperor it didn't matter where he went. Of course to his mother and sisters it matters.

To Lelouch it's obvious. "West Point."

The emperor nods and takes his leave. He knows that he is going to here about this later from Marianne, but the choice needs to be the boy's. It is obvious that he has strength and maybe this separation from his sisters will strengthen him more.

After the emperor leaves, Lelouch looks over to his mother and older sister.

"Can we not tell the girls about the choice?"

With that Lelouch gets up and walks out. He signals for Jeremiah and Villetta to follow him. They hesitate a little. They realize that unless they receive a direct order from the emperor or empress, they must follow the prince's orders.

The rest of the visit is pretty quiet. Once again they reaffirmed their desire to return to Japan. In a way the fact that they had no parental supervision was intoxicating. Little did they know that Marianne felt the same way about their being gone.

The second half of the school year was quieter than the first. There were still plenty of festivals and events. The countdown until Lelouch's departure was on. Everything was on target except for an event that threatened to reveal their secret.

...

**The Lamperouge Sisters would to cordially invite you to their First Annual Tea Party.**

**Date: Saturday, March 15, 2011**

**Time: 4:00 pm **

**Dress: formal**

**All refreshments will be provided.**

**...**

Shirley reads the invitation that was given to her by Kallen. "So they want me to go to their tea party. I thought it was just for their friends."

Kallen shakes her head. "No they decide to invite some of Lelouch's friends as well. Even Milly got an invitation."

Shirley nods. "Okay."

But everything isn't okay. Not everybody is happy with this tea party in particular one Sophie Wood. He father was an earl who did business with people who did business with people who did business with the royal family. So she felt she was of some importance. While it had been established that the Lamperouges are rich, their exact status as nobility was still a bit of a mystery.

"Who do those Lamperouge sisters think they are?" Sophie asked Kallen, "Where is my invitation to this tea part?"

Kallen responds. "I think they are just inviting friends over."

"Then why did Shirley get an invitation. Neither of those two girls are in our grade," Sophie leans closer to Kallen, "and besides Shirley is a commoner."

Kallen forces herself not to slap Sophie at that moment. Growing up in Japan she never really reconciled with the fact that her father was a Britannian duke who did direct business with members of the royal family. To most people this washed away the fact of who her mother was. Sophie was continuing her rant when Lelouch came over to save Kallen.

Sophie grumbled at the sight of Lelouch. He looks at her blankly.

"Is something wrong Sophie?"

"Who do your sisters think they are not inviting ME to their little tea party?"

Lelouch is startled a bit. He looks around and notices that Kallen, Nina, and Shirley all have invitations to his sisters' tea party.

"Oh Sophie I'm sure it was a mistake. Your invitation was probably misplaced. Let me go and check with Euphemia."

Lelouch moves out of the room as fast as his legs will take him. His sisters really put him in a bind this time. Because of their little tea party, Lelouch had a few options. He could either hide himself in his room to avoid all those girls or he could go out. Of course if he went out, it would be to visit Milly or Kallen. They are only invited to keep Lelouch from visiting them. Was that too hard of a concept to grasp? Of course Sophie had an inflated vision of her importance. If he allows his sisters to handle this, their true identities will come out.

Lelouch calls Jeremiah to bring Sophie a personalized invitation. Of course she makes a big deal about it when it arrives. The day of the tea party arrives. Lelouch is preparing to go over to Rivalz's house. He also had to help his sisters hide any proof of who they really were.

Sophie made it a point to arrive early. Euphemia and Nunnally are showing her some pictures. Euphemia has some pictures of her deceased mother. They have all decided that whenever someone asks about their mother. They will show some old pictures of Euphemia and Cornelia's mother since she isn't well known to the public. They also show her several pictures of their new sister, Evelyn.

As Sophie looks at the baby pictures one slips out and falls to the floor. She bends down to pick it up. It is another picture of the baby. This time she is with a purple haired woman. Sophie stares at the picture for a while. She waves it at Euphemia.

"Isn't this Princess Cornelia here?"

Euphemia and Nunnally stare at the picture of their sisters, but luckily Lelouch is at the door.

"Ah yes her highness was kind enough to grace us with her presence. She only came to speak with mother and father about some business. But mother couldn't resist the opportunity to show the princess the wonders of motherhood."

Sophie simply nods and puts the picture back in the album.

Lelouch sighs slightly. "Well I don't think you girls want me sticking around to ruin your evening so I'm off to Rivalz's house."

With that Lelouch is gone. The tea party was the usual girly formal affair. Kallen began to tug at the dress her mother made her wear. She isn't angry at her mother or the dress but rather at Lelouch for making her come.

After the party Kallen, Shirley, and Milly help clean up. Of course with all the servants, there really is no need for them to help. Euphemia knows what they are waiting for and sure enough in he comes as if on cue.

Lelouch walks into the house. "So how did the tea party go?"

Nunnally jumps up at her brother. "It was great."

Lelouch nods. He sees his friends standing there helping clean. "Well all of you ladies look lovely today," Lelouch smiles, "But it is perhaps time for everyone to go home."

Euphemia shakes her head. "Nope we're having a sleepover."

Lelouch sighs. "Well I'm going to my room. I don't want to interrupt any girly moments."

Lelouch goes to his room. Since it is Saturday night the girls have no reason to keep quiet. Lelouch is sitting in his bed when the door opens. He had expected for either of his sisters to come to tell him about the tea party. But it is Kallen instead.

"Hey Lelouch, mind if I come in."

He waves for her to join him on the bed. He has been in her room several times but this is only the second time she is in his. Of course there is nobody at her house but her mother and a few servants. While at his house there are many more servants and two overly protective sisters.

He is looking over his knightmare plans again. She goes over and looks at them. Eventually Villetta comes for her. It isn't proper for her to stay too late in the prince's bedroom.

After Villetta leaves the room, Lelouch whispers to Kallen to come back when everybody is asleep. She nods but seems a little unsure about that request.

Kallen does as Lelouch requests. They spend the night talking about the tea party, knightmares, and school. Kallen notices that it is very late. In fact later than she has every stayed up. She gets up to leave. Lelouch grabs her hand.

"Kallen, can you stay?"

Kallen looks over to him. Spend the night in bed with a boy. Of course he is her best friend. She lies down beside him. They are face to face. Lelouch brushes her hair.

"Kallen in a few months I'm leaving to go to a jr military academy."

"I know you told us already," She looks sad, "I wish you weren't leaving."

"It's only for three years and they give us lots of time off. We get a winter break and a long summer break but don't tell my sisters."

Kallen lies there. "It's just that you're leaving like Naoto."

"What do you mean?"

"He left and hasn't called or written,"

"Well I promise to write. I don't know how much a call from West Point to Japan would cost."

Kallen is silent.

"I won't forget you. You're my first real friend. You're my best friend."

"You're my best friend too."

"So you aren't sad."

"Of course I'm still sad. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too. Let's go to sleep okay."

Lelouch thinks about it. He tries to find a way to adjust himself.

"Here this is what I do when Euphie or Nunnally come to sleep with me."

Lelouch turns Kallen so her back is to him. He puts his arm around her.

"Good night Kallen."

"Good might Lulu."

The next few months are difficult for Kallen. Less than a year after her brother left for the military, her first and best friend is also leaving. Despite Lelouch's reassurance about the schedule and moderate training regiment, she is worried about him. He isn't much of an athlete. He tries to reassure her about it. After all they were training future commanders not grunts.

Before leaving Lelouch has to take care of a few things in Japan. Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell are leaving with Lelouch. Major Fayer is going to serve elsewhere. Monica Kruszewski is also going to serve elsewhere. Rumors are that she will become Knight of Twelve. Rolo is also leaving.

Miss Lohmeyer is staying to run the household. Alice Liddell and Paul Levesque are also staying as the princesses primary guardians. Marika Soresi and Anya Alstreim will also stay. Salacia Ravenguard is joining the security team. There are rumors that she is a Knight of the Round candidate. Lelouch wonders why they keep sending Rounds candidates to them.

Lelouch disembarks the plane. He is the first one of his team to touch the ground.

"Well I guess it begins here."

* * *

Author's note: The next chapter is about how certain characters fell about Lelouch leaving.


	7. The Longest Separation

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Angst: noun  
a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general:  
Informal: a feeling of persistent worry about something trivial:

Torment: noun  
severe physical or mental suffering:

Ecstasy: noun  
1. an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement  
2. an emotional or religious frenzy or trancelike state , originally one involving an experience of mystic self-transcendence

Confusion: noun  
1. lack of understanding; uncertainty  
2. the state of being bewildered or unclear in one's mind about something

**

* * *

**

The Angst of Separation

He left today my true and only love. They left me here alone with these people. Sister asked me if I wanted to return home. I considered it for a moment. But He told me to wait for Him here. So I told sister I would wait. I would overcome this angst of separation.

The first year was the hardest because we had been together almost continuously since Mother died. I once heard sister and Empress Marianne talking about how father wanted to send us away to serve as hostages in negotiations. But then sister proved her worth, and Empress Marianne used her influence. So sister and I moved into Aries Palace to live. It was perfect. It lasted for a few years.

Now it was His turn to be used. It was obvious that everybody around us was trying to separate us. They would bring Him girls. It was as if He was before a buffet line and He had to choose what He wanted. But He knew why they did it, everybody wanted to gain favor with Empress Marianne. Even those that scorned her commoner beginnings now wanted her approval. It wasn't her doing. He had proven His worth. He proved that He was beyond all their expectations.

Now He was away proving His worth once more, my love. Showing them all that He would go beyond there wildest expectations. Brother Schneizel visited us. He had just come from visiting with Him, my love. I overheard Schniezel and his aide talking. It seemed that they were afraid of Him. I was obvious that He was proving them all wrong. Even at His young age, it was obvious that He would be great.

As the first year dragged on they made us go to parties. They made me dance with that boy. It was obvious that they were trying to get me to forget about Him. They were trying to pair me with that boy. I wondered if it was part of their negotiations. A way to unite our two nations. It didn't matter nothing could make me forget Him.

His first year was over and He was on his way to visit. I looked in the mirror. If only my body was like sister's or even that blonde witch's. She was another one that was trying to take Him away from me. I knew that this plan came from Empress Marianne. Even though I loved her as a mother, I could never forgive her for bringing that blonde witch into our lives. I picked out what had been His favorite dress. It fit a little tighter so maybe that would enhance my body's look.

We went over to wait for Him. Of course stupid Nunnally had to come. And not only the blonde witch but the stupid red haired brother stealer showed up. I wanted to tell her how would she like it if I stole her brother away. If they weren't enough, that stupid orange haired always happy weirdo, the nerdy girl with glasses, and that blue haired moron showed up as well.

I wanted to go running into His arms when He got off the plane but He was surrounded by His bodyguards. When they finally let Him through, He went straight to Nunnally, of course. I thought that was the best course of action. It would be better if we did not show too much in our first meeting. We went home. Everybody came with over. We sat around and listened to Him tell stories about life at the Academy.

That I night I got out of my bed. I looked at myself in the mirror. I shrugged my shoulders. I still loved Him above everything else. So why should His feelings be any different. I went over to my desk and opened the drawer that contained His letters. I went back to the mirror and adjusted my clothes.

I slowly opened the door. I walked over to His room. As I walked I felt a chill going up my spine. I reached His door. I slowly reached for the knob. I turned it and pushed the door open slowly. I walked into the room slowly. I closed the door.

"Hi Euphie, are you coming to sleep with oniisama too?"

That made me turn around and look towards the bed. I didn't notice that the light had been on over by the bed. I saw Him sitting on the bed with Nunnally. She was showing Him pictures of what had occurred while He was away. Both of us spent the night in His bed.

He was here for only a month. We were never alone for more than a few minutes. Everyday I tried to go over to His room but something always got in the way. The last night of His stay I was determined to get my way. But on my way there stupid Miss Lohmeyer stopped me.

"Where do you think you are going, young lady?"

"I was going to."

"Sneaking out in the night is no the correct manner in which a princess conducts herself. Now back to your room."

I couldn't believe it. How could this be possible? Behind me in His room I could hear laughing. I wanted to turn back but Miss Lohmeyer was still standing there. The next day He left. There was no point in worrying about it. He was determined to accomplish this. If He is going to be strong so would I.

I continued to write Lelouch letters. He was in his second year. He wrote back. I can tell by his letters that he misses me. I thought only two more years of this. This angst of separation.

**Torment of Separation**

Big Brother is leaving today. I miss him already. It isn't like I need to be with him always. I'm not like Euphie. It's just that we have always been together. Since the day I was born, he has always been at my side. Whenever I got hurt. Whenever I needed him. He was there for me.

Even though I wish he didn't have to go I know why he is leaving. He needs to show he is useful. Brother told me once that father doesn't care about any of us. So it is important that we make ourselves useful. He says that a few years apart now means that later on we can be together.

I know one day brother will have to marry. Maybe one day I'll have to marry. That's why brother is going away. He wants to make prove that he is worth something like our older brothers and sisters. Then brother will marry who he wants when he wants. He will even be able to protect me.

Well there isn't more that I want to say. Just that I love my brother with all my heart. I promise to support him in this. If he is strong enough, I will be too. I will overcome this torment of separation.

Nunnally looked down at what she wrote in her diary. It was the most she had ever written. Of course she will miss her brother. She knows he will miss her too, but they have to be strong. Just then Alice walks into the room. They are going shopping for school clothes. Alice hands Nunnally a paper. It is a poem. Nunnally smiles as she reads it. She puts it on her wall near a picture of her brother.

Torment of Separation

We've always been together, Brother and me.  
But now the many twists and turns of life pull us apart.  
We have to be staunch. We have to be loyal.  
One day we will be together again.  
Just the two of us. Brother and me.  
But for now we have to overcome.  
Overcome this torment of separation.

**The Ecstasy of Separation**

So the damn Britannia brat was gone, it was time for Suzaku to take over. There was just one little problem. He was in a new section at school which meant he was at the bottom of the barrel again. He would have to prove himself. That in itself should have been no problem with the exception that almost all the brats here were Britannian nobility. So nothing that he did was really impressive. To top it off he was under the rule of the blonde witch.

He did gain a bit of popularity for a while. After a few weeks of school Suzaku suggested that they all write to Lelouch. The teacher thought about it and decided to make it an assignment. He even offered extra credit to the first person who got a letter back from Lelouch. Of course Suzaku cheated. He sent his letter out first knowing that the teacher would not refuse the request. So his letter got to Lelouch several days before anyone else.

He waited and waited but the stupid orangette got her letter first. Suzaku wondered why the red headed demon didn't win. Suzaku looked on. He noticed her reaction when the orangette walked in with her letter from Lulu. Of course he wrote to that red headed demon. He probably wrote to her everyday. In Suzaku's view they were practically married. They did everything together. They ate together. They went shopping together. Suzaku that at sleepovers they always ended up together in the morning.

Eventually Suzaku got his letter from the brat. It didn't say much but it got him credit. This made Suzaku hate him even more. Suzaku knew that the red headed demon probably put him up to it. At first it seemed like a mistake but soon everybody else got a letter. Even some people that weren't in their class got a letter.

Everybody began to look at Suzaku strangely. Before people assumed that he and the bratty prince just had one of those weird friendships. Now everybody knew that they weren't friends at all. If it wasn't for the fact that it would just make him and his sisters more popular, Suzaku would have told everybody their true identity.

As it was most of the girls in jr high dreamed about Lelouch coming back in a few years and whisking them away. Even some of the older girls wished for that scenario. If they found out he was a prince, it would only make most of them even more enamored. It might even make a lot of the guys angry at Suzaku. So he kept his mouth quiet.

The year wasn't so bad. His athletic ability set him apart. He even won a few trophies. Let that Britannian brat top that. Still something was missing. Suzaku felt like there was a hole in his life. He couldn't put his finger on it. I mean what could be better than this.

This ecstasy of separation.

**The Confusion of separation**

Lelouch is riding on the plane. He has only been gone for a few hours. Already this is the longest he has been without his sisters. Sure they had spent whole days apart while somebody was out doing something, but this was different.

He sat on the plane thinking about what it was going to be like. He asked his three subordinates, that's what they were now he guessed, what military life was like. They were pretty quiet about it. All he got from them was talk about hard work and the glory of the empire.

It was funny if you thought about it. In three years he would leave West Point Jr. Military Academy as a lieutenant. If he continued to attend until the age of seventeen or eighteen, it was possible he would end up a colonel or a general. It was also possible that he could become a Knight of the Round like his mother.

As things were he would outrank Villetta and Kewell in three years. Well technically they would hold the same rank but his royal status would outweigh all of that. By the age of eighteen it was possible for him to outrank Jeremiah. If military rank wasn't enough, there was also was also the possibility of him gaining court rankings.

Of course there was also the possibility that he would be used in some sort of alliance by way of marriage. After all he was only the eleventh prince. Marrying him off would be probably mean very little in the long run. That's why he going away now. By the time he came of age he would show the world he would not be trifled with. All these things were going through his eleven year old head

He began to think of something. At first he thought he was going to be happy. For a moment he had experienced the joy of separation. But now that he thought about it, he wasn't only going to miss his sisters. He was also going to miss his new friends.

He began to look over his knightmare plans to take is mind off everything. He would have to get in contact with some designers. The Glasgow had only been out for a few years. In fact it took over ten years from the creation of the Ganymede to the implementation of the Glasgow. Lelouch planned on cutting the time to the next advancement. He just needed to get the right people together for this project.

He looked out the window. There is was New York City. He had chosen to come here straight from Japan. At first he planned a stop in Pendragon but changed is mind. As he looked at his plans a picture slipped out. It was a picture of all his friends from school. He stared at it. He pulled out several more pictures. He looked at two in particular, one of Milly and one of Kallen. He knew that his future was in these pictures. He sat there and stared. He should have been happy. He should have been overjoyed. After all what young man didn't want to be out on his own but he was overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed by this confusion of separation.

* * *

Author's note: The first part from Euphemia's point of view. All pronouns that are about Lelouch are capitalized. While her feelings for Lelouch do not change, their relationship does. Who 'that boy' is should be obvious.

If this doesn't see like the sweet naïve Euphie we all know, remember this is Euphemia at eleven through thirteen. She is completely and madly in love with Lelouch. So don't get in her way.

If Euphemia had told Miss Lohmeyer that she was going to Lelouch's room or if she had simply just gone towards the room. Miss Lohmeyer would have had no choice but to let her in because of Lelouch's geass command.

I wrote the little poem in the Nunnally section. In the story it was written by Alice for Nunnally.

In case anyone is wondering why Euphemia got such long section in comparison to what everybody else is going to get. I changed my mind several times about whether or not to write these chapters. Since I already had much of the Euphemia written up. I just left it how it was. Originally I had planned for these nine chapters to intertwine like a giant puzzle but thought that was too much work. For the reader and myself. However the letter chapters will still be like that.

I wanted to make a chapter all about how Lelouch was happy to be gone. But when you stop and consider that his friends and family are sad to see him go. How must he be feeling when he is losing all his friends instead of just one? So I made him show a little sadness at his leaving. Hence the name of the chapter.

A few chapters ago I introduced the most important OC I have ever created. Which is saying a lot since I have made up Knights of the Round before.

Next chapter is all about letters to and from Lulu during his first year away.

Lelouch makes a new friend next chapter. Whoever can guess who it is gets a free limited edition CC look a like cheese-kun.


	8. Letters pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This chapter is about letters to and from Lelouch. Everybody will get a letter or two. Even though electronics and e-mail probably exist, written letters are more personal. Also Lelouch doesn't have access to his own computer or a private account yet. The letters are in chronological order. As you will see there are other letters besides these being written to and from Lelouch. This is just a sample to get a hint of everybody's feelings. If every letter written to Lelouch was written down that would take forever.

* * *

Everybody likes getting mail. Invitations, birthday cards, a letter from someone you haven't seen in a while. Sometimes even bills remind you that someone out there remembers you. So if you need something shipped remember the Britannian Imperial Post Office is here for all you shipping needs.

Holy Empire Of Britannia

Imperial Post Office commercial

* * *

Dear oniisama,

Kallen taught me that. She taught me other stuff but I forgot. Maybe as soon as I can I will take a class on Japanese. Well I wanted to wait a few weeks before writing to you. I know you need some time to settle down. You don't need a letter from your little sister asking you to come home. I know you've probably received thirty letters from Euphie already. Well I'm just writing to let you know that I'm going to write to you.

Let me explain. In school we have to find a pen pal. The more important the person the better the grade. I thought about brother Schniezel or sister Cornelia. But I know that they are busy and will probably make a mistake somewhere. Well not that you aren't busy so if you can do me this little favor.

Your always loving sister,

Nunnally

* * *

Dear Prince Lelouch vi Britannia,

My name is Nunnally Lamperouge. I also have a older brother named Lelouch. In fact he was named after you since he was born a month later. Well just a little about myself. I live in Japan with my older sister. My brother is currently attending West Point Jr. Military Academy. There isn't much else to write about. Well I have a best friend named Alice, and I enjoy playing in the garden. I also like to run at the beach barefoot. I would be grateful if your highness found time to write back.

Sincerely,

Nunnally Lamperouge.

* * *

Dear Lady Nunnally Lamperouge,

It is always good to hear from any Britannian citizen. I am never to busy to take time to respond to a faithful citizen of our glorious nation. As I am also attending West Point Jr. Military Academy, I will definitely look out for your brother. I hope to continue this long distance relationship. At the present moment I am quite busy with school but would enjoy to hear from you once again.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Baron of Kentshire

* * *

Dear Kalli,

That's what I'm goin

* * *

g to call you from now on, okay. Well it took a few days to get settled in but I am writing like I promised. It's a little tough here. The school work is pretty much the same but the physical stuff is hard. Well just wanted to make sure you know that I haven't forgotten you. I will keep my promise to write to you.

Your friend,

Lulu

* * *

Dear Lulu-sama,

What's going on? Just wanted you to know that I got the teacher to have everybody write you a letter. So well I'll wait for your response.

Your best bud,

Suzaku

* * *

….

….

….

…..

…..

* * *

Dear Lelouch Lamperouge,

I hope you remember me. I am Shirley Fennette. We were in the same class. Well Suzaku convinced the teacher to have everyone write you a letter. Whoever you respond to first gets extra credit. I don't mean to bother you with such a trivial thing but well I could always use the extra credit. Tell me a little about what you are doing over there.

Sincerely,

Shirley Fennette

* * *

Dear Kalli,

So I know you probably got my last letter yesterday. But then I received this letter from Shirley about some extra credit contest the teacher is doing. I pretty sure you don't need any help with your grades. So if you can let Shirley win, I would appreciate it. Still miss you. I also made a friend. Of course he isn't as cool as you. Oh crap here he comes.

Your friend,

Lulu

* * *

Dear Shirley Fennette,

Of course I remember you, silly girl. How many times did you come over to my house? Or how many times did we do a project together. While I hope to respond to everyone from school who writes to me, I hope that this letter helps you get that extra credit. I am glad that you wrote to me. Tell everyone that I miss them very much. Life here is pretty simple once you get used to it. I've met lots of cool people.

Sincerely,

Lelouch Lamperouge

* * *

Dear Lulu,

Your sisters told me to call you that. Thanks for the letter. It arrived almost a week before everybody else's letters. The teacher gave me extra extra credit. Hope you do well.

Sincerely,

Shirley Fennette

* * *

Dear Shirley Fennette,

This is Lulu's friend, Gino Weinsberg. Well he didn't see the need to reply to your last letter so I will do it for him. Is he always like this? Well since I don't know much about you except what you look like. He showed me some pictures from his year at your school. I have to say you're pretty cute. He thinks so too but don't tell him I told you.

Laters,

Gino Weinsberg

(Shirley faints. As she is taken to the nurses office she is clutching this letter. The nurse is unable to get it out of her hand.)

* * *

Dear Lulu,

I wanted to write to you before but felt strange doing so. It isn't that I don't miss you because I do. Isn't it weird? We've only known each other for a small amount of time but yet. Well things here are pretty much the same. But now that we are in jr. high, we are under the rule of President Milly. Actually I should say Empress Milly because seriously that is how she acts. How did you ever put up with her as a friend? Well she isn't all that bad. I do have one request for you. Stop giving her so much money. The events are endless. I do have to admit that I hate you a little for not being here. Well okay I don't hate you but I miss you terribly. Take care of yourself.

Tell your weird friend to stop writing to us. Euphie and Nuna don't even bother opening the letters. Milly is trying to get him to write about anything embarrassing that happens to you. Shirley fainted after receiving one of his letters. She still won't say why. Well once again take care.

Your friend Kalli

* * *

To my Lulu,

Well I didn't expect you to write back as much as I write to you. But well never mind. I miss you SO MUCH. I wish you were here. It feels weird not having you here. School doesn't feel the same. Even the food tastes different. Well I hope you do well. Take care.

Forever yours,

Euphie

(The letter like all of Euphie's letter is covered in kisses)

* * *

To my Euphie,

I don't mind all the letters. I'm sure the paper industry appreciates it, as well. I don't write as much because well nothing much happens here. There aren't any festivals or events. I looked at our schedule and our winter break is different than yours. I'll probably just go and visit mother and Evelyn. If you are getting my any birthday or Christmas presents just leave them there at Pendragon. I'll pick them up when I go. I miss you as much as you miss me. It's just easier to not think about it. Remember we have to be strong. One day we will be together again and then nothing will separate us.

Yours indefinitely,

Lulu

(Euphie imagines that this letter like all of Lelouch's letters is also filled with kisses and hugs.)

* * *

To Sir Lelouch Lamperouge,

School isn't any fun without you. Well that's a lie but it would be so much better with you here. These people have no idea how to plan a proper festival. Thanks for all the money. I kept the account numbers hidden so no one will find them. Well hurry up and come back. Just remember every time you come back we are having a celebration. Whether we are in school or not. Well take care.

Sincerely,

Her imperial presidentness Camilla Millicent Ashford

p.s. I miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis youuuuuuuuuuuuu a lot. Bye.

* * *

To Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford,

I am glad to hear that you have secured the funds for your school activities. I am glad I can be of assistance to a fellow noble Britannian. Remember to send me pictures of your events. It is always a pleasure to see the fruits of one's work.

Sincerely,

Lelouch Lamperouge

Earl of Coolness

p.s. I miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu more. Stop torturing Kallen, Shirley, and Rivalz.

* * *

To his royal highness Lelouch vi Britannia, Baron of Kentshire:

TELL YOUR FRIEND TO STOP WRITING TO ME.

Your loving sister,

Cornelia li Britannia

Margravine of Plymouth

* * *

To her royal highness Cornelia li Britannia, Margravine of Plymouth:

I have notified Gino of your displeasure. Sometimes he can be a bit clueless. Maybe you should send Guilford or Darlton over to rough him up. I don't know what their policy is on beating up eleven year olds. On that note I received some strange visitors last week. Brothers Schniezel and Odysseus sent their aides to check up on me. Well I will have to find a way to take advantage of that. I never got to thank you for helping with that Nunnally pen pal business. I don't know as of yet how long it will go on. Well take care.

Your always loving brother,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Nonsense

* * *

To Gino Weinsberg,

Well ya Lelouch is always like that. Sometimes he is a stick in the mud. But he's a cool guy. Just keep on eye out for him. If anything happens to him, most of the girls here at school would die. Well here's some pictures from when he was here and some from when he wasn't here.

Sincerely,

Rivalz Cardemonde

* * *

To STUPID Gino,

Stop writing to my friends and family. Get your own. I, Lelouch vi Britannia command you.

Insincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Butt kicking

(Lelouch balls up the letter and throws it at Gino's head.)

* * *

To my best buddy in the world Lelouch vi Britannia Lamperouge,

Hey if you took the time to write to all your friends then I wouldn't have too.

Your best bud,

Gino Weinsberg

(Gino can't bring himself to throw the paper at Lelouch so he gently places it next to him as he sleeps. Lelouch reads it. He then crumples it and throw it at Gino's head. Gino spends the next few hours inconsolable because his best buddy in the whole world is being mean to him. Lelouch would like to point at that they are not best friends. He has a best friend and she would never be this annoying. This comment makes Gino raise his eyebrows.)

* * *

To my Euphie,

Just writing to let you know that school lets out in two weeks. Regrettably I only get a month off. I hope to spend as much as I can with Nunnally and you. Well I will see you when I arrive.

Forever yours,

Lelouch

* * *

Dear Nunna-chan,

Okay so after months of writing as someone who doesn't know you. It feels good to write a letter or two as your brother. Just writing to let you know that school lets out in little more than a week. Unfortunately I will only spend a month in Japan. So we can make the best of it. I tried to get mom to let me take Evelyn but she said no. Alice sent me her poems but don't get mad at her. I feel the same way. Being away from you is the hardest.

Your ever loving brother,

Lelouch

* * *

To my lovely Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford,

In a week school lets out. I am going to spend a week visiting Pendragon. Then I will go to Japan for about a month. After that I am coming back to the mainland to look at some knightmares. In your last letter you expressed a bit of interest in knightmares. I know you want you grandfather or father to complete the work. But honestly I think that you are the only Ashford who can do it. So if you are interested in coming with me, just let me know.

Your friend,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Awesomeness

p.s. I actually am an earl now. The emperor personally let me know earlier today. I have given up my old title of Baron of Kentshire to Nunnally so she will have something. I tried to get him to make me Earl of Awesomeness but he decided that Cheshire was more fitting. It will probably be my last new title for a while.

* * *

To my best friend in the whole wide world Lady Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld Lamperouge,

Well I kept my promise to you of writing the whole year. I hope it wasn't too much. Of course responding to Euphie's letters takes up most of my time. So I informed you in my last letter of my summer vacation plans. But something came up recently. I will only spend a month in Japan, but I get the chance to keep another promise. They are letting me play with some knightmares. So I just wanted to know if you are interested in coming with me.

Your best friend forever and ever for all of eternity,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Radicalness

* * *

To Rivalz Cardemonde,

Well it looks like I won't be able to go to Japan with Lelouch. I try to call him Lulu but even writing the name gives me chills. Like he is going to send assassins after me. Well my parents won't let me go with him. They're real party poopers. Maybe one day I can go over, or you can come and visit me. Well take care.

Your bud,

Gino Weinsberg

* * *

To Rivalz,

I will be back on Tuesday so call Milly to pick you up. She is going to meet me at the airport with my sisters. Also I told Gino that you can come back with me when I return.

Sincerely,

Lelouch Lamperouge

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

May 27, 2012 ATB

To Earl Lloyd Apslund, Ph. D.:

I have read some of your position papers and research involving knightmare advances and technology. I must say that I am quite intrigued by your work. If possible I would like to get together some time this summer to discuss these matters with you. I will be spending some time abroad but hope to return near the beginning of July. I will be working with some of our current knightmares. I think it would be advantageous to both us to meet at that time.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

May 27, 2012 ATB

To Dr. Rakshata Chawla, Ph.D.:

I have read some of your position papers research involving medical cybernetics. I have also looked at some of your work pertaining to knightmares. I must say that I am quite intrigued by your work. If possible I would like to get together some time this summer to discuss these matters with you. I will be spending some time abroad but hope to return near the beginning of July. I will be working with some of our current knightmares. I think it would be advantageous to both us to meet at that time.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

May 27, 2012 ATB

To Dr. Leonard Labie, Ph.D.:

I have read some of your position papers research involving knightmare advances. I am also interested in your work on human armor. I must say that I am quite intrigued by your work. If possible I would like to get together some time this summer to discuss these matters with you. I will be spending some time abroad but hope to return near the beginning of July. I will be working with some of our current knightmares. I think it would be advantageous to both us to meet at that time.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

May 27, 2012 ATB

To Dr. Cecile Croomy, Ph.D.:

I have read some of your position papers research involving energy consumption and manipulation. I must say that I am quite intrigued by your work. If possible I would like to get together some time this summer to discuss these matters with you. I will be spending some time abroad but hope to return near the beginning of July. I will be working with some of our current knightmares. I think it would be advantageous to both us to meet at that time.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

May 27, 2012 ATB

To Margrave Philip Cummins:

I have read some of your research involving knightmare advances and weaponry. I must say that I am quite intrigued by your work. If possible I would like to get together some time this summer to discuss these matters with you. I will be spending some time abroad but hope to return near the beginning of July. I will be working with some of our current knightmares. I think it would be advantageous to both us to meet at that time.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

Author's note: I would like to point out that just because Lelouch is attempting to gather all these people it doesn't mean that he will be rebelling against the empire with the Lancelot Albion or Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. by 2014. He is simply writing to people who appear interested in knightmare and technological advancement.

Margrave Cummins is someone I made up in one of my previous stories. He is involved in knightmare advances. He won't be all that important going forward. His daughter might be. I have introduced her in other stories as well as a knightmare pilot. None of the OC's I create will surpass cannon characters with the exception of the new vi Britannia children.

Leonard Labie is from the spin-off manga Suzaku of the Counter Attack. He started the work on the Lancelot body suit that Lloyd completed.

In the next chapter we go back to our story. We follow Lelouch's arrival and first year at West Point.

Lelouch was granted the title Baron of Kentshire at birth. All first born male members of the royal family are granted at least a barony upon birth. It depends on their mother's status in court. Also the advancement in gaining new titles is based on their mother's position in the court and their own achievements. In other words if someone's mother falls out of favor at some point gaining a greater rank will become difficult without great achievements.

Court rankings aren't like military rankings. You don't just climb up as time goes on. But it is possible to hold more than one at a time, it just isn't looked upon favorably. One can turn their lesser ranking back to the crown for something (money, land, military rank) or one can sell it. The former is the more common and accepted practice. The latter while legal is not, but a noble in need of some money can sell his ranking.

One can also give a lesser ranking to a younger sibling. This is what Lelouch does. At birth Nunnally is 87th in line to the throne so she is basically marriage fodder. Having a court ranking gives her a little leverage as to the marriage partner.

Below is the order of rankings in this Code Geass universe. A higher rank only means that the possibility of dealing with the royal family increases but this is not a given. An earl or baron who are involved in the military in any capacity have a greater chance of dealing with the royal family than a duke who just sits around.

Emperor/empress, prince/princess, emperor/empress consort-prince/princess consort, archduke/archduchess, duke/duchess, margrave/margravine, earl/countess, viscount/viscountess, baron/baroness, knight

It's even possible that certain princes and princesses never get to see the emperor in person. Another thing is that the emperor/empress consorts are ranked lower the princes/princess and have the same rank as prince/princess consorts. This is because they are not in line for the throne. An example upon birth Lelouch is more important than Marianne because there was a slim chance that he could become emperor but for her it was near impossible to gain the throne. She is still his mother so that holds some sway.

Consort means husband or wife of the ruler. The term prince/princess consort isn't very common but still viable. The term basically means someone who married into the royal family. An example Euphemia is a princess. Kallen or Milly will be princess consorts. Lelouch is a prince. Suzaku will be a prince consort. Consorts are basically there to provide heirs.

One last thing to consider. While princes/princesses are second in rank only the emperor/empress, if they gain no other court rankings their descendants get nothing. An example of this would be if the Code Geass Universe didn't have any of the geass/Ragnarok stuff and Odysseus became emperor. Without any achievements of his own, Lelouch's descendants would no longer be royal or noble after a few generations or at least only the eldest child would be.

Sorry for all the information. All this is only for this story. So don't get confused by anything you have read or heard elsewhere.

Holy Empire Of Britannia

Imperial Post Office commercial


	9. Separation and Reward pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Before I begin this I want to say that I know nothing of actual military procedure and training. I figured since this is a school mostly for nobility that they would apply a good cop/bad cop sort of method. I will liken the method of training to that of Ender's Game except that Lelouch isn't trying to save the world from aliens or is he...

...

The hardest thing a man has to do is leave the comfort of what the knows best.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Memoirs of the Black Prince

Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

...

One day we will all be together an nothing will separate us then. Be it in this world or the next.

Diary of Euphemia li Britannia

...

It is in the good times that you miss those closest to you. When there is no one to celebrate with you.

Diary of Nunnally vi Britannia

**

* * *

**

August 16, 2011 ATB

Colonel Evan Sanders looks down at the list of incoming students. He looks over their pictures. He has been in charge of the school for six years. It is part of the deal that made him a colonel. He now outranks his old friend Fayer who finally made lt. colonel. Of course Fayer has done a stint watching some royal brats.

"Lieutenant Oppel, are you sure this is the one?"

"Yes colonel, his name and description match what was given to us by Lt Colonel Fayer."

The colonel looks down at the picture again. Lelouch Lamperouge, that's what the paper says, but in reality he is Lelouch vi Britannia. Of course it is all a setup. He isn't going to fail this test. The prince will be provided with every comfort available.

Over the years there have been important people attending this school but none as important as a prince. The fact that the prince is entering at this stage in of Evan's time at this school definitely means something.

"Lieutenant, inform the rest of the staff," Evan thinks about it, "Make an announcement. The whole school should know who is coming."

As the lieutenant leaves, Evan smiles. He will not make a mistake this time. He heard stories of what happened to his predecessor, General Winston Gainsborough, a few years before Evan arrived. The old man made the mistake of not doing a thorough background check on his students. One of them happened to be Maximus va Britannia.

The prince did not get accommodations that royalty required. He only lasted a few months. The prince's mother gave the general an earful. But nothing happened to the old man. Of course he was an old war horse who was riding out the last few years before retirement.

Evan had his own experience his first year here. That year Cassius Ru Britannia happened to enroll at the school. Needless to say Evan was not prepared. He was told to expect nobility, and it was his job to straighten them out a bit. Nothing to hard but the young nobles were to learn of discipline and toughness. Well nothing was to the prince's liking. He left after a few weeks.

This time Evan is ready. He has secured the prince private quarters. His friend Lt. Colonel Fayer also informed Evan that the prince is bringing three subordinates. They are getting nearby accommodations as well. His friend also informed him that it is possible the prince will be receiving important visitors. Evan is going to have to keep an eye and ear out for that.

He will even prepare the other students. It won't matter if only the instructors know who the prince is. Yes this time Evan will be ready for anything or so he thought.

"Colonel Sanders, the plane has landed and they are on their way."

"Thank you Lieutenant Oppel. Bring them here when they arrive. I want his highness to know that we are prepared."

Of course this was a test. After two miserable failures years apart, the royal family was sending someone else. Evan won't fail.

Lieutenant Oppel comes into the room behind him is an aqua haired man in his early twenties. After a few seconds a raven haired young man walks into the room. Following him are two people in their late teens/early twenties, a golden eyed, silver haired woman and a blue eyed, brown haired man. The look on all their eyes says military training. Even though Evan is sure he outranks them all and is old enough to be their father, the fact that they are with the prince matters more.

Evan begins, "Your highness let me be the first to welcome you to the Britannian Military Academy at West Point, Jr. Division."

The prince nods to signal for Evan to continue.

"I am Colonel Evan Sanders. This is my assistant, Lieutenant Michael Oppel."

Evan gestures towards Lt. Oppel. He looks over to the prince's companions.

Lelouch looks over to the overweight colonel in front of him. Is this going to be the person in charge of his military training? Of course Jeremiah did a thorough check on every person that worked at this school from the commanding officer to the lowliest cook.

"I suppose you know that I am Lelouch vi Britannia," he points over to Jeremiah, "This is Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald His military rank is captain. These are lieutenants Villetta Nu and Kewell Soresi."

"Well I am pleased to meet you, your highness."

"Yes well Colonel, would it be possible if I could go down to the barracks and get settled in? I would like to meet some of my compatriots."

The comment takes Evan aback. But of course that is what this prince expected. He had obviously talked to his brothers.

Evan smiles, "Yes well your highness, we have been preparing for your arrival. We have prepared private quarters for you and your subordinates."

As Evan continues he can see the look of displeasure on the face of the prince and his subordinates.

"These are quite luxurious your highness. There is no need to worry."

Lelouch grimaces. "Colonel if I may."

The colonel waves for Lelouch to continue. Lelouch know that he has to take control of the situation.

"I know that you and your staff are just trying to accommodate me. But there is a reason why I did not enroll under my real name. I had hoped to stay hidden for a few months."

Lelouch can see the look on the colonel's face as he says this.

"If I had wanted to be treated as a prince, believe me Colonel Sanders, I would have let you know."

Lelouch stands up. The colonel looks almost crestfallen. Lelouch has no idea why.

"Lieutenant Nu, you will take the accommodations set aside for myself. If Lieutenant Oppel can go down and make sure that there is room for me at the barracks."

Villetta's can't believe what the prince is saying. She wants to protest but the prince gives her a look that says not to.

Evan is taken aback by what has occurred. Never in his wild imaginings did he believe that a member of the royal family would turn down an opportunity at luxury. Not only that the prince did not want anybody to know that he was a prince.

Jeremiah shakes his head at the look of confusion on the colonel's face.

"Colonel Sanders. Colonel Sanders!"

The colonel just sits there.

Finally Jeremiah looks over to his prince. "Your highness, I have been here in the past and know my way around."

Lelouch nods and follows Jeremiah out leaving the stunned colonel and his assistant. Jeremiah leads them down towards the barracks. Once there Lelouch signals for them to leave him. Lelouch lifts his bags and walks towards on empty bed.

Despite being named barracks they aren't anything like Lelouch imagined them. They aren't like movie barracks. Even though there are bunk beds, the room is quite spacious. Each of the cadets has about a five to seven foot space near their bed that they share with their bunkmate. At the end of the room is a large walk-in closet for the cadets to anything that doesn't fit near their bed. This would mostly be civilian clothes for them to wear during their free time.

Lelouch puts his bags down. The bed also looks comfortable. Lelouch sits down on the bottom bunk. A lanky blonde who appears to be around Lelouch's age comes over to him.

"Um hey are you going to take the bottom bunk."

Lelouch looks up at him. "Well I was just sitting down. I wanted to look around."

"Oh well if it's possible can I have the bottom bunk?"

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders. "You can have it."

The kid puts on a big smile. "Thanks buddy."

Lelouch shrugs again. "What's your name?"

"Gino Weinsberg. And you are Lelouch vi Britannia."

Lelouch blinks. "How do you know my name?"

"Everybody knows who you are. They have been talking about it all morning here."

Lelouch looks around and notices that most of the people in the room are looking over to him.

Gino sits down besides Lelouch. It's his bed after all.

"You seem pretty normal for a prince."

"You seem pretty normal for a blonde kid."

Gino laughs. "Well you know what I mean. They said you were going to get your own private room."

"Well I was but I decided to come down here. My subordinates can have the room. They need it. After all the trouble I've put them through this year."

Gino looks a Lelouch with a blank look on is face. "Subordinates."

Lelouch twists his mouth. "Bodyguards."

"Oh okay," Gino looks over at Lelouch, "You know we met once or twice in Pendragon. My dad's a duke. I think we played in a garden. It was fun."

Lelouch looks over to Gino. He doesn't remember meeting him. Of course he doesn't even remember meeting some of his own brothers and sisters. Meeting him was probably the highlight of Gino's life or year. For Lelouch the highlight of his life was last Tuesday when Milly said goodbye to him in her special way.

Gino's stomach begins to grumble. "I think I should go eat something."

Lelouch thinks about it. He hasn't eaten in a few hours. "Ya that's a good idea."

Lelouch follows Gino to the mess hall which is just as luxurious as the room. The cadets have at buffet to choose from. Lelouch wonders if all of this is to make them keep their guard down. It sort of is. After lunch there was an announcement about a big meeting for all the cadets tonight at 6 PM.

Lelouch wonders where the private quarters they have set up for him are located. He asks around and is told where to go. Gino tags along. They walk over to the rooms. It is obvious that the Colonel meant for Lelouch to be apart from everyone else. There are two guards posted at the door. They make a slight move to stop Lelouch from continuing but a glare from him sends them reeling back. Gino slowly follows Lelouch.

Lelouch enters the quarters. He looks around. Inside he is slightly cursing at himself for at least not having a look at them first. There is a big screen TV. What appear to be several video games systems. Of course a very comfortable looking couch. Lelouch wonders what the bedroom looks like.

Gino just stands by the door. He is wondering why the prince gave up all of this to sleep down there with everybody else. Of course judging by the prince's reaction Gino knows that the prince never came up here to check out the rooms.

Lelouch moves slowly across the room. As he was entering he heard soft moans coming from what he thought was the bedroom. After a few minutes the door opens and out comes Villetta. She is walking around in her underwear. As she approaches the kitchen she notices the two boys.

Gino can only stare. He has never seen a woman like this. Well at least not one with that kind of body. He stumbles out of the room and closes the door. He runs back to the cadet barracks.

Lelouch stares for a moment. He slowly turns around to see that Gino had run off. Lelouch shrugs. It isn't that he doesn't consider Villetta to be a beautiful woman and seeing her in her underwear should have elicited a reaction from him. Of course it isn't the first time he had seen a girl in underwear or less. He has taken plenty of baths with Euphie and Nunnally. Even during the last year he saw plenty of Milly and Kallen in very little clothes.

There was even that one time a few years when Euphie took one of his chess pieces and ran into Cornelia's room. Obviously their older sister was not expecting anyone of come in at the moment. She was completely naked. Of course none of them ever spoke about that incident. Lelouch thought about his older sister, now that was a woman.

He looks over to Villetta who is still standing there.

"Miss Villetta," Lelouch spoke softly, "aren't you going to but something on."

Villetta runs back to her room. A few minutes later she comes back.

Lelouch looks over at her and nods. "I'm sorry for barging in here they way I did Miss Villetta,"

Lelouch hopes that not calling her by her military rank calms her down and lessens her embarrassment.

"That is fine your highness. I shouldn't be flaunting myself in that manner."

"No I should have at least knocked or yelled. This is after all your room now."

She is still seems nervous. "Your highness, you and your friend can come here when you please. After all everything here was put in here for you."

Lelouch nods. "Okay but next time I promise to knock."

Lelouch goes back to the barracks. Gino is sitting on his bed mumbling rocking back and forth. Lelouch assures him that he will not get in any trouble.

That evening all the cadets go to their first meeting. Lelouch finds it quite boring. He looks around. Most of the cadets are his age. There are even a few younger kids here. The fat Colonel and is assistant drone on and on about how the school is going to make them into greater Britannians. This is followed by the mandatory ALL HAIL BRITANNIA.

Then a small man comes onto the stage. Lelouch looks over at the man's rank markings. He is a sergeant. Lelouch knows that sergeants are the people that turn untrained flabs of meat into soldiers. It begins that night.

As he heads back to the barracks Lelouch is very tired. He notices that everybody else is also tired. Some of the younger kids look like they wanted to cry. Despite the luxury in the room the showers are communal. There are a few private showers but they are taken by older boys. One of them even gestures for Lelouch to take his. Lelouch shakes his head and goes to the main showers.

Some of the younger boys are just standing around not knowing what to do. Even the communal showers are divided into sections. There are side by side showers. There are some semi private ones. These are divided into four sections that share a central water source. But there is no door or covering. Lelouch heads over to the side by side showers. Showering with boys can't be much different than bathing with girls can it?

Behind or in front of the side by side showers depending on how you look at it are benches for the cadets to put their clothes and stuff. Lelouch puts his things down. He begins to undress. The side by side showers are mostly empty. Lelouch shrugs. He does his business and leaves. He notices most of the younger boys are waiting for the private showers.

Lelouch goes over to his bed. He put his dirty clothes in the hamper. Tomorrow they all have to begin wearing their uniforms. Lelouch notices that some of the cadets are packing up a few things. At the big meeting they were informed that they were being assigned to groups. Their sleeping arrangements were based on their group. Obviously everybody here was a first year cadet or they were under the age of twelve. The minimum age requirement for the academy was ten. There were a few exceptions.

After a long while Gino comes over to the bed. A few minutes later at ten the lights go out. Lelouch lies there on his bed.

"Hey um Lelouch."

Lelouch sighs, "Yes Gino."

"How come you just walked into the showers like nothing was going on?"

"It's just a shower Gino."

Gino nods. "Okay."

Lelouch begins to wonder why he was just so indifferent to showering with other people. Of course as children he and his sisters showered together all the time. There was even a few occasions when. Lelouch stops himself before a certain thought comes into his head. Too late.

**June 2005**

Lelouch and Euphemia had been running around outside all day. They were positively filthy. The five year old prince looked over to his four year old sister.

"Hey Lulu one day when we grow up, are we getting married?"

"Of course, nothing is going to separate me from my princess."

Lelouch gives his sister a kiss on the cheek. They begin to walk into the house hand in hand.

"Just where do you think you are going."

They turn around and see Empress Marianne standing there.

Lelouch responds, "We are going inside to play with Nunnally, mother."

"Not like that. The two of you need to be cleaned as soon as possible."

Euphie stayed there and waited for the servants to come get her. Lelouch wasn't so easy. Like most little boys he did not like baths. They finally caught him. They had to drag him inside. Lelouch could see Cornelia and Clovis shaking their heads.

Clovis in particular looked horrified at his younger brother's actions. "Lelouch, just behave for a moment."

Lelouch would not behave. "The very least they could do is let Euphie and me take a bath together."

"Oh is that what is bothering you. Well that can be taken care of."

Finally the servants manage to wrangle the young prince to the bathroom. He calms down when he sees Euphie standing in the bathroom. He goes over to her. She looks confused.

"What's wrong, Euphie?"

Instead of answering she points towards the bathtub. Lelouch looks over and is so startled that he falls over. In the tub is Clovis. The twelve year old prince is playing with a rubber duck.

"Oh dear Lulu and Euphie aren't you coming in."

Lelouch looks towards the door. The servants look determined not to let either of them out. Lelouch lowers his shoulders. He begins to undress. From that day forward Lelouch was no longer afraid to bathe or shower with other people.

As Lelouch tried to put that image out of his head. He could hear some of the cadets crying. He sees several of the instructors going over to them.

**November 5, 2011 ATB**

It is the Monday after the recent Ashford Cultural festival. It was in no way as eventful as last years. Milly knows that Rivalz and Nina still had nightmares about the day. It was one of the many reasons why she wanted to cancel the festival this, but over past year Ashford Academy became famous for its many festivals.

There was another reason why the festival was important. It was the first time that she and Lelouch kissed. At the time they were only ten and eleven. She knew that the next time they would see each other she will be thirteen and he will be twelve. Milly looks at herself in the mirror. She knows that all the jr high boys gawked at her, She even heard rumors that some of the high school boys glance at her every once in a while. Of course if Lelouch was here, he would be with her so all those boys would be sorely disappointed.

Milly misses him more than she figured she would. She looks over at her clock. It is getting late. Well no time to mess around. She quickens the pace. A few minutes later she is down the stairs and at the breakfast table. She eats alone. Her grandparents are probably at the school already. At least Milly isn't getting bombarded by her parents this year with demands that she get closer to Lelouch.

Milly is thankful that she didn't schedule a student council meeting before school today. As much as she loves torturing her fellow council members. Sometimes it is too much even for her. Her first class happens to be PE. This of course allows her to show off her body. Since PE is a multi-grade class, she was able to arrange Kallen, Shirley, and Nina's schedule so they have it first period as well.

The teacher is preoccupied with the boys in the class, since he was the boys' soccer coach. This allows the girls to sit around and gossip. Well the student council members work on student council stuff.

Milly looks over at her girls. "Well the festival was a success. Now we have to plan for the winter ball."

Now that they are in jr. high they have a lot more social functions. It isn't just festivals and games. There are dances, plays, and sporting events.

Milly notices that Shirley is looking over at her. "Did you want to say something Shirley?"

"Well yes Madam President, what exactly are we planning? Isn't the Winter Ball just a dance?"

Milly shakes her head. Shirley doesn't understand everything that a ball entails. Milly is going to have to correct her friend.

"No it is not just a dance. There are many things to consider. Apart from our dresses there is the food and music. Of course most importantly our dates."

This makes the other girls look at Milly. Kallen is the first one who gets the words out.

"What do you mean our dates?"

Milly just smiles as she runs off to interrupt the soccer game. Luckily for her it is time to go anyways. It's a good thing she is in a different grade then her friends. Of course at the end of the day at the student council meeting, she will have to answer all their questions.

Well either way the Winter Ball has to be planned. If Lelouch were here, then he would be her date and they would dance the night away. Everybody in the classroom ignores Milly twirling around the room. They are used to her eccentricities.

**January 4, 2012**

Lelouch is playing chess with Sergeant Fromm. He is their drill instructor. Besides the colonel and his lieutenant, the sergeant is the highest ranking person the cadets deal with. Over the course of the last five months Lelouch has played and beaten everybody at chess including all of the instructors. Nobody but the sergeant has managed to even come close to beating Lelouch.

This isn't going to be one of those games. The sergeant is already down a few pieces including his queen. A few moves later Lelouch wins. Two older boys come over and challenge Lelouch to a game. But not a normal game, they challenge him to play both of them at the same time. Lelouch accepts.

Since the boys were quite a bit older Lelouch tries to get them to talk about what they do. They give short answers and tries to concentrate on the game. Lelouch beats them both within fifteen minutes. After the match the two older boys leave. Gino sits down in front of Lelouch.

"Alright Lelouch I think I have what it takes to win."

Lelouch shrugged. "Whatever Gino."

A few minutes later Gino was contemplating what happened in the game.

"Come on Gino. We have game coming up."

Gino follows Lelouch. They are in the same group. Gino and Lelouch are squad leaders. A few days after entering the academy the first year cadets are divided into fourteen groups of twelve. After a few days of simulations, the groups elect their own group leaders.

Their group Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron, Gino chose the name, is undefeated. There are only a few games remaining. After that the first year cadets would be put in squads with bigger boys. Today they were playing the Red Dragons. This is their toughest opponent so far. In fact at their previous meeting the Red Dragons almost won.

The game is a mock battle. Both teams start on opposing sides. The objective is to capture the enemy's flag while 'killing' as many of them as possible. Besides the mock battle the group standings also factored in grades and simulations. The individual cadets are also ranked in several categories: most kills/hits, most flag captures, and least times being killed/hit. Gino led the cadets in the first category while Lelouch led in the latter two.

The cadets have several sensors on the body: one on each leg and arm, one on the chest and head. The difference between being killed or disabled depends on where they get hit. The sensors emitted a small electric shock that effectively disabled that body part. If the cadet tried to move the disabled part the electricity could traumatize them. Most of them learned their lesson after the first few times.

Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron always gathered five minutes early so Lelouch could tell them their strategy. Usually it involved some sort of Gino kamikaze attack while everybody else moved in slowly and disabled the remaining enemy units. This usually left an opening for Lelouch to come in and capture the flag. There are different variants to this strategy. It always turns out good for their team.

Lelouch is sure the Red Dragons are ready this time. He decides to change the strategy up a bit. He explains everything to his teammates. Some have a worried expression on their face, but they have complete confidence in Lelouch. The battle begins as many have with Gino going to his forward position on the enemy left. The Red Dragons are ready and corner him. They aren't going to let the lanky blonde get them this time.

"Hey blondie come out. We got something for you."

This is the only place where status and rank didn't matter much.

"So the pampered prince has run out of magic."

They continue to taunt Gino. He pulls back. The taunting gets louder. Suddenly a raven haired amethyst eyed boy appears to the right of the enemy, He begins to fire. Lelouch isn't much of an athlete but he is a deadly shot. He dominates all the shooting simulations.

It isn't long before the enemy numbers overwhelm him but not before he disables a good portion of their force. At that moment Gino comes back again he is killed in a matter of seconds but he also disables many of the enemy force. With over half of the enemy disabled or killed, the remaining ten members of Lelouch's force made short work of the Red Dragons. When the deed is done, they select the smallest member of the team to get the flag.

Lelouch nods. His team has very little creativity or imagination but when put in good position they get the job done. It is no wonder why they are undefeated. Lelouch is the brains, Gino is the brawn, and the rest of the team do the grunt work.

Lieutenant Oppel and Sergeant Fromm come over to turn the sensors off. Since the cadet training is nearing an end, the lieutenant is keeping a close watch on the games. Several of their teammates come over to help Lelouch and Gino up. The lieutenant comes over. The cadets salute him.

"Cadet Lamperouge, may I ask you a question?"

Since that first day everybody has learned that Lelouch preferred not to be called by any royal honorifics.

"Yes lieutenant."

"Why did you change your strategy for this game? What you have done has always worked. Your actions today have cost you your perfect record."

Lelouch thought about it. He remembers the chess games from earlier today.

"It is quite simple sir. If the king does not lead, his subordinates won't follow."

Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron let out a cheer. Lelouch and Gino lead their team away. It is lunch time. All the flag capturers have to stand in a line while the other cadets sing their 'praises.'

After lunch Sergeant Fromm asks Lelouch to come to his office.

"Yes sergeant, you asked for me."

Lelouch is one of the first to catch on that sergeants are not to be addressed as sir.

"Yes Lamperouge, sit down."

Lelouch takes a seat. After meeting with emperors, queens, princes, princesses, dukes, generals, and of course pretty girls, one forty-five year old slightly baldy sergeant isn't that scary.

"That was an interesting battle today. You do know that in a real battle your strategy would be," Sergeant Fromm searches for a word, "bullshit. A leader cannot sacrifice himself. The structure of his army would fall apart," He pauses, "When you did it in the chess game I thought you were crazy but it seemed to work at for you."

Lelouch can't help but laugh. "Yes I understand that. But my men," Lelouch emphasized that word, "need to know that I am not afraid. It definitely worked. The enemy concentrated too much on Gino. When he pulled back they were probably expecting Sanderson or Goodley to come up," Lelouch pauses slightly, 'I decided to give them a surprise. It might not work next game."

Sergeant Fromm nods. In all his years training young men he has encountered some exceptional ones. Very few of them were of noble birth. He found that by nature commoners tend to push harder. Of course none of them was as down right frightening as the young prince sitting in front of him. Sergeant Fromm waves for Lelouch to leave. As the prince leaves Sergeant Fromm decides to do some research on him.

Lelouch looks at his watch. He still has some time before his next class. He runs over to Villetta's room. Kallen's birthday is coming up in a two months and Lelouch wants to send her something. Since Villetta was once a twelve year old girl, he decides to ask her for her opinion.

**January 19, 2012 ATB**

**West Point, New York, Holy Empire of Britannia **

Since Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron is so far ahead in the standings, that they change up the final game a bit. The morning session has them running a gauntlet. Instead of just facing one team, they face all thirteen other teams one after the other with little time in between. They defeat them all. Lelouch even tries different strategies against the teams he knows are weaker. Sometimes he only uses nine or ten men or he has them shoot left-handed.

Of course the Red Dragons are last. Lelouch decides that he and his men are tired.

Gino comes over. "So what are we going to do?"

Lelouch smirks. "Just follow me."

Lelouch gets his weapon and begins to run as soon as the signal is given. He silently signals his team to get into position. They are thankful that the spent the past few months learning Lelouch's silent language. They are extremely tired but the sooner this is finished the better. They cross the half point and notice that the enemy is still further back. They all grin.

The Red Dragons come out nonchalantly. They figure the other team is going to be tired and cautious. That was there first and only mistake. They have advanced through one-fourth of the course when they begin to go down.

Lelouch sends the smallest member of his team after the enemy flag. Despite their initial surprise the Red Dragons begin to fight back. However it is too late their numbers continue to dwindle as Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron closes in on them. They finish them off just as the flag is captured.

Lunch is the quietest it has been the whole year. They wae given a break after lunch. Lelouch took the time to ask the sergeant for a favor. Of course he has to explain his actions and win a game of chess. He does so with ease. He leaves to prepare for the day's last game.

The final game is an everybody versus everybody battle. Well that is the general plan; however, team members have decided to work together. The course is similar to the ones used for individual team battles only bigger. The game began at about seven. It was expected to last at least two hours or so.

Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron is going to be the target on top of everybody's list so they decided to split up and hide. That allows the other teams to reduce each other's numbers as they hide and snipe a few cadets off. They have some early success. They wisely take out the ones they know to be dangerous. A few of Lelouch's team start to go down, however, the damage is done.

Nobody can find Lelouch and Gino. Obviously Lelouch is used to hiding from his sisters. Gino is used to hiding from his parents. Lelouch catches a glimpse of the scoreboard. About three-fourths of the one hundred sixty-eight cadets have been killed. He also notices that only two of his team members have been taken out.

Lelouch gets out of his hiding spot. He takes out a small prism glass object. He throws it up into the air and fires at it. It reflects the laser around the course. It isn't meant to do any damage to anyone, but it is the signal for Lelouch's team to come out of hiding.

In a matter of minutes it is down to Lelouch, Gino, a few teammates, and two other poor souls who are on the run for their life. Lelouch is the first to turn on his team. Soon it is down to Lelouch and Gino. They end up disabling each other. Since neither of them could move enough to finish, the game was called. It seems like a cheap ending, but it is probably the most justified.

Lelouch is going off the barracks to rest. Gino stops him

"What's up Gino."

"Well since it's the last night that we're all together as a team, the guys wanted to celebrate."

Lelouch nods, "I'll be right there."

Gino shrugs his shoulders and goes off to join the celebration. Lelouch follows after him. After all he didn't put in all that work for nothing. As he walks down to where his soon to be former teammates are celebrating, some older kids come over to him.

They look him up and down.

"You are Lelouch vi Britannia, Lelouch Lamperouge?"

It is more of a question. Lelouch simply nods his head. He believes that he recognizes the boys from somewhere.

"Well someone wants to speak with you."

The boys point to group of boys standing in the distance. Lelouch walks over towards them. Standing in the middle is an orange haired boy that appears to be in his mid-teens.

Lelouch looks the boy over. The look in his eyes says pure evil. Lelouch shivers a little inside. Of course having dealt with an oblivious and demanding father, a careless and manipulative mother, and plenty of devious and bratty siblings, Lelouch can put up with anything.

"Hello your highness I would like to discuss a bit of business with you. My name is Luciano Bradley."

"What is this business?"

"I am sure that you are well aware that in a few days you and all your buddies are going to get drafted to teams with older cadets. Well most of you anyways."

Lelouch nods.

Luciano takes that as a signal to continue.

"Well my team gets the first pick and we are choosing you."

Lelouch thinks of where he has heard the name Luciano Bradley, He remembers seeing it on top of the kill charts but doesn't remember what team he belongs to. That must be why they get the first selection because they are a very bad team.

"I'm also making a move to grab your buddy Weinberg," he pauses and looks a little disturbed at this point, "Some don't think that the blonde kid is worth it, but I see it differently. He obviously has some skills beyond athletic ability."

"I see. So your squad is in agreement on this?"

"Well not everyone. Look a smart kid like you probably know how it works so no need to explain it to you."

Lelouch considers all of this. "What is it exactly that you want to tell me? You could have just gotten Gino and me without us being able to do anything about it."

Now Luciano nods. "Look kid I'm sure you realize why we get to pick first. We are at the bottom of Division III. Hell there's no way I want to go down to Division IV."

Luciano grimaces as he says this. "That's why I'm picking you. To turn over control of my team to you. Look the whole team is deadly with weapons. We just can't plan for shit. I figure whatever you come up with your buddy will be better."

Lelouch contemplates all. He will be in complete control of a squad of fifty cadets. The majority of them older than him.

Lelouch looks up at Luciano. "What's the team name?"

Luciano smiles. "The Black Knights."

Lelouch smiles at that. Of course after five months of Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron who wouldn't.

Luciano grins. "We could always change the name to that of your old squad."

Lelouch glares up at him but is unable to say anything because they are interrupted.

"What is going on here?"

They look over to where the question is coming from.

"Oh nothing Sergeant just discussing some business with Cadet Lamperouge here. We'll be on our way."

Luciano and his friends leave. Sergeant Fromm comes over to Lelouch.

"Lelouch is anything wrong."

Lelouch is unfazed by the sergeant calling him by his name.

"Nothing sergeant. It's just as Cadet Bradley said we were discussing business."

"Very well your teammates are waiting for you."

Lelouch goes over to celebrate with his team. That night they are all allowed to stay up way past curfew since there is nothing for them to do tomorrow.

As Lelouch lies on his bed he contemplates tonight's meeting. Is he ready to have control over a squad of fifty? Well he has to begin somewhere. One day those fifty will be like a drop of water in a bucket. Of course he has to learn not to be wasteful. It is one thing to compare war to chess strategically speaking. But there is no way to compare the loss of even a pawn to the loss of a person even a common foot soldier. A game of chess can be restarted. Lelouch puts those thoughts out of his mind and thinks of what he is going to have to work with.

* * *

Author's note: The bickering and divisive nature of the royal family is not common knowledge to commoners. Even many nobles do not know about all the royal infighting. To them it's just ALL HAIL BRITANNIA. That isn't to say that people don't know.


	10. Separation and Reward pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters. I don't any of the other stuff either.

...

It is the nature of mankind for the strong to devour the weak. Anyone who believes differently is only deceiving themselves.

Charles zi Britannia

...

It is good thing for all people to come together as one.

Marianne vi Britannia

...

Reward: noun

1. Compensation for a job well done

2. An honor given to someone deserving

* * *

The Britannian Military Academy at West Point is divided into several sections. The section that most people have knowledge of is the section open to commoners. It is where Villetta Nu graduated from. The minimum age is sixteen. Although most begin at seventeen or eighteen. It takes an extraordinary person to start at sixteen or an extraordinary amount of money. Most of these graduates start off as lieutenants. A few exceptional ones make the leap to captain. These are also the ones that participate on West Point athletic teams. These include the war game team.

Since Britannia is a nation that strives on excellence in all aspects but above all its warriors. The most popular game in the nation is the war game even above rugby and soccer. As such the majority of the nation's colleges play a form of it. The most common form is played by teams of fifty. Many ex-soldiers, too old to continue, have taken up the war game professionally. The objective is pretty much the same as the game the younger cadets played: capture the flag and kill the enemy.

The other part of West Point is referred to as the Jr. Division or Jr. Academy. This is divided into two sections. The section Lelouch attends is only for the most privileged nobility or the rich. The minimum age is ten but again money can change that. It offers several programs. The one Lelouch is in is the three year program. There is also a six year program.

The second section of the Jr Division is for lesser nobles. They can enter at the age of thirteen. This way they can be ranked higher than commoners but lower than nobles with more status. However all Jr Division cadets are put together for the war game after their training period. The first section gets the five/six month training that Lelouch just went through. The second section gets a two/three month training.

As time goes on cadets graduate or wash out. They are replaced by new cadets. On average new cadet classes are between one hundred twenty to one hundred sixty. Of course graduation classes only had ninety to one hundred twenty. All this goes through Lelouch's mind as he attempts to sleep.

**January 30, 2012 Tokyo Japan, Britannian settlement **

Nunnally is just finishing another letter to her brother. She writes to him as both Lelouch Lamperouge and Lelouch vi Britannia. It is a little tiring. But if she keeps it up, she gets extra credit. She runs downstairs for breakfast. Alice meets her at the bottom of the stairs. After breakfast they go to school. They have a student council meeting in the morning.

Now in the third grade Nunnally and Alice are in the student council again this year. They are joined by Anya as they walk in the room. This year Euphemia isn't in the student council. Of course since Nunnally is one of the smaller kids, they really don't let her do much. It helps a little that Anya is vice president.

While the jr high and high school kids are worrying about Valentine's Day coming up in a little more than two weeks, the elementary kids really didn't care. That didn't mean that Nunnally didn't convince the entire school not to send her brother a Valentine's Day card.

That means that she convinces the entire school to send her brother a card.

After a few months Nunnally has gotten into the rhythm of life without her brother. Having Alice and Anya around helps. She tries to stay busy that also helps. Of course having Euphemia moping around doesn't help. It also doesn't help that Milly and Shirley are always asking about Lelouch. In fact Kallen is the only helpful one. Nunnally wonders if Lelouch asked Kallen to check up on her.

Nunnally looks over at Alice. Their teacher has given them some free time. Alice is reading some that manga that is all the rage at school.

"Which one is that?"

Alice looks up at her friend. "It's called One Piece. I saw some kids reading it the last we went into town."

Nunnally shrugs. Alice always likes reading stuff that is about adventures. Nunnally prefers some InuYasha and Love Hina. Nunnally knows that Anya likes Bleach. Well at least she likes watching it. Yachiru is obviously Anya's favorite. In actuality all of them like watching Bleach. Nunnally didn't want to think about it because some people don't know how to control their fandom. They always got into arguments about their manga and anime. In his last letter Lelouch just laughed about it. The teacher signals for them to get ready for lunch. Nunnally nods. Another school day is almost over.

**February 5, 2012 West Point, New York**

Lelouch has been given control over the Black Knights by Luciano. The name is a little ironic. The West Point team that competes in nation wide collegiate activities is named the Black Knights. They dominate most sports in particular the war game. Of course Luciano's Black Knights are not that dominant. In fact they are on the verge of getting dropped down into the fourth division.

For the Jr. Division war game teams from West Point compete against teams from other academies: Britannian Naval Academy at Annapolis, Britannian Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Los Angeles Military Academy, Virginia Military Institute, The Citadel, and Western Military Institute. There are four divisions of twelve teams apiece. The lowest teams in each division swap places with the highest two for the division immediately below. The lowest two teams in the fourth division get disbanded.

Of course any members of teams that remain too long in the fourth division will have very little chance of advancement. Lelouch considers all of this as he trains his group leaders. Almost all war game teams are divided into six groups of eights players. This leaves two extra men usually the commander and his assistant. Lelouch changes that. He divides the Black Knights into eight groups of six men. Leaving himself and Luciano with no group.

It may seem like a petty change. But it allows for greater flexibility, since there are now eight other people who know the plan. Also while in battle the difference between six and eight men is almost negligible. But involving more men in the planning process will help as time goes on.

Today Lelouch is working solely with the eight group leaders on his silent code. Obviously since it worked so well before, they go along with it. Naturally he has to change it just a bit because members of his old team know some of his code. Of course that silent code was just something he invented on the spot. This new one is something he has been working on for quite some time.

At first some of them wonder why they were chosen as the group leaders. Many of them weren't leaders before. Lelouch makes sure that they understand that in the entire Black Knights there are only two leaders Luciano Bradley, the official leader, and him, the unofficial leader. The so called group leaders are just there to relay orders to the individual groups. It is still difficult but eventually everybody catches on. Today they are working on using the code to plan strategy. In five days they have their first game.

They are interrupted by a group of soldiers. "Your highness."

The Black Knights look at the soldiers. Everybody knew that Lelouch didn't like to be referred to in that manner. The only reason anybody at West Point would call Lelouch your highness was if they were new or something important was happening.

Lelouch looks over at the soldiers. "Yes corporal."

"Your highness you have visitors."

Lelouch tells the Black Knights to work on what they have been given. He signals for the soldiers to take him to his visitors. Standing there are two men Lelouch believes he recognizes.

A brunette man in his early twenties speaks. "Hello you highness."

Lelouch stares at them. "Um well hello. Can I help you?"

"Ah yes I am Duke Rolando Flugel. I am assistant to your brother Prince Odysseus."

The other man also in his early twenties also introduced himself. "Your highness I am Earl Kannon Maldini, assistant to your brother Prince Schniezel."

Lelouch looks over at the two young men. He had an idea who they were from the beginning. He is also sure he knew their court rankings. Lelouch waves at them to follow him. He leads them over to 'his quarters'. He is glad that Villetta is not there. He discusses matters with the two men, his brothers' assistants.

Villetta shows up while they are talking. Luckily she went out for groceries so her coming into the room doesn't seem out of place. She excuses herself once she is done putting everything away. After a few more minutes Lelouch tells the two men that he has to get back to his squad. After they leave Lelouch talks with Jeremiah and Villetta about the meeting. Since he is writing to Cornelia at the moment, he mentions it in his letter.

Two days later Lelouch receives a visitor he really, really did not want.

"Okay Sanderson now drop in and you'll have this section covered."

They are having their first match in two days so this is their last big group exercise. Lelouch was making final adjustments to the strategy. Since games come every few days, the basic strategy stays the same and only need minor adjustments to compensate of the opponent. Of course their opponent is pretty much in the same boat as them having to incorporate new members.

They all hear someone yelling in the distance. Seeing as how there were always people running around yelling they didn't bother checking it out. As the yelling got closer Lelouch thought he could make it out what was being yelled.

"Lulu! Oh Lulu, where are you? Oh there you are."

Lelouch opens his eyes in horror. A blonde haired woman with two pigtails running down the side comes towards him. She is wearing what is unmistakably a Knight of the Round uniform. The Black Knights freeze. They all salute what is unquestionably a superior officer. Well everybody except for Lelouch who just stares at her.

"Cadet Lamperouge, why aren't you saluting a superior officer."

"May I ask what you are doing here, Knight of Nine?"

Nonette looks at Lelouch. "Only after you answer my question first."

Lelouch sighs. "I am Lelouch vi Britannia, eleventh prince and seventeenth successor to the throne of the Holy Britannian Empire. The only authority I acknowledge is that of my emperor."

Nonette grins and salutes the Black Knights. "At ease. As you were. Let's go somewhere and talk your highness."

Lelouch looks back at his squad. "Gino continue the training."

As they leave Luciano is coming over. He has been working on some target practice.

"What the fuck in going on here?"

The Black Knights look at Luciano. Gino is forced to answer. "The Knight of Nine came over and took Lelouch."

"The Knight of Nine, huh. Well fuck it. Let's get back to work."

Luciano knows that Lelouch is a prince but receiving visitors sent by the first and second prince. Now a visit from the Knight of Nine. What's next? Is the emperor going to send him a Valentine's Day card?

Lelouch leads Nonette to his personal quarters. He still doesn't use them. For a while he would bring up members of the Black Knights until he realized that they only wanted to come and stare at Villetta.

Nonette looks around. "I heard that you have some little hussy parading herself around up here."

Lelouch sits down and invites Nonette to do the same. "Lieutenant Villetta Nu is professional soldier. If you must know, I didn't have a choice in my subordinates. They were given to me. I just make use of them."

Nonette smiles. "I'm sure one day you make good use of her."

Lelouch turns completely red. He should have expected this kind of talk from Nonette.

"Well I think I have embarrassed you enough. Now to business. Nelly tells me that you received visitors from the first and second prince. Did they say anything?"

"No they just asked about my progress here. It didn't make any sense. This is barely my first year. I just joined my first real squad."

Nonette waves him off. "I doubt it has anything to do with your accomplishments. However someone has been raising a stink about the way you are being treated here."

Lelouch twists his mouth in surprise. "Why I'm being treated just like everyone else. And that is saying a lot since everybody here is nobility."

"Well I believe that is the problem. I'm pretty sure it isn't that fat colonel. I have no idea why they put him in charge here. It must be his assistant that lieutenant."

They both sigh. "Also Nelly wanted to see how you were doing. I'm sure your mother also wants to know what's going on here. Oh and I'm pretty sure you are no longer 17th successor to the throne. You are probably somewhere around 10th or 12th now."

Nonette gets an evil look in her eye. "And if you ever raise your voice or decline to salute a superior officer."

Nonette gets close to Lelouch and grins. "This will happen."

She begins to tickle him. Lelouch screams out for her to stop. Jeremiah and Villetta come storming into the room. Jeremiah's eyes open wide in horror when he sees what is going on. Villetta stands still not knowing what to do.

Lelouch screams. "Stop," he gasps, "her!"

Nonette stops on her own when the prince's subordinates walk into the room.

"Well Jeremiah what is?"

She stops when she lays her eyes on Villetta. She turns around and winks at Lelouch. "Just remember what I said your highness about."

She gestures over to Villetta. "Well I'll be on my way." As she leaves Nonette stops. "Oh here Nelly said to bring you this. If you want to keep writing letters by hand to everyone else, it's fine with her but she prefers instant communication."

Nonette points to a laptop by the door. She takes her leave but not before smiling at Villetta who is thoroughly confused.

Villetta walks in. "What was that all about?"

Jeremiah comes in behind her. "Well noting the eccentricities of the Knight of Nine who knows."

They both look down at Lelouch. "She wanted to know about the visitors I had the other day. Cornelia sent her. But I'm pretty sure the emperor wants to know what my brothers are up to as well."

Lelouch walks over and grabs his laptop which conveniently is out of the box and in a case with everything he needs. He walks down. He knows that the squad is probably going to be done with practice. It isn't quite dinnertime so they are probably in the game room or at the barracks. Lelouch heads to the barracks to put his things away.

As he approaches the Black Knight barracks, he notices a crowd.

"Hey what's going on?"

Luciano looks at him grinning. "Like you don't know your highness."

Lelouch shakes his head and walks into the barracks. Everybody in the Black Knights has a brand new laptop. He wonders who did this and if it will cost him anything. Gino hands him a note. It is from Cornelia and Schneizel. He will have to find a way to repay his sister and brother or get back at them. He begins to laugh. The laugh is so evil sounding that it even startles Luciano. Lelouch waves them off. He sits down and brings out his laptop. Obviously everything is purchased with the intent of them working together.

It takes a few minutes for Lelouch to set up his own computer. He has to help some of the less technologically capable. By the time they are all set up it is dinner time. Luciano warns everybody not to say a word about the computers. Needless to say word still gets around. It isn't that big of a deal. Most of the squads had a few really rich people who wanted to impress their fellow teammates. Of course fifty state of the art computers with all the attachments aren't cheap. Lelouch figures that each probably costs a few thousand pounds that is if they were out on the market yet.

After dinner Lelouch makes sure the Black Knights understand that no one from any other team is allowed to look at the laptops. A few grumbled about it but Luciano reminds that yesterday they didn't have shit so what the fuck was their problem. Lelouch thinks he couldn't have put it more eloquently.

Since they planned on resting tomorrow, they stay up way past curfew playing with their computers. Lelouch spends most of the time trying to disable any spy programs that may have been put in there. In the morning or whenever they wake up Lelouch will run them through a battle simulation on the computers.

He also has to secure the weapons and gear for their battle. Each team is given a budget for the upcoming battle. They are allowed to spend the 'money' on various weapons, body suits, and communication equipment. Most teams just get the best weapons and don't worry about the rest. Lelouch takes a few days to consider every option. He figures the body suits/gear is mostly useless but everybody needs to get one so like most squads he gets the least expensive one.

Lelouch carefully considers the weapons themselves. There is minimal difference between the most expensive one which is completely automatic and the least expensive one which has a small delay between shots. In a real battle the automatic would almost be a no brainer. Here since the weapons are a laser of sorts and won't tear through the wall, the automatic seems like overkill. That doesn't stop almost every team from getting them.

It took a few days for Lelouch to convince the Black Knights to select a simpler weapon. Since they were all great shots, they didn't need them. He still got a few just in case.

The next issue was the communicators. After spending most of their funds on weapons, teams had very little to spend on communicators. They usually went for the least expensive ones which happened to be particularly easy to hack into to. This really hampered the element of surprise. Since teams were allowed to get things the day before the battle, they spent most of the time trying to make their communicators hack proof.

Lelouch avoids this and chooses the most expensive communicators. He only needs fifteen. Seeing as how most of the Black Knights know the plan and know how to adapt. This leaves the Black Knights with money left over in their account. This is usual since teams keep their equipment and only turn them in when they want to trade. There is a fee associated with this. Also teams can use their money for other cravings such as games and extra food. This is one of the few places where outside money doesn't influence the situation since everything here is under strict surveillance.

As Lelouch and some of the more tech savvy Black Knights are toying with the communicators, they make an interesting discovery. The reason that the communicators are so easy to hack is because someone does it for them. It seems as if the Academy staff hacks into the communicators and does a poor job of securing the line. Lelouch has a plan. He buys a few more communicators. When he returns the rest of the Black Knights wait in anticipation of what he has up his sleeve.

It is finally the day of their first match. Most teams have their first matches today. A few have to wait until tomorrow. Lelouch divides the weapons. He gives the automatics to the deadliest shooters. He sends the first six squads. Luciano and he stay with the two reserve squads. He now has four times the men he had a month ago. Despite his unwavering demeanor, Lelouch feels a touch of nervousness.

The battle has commenced. Lelouch grins as he and his reserve group move forward. He turns on his communicator. It is just as he figured. He turns to the group leader and begins to give instructions. Like all his previous battles this one is over in a matter of minutes. After the game the Black Knights are congratulated.

As they leave a few nervous looking corporals are standing near the exit. Lelouch recognizes them as the equipment men. One of them approaches Lelouch.

"Ah yes Cadet Lamperouge, were there any problems with your communicators."

Lelouch looks up at the man and smirks. "No. No problem at all. Each one worked just fine. The weapons also worked fine."

"Very well carry on."

The Black Knights leave celebrating. They spend the next few months celebrating as they continue to win.

**February 14, 2012 ATB **

First we go to Tokyo Japan (It is the land of the rising sun after all).

Nunnally wakes up to find a giant teddy bear holding a heart in her room. There was an attached card. It is from Lelouch, of course. Euphie receives the same. Even Alice and Anya receive something from Lelouch. Milly and Kallen receive a card and stuffed animal as well. Even Rivalz get something.

Cornelia is leading her troops in the war against the EU. At the moment they are manning the El Alamein front. Cornelia has just finished getting dressed. As she begins to walk to her command center something catches her attention. Guilford and Darlton are standing there holding several stuffed animals and a box of what appears to be cards.

"What's going on here?"

Her two knights are startled. The older Darlton answers, "It seems as if you have received these from your sisters' school."

"My sisters' school."

Cornelia thought about it. Nobody at Ashford knew that Nunnally and Euphemia were princesses. No this was caused by someone else. She takes a stuffed bear for her collection.

"LELOUCH!"

Schniezel walks into his office. On his desk are a box and some stuffed animals. He looks around for Kannon. Schniezel knows that he has fan girls from all over the world. But his assistant knows better than to bother him with such mundane matters.

Kannon comes in carrying another box. "Oh your highness. These are from the schoolmates of princesses Euphemia and Nunnally."

Schniezel frowned. Why would his sisters have their classmates send him Valentine's Day cards? Then the answer came to him.

"Touché little brother, touché."

**March 29, 2012 Tokyo, Japan **

Kallen gets up. It is her birthday today. Part of her wants to stay in bed because with Lelouch gone Milly has divided her torturing amongst the other student council members. At least the year is almost over. As she scans her room there are eleven items in particular that she looks for. Since it is her twelfth birthday Lelouch has decided to give her twelve small presents rather than one big one. Obviously what qualifies as a small present in her best friend's mind would probably be a big present to anyone else.

It started twelve days before with a gift card to one of her favorite department stores. How Lelouch discovered that she liked shopping there remains a mystery, but Kallen knows that her mom must be involved in it. That was followed by some paper and pens so she can continue to write to Lelouch. Kallen guesses it could also be for homework. Next she received a giant blue stuffed bunny to go with her giant pink one. For some reason the bunny had violet eyes and black hair.

Her fourth gift was a set of pictures. On the attached card were the words: These are to keep Milly from involving you in anything semi-illegal. Kallen looks over at the pictures as she did she begins to laugh. Gift number five was a small box with several red headbands, Kallen's favorite accessory. Gift number six was some dirt from where Lelouch is and a request to send back some dirt from where she is.

Kallen thought each of those gifts would be enough to satisfy anyone on their own but not Lelouch. Gift number seven was a DVD box set of her favorite show. Gift number eight was a new TV and DVD player to watch said box set. Gift number nine was a video of Lelouch's highlights from the academy which included a special message from Gino.

Gift number ten was Lelouch's knightmare drawings. But not the simple one's that he showed her before. These were more specific and seemed to be professional blueprints. The one named Callisto has in the title Kallen's knightmare. Also attached was the newest manual for the Glasgow which included many the new attachments. Gift number eleven was a new desk.

As Kallen sits up gift number twelve is sitting on gift number eleven. She begins to walk towards her new desk but pauses to grab her robe. She sits down. The computer appears to be on. She nudges the mouse. There before her appears a raven haired amethyst eyed boy.

"Happy birthday Kalli."

Kallen smiles. "Hi Lulu. Thanks for the presents."

"Well I can't take credit for all of them. Miss Villetta and stupid Gino helped out a bit."

"Thanks anyways."

She wants to say that the gifts are way too much for her, but she knows that it would be ungrateful of her.

"Oh I have to run. The sergeant let me use his computer. We just finished our last battle. Oh crap here come Gino. Bye, love you."

"Love you too."

The words come out of Kallen's mouth before she realizes. Does she love him? Does she even know what love is? Kallen looks over at the clock. It is still early. She turns the computer off and goes back to her bed. She stops on the way there and picks up the blue bunny. She holds onto it tight. Maybe she does love Lelouch. She wonders if she could talk to her mother about all these weird feelings. She looks over to the clock. She figures that she should get ready early.

After taking in a bath with all the stuff she bought with Lelouch's gift card. She selects something to wear for her party after school. Again it is something purchased with Lelouch's gift card. She pulls out her Ashford uniform.

As she runs out the door she almost runs over a bouquet of roses. She wonders if these are also from Lelouch. She takes the attached card. They are from her father. Kallen cries as she reads the note. Her father has always been thoughtful even though he is not always present. Kallen takes the roses into her room. She sets them down to her desk.

**Still technically March 28, 2012 West Point New York**

Lelouch looks at the time. After receiving congratulations, Lelouch runs off to find the sergeant to collect his favor. He takes the sergeant's laptop. He hopes Kallen still woke up at the same time. He hopes her mom followed the instructions. He also hopes that his timing is right. He waits for a few second but there before him on the screen is a twelve year old red haired girl with cerulean eyes.

"Happy birthday Kalli."

Kallen smiles. "Hi Lulu. Thanks for the presents."

"Well I can't take credit for all of them. Miss Villetta and stupid Gino helped out a bit."

"Thanks anyways."

They are both silent for a few seconds.

"Oh I have to run. The sergeant let me use his computer. We just finished our last battle. Oh crap here come Gino. Bye, love you."

"Love you too."

Lelouch hears her say as he turns the computer off. Gino comes over to him.

"Hey Lelouch, who was that?"

"Nobody. What's up?"

"Not much just the guys wanting to know if you are going to the party,"

Lelouch nods. "Ya Gino I'll be there."

The Black Knights were celebrating another victory. They were still undefeated. It appears as if nothing can stop the Black Knights.

**May 27, 2012**

The Black Knights continue their winning streak. They ended the season undefeated. The Academy was letting out in a few days. Only two of the Black Knights were graduating. It also appears as if they will lose two more to other circumstances. One of the graduates happens to be Luciano Bradley. Of course his advancement was secured because the Black Knights appeared to be on their way up to the second division. On his own or with a small squad Luciano was actually pretty good.

Lelouch is writing his last letters to his friends and a few people he wants to meet with. He is staying in his quarters. Villetta isn't there. It is her turn to be Lelouch's messenger. She should be on her way back from Japan and Pendragon later that day. A scared looking private comes running into the room.

"You highness you you have."

"Out of my way," booms a voice from outside the room.

Lelouch recognizes it instantly. "Oh is the GREAT Knight of One coming to check on poor little me."

The private looks like he went both number one and two as Bismarck Waldstein walks past him.

"Your highness the emperor has a message for you."

"Oh is father here?"

"No, he would like to talk to you."

Lelouch points to his phone. "Is he going to call?"

The Knight of One looks agitated. "In few minutes he will contact you via video conference at the administrative center."

"Oh so we have a few minutes."

The Knight of One glares at the prince. "Let's go Lulu. Don't make me have to pick you and drag you."

Lelouch gets the clue and follows the Knight of One. The private just stands there hoping nobody sees or smells him. Lelouch has to jog to keep up with Bismarck. He knows their little back and forth wasted valuable time. They arrive just as the emperor comes on the screen. The Knight of One immediately goes to one knee. Lelouch just stands there so Bismarck grabs him and brings him down.

"Your majesty, I have brought you Prince Lelouch just as you requested."

"Thank you Bismarck. Now leave us."

The Knight of One does as he is told. Lelouch takes a respectful tone now that Bismarck is gone. For some reason he likes to annoy his father's knight.

"For what reason has his imperial majesty called his humble servant."

Lelouch manages to say this with only a small hint of sarcasm. The emperor ignores Lelouch.

"So my son. It seems as if you are stronger than previously thought."

Lelouch continues to look up at his father. "Yes so it seems."

"Very well because of your performance you will be rewarded with the rank Earl of Cheshire. If you wish to turn your former ranking back to the crown at this moment you will be awarded with the rank of first lieutenant."

Lelouch thought about that. How many twelve year lieutenants were out there? At this rate by the time he graduated he would out rank Jeremiah. Lelouch shakes his head.

"No your majesty if possible I would like to pass my previous title of Baron of Kentshire down to Nunnally."

"Very well."

With that the emperor signs off. Lelouch walks out of the room pensive. The Knight of One is waiting for him outside the building. He was making everyone nervous, and they were starting to piss him off. Lelouch wonders if he is just used to Bismarck. Not only is he his father's best knight but also a close friend of his mother.

"Lord Waldstein, you may leave now. Thank you."

Lelouch runs back to his room. He hopes Villetta hasn't taken his letters yet. He runs into her just outside his door.

"Miss Villetta wait."

Lelouch reaches over and grabs one of the letters. It happens to be Milly's. He adds a little something to the bottom.

Villetta takes the letter back. "Your highness where have you been?"

"I was having a conference call with the emperor."

Villetta nods. "Very well your highness."

Lelouch sits down. He pulls up his knightmare plans up on the computer. He is pretty sure about the security features on the computer. He isn't a technical genius but he is learning. A few of his fellow cadets know enough about computers to help him. Jeremiah walks into the room. He seems very happy. It begins to annoy Lelouch after awhile.

"Jeremiah could you please keep it down."

Jeremiah frowns, "Your highness, I believe that today's events are cause for celebration."

Lelouch looks up at Jeremiah. He has yet to tell anyone about his conversation with the emperor.

"How do you know?"

"Villetta told me."

Lelouch looks a little confused. "Didn't she just arrive?"

"Yes your highness she came over from Pendragon. She told me the news."

Lelouch looks even more confused. "They told her before she left Pendragon."

"Why would they tell her?"

Now Jeremiah is surprised. "Your highness, I wouldn't think the birth of your twin brothers would be that much of a secret."

Lelouch stared at Jeremiah. "What did you say?"

Jeremiah gave Lelouch a picture of two apparently newborn boys, his brothers. It was just like his father to ignore something like this.

"What are their names?"

Jeremiah turned the picture around. On the back were two names.

Lelouch sighs. "Castor and Pollux."

Lelouch supposes he'll have to call his mother. He also needs to have Jeremiah confirm his plans for later that summer. Villetta took his letters for his friends. Lelouch grabs the other stack. He is going to have to send Jeremiah and Kewell to deliver these in a timely manner.

**May 29, 2012**

Kallen has just received Lelouch's last letter. He arrives in a few days after a visit to his new brothers. Then after a month they are off to Britannia. Lelouch says that they are letting them play with some knightmares. Kallen wouldn't use that exact those exact words. She didn't think knightmare are for playing, but she was interested in them. She wonders what her brother would think if he knew that Kallen was going to get to use knightmares.

Milly reads Lelouch's letter diligently. It seems as if he is moving up in the world. Now her parents are going to pressure her even more as the Ashford family continues to fall deeper and deeper down the social ladder. Even Empress Marianne can do little to stop the family's slide. If only her grandfather would concentrate on knightmares rather than parties. If only her parents thought about anything other than going to parties and keeping up appearances. Milly doesn't want to be forced into anything even marriage to Lelouch but that appears to be the only solution for everyone.

Suzaku can't believe his parents are making him do this. Even though school is out, they are forcing Suzaku to attend summer programs. They are even having Kaguya tag along. At least he gets a little reward. Near the end of summer break they are going to see a knightmare demonstration in Britannia. It will be Suzaku's first trip out of Japan. Of course the knightmares are what he really wants to see. He has been behaving as good as he can these last few months in hopes that he will get to do more than just see the knightmares. But that is still a month or two away.

Euphemia and Nunnally anxiously await the arrival of their brother. More than that they can't wait to return back to Pendragon in a few weeks to see their new little brothers. At first they were tempted just to fly to Britannia when school let out but they want some alone time with Lelouch. Well a least as much alone time as they can get with him. Even though he has been gone the whole school year, he is still pretty popular. Just a few more days until his arrival.

Shirley is sad. Her family was supposed to take a vacation in Hawaii, but her father was called away to work. He was going to be away all summer so the vacation was off. Euphie wanted to take Shirley back to Britannia with them when they left in a month, but Shirley doesn't want to leave her mother alone. Earlier today some good news came. Her father would only be away for another month. So the family could vacation then. It would still be difficult because her parents had worked out some sort of deal for the tickets previously. Now that deal was off.

But Euphie had a solution, in a month her family was going back to Britannia so they could drop Shirley and her mother off and Lelouch could probably find a way to get Shirley's dad there also. Shirley hoped that everything would work.

* * *

Author's note: Sorry about all the explanations on how things work.

They live in Japan that is well still Japan. So manga, anime, and probably cosplay will be a big part of their lives. I also realize that Code Geass technically takes place in what would be 1960's AD. But they have all the modern stuff so might as well make them have all the modern literature and entertainment.

In cannon Lelouch always uses ambush tactics when leading the Black Knights or resistance cells. This is because the quality of men he has to work with is not as good as what Britannia has at least at the beginning. So his tactics will be different when he goes into battle. Schniezel likes points out that Lelouch likes to attack rather than defend.

If anyone is wondering where are Kallen and Milly's angsty 'we miss Lulu too' chapters, they are coming during Lelouch's third year of school as they enter their middle teenage years. They are coming even if you aren't looking for them. They are going to advance the story rather than just be about their feelings.


	11. Nightmares of Knightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters. I don't any of the other stuff either.

...

Knightmares are the weapon of the future. Any nation without knightmares might as well be fighting with sticks and stones.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Deithard Reid

The Rise of the Black Prince

Neo-Pendragon Press 2020 ATB

...

A nation's strength is measured not only by what it has but by what it's enemies think it has. Knightmares have given Britannia an edge from which we may never recover.

Li Xing-ke

_Memoirs of the Last Dragon_

...

Sometimes I have nightmares and Xing-ke has to come and read me a bedtime story

Jiang Lihua, Empress Tianzi

Expose: Inside the Forbidden Palace

Britannian Broadcasting Company

**

* * *

**

May 29, 2012

Lelouch and Gino are on their way Pendragon. Lelouch is going to visit for a few days before flying to Japan. Gino is going to hang out with him before going off with his parents. On the plane Lelouch is reading one of the books that Nunnally sent him.

Gino looks over at him. "What's that?" He points to Lelouch's book.

"Oh it's this manga called Death Note that my sister sent me." Gino looks a little confused so Lelouch continues to explain. "It's a Japanese book. They have English translations. She has sent me a few others. I'm trying to work on my Japanese so I tell her to send me them. Some of them are quite interesting."

Lelouch spends most of the trip explaining to Gino the plots of various mangas. He also tells Gino about anime. Lelouch promises to get some for Gino when they land. They spend a few days at Aries Palace. Lelouch introduces Gino to everyone there. Well it's just basically his mother, little Evelyn, and the newborn twins. They spend a few days there before Lelouch goes off to Japan for about a month. When he returns, everyone is coming back with him. Gino can't wait to meet them all. Gino goes to see Lelouch off at the airport.

**June 3, 2012**

Lloyd Apslund looks down at the letter he received from this Prince Lelouch. He decides to at least hear him out. He has been working for the military's special division for few years. There was even talk that Prince Schniezel is interested in Lloyd's ideas. Nothing has been officially or unofficially stated. But now this Prince Lelouch seems interested in what Lloyd could do. He would at the very least hear him out. If only because it would allow him access to some of the newer Glasgows.

Cecile Croomy was finishing her work for the day. She was just beginning her career in the military. It wasn't her first choice but there was nowhere else for Cecile to work out her theories on sakuridite based energy. The person most interested in her work was one of her fellow coworkers named Lloyd Apslund. He was interested in testing out her theories in creation of a new type of knightmare. Well maybe this Prince Lelouch would be capable of offering them funding.

Dr. Leonard Labie was currently working for Prince Schniezel. It was a new arrangement for him and one that he wished to maintain. So when Prince Lelouch wrote about his interest in his work, Leonard wants to decline the young prince's invitation. However his employer wants Leonard to at least attend Prince Lelouch's private knightmare showing in a few weeks. Leonard sighs. He supposes that he would have to take his daughter, Mariel, with him.

As scientist Rakshata Chawla knows when it was time to move on from a project. At this moment medical cybernetics just isn't in the cards. Knightmares seem to be the future of technological advances. While it was her wish for her native India to set itself up as an independent nation, she knows that goal would require help. Not just soldiers but perhaps new technologies. Although she herself is no slouch in that department. This meeting of the minds that this young prince was setting up perhaps would help her develop some new things. It can't hurt to attend. If anything she will have an opportunity to ridicule that damn Earl of Pudding.

Margrave Philip Cummins is quite content sitting around at his estate. He had a hand in developing the latest set of weapons for the Glasgow. In a few years they would take all that development to create a new generation of knightmares. He would have been reasonably at ease watching a new generation of people advancing technology, but his daughter, Sora, is not. Even though she is only ten, her interest in knightmare is intense. Maybe he will attend this meeting with Prince Lelouch. Having a prince as an ally never hurt anyone. Especially since he is only a few year older than his daughter.

**June 30, 2012 ATB**

Everybody is packed up and ready to go. They originally planned on leaving on July 2. But since they are stopping to drop off Shirley and her mother in Hawaii, Lelouch decides to make a pit stop. The only people that will stay at their Japan home were a few maids and cooks.

They begin to board the private jet. Kallen notices that there is company of Japanese soldiers. They are standing around the jet. She recognizes her brother amongst the group. She lowers her head when she sees him. She looks over to Lelouch who is beside her.

"Lelouch, why are those soldiers there?"

"To guard the jet. They are always here when we come and go." Lelouch looks over at them. "You know, usually they are further from the plane."

Kallen holds onto Lelouch. "I think my brother is over there."

"Don't worry about it." Lelouch looks over to the soldiers again. He doesn't see Naoto. Of course he isn't Lelouch's brother so maybe that has something to do with it.

Euphemia is walking with Shirley behind everyone. She looks over to Lelouch walking with Kallen in the front. Nunnally was walking with Alice and Anya like always. Rivalz is trying to stay close to Milly but she just keeps trying to get away from him. Around them is their security team.

Once aboard the plane Lelouch has no choice but to sit by Rivalz. This way Milly could sit with Kallen. Of course he could sit with Milly. That would just upset Rivalz and force Kallen to sit with Rivalz. His only other option was to sit with Anya or Marika and let the other sit with Rivalz. He just sits down and continued to read his manga. Everybody else seemed to be doing the same. Of course only Lelouch and Kallen are reading the original Japanese versions.

They arrive in Hawaii several hours later. Only Lelouch and Nunnally have ever been here. Their mother brought them here a few years ago. It was an effort on her part to escape for a while the trappings of the court. Euphemia's mother was a little stricter. Once she died there was very little opportunity for anything like this. Lelouch will have to think of a reason for Euphemia not coming with them on their previous trip. Well only Rivalz, Shirley, and her mom need that reason. It will probably be better if he and Nunnally pretend to have never been here. Of course it was a few years ago so Nunnally probably won't even remember much about the trip.

Despite their protesting Lelouch got Shirley's family the most expensive room in the most expensive hotel, the imperial suite at the Waldstein-Astoria. Lelouch has been meaning to ask the Knight of One if his family has any connections to the hotel or if it is just a coincidence.

Since they were spending two nights here, room assignments were going to be contentious. Marika was forced to room with Villetta. Her brother Kewell and Jeremiah share the other room in their suite. Nunnally, Euphemia, Anya, and Alice share a suite. Leaving Lelouch Rivalz, Kallen, and Milly to share another suite. This arrangement causes Jeremiah to raise an eyebrow. Lelouch shrugs it off.

Everybody puts on swimsuits. They go down to the beach. Rivalz is in the water looking at the surfers in the distance. Nunnally, Anya, Marika, and Alice are building a sandcastle. Milly convinces Kallen to join her in some tanning. This leaves Lelouch and Euphie to sit alone.

"Um Lulu, do you miss us?"

"Of course."

"Okay."

They are lying down with Euphie snuggled up next to Lelouch. Suddenly sand comes flying at them. Nunnally and Alice are standing above them with buckets. Anya is giggling as she takes a picture. Lelouch gets the worst of it. He stands up and grins. Before the girls know it, he is upon them snagging the buckets away. He picks up some sand and dumps it on his assailants. Euphie begins to laugh so she gets some sand as well. Kallen and Milly come over and push Lelouch. They begin to bury him in sand. Rivalz comes over to help Lelouch, but one look from Milly stops him. They spend a few minutes covering Lelouch's body in sand. They spend the next two days playing around at the beach. Their private jet comes back for them. To the surprise of no one it is also bringing in Shirley's dad.

As they board the plane Rivalz looks over to Lelouch. "Wow Lelouch that was a real neat thing you did for Shirley."

Lelouch shrugs. He really didn't do it for Shirley. Euphie asked him for a favor and he did it. If anything he did it for is sister. He probably would have done it had it been someone else. The next few hours to Pendragon fly by fast since everybody is tired from their Hawaii mini-vacation.

As they disembark the jet they hear someone screaming from afar.

"Lelouch! Lelouch!"

It's Gino. Lelouch is the only one who recognizes the lanky blonde from this distance. Everybody with the exception of Nunnally and Rivalz find Gino annoying. Of course they have never met him. In which case they would probably find him really annoying. Nunnally likes the fact that he looks after Lelouch. Rivalz likes him because he doesn't really have any guy friends.

Gino runs over to them. He correctly identifies everybody including Anya and Alice.

Lelouch rolls his eyes. "I guess I don't have to introduce you to anyone. Well anyways. This is Gino Weinsberg for anyone that didn't figure it out." Lelouch grins. "And he is as annoying as he looks."

This makes everybody laugh including Gino. Gino signals for Rivalz to follow him. As they walk away Gino looks back. Nunnally and her crew are standing around reading and arguing about manga. Milly and Kallen are standing there having a heated discussion that Rivalz is glad he isn't a part of. Well he may regret that when school starts again. Lelouch is sitting on the ground with Euphie lying down next to him. Gino shakes his head. Just like his new commander to sit around.

Gino looks over at Rivalz. "Hey Rivalz is there anything going on between Lelouch and Kallen."

Rivalz thinks about it. "No, they're just friends and stuff. I think Lelouch really likes this girl Shirley but won't admit it. He always does nice things for her."

Gino smirks. He knows that isn't true at all. He spent a few days with Lelouch at Aries palace. All Lelouch's mother talked about was Lelouch being nice to Milly Ashford. Even when Gino was at home with his parents. They were talking about a future pairing for Gino. And how it was too bad that Milly Ashford and Prince Lelouch seemed to be all but betrothed.

Of course Gino knows not to say any of that around Rivalz. Lelouch told him about the crush Rivalz has on Milly. Gino thinks that Lelouch would be better off telling everyone the truth now rather than later. But it isn't Gino's problem. He wonders if Kallen knows the truth about Lelouch. Gino suspects that Kallen is this best friend that Lelouch is always talking about because it certainly isn't Rivalz.

"Hey Rivalz, did Lelouch have any really close friends when he went to school?"

Rivalz thinks about it. "Well of course me and maybe Suzaku. I think him and Milly are pretty close because they've know each other a long time."

Gino is laughing a little on the inside at Rivalz's obvious naiveté. He knows nothing about the world of nobility. Even if Lelouch was only the duke's son he claimed to be, a marriage to Milly would only strengthen the family prestige since the Ashfords dealt with royalty. Gino gives one final look back. Someone has come to pick Lelouch, his siblings, and friends up. Gino is going to have to find out more about Kallen Stadtfeld.

They wait a little while after Gino and Rivalz leave. Eventually Cornelia to comes for them. She is accompanied by little Evelyn. The little 19 month old child refuses to be carried and insists on walking. She reminds Cornelia a little of Lelouch he was that age. Cornelia can still remember the days before Nunnally was born. When she and Schniezel would play with little Lelouch and Euphemia. Clovis always pouted about being left out. Of course life got in the way of all that happiness and innocence. Cornelia hopes that one day Euphie will snap out it and realize that she and Lelouch have no future together.

As Cornelia looks up at her siblings and friends, it seems as if Nunnally has passed the older Euphemia on the maturity meter. Maybe her friends have something to do with it. Nunnally has gotten over the silly childish idea of marrying Lelouch. It seems as if the young princess no longer needs her older brother for everything. Of course maybe having a little sister and younger brothers has something to do with that. Euphemia is still considered the baby of the family. Some of that blame can be placed on Cornelia.

Obviously the purple haired princess had hoped that being around Nunnally and now around non-royal children would have some effect on Euphemia's attitude. But as Cornelia approaches them, she sees that Euphemia is still very much in love with Lelouch. Cornelia wonders what will happen after Lelouch leaves the military academy. She could have him brought in under her command. Maybe separating them will do some good. However she knows the young prince might not accept this. If not because of the separation from his sisters, then further separation from his friends.

Evelyn allows Lelouch to carry her, of course. Cornelia leads them to their transportation. On the way to Aries palace Euphemia attempts to convince Milly and Kallen to spend some time at the palace. It seems she is onto Lelouch's scheme. Both girls give excuses about wanting to spend time with their families. Euphemia knows that attempting to convince Lelouch to stay for a while is hopeless so she doesn't even try.

Once at Aries Palace they all go to see the twins for the first time. Since Lelouch has already seen them, he stays back and hangs out with Evelyn. She goes over to her toy box and brings back a small case. She hands it to Lelouch. It is a mini chess set. Lelouch sets it up. He knows that it will be few years before she understands to play the game, but he can have some fun with her. He begins to slowly explain the rules. He shows her how to move the pieces. She simply nods. They begin. Naturally she makes many mistakes. Not just is piece movement but obviously in strategy.

"No, please tell me you are not leading that cute little princess towards the dark side."

Lelouch looks up and sees Kallen and Milly standing there. They each have a twin. Lelouch shakes his head.

"It is the game of kings. She will learn it someday."

Kallen continues, "Yes, but there is no need to have her start now."

Milly nods in agreement. She looks down at Lelouch. "Can you guess which twin we are holding?"

Lelouch doesn't even bother looking up. "Kallen has Castor and Milly has Pollux."

He continues to correct Evelyn's mistakes. The little princess seems to take the corrections with consideration. Lelouch remembers that Euphemia and Nunnally always pouted whenever he corrected their chess strategy. Well they still do.

Milly and Kallen are in awe at Lelouch's correct guess. They both blurt out, "How did you know?"

Still looking down at the chess board, "Lucky guess."

Milly doesn't believe him. "Did you show them pictures of us or something when you stopped here before?"

"Yes I showed my days old brothers pictures of my friends and asked them whom they liked. Castor seemed to like Kallen and Rivalz. Pollux likes Milly, Shirley, and Mrs. Turtletaub."

He almost says that with almost no sarcasm. Milly and Kallen pout at that comment. Of course he was right. He has a fifty percent chance of guessing correctly.

"Come on Evie let's go outside and play."

Evelyn looks down at the chess board and shrugs. She begins to carefully put the pieces away. Milly looks around the little princess's room. It is impeccably clean. Even now Milly can barely keep her room clean. She can only imagine what it looked like when she was one. Well of course maids probably do most of the work. But she remembers visiting Lelouch when they were young and noticing that his room was always clean. Maybe Evelyn is the same. In fact as Lelouch picks up is sister, Milly can't help but notice how similar they look. Evelyn looks like a little girl version of Lelouch.

They go outside and are soon joined by the Nunnally, Euphemia, and company. They had to unpack since they are staying here. Eventually Empress Marianne comes over to check on her children. Everybody is tired from Hawaii and the jet ride. Marianne tries to convince Lelouch to stay here for a few days. When he declines she attempts to get Kallen to stay. But Lelouch will have none of that; he almost scolds his mother for her heavy handed attempts at matchmaking.

**July 3, 2012 ATB**

Lelouch, Milly, and Kallen are traveling with the Knights of One and Two to the site where they will get to 'play' with knightmares. The girls are in awe of the two knights, but Lelouch treats them like servants. In fact Kallen notices that he treats them worse than servants. After all servants can quit and find employment elsewhere. What can these two knights possibly do to Lelouch? The answer is simple if you think about it. The prince is traveling with two young ladies. There is a number of ways to embarrass him. Luckily for all of them they arrive at their destination.

It is a military base apparently one that is very secure. They are allowed into the base. Milly looks around. She has never been in a military base. In fact the closest thing to this for her was the knightmare demonstration two years ago. She wonders if Kallen has ever been in a place like this. Milly can see the look in her face. It is probably close to the same expression that Milly herself is showing.

They enter a hangar. From the outside it looks a little decrepit. In fact the whole base has the same worn out look. But the inside is a whole different story. It is very modern looking inside. At the end they can see a few knightmares. The car comes to a stop as they near a door. Lelouch waits for the Knight of One to open the door.

As Lelouch steps out of the car he thanks the Knight of One. "Thank you Lord Waldstein for securing this site."

It is the first time today that Lelouch is considerate of the strongest knight in the empire if not the world. The Knight of Two scoffs. He thinks it is a waste of time to allow these children to be anywhere near knightmares. Lelouch glares at the man. A few soldiers come out and salute. The Knight of One returns their salute and instructs them to take the children's bags.

The Knight of One looks over to Lelouch. "Follow me your highness."

Lelouch signals for the girls to follow him. Lelouch notices that the Knight of Two stays behind. They follow the Knight of One.

"I'm sorry that the accommodations are not of all first class your highness. Since this location was only chosen a few days ago, it will take a day or two to secure the necessary items. Of course we have to be considerate of our other guests."

The girls think that he is talking about them, but Lelouch knows that their will be others in a week or so. In fact he is planning on it. They get to the end of the hallway. In one room there are three full size beds. In another there is a king size bed. The accommodations are not as bad as the Knight of One made them out to be. Of course for royalty anything but the absolute best is taken as an insult so the Knight of One was just covering his bases.

"This will do Lord Waldstein. I suppose we will need a few more beds for our other guests in a week or so."

The knight of one nods. "Anything else your highness."

"No, I suppose we will be spending today unpacking. Just come and get us for lunch."

"As you wish your highness."

With that the Knight of One leaves. Lelouch begins to walk into the room with the king sized bed. Milly stops him.

"Where do you think you are going?"

He looks back at her. "I am taking this room."

He walks in there. They follow him. Well Milly follows him and Kallen follows her. Kallen is a little unsure about what Milly is thinking.

Milly says, "Well if you are sleeping in here. So are we."

Lelouch shrugs and goes into the room. There is enough space for all their things. After putting a few things away Lelouch decides to explore the building. Since they are spending a few weeks there, he decides that it would be a good idea to know where everything is. The girls follow him for lack of anything better to do. The Knight of One finds them wandering around. It is near lunch time. He takes them to their dinning room. Again despite the shabby look of the building the food is of excellent quality.

After lunch the Knight of One plans on taking them to the simulator room. He leads them on a small tour of the building. It is mostly empty. Once at the simulator room Lelouch lets the girls go first since he has worked on a similar model back at West Point. He excuses himself. As Lelouch walks over to the room, he hears a voice.

"Yes your highness they are here. "

…

"Well Bismarck was showing them around. They should be at the simulator now."

…

"Well if you think it is necessary. I will do what I can."

"May I ask what you are doing Lord Suzerain."

The Knight of Two, Merlin Suzerain, spins around. Standing before him is prince Lelouch.

"I asked you a question Lord Suzerain. As you know no communication is allowed with the outside world except under mine or the emperor's orders."

The Knight of Two scoffs, "I am one of his imperial majesty's knights. I need not answer you."

He begins to walk past Lelouch. Lelouch grabs the knight's phone and throws it against the wall destroying it. The phone not the wall. The Knight of Two glares at the prince.

"Here you are under my command unless his imperial majesty tells ME different. If you do not like that you can leave," Lelouch pauses, "No in fact you will leave. NOW!"

Lelouch walks away back to the simulator room. He will have Bismarck check on Merlin. Lelouch doesn't even remember the man's true name. He wonders if the man remembers it. His nickname seems to have taken over. Of course Lelouch did some checking on when the man began to be called Merlin.

It was during a previous war with the EU. He managed a miraculous, some said magical, feat. At first he was known as the Magician of Britannia. Later on it became Merlin. Over time it became his name. Lelouch looked at the scenario. It seemed to be more luck that magic to him. But it earned the man a rank as a Knight of the Round.

Lelouch thinks about what it means to be a Knight of the Round. It is an honor given to the greatest knights of the realm. In most cases the knights appear to be lucky rather than skilled. This isn't to say that the knights are not good at what they do. It was rather that they were not in most cases the best around. Lelouch gets on a simulator.

The Knight of One watches the three children on the simulator. Well they are a little more than children. Teenagers he thinks might be a better term. Quite naturally the prince comes out ahead of the two girls during this first session. However the young Miss Stadtfeld shows an unnatural aptitude. Even Miss Ashford appears quite capable for her age. After dinner they have one more session. It looks like the young redhead is gaining on the prince. That night Bismarck is not surprised to discover that all three of them are sleeping on the king sized bed. It appears as if the prince takes after his father.

The next day they continue to work on the simulator. They all make substantial gains. By the end of the day Miss Stadtfeld was even with the prince. Miss Ashford isn't that far behind all things taken into consideration. On the third day they continue with the simulator after breakfast. It is now quite obvious that they were beyond the capabilities of the machine. Their scores matched those of the Knights of the Round. In fact Miss Stadtfeld surpassed all previous scores.

After lunch Bismarck takes them to the knightmare hangar. He has seen them reading the manual in their spare time. He has no idea how they managed to get what appears to be the latest manual on the Glasgow. Bismarck himself had only seen the one printed out last year. He skimmed through it and decided that experience is the best teacher. At first they seem to have problems getting adjusted to the knightmares. The machines were built with adults in mind. The three of them were a few inches too short. They spend the first session making adjustments on their particular Glasgow.

After dinner they have their first real go with the knightmares. As with the simulator the prince is the best at first. The next day they continue. In each session the girls improve. Well they all improve. That night they have a mock knightmare battle. Bismarck cannot believe that in two days these three children have surpassed many of the nation's best warriors. He will have a different test for them tomorrow.

As Lelouch wakes up he senses a great evil above him. "Alright Nonnette, you can get off me."

Lelouch feels the Knight of Nine get off him. He opens his eyes. Now standing at the door Nonnette Enngream is flanked by Monica Kruszewski, the Knight of Twelve and Salacia Ravenguard, the newly minted Knight of Five.

"Today you will be playing us on the simulator, your highness. So wake up your," Nonnette slightly pauses, "friends. We will see you at breakfast."

Lelouch gets up and heads for the shower. Once he is done he wakes the girls with a kiss to the cheek.

Milly feels Lelouch lips brushing across her cheek. She forgets where she is. "Oh Lulu do that again."

Milly opens her eyes. But rather than seeing the raven haired amethyst eyed prince, she sees the red haired cerulean eyed girl. Kallen laughs as she hops out of the bed. Milly slowly follows her feeling a little embarrassed. Before heading over for breakfast Lelouch informs the girls of what they are up against today.

At first breakfast is quiet as the girls are in awe of the Knights of the Round. They have gotten used to Lelouch and Bismarck's banter. Even though they have met Monica and Salacia, the fact that they are now Knight of the Round changes things. Of course Lelouch doesn't care about anyone's status. Well neither does Nonnette. She wants to know more about these two girls that the prince personally chose to accompany him here. Naturally Monica and Salacia gave Nonnette a report on what they knew about Milly and Kallen.

After breakfast they all head to the simulator room. The simulator is adapted so that the Knights of the Round can play directly against the children. The controls are also modified to match that of the Glasgow. Nonnette goes up against Lelouch. Salacia chooses Kallen. Leaving Monica to battle Milly.

The Knights start with the obvious advantage of having used the knightmares in battle. Meaning they know what weapons and moves work. It continues that way for the day However the next day Kallen and Lelouch begin to surpass their opponents time after time.

This causes Salacia to get angry. She especially hates losing to Kallen because she knows Kallen is half Japanese. "This is just a stupid game anyways. If we were in real knightmares. "

Lelouch is incensed by this comment. He scornfully replies, "If you would like Knight of Five, there are several knightmares in the hangar."

Lelouch walks over to the Knight of Five. She appears to want to respond to his challenge; however, she remembers her place.

"I am sorry for my outburst, your highness. Please forgive me."

Bismarck calls it a night. As they lie there in bed Lelouch puts his arms around the girls. They both lay their heads down on him. Kallen is the first to speak.

"Lelouch, do you think we could have beaten them in a real knightmare battle?"

Lelouch thinks about it. "No, we all would have got beaten badly," He explains, "Knightmare battles are about more than just control and weapons. They are about strength and endurance."

Both girls consider that. Lelouch adds one last thing.

"This is probably our last night together because some special guests are coming."

The next morning after breakfast Lelouch packs up his things and moves over to the other room. The other knights of the Round have left. A little before lunch the guests arrive. It is three more children. Only it is two boys and in girl. They come into the dinning room where lunch is being served. Without looking up Lelouch greets them.

"Hey Gino, Anya, and Suzaku-sama."

The three respond and sit down to eat. They spend most of the day settling into their rooms. The girls all agree to sleep on the king sized bed so there is no need to bring anymore beds. Of course with more people the bathroom situation is going to get complicated. After dinner the Knight of One has the set up the simulators for the new guests.

**June 10, 2010 ATB**

After breakfast they all continue on the simulators. Lord Waldstein looks at their results over lunch. He can't say that he is surprised. Somehow despite the fact that he has never been near either a simulator or knightmare, Suzaku Kururugi has scored just as high as Kallen Stadtfeld. Gino is on par with the prince. Anya is slightly behind them. Of course the fact that Kallen Stadtfeld scored so high should also be a surprise. What little he knows about Milly Ashford tells Bismarck that there is no way she should score anywhere the level she is at.

In fact the Knights of the Round should have continually trounced the children even on the simulator. The more Bismarck thinks about it the more confused he gets. He really has no idea what to tell his majesty when he makes his report in a few days. How can he inform his majesty that mere children barely hitting puberty can match the greatest knights in the realm? In fact if they were just a little older and stronger, Bismarck has no doubt in his mind that they can defeat just about anyone in knightmare combat.

That night after dinner Bismarck has the simulators set up for head to head combat again. The match-ups seem to have settled themselves and show good symmetry. Kallen and Suzaku will face off. Gino and Lelouch are going against each other. Finally Anya and Milly are fighting each other. They continue again in the next day. They have a friendly competition between the two groups. Anya defeats Milly. Lelouch has a slight edge over Gino. But Kallen and Suzaku are evenly matched.

**June 12, 2012**

Today everybody gets to use a Glasgow. The last few days were spent modifying three more Glasgows. They spend two days using the Glasgow and having mock battles. Bismarck soon learns that this is very dangerous. Mostly because they are all very competitive. At dinner they are informed that in two day there will be a big knightmare demonstration which will have many important guests. Lelouch has an idea.

"Lord Waldstein have the pilots for the demonstration been chosen."

"Well it is assumed that the knights of the Round will pilot the knightmares."

"I see."

**June 14, 2012**

Guests from all over the empire and allied nations are being seated for the knightmare demonstration. Euphemia and Nunnally both attend. They are seated with Cornelia and Empress Marianne. Even little Evelyn and Clovis are there. Schniezel and Odysseus are seated with their assistants. The emperor is with the Knights of One and Two. The remaining Knights of the Round are in the knightmare hangar.

Prince Lelouch's guests are seated in seats of honor. Allowed to attend are Genbu Kururugi and Kyoshiro Tohdoh. Tohdoh looks around for his student, Suzaku. He knows that the young man was here for a few days. It begins.

There are six knightmares. Three are red. The others are gray. There are no real rules for the demonstration. But the unstated rules make it a three on three battle. The Knightmares are labeled 1, 2, and, 3. Each one faces off with its corresponding letter.

At first they are all evenly matched. The Gray 3 begins to gain an advantage over the Red 3. The three red knightmares pull back. They appear to be regrouping. Suddenly they come out and charge their gray counterparts but rather than matching up with their corresponding number they switch.

One of the first things Tohdoh notices is that the movements on the knightmares are not fluid. He wonders how experienced the pilots are. Surely for such a demonstration Britannia would put its most skilled pilots out there. But he sees the Knights of One and Two standing by the emperor. He also recognizes the so called Flash. She is sitting with a group of girls. Perhaps they have decided to give others the opportunity to shine on this stage.

As the red knightmare approach their gray counter parts, Red 1 attacks and overwhelms Gray 3. Soon Gray 3 is disabled. Meanwhile the other red knightmares engage with heir opponents. Again Red 3 is having problems keeping up with its opponent, Gray 2, but Red 1 comes over to help. Soon Gray 1 is left alone. Despite putting up a valiant effort it is defeated. The three victorious knightmares come over to the emperor's booth and kneel. He acknowledges them. Red 1 and 3 take their leave. They help their gray counterparts.

The hatch on Red 2 opens. This puts the Knights of One and Two on alert. The crowd is expecting perhaps one the other Knights of the Round or one of the other royal knights. Instead they get a thin raven haired amethyst eyed boy. The crowd is silent as he stands up and gets off the knightmare. It is so silent that the far away sound of insects and the bustling city are heard quite clearly. The boy kneels before the emperor.

Suddenly there is a loud scream, "Yay it's brother Lulu!"

Nobody stops the little princess from running out and joining her brother. For the most part they are still stunned at what has occurred. If he was piloting one knightmare, then who are in the other ones. She stumbles a little as she reaches her brother. It is a good thing that it is a short distance because she appears to have his dislike for physical activity. He quickly puts his arms around her and brings her down to the same kneeling position. The girl has rarely seen the man in front of her despite the fact that he is her father. She has a nickname for him, but it is very inappropriate to say in public. Finally the emperor gives them leave to stand.

Lelouch stands up and lifts Evelyn. He walks back to the Glasgow and takes her up with him. They ride off.

Tohdoh stands there in awe. Is the machine so simple that a child can use or perhaps this one is exceptional? Lelouch vi Britannia never struck him as much of a physical specimen. But what little he learned from Suzaku, he understood that the boy was quite intelligent. Like the others he wonders who the other five pilots were. Gray A was showing very familiar moves and fighting philosophy.

When Lelouch reaches the back Suzaku and Gino have already left to be with their families. The Knights of the Round are no where to be found. They have most likely have gone to meet with the emperor. Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta have returned to the prince's service after having a little time off. Of course they gave detailed reports of what occurred during the year. Jeremiah gives Lelouch a slight nod. Lelouch leads everybody else to a special meeting. He looks down at his list. Everybody he wrote to at the end of May was here except for Leonard Labie. The man confirmed that he would attend. But once Lelouch discovered the man worked for Schniezel, he excused the man. He doesn't want it to seem as if he is stealing his brother's people. Also he doesn't want what is an obvious spy at his meeting.

Lloyd Apslund looks at the people waiting with him for the prince. Despite the fact that Rakshata is there, he is pleased at what he sees. He had expected his mentor, Leonard Labie, to be there. But he now works for Prince Schniezel, so his absence is understandable. The door opens and in walk several people. The prince is unmistakable. Apart form the fact that he is in the middle of the group, the manner in which he walks gives away his royal status.

Flanking the prince are two young men in their early twenties. They are obviously military men maybe also noble. Behind the prince is a woman also in her early twenties. She also appears to be in the military. Lloyd ignores them. He has worked with the military for a few years so he understands them a little. In any meeting with a member of the royal family unless they are advisors the military personnel usually will stay quiet.

Behind all of them are several young ladies. The word harem comes to Lloyd's mind. He is a prince after all. At the risk of being thought a pedophile Lloyd thinks that the girls are quite lovely. This is despite the fact that he rarely thinks of such things. There are four girls. The girl in front is unmistakably the prince's younger sister. If her outburst after the demonstration didn't give her away, her face certainly would. Despite being less than two years old she has a very regal way of walking.

Behind her are three other girls in a line. Then it hits Lloyd as he looks down at his paperwork. They piloted three of the knightmares. The prince takes his seat in the center. The young princess is helped to her seat at the prince's right. Beside her to the prince's far right sits a blonde girl with a very noble look to her. Directly to the prince's left is a red haired girl. She has a bit of a noble air to her but Lloyd senses much more. Beside her is a pink haired girl. She appears to be a little younger than the rest. She appears to be the silent type.

The prince begins, "I would like to thank everyone for coming," He gestures to everyone, "This is Earl Lloyd Apslund, Dr. Cecile Croomy, Margrave Philip Cummins, and Dr. Rakshata Chawla," He looks back towards his girls, "This is Lady Milly Ashford, Princess Evelyn vi Britannia, Lady Kallen Stadtfeld, and Anya Alstreim."

He pauses and looks over to his military people. "I better introduce them as well because they get mad if I don't," He grins, "The aqua haired man is Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald. His military rank is Major. The other two are Lieutenants Villetta Nu and Kewell Soresi."

Lelouch gestures for Jeremiah to turn on the screen at the end of the table. Lelouch brings up several images on the screen.

"Now then let's get started."

* * *

Author's note: In case anybody didn't get the hint Evelyn vi Britannia is a girl version of Lelouch. Not Lelouch if he was suddenly turned into a girl but rather Lelouch if he would have been born a girl. Castor and Pollux will be a mix of Lelouch and Nunnally in looks and character.

I don't why I always portray Marianne like a careless mother. I think I wrote the exact same thing when I described their last visit to Pendragon.

Next chapter more letters.


	12. Letters pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters. I don't any of the other stuff either.

Another chapter of letters. At this point most of these are e-mails. But who cares.

* * *

Here at the Imperial Post Office, we do it all. Overnight, second day, express air. Nothing is too big or too small. No deadline is too soon. Remember you can't ship that computer through e-mail.

Holy Empire Of Britannia

Imperial Post Office commercial

* * *

August 10, 2012

Watashi no oniisama:

Cornelia and mother are still upset that you didn't tell them about the knightmare thing. Well today we are leaving for Japan. Euphie keeps glaring at Kallen and Milly like she wants to fight them. It's a little funny because I think I could beat up Euphie in a fight. Well nothing much is going on. I can't wait to get back to school. Write whenever you can. I'll send you some more manga when I return to Japan. I'll send some to Gino as well. Bye, miss you already.

Sincerely,

Nunnally vi Britannia

Baroness of Kentshire

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

August 12, 2012

To Dr. Cecile Croomy, Ph.D.:

I am very glad that you showed interest during our meeting last month. As promised I have managed to secure the amount of sakuridite you said was needed for your research. However the location of the lab I have set up is not in Britannia but rather in Area 11. My elder brother Clovis has recently been installed as viceroy. He has allowed me to use some facilities. Just inform my offices of when you are ready to leave and they will prepare transportation for you to Manila.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

August 13, 2012

Dear Lulu,

We are back in Japan now. So just wanted to write that we are safely back home. Just to let you know that big sister and Lady Marianne are still upset about that knightmare demonstration thing. Take care. Shirley says hi.

Eternally yours,

Euphemia li Britannia

Margravine of Glouter

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

August 17 2012

To Dr. Rakshata Chawla, Ph. D.

I was glad that you showed interest in working together. At this moment I do not have facilities in mainland Britannia for the work I want to do. I have two options. Cecile Croomy and possibly Lloyd Apslund are on their way to Area 11 (formerly the Philippines). Transportation there can be arranged. If you prefer something closer to your native India perhaps Areas 10 (Indochina) or 12 (Cambodia) would be agreeable.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

September 14, 2012

To my good buddy Rivalz,

Thanks for sending me the anime. I think Lelouch gets all his good strategies from watching anime. Tell everybody there I said hi.

Your friend,

Gino Weinsberg

* * *

October 12, 2012

Dear Lady Kallen Stadtfeld,

If it is acceptable with your parents, I would like to extend an invitation to the 100th annual Britannian Military Jr. Academy Winter Formal. Said event will occur on December 21. Perhaps we can also begin discussions about other matters as well.

Infinitely yours,

Lelouch Lamperouge

Duke of Awesomeness

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

October 13, 2012

Dear Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford,

If it is acceptable with your parents, I would like to extend an invitation to the 100th annual Britannian Military Jr. Academy Winter Formal. Said event will occur on December 21. Perhaps we can also begin discussions about other matters as well.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

October 16, 2012

Dear Poopy Head Lamperouge,

Thank you for your obviously heart-felt invitation. But I regret to inform you that I will be unable to attend your event.

Insincerely,

Kallen Stadtfeld

Duchess of Butt-kicking

p.s. Of course I'm going. Couldn't you have changed Milly's letter just a little. And Rivalz is freaking out about Milly going with some prince. If you make me dance with Gino, our friendship is over. Do you understand? So over. Love you but not enough to dance with Gino. Tell him to stop writing so much. My dad is thinking of hiring an assassin to take him out or buying into several paper companies.

* * *

October 18, 2012

To his royal highness Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire:

It would be a pleasure to accompany you to Britannian Military Jr. Academy Winter Formal. If your office would be kind enough to inform my people of the necessary arrangements.

Yours Sincerely,

Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford

* * *

October 21, 2012

To my good buddy Rivalz Cardemonde,

Sorry buddy but my parents are making me invite a girl to the dance. We can only invite one person but I will keep an eye on Milly for you. I'll tell Lelouch to do the same.

Your friend,

Gino Weinsberg

* * *

October 22, 2012

Dear Lady Kallen 'not my best friend anymore because she hurt my feelings'

Stadtfeld,

Really poopy head. I thought that we were beyond those sorts of childish outbursts. So I have to send you another official invitation to the dance, one from Lelouch vi Britannia. I guess to explain why you are going. Also since Euphie told everybody about the dance I have to invite Shirley. She will also get an official invitation from Lelouch vi Britannia. So I hope that calms Rivalz down a little.

Hopefully yours,

Lelouch Lamperouge

Duke of Apologizing

p.s. So if you dance with Gino our friendship is over but are we still getting married because that is what really matters.

* * *

October 29, 2012

Dear Nuna-chan,

I hope everything is going fine at school. Well thanks to Euphie I have to invite Shirley and possibly Rivalz to this stupid dance. To get back at her I am having Suzaku invited as well. Everything is pretty much the same here. Yes Anya and Alice are invited. Your entrance passes will arrive a few weeks before the dance so you girls can show off around school.

Your loving brother,

Lelouch Lamperouge

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

November 14, 2012

To Earl Lloyd Apslund, Ph. D.:

I am glad that the facilities in Area 11 are to your liking. I have assigned one of my subordinates, Villetta Nu, to provide you with any addition information or supplies. She can get in immediate contact with me. She knows my schedule and my availability since there is a nine hour or so difference between us.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

November 18, 2012

Dear Lelouch Lamperouge,

I would like to thank you for asking Prince Lelouch vi Britannia to invite me to the Winter Formal. However my dad is getting some time off during our winter break and I will be spending it with my family here. But thank you for the invitation.

Sincerely

Shirley Fennette

* * *

November 25, 2012

To my best friend in the whole world Princess Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld vi Britannia:

All the arrangements have been made for your trip here. Just pack clothes for a few days. I have selected a dress for you to wear to the formal. And on the way home we get to play with some knightmares, yay.

Your best friend forever and ever for all of eternity,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

November 27, 2012

To my dear Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford,

I have selected a dress for you to wear to the formal. So don't worry about that. Just bring some clothes to walk around in for a few days.

Your friend,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

December 5, 2012

Dear Brother Lulu,

I writing a letters to you cause it's you birthday. Sister Nelia helping me. Happy birthday. From Castors and Pollus too

Your sister,

(rather than a signature the three younger vi Britannia kids put their handprints.)

Evelyn vi Britannia

* * *

December 10, 2012

To my Euphie,

So I hope that Rodrigo was up to your standards. Clovis recommended him to make your dress. I'm really hopeless in that department. Well see you soon.

Loving yours forever,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

December 16, 2012

To Lady Kallen 'once again my best friend' Stadtfeld:

I hope this letter finds you finishing your packing. The jet will arrive for you tomorrow after noon. You should be here at the 18th. Your dress is near completion. Rodrigo really know his stuff, I guess. Not that it matters since it was my idea but your dress is costing me an arm and a leg probably two legs.

Whatever is left of me is forever yours,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

p.s. Love you a lot. You will only need to dance with Gino a few times.

* * *

December 28, 2012

To my Lulu,

Big sister says I should write a letter to thank you for inviting me to the dance. Well since I just saw you a few days ago there is nothing more to write about. Well bye.

Yours eternally

Euphemia li Britannia

Margravine of Glouter

* * *

December 29, 2012

Dear oniisama,

Well Alice says I have to write a letter thanking you for inviting us to the dance. We are still in Pendragon and will be leaving for Japan tomorrow. Well nothing much going on. Say hi to Gino. Tell him he owes me a dance.

Sincerely

Nunnally vi Britannia

Baroness of Kentshire

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

January 12, 2013

To Earl Lloyd Apslund, Ph.D.:

I hope that the results from last summers simulation and knightmare demonstration are to your satisfaction. I anticipate that the test results from a few weeks ago will be satisfactory. If there is anything else that needs to be taken care of do not hesitate to tell Lt. Nu.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

**

* * *

**

The offices of Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire

January 15, 2013

To Dr. Rakshata Chawla, PH.D.:

In response to query about the pilot of your machine I hope that the information I have forwarded you is sufficient. Due to my duties here at West Point I am unable to go in person. Also the pilot of the knightmare is also in school. However it may be possible for you to go to Japan and conduct a few tests there. This is of course only if it is absolutely necessary. Again I hope the information on the tests from last summer and this past winter will be enough. My subordinate Lt. Nu should be making a stop in your location during the next week.

Sincerely,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

* * *

January 31, 2013

Dear Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire,

So I was informed that I am supposed to thank you in writing for inviting me to the dance. Never mind the fact that for some reason Kallen came a few days before the rest of us. Then the two of you dance the night away. Leaving me with sir giggles and hugs. At least he is a bit of a hottie. Was that a little out of character for me? At least you remembered to take me on your little vacation with Kallen. Well that's about it. See you in a few months.

Yours future wife,

Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford

p.s. I miss and love you very much. Remember I get to plan the wedding. Both mine and Kallen's. And any others you are having.

* * *

February 3, 2013

Dear Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, Earl of Cheshire,

Drs. Chawla and Croomy visited me a few days ago to conduct some test and interviews. Does that mean you know what is being built? Well I'm sure you know all of this. Well that's about it. Also your mom came to Japan with the kids. She gave all of us some lecture about enjoying our time as children and not growing up too fast. What was that about?

Your princess eternally,

Princess Kallen vi Britannia

Viscountess of Cheshire

p.s. I love you so much. I get to name all our children.

* * *

February 14, 2013

Dear her royal highness Princess Kallen vi Britannia, Viscountess of Cheshire,

Well thanks to yours and Milly's last letters I got this long lecture from Jeremiah about not growing up to fast and rushing into things. If that wasn't bad enough as we were having this conversation Cornelia walks in on us. Oh not jut Cornelia but Nonnette, Guilford, and Darlton. So that was a fun conversation. It took me a week to recover. In fact as I write this Nonnette and Darlton are hanging around here. Cornelia left them here to make sure that there was nothing on. Had Guilford not stopped her, she would have had me tested for STD's and every girl at the academy would have been tested for pregnancy. Well until later.

Your prince charming forever,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

p.s. Um hello I'm only thirteen. I'm not thinking about all that stuff quite yet.

(Kallen is rolling around on the floor laughing her ass off.)

* * *

February 21, 2013

Dear Rivalz Cardemonde,

Well thanks for all the stuff you sent me but it isn't helping me improve. I don't know how Lelouch does it. Maybe anime isn't the secret. I tried to master chess but I think I have been getting worse.

Your friend,

Gino Weinsberg

* * *

March 3, 2013

To his royal highness Prince Lelouch vi Britannia,

We have finally finished our move from Area 11 to Area 10. Dr. Rakshata has also moved her facilities and team over. I would also like to thank you for separating the facilities a bit. It seems as if Rakshata and Lloyd have some sort of history. Hope the results of our tests are to your satisfaction. I personally await you official visit in a few months.

Sincerely,

Dr. Cecile Croomy, Ph.D.

* * *

April 24, 2013

Dear Nuna-chan

Well summer break is almost here. I will make a stop in Pendragon to visit the munchkins. Unfortunately mom is probably going with me to Japan. I guess it can't be helped. She is really insistent. At least she is bringing the little ones.

Your ever loving brother,

Lulu-kun

* * *

May 13, 2013

To my Euphie,

Well I stopped mom from coming to Japan but I still get to take the munchkins with me. However Cornelia is coming with us. Well whatever. See you in a few weeks. I'm bringing Anya with me.

Yours forever,

Lelouch vi Britannia

* * *

May 14, 2013

To my Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford,

I have made plans for us to visit Area 10 so they can run the final tests for our creations. I am bringing to special guests with me this time so it won't be just the three of us.

Yours Truly,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

p.s. This message will self destruct in ten seconds.

* * *

May 15, 2013

To her royal highness Princess Kallen vi Britannia, Viscountess of Cheshire:

So I'll be there in about two to three weeks. Since I'm bringing the munchkins and Cornelia, I will be in Japan for a few weeks. Then it's off to Indochina to run the final tests for the knightmares. Hopefully by winter break they will be done with all the knightmares. Well see you in a few weeks.

Forever your prince charming,

Lelouch vi Britannia

Earl of Cheshire

p.s. I am bringing Gino and Anya with me, and they are going to Indochina with us.

* * *

Author's note: Evelyn wrote her letter with a voice recognition program and Cornelia's help.


	13. Dancing away innocence

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Innocence: noun

lack of guile or corruption; purity

used euphemistically to refer to a person's virginity

...

Dances and such events are important in the maturation of young people. It is important that they go to such events.

Jeremiah Gottwald

The Orange Papers

...

Dances are the most important events in the life of young people. In many ways they are the real tests.

Milly Ashford's Guide to Getting a Real Education

Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

**

* * *

**

November 18, 2012

Lelouch got back into the rhythm of the academy. Now under the leadership of Lelouch the Black Knights continue their winning ways. Even after having to add four members initially and two more a few weeks later. There appears nothing to hold back their climb to the top of the standings. Not only were West Point officials impressed with Lelouch but so where plenty others.

Lelouch receives visits from several Knights of the Round as well as several members of the royal family. He expected Schniezel, Cornelia, and possibly Odysseus to check up on him. There were visitors representing other members of the royal family. Lelouch simply shrugs at his visitors. He knows what they all want including Cornelia. Sure, there is concern for him, but he knows that they want something in the future. This is one of the main reasons why he chose to live in the barracks with the rest of his team.

Lelouch was pleased of the reports he was getting back from his knightmare people. That felt odd the first time he thought about it. While Area 11, the Philippines, was an ideal area to begin his project because of its closeness to Japan, he would have to move to a new location. It seemed as if Clovis was already proving unreliable.

Rakshata has set herself up in Area 12, Cambodia. So perhaps moving at least Cecile to Area 10, Indochina. That would have to wait until Lloyd and Cecile finished their preliminary work. Of course, Lelouch has moved Lord Cummins to Area 9, New Zealand. The older man enjoyed the natural setting. It is also a good environment for his daughter. The only problem with that location its remoteness. However, Lord Cummins was working on projects that did not need help from others.

Well for now, Lelouch had other problems. The biggest problem was the Britannian Military Jr. Academy Winter Formal on December 21. At first, he planned to simply invite Kallen and Milly. The Milly made the mistake of telling Euphemia who made the mistake of telling Shirley and so on. Of course, he invited Milly as Lelouch vi Britannia not as Lelouch Lamperouge. This caused Rivalz to freak out. The tenuous lie that he had created almost fell apart. He will have to do some quick thinking to get out of this.

Lelouch looks up from his position. His team is winning without him even paying attention. Before he knows it the game is over. The result is another victory for the Black Knights. After the game Lelouch waves for his team to do the traditional celebratory dance.

After the game, he goes up over to the barracks. He checks his mail and discovers some good news. Well it wasn't all good news because one more potential dance partner for Gino wasn't coming. In any case at least he doesn't have to invite Rivalz now because Shirley isn't coming. Only people that knew his secret will be here. For some reason Gino keeps telling him to just tell everyone his secret at the very least his friends. Well at least he doesn't have to worry about that for now.

**December 16, 2012**

Clovis recommended one of his personal tailors, Rodrigo, to make the dresses for the girls. He arrived at West Point yesterday and was already working hard on the dresses. Lelouch is going to have to thank Clovis. Not only is Rodrigo working on the dresses but he is working on some suits for Lelouch and Gino.

Lelouch finishes writing to Kallen. They have been writing to each other more this year than last. Lelouch shrugs as Rodrigo bursts into the room. His assistants are carrying the dresses. The flamboyant tailor signals for Lelouch to come see them. Lelouch waves him off. He wants to wait until the girls arrive.

Rodrigo shrugs his shoulder, "Ah young love."

That comment makes Lelouch look up. He whispered the word, "Love."

Rodrigo shakes his head. Whether the prince knew it or not he is in love. Buying one of Rodrigo's dresses is expensive enough. Having Rodrigo create a new dress was more than even many nobles could afford. Of course not only was Rodrigo making three original dresses but three original suits. To make his suit Rodrigo asks Lelouch questions about the girls who the dresses belong to.

Lelouch looks over at Rodrigo staring off into the distance. He wonders about what Rodrigo says. Naturally Lelouch loves his sister, Euphemia but does he love Kallen and Milly as well. He puts the thought out of his head. Who knew that this dance would be so much work? Lelouch tries on his suit. Everything fit perfectly. Now that that is out of the way on to the next part of Lelouch's plan.

**December 18, 2012**

Lelouch is waiting at Ricardo von Britannia International airport in New York. Kallen's plane is due to arrive in a few minutes. Since the dance was a few days away, he told Gino that he was on his way to Pendragon to meet his sisters and friends. He could tell that Gino was saddened by the fact that Lelouch didn't invite him. Lelouch didn't have time to worry about that he had plans for the next two days.

A few minutes after the jet stops, the door opens. Kallen comes running down the stairs and jumps at Lelouch.

"Lulu!"

Kallen's momentum forces Lelouch to spin her around. "Hey Kalli."

One of the airplane attendants comes over and hands Kallen a bag. It doesn't seem very big.

"Where is the rest of your stuff?"

Kallen looks to Lelouch. "This is it. I decided to have my prince charming buy me some new clothes."

Lelouch smiles and begins to lead Kallen to a waiting car. "Is that so? Well looks like we better get going."

"Oh how far is your school from here?"

"Not far but we aren't going there."

"No, where we going?"

They reach the car. "I have secured the necessary accommodations."

Kallen laughs as they get into the car. "So where are we going?"

"I rented a hotel here in New York. The formal isn't for a few days. I though you would enjoy shopping here."

Kallen smiles and looks out the window. Despite growing up in a large city such as Tokyo she has never been out into the town alone. Here they are just the two of them alone in the car. Well she knows that Jeremiah and Villetta are probably in the front of the car but either way.

Kallen's stomach begins to grumble. She didn't eat on the plane. "Um Lulu, can we get something to eat?"

"Sure Kalli. Do you want to eat at a restaurant or just getting something taken up to the room?"

"In the room I want to take a long bath. I can do that while the food is coming."

"Whatever you want princess."

Kallen looks over at Lelouch. It was one thing for them to joke around like that in their correspondence but it was something else to do it when physically together. He puts his arm around her and she snuggles in closer. She never thought she would miss him this much. At school she sees some of the other jr high girls walking around with their boyfriends. It makes Kallen so jealous because she wants to experience the same thing. This is the closest she will have to that.

"Is something wrong Kallen?"

"No, just thinking of all the ways that I can spend your money," she looks around, "There are so many stores here."

They arrive at the hotel, the Waldstein-Astoria. Lelouch keeps forgetting to ask the Knight of One about any family connections to the hotel. He carries her one bag up to their room. Kallen doesn't notice if Jeremiah or Villetta are following. Of course it could be that other guy, Marika's brother. Lelouch opens the door to their room. It is a two room suite. Villetta is waiting for them there.

"Oh your highness and Lady Stadtfeld, you have arrived."

Kallen greets her. "Oh hi Miss Villetta."

Lelouch goes to their room and leaves Kallen's bag. Her stomach growls again. This time it makes her blush because Villetta is there. Lelouch comes out at that moment.

"Oh I'll get the food ordered. Go and take a bath."

Kallen nods and goes off. Lelouch goes to the phone to get some room service. After her bath, Kallen comes out to find enough food to feed ten people. Her stomach growls once again telling her to grab the nearest thing and eat it.

After dinner Kallen is completely stuffed. Lelouch pulls out a map which has store locations he figured that Kallen would like. She looks the list over and offers some suggestions. Lelouch makes the necessary adjustments to map.

"Um Lulu, are we going to sleep together?"

Lelouch glances over at Kallen. "Is that okay?"

Kallen shrugs. "Sure."

This is one of the things that made their relationship very peculiar. They rarely saw each other. Kallen wasn't sure if they were actually boyfriend and girlfriend but they had slept in the same bed alone on several occasions. Kallen changed into her pajamas. They happen to be Bleach pajamas which Nunnally got her for her birthday last year. Lelouch laughs but can't stop staring at them.

"Stop laughing. Your sister got them for me."

"I know. She told me. She said that everybody at Ashford was so obsessed with it that fights have broken out over who Ichigo should be paired with."

Kallen shrugs at that comment. She likes reading manga and watching anime but she wouldn't get in a fight with someone because they thought that Ichigo should end up with Rukia instead of Orihime or even Tatsuki. Kallen begins to think of anime pairings when she notices that Lelouch is watching her with a grin. Damn him. He said that make her think about it.

Kallen grins. "Let's just go to sleep because I'm going to run you ragged tomorrow."

Lelouch grimaces at that comment.

In the morning Kallen gets up early. She wants to make sure that she looks perfect for their shopping trip. She's undecided on whether to wear a skirt or jeans. She wants to be comfortable but at the same time she will be changing clothes quite often as she tries on different outfits. She selects a white sleeveless button down blouse. It has a white belt that she forms a bow with in the middle. She also wears a matching white skirt with brown belt. She also wears three bracelets on her right arm. (It's kind of my profile avatar)

Lelouch wakes up and notices that Kallen is already up. He goes over to the bathroom to get ready for his day. He can't decide what to wear. He thinks about wearing a black shirt and gray pants with his favorite brown jacket. He chooses a lavender shirt with a blue tie, a white jacket and gray pants. (Episode 3 season 2)

Kallen is already eating breakfast with Kewell. He is asking about his sister. As Lelouch joins them, Kewell excuses himself.

"Excuse me your highness I think I have to go and prepare for today's trip."

Lelouch shrugs wondering what that is all about. He looks over at Kallen. This is the first time in a very long time he has seen her in something that isn't just for lounging around. He stares at her for a moment. She sees him staring.

"Is something wrong, Lulu?"

Lelouch snaps out of it. "No, I was just," he pauses trying to find words to express himself, "noticing how pretty you look."

They both blush. "Thanks Lulu."

After breakfast they head out for a day on the town. At most of the stores Lelouch is able to give Kallen his opinion of what she tries on. There are a few that require Villetta to give Kallen a hand. They stop for lunch but continue afterwards. Jeremiah and Kewell have to make several trips back to the hotel to drop off some of the purchases.

As they walk around Lelouch takes Kallen's hand into his own. She looks up at him and smiles.

"Um Lulu."

"This way we won't get separated."

Kallen frown a little, but she thinks that it will have to do for now. After a few more hours of shopping, they decide to have dinner back at the hotel. After dinner they sit around watching some TV.

Kallen looks over to Lelouch. They are sitting there in their pajamas.

"Um Lulu, can we have a lazy day tomorrow?"

"A lazy day?"

"Ya we can just sleep in and not do anything."

Lelouch considers her proposal. "A lazy day that sounds like a good idea."

The next morning Jeremiah is worried about the fact that Lelouch is not up yet. It is almost ten o'clock. He goes to the prince's room. He finds Lelouch and Kallen still sleeping. He decides to leave them. The two wake up a little before lunch still in their pajamas.

Lelouch still finds Kallen's pajamas funny. He stares at them for while. He notices that the pajamas only contain the girls from Bleach. The prince's staring makes Jeremiah a little uncomfortable.

"Your highness."

Lelouch looks up. He points at Kallen's butt. "I was just looking at Orihime and Tatsuki."

Jeremiah raises his eyebrow. He never bothered to learn much Japanese so he has no idea what an orihime or a tatsuki is. But he imagines that they are something inappropriate.

"Just sit down it, your highness."

Lelouch takes his seat quickly.

Kallen frowns, "Well if you are going to make fun of my pajamas then I won't give you these."

She pulls out at L and Light Yagami plushies.

Lelouch can't believe his eyes "Holy shit! Where did you get those from?"

Jeremiah glares at the prince and coughs.

Lelouch smiles, "I mean. Miss Stadtfeld, how were able to procure these items."

She hands them to him. Lelouch spends lunch playing with his new plushies. After lunch Lelouch and Kallen go back to sleep. Lelouch snuggles his plushies in the bed with him. Kallen pulls out her Ichigo one. They have a mini plushie battle before going back to sleep. They wake up to eat dinner. Lelouch looks over at Kallen's bag.

"Did you bring anymore?"

Kallen grins, "What do you want an Orihime or Tatsuki?"

Lelouch blushes, "Let's just eat."

After dinner Lelouch goes over to the grand piano. He has no idea why the room has it but is glad. He begins to play. Kallen pulls one of the chairs closer to the piano and sit down.

"What are you playing?"

"It's is Beethoven, Bagatelle in A minor, Fur Elise."

Kallen nods she doesn't know much about classical music."

Once he is done with that he plays something. He tells her what it is as if reading her mind.

"Mozart piano sonata 11 in A, k 331."

Again it doesn't mean much to Kallen.

"Um Lulu, are we going to have to dance tomorrow?"

"Well that's sort of the idea. Why?"

"Well I can't dance."

Lelouch stops playing. "Didn't you take those dancing lessons?"

"Well those didn't go so well."

Lelouch gets up. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

Lelouch goes and gets his black Z-phone. It's made by the Orange Company which is owned by a distant Gottwald family member. Unlike those that are sold to commoners Lelouch's doesn't have any glitches. He hooks it up to a speaker. He selects a few songs that he knows they are going to play at the dance.

"Here let me show you a few dances."

Kallen gets up and walks towards Lelouch. "Why do you have those songs on your Z-phone?"

Lelouch mumbles something.

"What was that?"

Lelouch coughs. "I showed Gino a few dance steps."

Kallen laughs as the image of Lelouch showing Gino how to dance. Lelouch begins the song. He takes Kallen's hand into his own.

"Just follow me, Kalli."

(Since I started writing this I've had a certain song in my head from Code Geass. It's called Innocent Days. It's played at the very end of season one after the credits and season two during episode 23 when Lelouch decides that nothing will stop the Zero Requiem. It starts with CC/Lelouch and ends with Kallen/Gino. So imagine that song is playing during the next few paragraphs.)

Lelouch begins to lead Kallen in the dance. Jeremiah wonders why the piano has stopped playing. He comes over to the door. He watches as the prince take the young lady by the hand and begins to lead her around the floor. He is there for a few minutes before he is interrupted.

Villetta come up behind Jeremiah. "Lord Jeremiah."

He puts his finger up to his lips signaling her to be quiet. They both watch Lelouch and Kallen dance. It seems to go on forever.

At the same time in Pendragon Milly and Euphemia are packing up a few things for their trip to New York. Both of them wonder where Kallen is at. They think they know but are hoping they are wrong. Nunnally, Alice and Anya are packed and are playing outside in the garden.

Shirley and Rivalz are both asleep in Tokyo. Shirley's dad was never getting the days off as she said. She just didn't want to tag along with Euphie and her family. Rivalz was having trouble sleeping tomorrow was the day of that Winter Formal. He was having nightmares of some prince sweeping Milly off her feet and her never coming back.

Naoto Kouzuki is having trouble sleeping in his barracks in Nagasaki. He wonders what his sister is doing at the moment. He was such an ass to his mother and sister before he left. He thought about apologizing so many times but couldn't bring himself to do it. Of course Kallen was going to that Britannian school. It still displeased him that there was Britannian school in Tokyo. Whatever he needs to at least talk to her.

Kaname Ohgi had lost his best friend to the military. Naoto was still alive but his life now belonged to the state. Ohgi was months away form graduating and joining the workforce as a teacher. He hoped to one day see his friend again.

Lin Xing-ke was attending military academy in Shanghai. He owned it to the empress to be the best he could be. The empress saved his life. Whatever was left of it he would give to her.

Cornelia is sitting in office. It is very late. For now there is peace with the EU but who knows how long that will last. Guilford, her knight, comes and joins her with some wine.

Kallen leans into Lelouch as he leads her around the room. She wishes this moment would never end but everything has to come to a stop sometime. After dancing to a few songs they stop. Lelouch notices Jeremiah and Villetta standing. They leave the doorway. After the song ends, Kallen is still holding onto Lelouch.

"Lulu."

"Yes Kalli."

Kallen is unsure about how to express her feelings to Lelouch "I was wondering if."

"What's wrong?"

Kallen shakes her head. "Never mind. Let's go to sleep."

Lelouch shrugs and nods. "Okay."

They have been wearing their pajamas all day long so Kallen decides to take a quick bath and change into something else. Lelouch decides to change into something else as well but without the bath.

They are lying in the bed. Kallen feels a little weird about it now. They are face to face. Lelouch begins to stroke Kallen's hair. It's what he normally does to make Nunnally and Euphie go to sleep when they sleep with him. He begins to hum a lullaby that his mother and Cornelia taught him.

"Lulu."

"Yes Kalli."

"Um, am I your girlfriend?"

Lelouch doesn't answer.

Kallen feels more nervous than she did before. "It's just that I see other people walking around."

"Yes."

Kallen looks over to Lelouch. "What?"

"You are my girlfriend," he pauses, "That's if you want to be."

Kallen smiles. "Of course Lulu."

Lelouch leans forward and brushes his lips across her. He pulls back. Kallen has her eyes closed.

"Lulu, that was."

"Our first kiss."

Kallen nods and turns around to snuggle into Lelouch. He continues to brush her hair and hum the lullaby. They fall asleep.

In the morning Kallen is up early to pack up a few things. She heads to the bathroom to change. When she returns Lelouch is pacing around the room talking to himself. Their eyes meet.

"Hey Kalli, what's up?"

Kallen laughs, "What are you doing?"

Rather than respond Lelouch holds something up. It is a white heart shaped locket with gold trimming. Lelouch puts it around Kallen's neck. He kisses her in the forehead.

"Lulu, what's this for?"

"Because you're my girlfriend."

Kallen bites her lip. "Maybe we shouldn't tell anyone about that yet."

Lelouch shrugs, "Whatever you want Kalli."

"When is everybody getting here?"

"A little after lunch. I hope they aren't too tired for tonight."

"Let's go eat breakfast and then finish packing."

That's exactly what they do. Since they are possibly spending the next two days at West Point, Kallen packs for that. Lelouch doesn't have to pack much since all his stuff is already there. They decide to eat out and head over to the airport. They sit on a bench waiting for the jet bringing his sisters and friends to arrive.

As they wait Kallen lies her head down on Lelouch's lap. He begins to stoke her hair. Lelouch wonders about their relationship. He likes Kallen a lot, but he wonders why. Since the age of six his mother has tried to out him and Milly together. He has nothing against Milly but wants to make his own choice. Of course being a prince means that some things are decided for you. Lelouch knows all about arranged marriages.

The other reason why he thinks he likes Kallen is that for some reason everybody is trying to pull them apart. When they first met they were just friends and then everybody got weird about it so Lelouch decided to keep seeing Kallen. Everybody acts as if he and Milly wae already married even Gino. Well almost everybody. Shirley and Rivalz don't know anything. Lelouch remembers that while training with knightmares during the summer Gino was always trying to be alone with Kallen. He also tried to get Lelouch and Milly together a lot.

Of course he likes Kallen for who she is. She is intelligent and athletic. She is kind to people and cares about her family. Not to mention the fact that she is very beautiful. Lelouch wishes now that he had gotten a look at the dresses before hand. He barely even glanced at his own suit even though he wore it. He hopes that Rodrigo isn't too insulted. Lelouch is lost in thought when he feels Jeremiah nudge him on the shoulder. The jet has arrived.

"Kalli, they're here."

Kallen gets up from Lelouch's lap. She is glad that she didn't slobber too much. She is more tired than she figured. She follows Lelouch. He grabs her hand and interlaces their fingers.

"Lulu, maybe we shouldn't."

It was enough that she was the first one here with him. If Milly and his sisters saw the two of them holding hands, they would be really upset. Lelouch reluctantly releases his hand from Kallen's. The door opens and Nunnally comes running down the stairs. She flings herself at Lelouch.

"Hey Nunna-chan."

She doesn't let go. "Oh oniisama I missed you so much. You too Kallen-chan." Nunnally grins as she says this. "So what have the two of you been up to." Nunnally sees the locket around Kallen's neck and grins.

Alice and Anya follow Nunnally down the stairs. It is hard to protect someone who just rushes off like that. They are followed by Euphemia, Milly, Miss Lohmeyer, and the rest of the security team. When Miss Lohmeyer sees Lelouch and Kallen, she bristles. But since it is none of her business, she doesn't say a word. Suzaku brings up the rear.

Greeting Milly and Euphie is a little awkward for Kallen because she knows that they are angry at her. She really doesn't care because now Lelouch was her boyfriend even though she wanted to keep it a secret for a while at least. Her hand goes up to her locket for a moment before she realizes that she is drawing attention to it.

Milly ever observant notices it. "Oh what a pretty necklace. Where did you get it from?"

Lelouch responds, "I gave it to her. It is for tonight," he pauses and licks his lips, "It is part of the dress package. Everybody gets a necklace and earrings."

That comment left Kallen startled but a look at Lelouch let her know that he was just covering it up.

"Let's go the car is waiting for us. It's going to be a long day."

They head off to West Point. The girls seem to have a bit of jet lag but don't seem too tired. Lelouch hopes they will make it through tonight or does he. Maybe it will be better if they tire out and leave the Formal early.

Rodrigo is waiting for them in Lelouch's private quarters. He has set everything up for everybody to get dressed quickly. He takes the girls their room. His assistants are there to help the girls get dressed. The guys are just wearing tuxedos so they can wait until later. The girls figure out who is coming out first.

Euphemia's dress has a bright pink crushed velvet bodice with silver trim that meets light pink velvet sleeves. An iridescent collar with rose accents matches the overskirt gently tied back with a white satin ribbon bow and rose. The overskirt drapes over a bright pink china silk underskirt. It also comes with a pink cloak, pink silk rose covered headband, and pink lace gloves.

Milly's dress has a sky blue stretch velvet bodice is adorned with a delicate silver trim forming a V down the dress. The sleeves and hip drapes are made of a surprisingly soft silver fabric. The skirt is sky blue china silk. It also come with a white cloak, blue silk rose covered headband, and white lace gloves.

Kallen's dress has a deep crimson red and white stretch velvet bodice and is detailed with gold trimming and a red rose at the top. Two pieces of gold material form an X in the lower part of the bodice. The mid-length sleeves with gold trim end in a beautiful white gathered ruffle design. The red silk skirt finishes the luxurious look of this gown. The dress also comes with a red silk rose covered headband, a red cloak and red lace gloves.

Nunnally's dress is light pink. It has two pieces of white trim going around and down the dress. There is a big dark pink bow in the center and several smaller ones going down the center of the dress. There are also bows at the elbow. The sleeves are short. There is also a headband covered in pink bows.

They all gasp at how the girls look. Despite having been to many formal affairs this is the first one that the care about. Everybody appears to be sizing up the situation.

Lelouch grimaces on the inside. This is the one part he forgot to think about. All the girls including Nunnally are going to want to be his date. He can see all that all the girls are waiting in anticipation of what he is going to do.

Rodrigo being an excellent judge of human emotions and body language saves Lelouch's ass.

He walks in between the two groups. "Let me see," He begins looking back and forth as if trying to figure something out. He grabs Suzaku and shoves him by Euphemia, "You go with her," He looks them over, "Good you match up perfectly,"

With that out of the way he grabs Gino next. Gino grins because he thinks he know who is going with. As Gino moves towards Kallen, Rodrigo puts him next to Milly. Gino starts to protest.

"Yes that will do," Rodrigo pulls out some measuring tape and measures their height. One of his assistants comes, over and they appear to be discussing something.

"Yes, you two are the tallest."

Gino and Milly blink. Damn this early growth spurt. Rodrigo points Lelouch towards Kallen. The prince walks over to his date.

Now everybody get even more suspicious of the situation. They look like they want to protest.

Rodrigo puts a stop to that. "Very well then that settles everything. There can be no doubt. For Rodrigo has spoken."

He looks over to Nunnally, "Now who do we put the little princess with."

Lelouch is about to speak when Nunnally interrupts. "I brought my own date."

Everybody is surprised most of all Lelouch. "You did."

Nunnally answers matter-of-factly "Of course I did. I'm too young for this kind of stuff so I brought Alice and Anya."

Lelouch lets out a sigh of relief. He really isn't in the mood to see his nine-year-old sister dancing with some guy. But he really doesn't see how being with Anya and Alice is any different. He is going to have to assign Kewell to his sister. If any guy out there even thinks about asking his sister to dance that will be their last mistake. The only reason he is putting up with Euphie and Suzaku being together is that he know that the emperor wants to pair them up. He isn't all that excited about Milly being paired up with Gino either. He really did not think this out.

The girls want see the guys in their suits. They all walk into the room the girls just vacated. Rodrigo's assistants have the suits laid out. Lelouch abruptly stops when he sees them. He assumed that they would just be formal tuxedo type things, but he was wrong.

He looks over to the assistants. "Did you just set this up?"

"No, no, Mr. Rodrigo did this. After his conversation with your highness, he decided on this."

There was no doubt who each of the suits belonged to. All the clothes are made of the finest silk.

Suzaku's coat and pants are brown. His dress shirt is a light pink while his tie was a dark pink. His shoes were brown. Gino's coat, pants, and dress shirt were white. Even his shoes were white. His tie was blue. Everything for Lelouch was solid black except for his tie, which was red.

The boys come out. The girls cheer them on. Despite their reservations, Milly and Euphie join in. Since the dance is still a few hours away, they change back into their regular clothes. Lelouch leads them on a little tour of the barracks. The school is mostly empty except for the party decorators. They head back to Lelouch's private quarters and at about five-thirty dinner is served. After that, they begin to get ready for the formal. Since it starts at seven, they make a fashionably late entrance just before eight.

At the entrance, there is a giant banner with the name of the event, 100th Annual Britannian Military Jr. Academy Winter Formal. There is also someone announcing the names of everyone as they walk in.

"Now presenting her royal highness third princess of the Holy Britannian Empire, Euphemia li Britannia and Sir Suzaku Kururugi," They walk in hand in hand surprisingly happy.

"Now presenting Lord Gino Weinsberg and Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford," They walk in with obviously fake smiles.

As he gets ready to announce the next couple, he adjusts himself so that his voice will carry.

"Now presenting her royal highness the eleventh princess of the Holy Britannian Empire Nunnally vi Britannia and Lady Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld."

The announcer adjusts himself again, "Accompanying them is the eleventh prince of the Holy Britannian Empire, his royal highness Leeeee-louuuuuuuuuuuuuch," a slight pause for effect, "viiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Britanniaaaaaaaaa."

(Yes, imagine Lelouch being introduced like a major sport star.)

Lelouch walks in with Kallen on his right and Nunnally on his left.

Euphemia, Milly, and Kallen line up and remove their cloaks at the same time revealing their dresses. There are gasps form the other Formal attendants. Despite accompanying Nunnally and Kallen, Lelouch spends much of the night dancing with Milly and Euphemia. He even dances with Anya and Alice.

Eventually Lelouch gets around to dancing with Kallen. As they dance, he barely notices Gino dancing with Nunnally, and some random guys dancing with Euphemia and Milly. Only Kallen's smile keeps him from taking those guys out back and kicking their asses. That and the fact they were probably stronger than him. Of course, Lelouch had one little advantage over everyone.

After a few dances with Kallen, Lelouch goes over to make sure that Nunnally and her friends are leaving. It is getting late. When Lelouch returns he sees Gino and Kallen dancing. This gets him even angrier than when he was dancing with Nunnally. After the song ends Lelouch moves towards Kallen before either Milly or Euphemia can get to him. Gino reluctantly moves away.

"Okay cadets and guests. There are only a few dances left so get someone special to dance the night away."

Gino makes a move back towards Kallen expecting Lelouch to go to Milly. A glare from Lelouch takes care of that misconception. Gino goes over to Milly who gladly accepts his invitation to dance. Naturally Suzaku and Euphemia are dancing. She wonders if her plan to make her brother jealous is working. By the look on Lelouch and Kallen's faces, it isn't.

Lelouch takes Kallen's hand as the song they were dancing to the night before begins to play. Kallen smiles as she will never forget that night. The night their futures became intertwined. They glide around the dance floor as if they are floating. Most of the other couples stop dancing as they watch Kallen and Lelouch effortlessly float around the dance floor oblivious to everything else.

The final song ends and they begin to dismiss everybody. Lelouch and Kallen stand still looking into each others eyes. His sharp black suit contrasting with her crimson red dress. He leans forward apprehensively as if waiting for something. Kallen smiles and leans forward herself. Their lips meet.

Author's note: Thanks to Ai-no-tsuba and Erifrats 101 for the dress ideas. The colors for each girl were pretty easy. Pink is obviously Euphie's color. Milly is always wearing blue dresses from what I remember. Red is naturally Kallen's color although Erifrats idea of blue or purple to match their eye colors is interesting. I might use that later with Kallen wearing something purple and Lelouch wearing blue.

Ai-no-tsuba suggested princess gowns or Barbie type dresses. So I decided to style the dresses after Disney princess literally. Euphie is wearing a Sleeping Beauty dress. Milly is wearing Cinderella. Kallen is wearing a Belle dress. Nunnally is wearing a dress that I saw a picture of her wearing. It will probably be on my profile in a few days.

If anybody is wondering, how and why Kallen's parents allowed her to be alone with Lelouch. Let's just say that Lelouch is a smart boy and knows how to take care of things like that.

In case anybody is wondering in their world the Bleach, anime has reached the end of the Bount arc. The manga is in the middle of the Arrancar arc.


	14. Knightmares of nightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

So Ai-no-tsuba suggested that I create a video game that parodies the Sword of Akasha/Ragnarok thing. So I'm doing that. It will be created by V.V. Other members of the royal family will have their own video games as well.

So all the major characters with the exception if Nunnally are hitting puberty at this point in the story. So keep that in mind.

...

One time I had a nightmare that Xing-ke left and became a circus clown. Clowns are scary.

Jiang Lihua, Empress Tianzi

Expose: Inside the Forbidden Palace

Britannian Broadcasting Company

...

The Titan represents a huge evolution in the way knightmares will be built and thought of.

Lloyd Apslund

...

Big brother Lulu say we can have our own knightmares when we grow up. Then we can kick butt just like him and Nunnally.

Castor and Pollux vi Britannia

**

* * *

**

December 25, 2012 ATB

Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly arrive in Area 11. It is raining heavily so Clovis does not come out to meet them. It matters very little to Lelouch since they already lost a day visiting Pendragon with his sisters. Lelouch plans to head straight for his lab. In a few months, he hopes to move this lab over to Area 10. He has also brought a present for Lloyd to play with.

Kewell brings the transport as close as he can to them so they do not get wet. Jeremiah and Villetta are taking a few days off. After the long flight, they are very tired. They decide to rest and start in the morning. Lelouch hopes that the rain clears up soon. This time he decides to have three separate beds. He doesn't want to have any complications. He can already see by the look on Milly's face that something is bothering her.

It was not as if he planned everything that happened at the Formal. Sure, he spent a few days with Kallen but it wasn't as if they got betrothed or anything like that. Even Kallen seems a little upset. Lelouch is sure that it isn't because Milly is here. Girls just keep getting more confusing as time goes on.

The next day Lelouch goes over to visit Clovis. He doesn't want his brother snooping around the lab. He also wants to get away from the girls for a bit. He just hopes they don't kill each other before he comes back.

Surprisingly Clovis doesn't come out to meet him. Lelouch wonders if Clovis is actually doing his job. No that can't be it. It isn't that Clovis is a horrible leader, he just doesn't relate well to people. Sure, he does well with nobles but he has no concept of the lives that common people lead. Someone like Clovis could never understand how Lelouch feels.

Lelouch finds Clovis in a lab of sorts. Maybe he is working. Lelouch takes a closer look at what his brother is doing.

"Is that a video game?"

Clovis looks up towards Lelouch. He looks surprised. "Oh little brother, nobody told me you were here."

Lelouch slightly grimaces and laughs a bit on the inside. Was it that easy to get past Clovis's security? He wonders if anybody bothered to check if he was truly Lelouch vi Britannia. Lelouch notices that a portly looking bespectacled man was looking at Lelouch intensely. Lelouch glares back at the man. After everything, Lelouch has seen this fat man was not going to frighten him. The overweight man flinches and looks away.

Clovis chuckles at that, "Oh Lelouch, don't other with old Bartley. Although his military rank is higher than yours."

Lelouch shrugs, "Well what are you doing?"

Clovis gets excited, "Oh this. Well you see one of Schienzel's business associates, a Lord Stadtfeld I believe, bought into the Yamauchi Company. You know the video game company. I believe he owns enough to control the company," Clovis waves his hands, "Well anyways I have decided to create this video game. Hey maybe you could make one too."

Clovis drones on and on about his game. The Yamauchi Company is the largest video game producer in Japan if not the world. Their current system the Mii is very popular. In Britannia, Service Games is the largest video game company. It is nothing more than a puppet for the royal family. Schienzel owns most of the company.

Lelouch wonders if Kallen knows about her father's entry into the video game market. Because Lelouch has been thinking of creating his own video game. Clovis finishes talking. He looks over to Lelouch.

"Did you come here by yourself?"

"Yes the others are back at the lab. They were tired."

Lelouch is careful not to say the girls.

"Oh I see. I was hoping to meet these young ladies you are associating with," Clovis gives Lelouch a knowing look, "I have spoken with Cornelia and Euphie."

Lelouch grimaces. He expected this much form Euphemia but not Cornelia. "Oh I see."

"Well when can I expect the young Miss Ashford and Miss Stadtfeld to come by."

Lelouch begins to contemplate when he should bring Milly and Kallen to meet Clovis.

Of course, Clovis has an idea. "Why don't you stay around until New Years? I am planning a huge festival. You can bring your friends by then."

Lelouch had not expected to stay around until New Years but now he has now choice. If he doesn't appease Clovis with this who knows what can happen.

"Very well we will stay."

Lelouch cringes inwardly about what will happen when he tells Milly that they are staying for the New Year's Eve celebration. He wonders what will happen when he tells Kallen.

Clovis looks over to his brother. "Well it seems as if I will have to put Rodrigo to work again. Were you satisfied with his work?"

Lelouch smiles, "Yes, he did very good work."

"Well then it's settled."

Lelouch nods and walks out. How is he going to survive this? As if, the Formal wasn't enough. Now with this New Year's Eve party he wonders how much time he is going to have to do what he wants to do. Well either way he has told Clovis he is staying so he has no choice. He arrives back at the lab. He finds Milly and Kallen on simulators. He is surprised that they didn't find a way to convince Lloyd and Cecil to let them use knightmares. Of course, it is still pretty muddy outside from yesterday's rain.

Kallen looks over at him. "Hey Lulu."

"Hey Kalli."

Milly sniffles at that. "Hello Lelouch."

Lelouch smiles and laughs. "Hello Camilla."

Kallen snorts loudly. She has never heard Milly called by her name by anybody but her grandparents or at some official event.

Lelouch goes over to where the girls are sitting. "Well enough of that. How are you girls doing?"

Kallen answers, "Pretty good. They've made the simulator harder."

"Well that is to be expected."

Lelouch sits down at a simulator terminal. It does appear to be more challenging. Lelouch decides to tell them about the New Year's Eve party.

"Clovis invited us to attend his New Year's Eve party."

Milly is the first to respond. "That's like five days away. I thought we would be gone by that day."

Even though Milly always loves a good celebration, she has no desire to have Lelouch choose Kallen again and leave her alone.

"Well I did plan on leaving but I couldn't refuse his invitation. After all he let's me use this site."

So that settles it. They spend the next few days playing on the simulator. Once the ground dries up, they go outside with some Glasgows. Lelouch runs them through an obstacle course. Milly wants to do some battling. She can tell that Kallen wants to do the same. But Lelouch doesn't want to damage the knightmares. They are the only ones he has at the moment. Lloyd is someone off playing with his new toy, one of the new experimental Sutherlands. Nobody asks Lelouch how he managed to get it. Some things were better left unsaid.

On New Year's Eve, they pack up to leave. They also head over to Clovis's to get ready. Lloyd and Cecile are also invited to the party. On the way there, Lelouch asks Kallen about her dad's business.

"Kallen, do you know about your dad buying the Yamauchi Company."

She shakes her head. "What's that?"

"It's a video game company. Clovis told me about it. He is making his own video game. He said I should make one too."

"Oh I can talk to him about it when I get home."

Great Milly thought. As if, Lelouch doesn't want to hang around with Kallen already. Now this.

This time Clovis comes out to meet them.

"Ah Lelouch you came."

Lelouch nods. Of course he came. "Brother, I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Kallen and Milly immediately recognize the sarcasm in Lelouch's voice. Even Lloyd and Cecile seem to notice that Lelouch is being truthful.

Obviously General Bartley notices and bristles at Lelouch's comment.

Clovis looks back at his portly advisor. "Oh pay no attention to Bartley. Who are these lovely young ladies? Lelouch, you never told me you were such a ladies man," Clovis looks over at Cecile, "My, my do we have here?"

The girls all blush. Lelouch begins introductions, "This is Lady Camilla Millicent Ashford, Lady Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld, Dr. Cecile Croomy, and Earl Lloyd Apslund," Lelouch pauses and points towards Clovis, "This is my brother Clovis la Britannia."

Everybody takes turns greeting Clovis. Clovis leads them off to a room where his team of tailors led by Rodrigo is putting the finishing touches on two dresses and on suit. At everybody's insistence they try on their clothes. The girls' dresses are purple to match Lelouch's eyes. His suit is blue to match their eyes.

Luckily for them Clovis still has plenty to do for tonight so he leaves them alone. Lelouch tells Lloyd and Cecile to keep out of trouble. He looks for a room to rest. This is going to be a long night followed by a very long flight. Lelouch finds a room with an empty bed to lie down on. He stares at the ceiling for a while. He notices that Kallen is standing at the door.

"Come in Kalli. I'm resting up for tonight."

Kallen shrugs and goes over to the bed. Lelouch puts his arms out to her. She crawls on the bed over to him. A few moments later Milly is at the door watching them.

"Hey Milly, do you want to take a nap too?"

Lelouch signals for Milly to come join them. This annoys Kallen a little. Lelouch is after all her boyfriend. Of course, she is the one who wants to keep it a secret. However, that does not mean that he can act like if they are not dating.

As the girls snuggle in closer to him, Lelouch begins to feel odd. He began to notice it during the summer when they spent those few days sleeping in the same bed. Even then, it was different. As they both move a little, Lelouch feels their breasts grinding against his chest. The sensation begins to excite him just a bit. Milly brings her hand down and it grazes his crotch. Lelouch looks at her. She appears to be fast asleep. He hopes that it was just a coincidence.

For some reason the educators at the Britannian Military Jr. Academy ignore the matter of sexual education. They teach about hygiene. You know keeping your stuff clean and all, but they don't say anything about the opposite sex. He wonders if parents have anything to do with that. If that's the case then their system is flawed.

What do they expect to happen when you put eleven and twelve year olds with a bunch of sixteen and seventeen year olds? All the older kids teach the younger ones about sex. They don't demonstrate it or anything. Well at least not always. Since everybody at the Jr. Academy is of some sort of noble birth, most everybody is going to get set up in some sort of arranged marriage. They decide to have a little fun.

Lelouch remembers his first lesson in sex 101. His teacher was the great Luciano Bradley. Well one of his teachers. The other older kids took it upon themselves to teach the young prince a little about sex. One of the older girls even offered to be his first experience whenever he was ready. She was quite attractive but Lelouch knows he won't be ready for that for a few years.

Either way he doesn't want his first sexual experience to be some hurried quickie behind the barrack or mess hall. He isn't some sort of romantic or anything ,but he still feels that sex and marriage are about love. He keeps thinking about these things as he falls asleep.

Cecile is sitting around with Lloyd. After being fitted for some new clothes for tonight. They are left alone. They sit around for hours. Lloyd spends the whole time working on his laptop. Cecile spends the time resting. It has been hectic these past few months so she takes this moment to rest.

Clovis comes into the room. "Oh where did Lelouch go?"

Cecile looks over to the blonde prince. "Your highness I can get him for you."

"Oh can you dear. Yes please do it is time for him to get ready for the party."

Cecile gets up and goes over to the room that Lelouch is in. She opens the door slowly not wanting to find him undressed or in an embarrassing situation. She remembers seeing both young ladies walk into the same room. Cecile sighs in relief when she sees that they are just lying in the bed, fully clothed.

Cecile remembers her own struggles during her teenage years. Needless to say, she ignored most of those urges and pushed on with her career. While her family was not noble or rich, they had good connections. So Cecile was able to receive a great education from the beginning. Now she was one of the heads of a novel and experimental research project. Despite its concentration on knightmares, Prince Lelouch gave her leave to work on her true passion of energy consumption.

Cecil walks over to the bed where the young prince and his girlfriends are sleeping. Cecile assumes they are his girlfriends. He may even be betrothed to one or both of them. Cecile doesn't know much about arranged marriages but she assumes that age is of no concern in such matters. At least that is what she has read.

She wants to wake the prince so as not to embarrass the girls. She lightly taps his legs to no avail. She crawls over him in an effort to get closer to his ears.

"Your highness, it is time to get ready for the party."

Lelouch hears a soft voice calling him. He barely remembers falling asleep. He does remember what he was thinking about. He still feels them rubbing up against his body. He looks up and sees the blue eyed and blue haired woman looking down at him. He thinks when did Cecile come onto the bed. Of course, with his current thought process his eyes wander over to her chest. He smiles at what he sees. That is until he comes to his senses and realizes what he is doing.

Cecile calls out to him again. "Your highness, it is time to get ready for the party."

That finally jars him. He remembers not to get up too fast. He doesn't want to wake up Kallen and Milly just yet. Cecile crawls back off him as Lelouch gets up slowly. His eyes wander slightly over to Cecile. He probably won't ever get what he just saw out of his mind. He looks over at Kallen and Milly sleeping peacefully on the bed. He decides to act quickly because it won't take them long to realize he is not on the bed. He reaches over for some pillows. He turns and grins at Cecile. He thinks about asking her to join him but decides to act on his own.

He throws the first pillow at Milly and jumps at Kallen with another. At first, the girls are dazed, but the numbers game catches up to Lelouch. As Milly and Kallen are pounding on Lelouch, they hear a scream from the door.

"Lelouch! Why didn't you invite me to play?"

It is Clovis, and he is putting up a tantrum that Euphemia and Nunnally would be proud of. He stomps off followed by Bartley who is trying to console him. Milly, Kallen, and Cecile stare after Clovis in amazement.

Kallen asks, "What's wrong with him?"

Lelouch answers, He's mad because I didn't invite him to the pillow fight."

"It's not like you planned it, did you?"

"No, Clovis is just well, Lelouch pauses as he thinks of something to say. "Well he is what he is. It's time to get ready for the party."

The girls get out of the bed and head over to the room where their dresses await. After they are ready, a now composed Clovis come over to get them. He takes them over to a room were a few distinguished nobles are waiting. Lelouch knows what to expect here. A bunch of kiss ass nobles trying to look good in front of a member of the royal family. Lelouch looks them over. They are the kind of people he would expects Clovis to have at his side. Many of them are interested in hearing about Milly and Kallen.

However the party is about to start. Clovis is the first to enter. The announcement of his entrance is made with dignity and composure. Lelouch is next. He walks in with Milly and Kallen at his side. He makes sure not to leave them alone during the night despite the boring conversations he has to put up with.

As soon as the clock strikes midnight, Lelouch and the girls manage to sneak off. By this point, most of the nobles are making asses of themselves from having consumed so much alcohol. Lloyd is passed out somewhere. He can't hold his liquor. Cecile is still up and around. However, when Lelouch and the girls make their exit, she follows them. She decides to act as a chaperone for them. There really is no need; she just wants to escape from the party. After getting changed, they all go to bed. Lelouch finds a room for Cecile to sleep in comfortably. Being a prince does have some perks. In the morning, the girls depart for Japan, and Lelouch takes the long flight to West Point.

The next few months are ones that Lelouch wishes he could forget. Upon arriving at West Point, he begins the long process of unpacking. As he is unpacking, his L and Light Yagami plushies fall out of his bag. Some of his Black Knights come over and begin to play with his plushies. He spends the next few minutes explaining Death Note and anime/manga in general. The Black Knights spend the next few days arguing over whether Lelouch is more like L or Light Yagami.

The only good news is that in March Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata all move to Area 10. He still maintains his facilities in Area 11 to deceive Clovis. The semester begins to wind down. The Black Knights are still on top and undefeated. Lelouch spends most of is time looking over the new cadets. He will have to add a few of them to his team come next semester. He isn't surprised by that fact that Anya is added to his team before the end of the semester. This why there is no risk of her getting picked by someone else. Of course, Lelouch has to give someone up to get Anya.

Lelouch gets excited because his knightmare is near completion and Lloyd has been working with the Sutherland Lelouch got him. Not to mention the fact that they have been toying with the Glasgow since September. Lelouch is going to forward the knightmare information to Lord Cummins. The man is working on something he calls the maser vibration sword. According to Lord Cummins, it will be some years before it is perfected. He is also working on improving the current generation of weapons. Once the Europa and Callisto are completed, Lelouch is going to have to bring the old man up to the knightmares. That option is safer than bringing them down to New Zealand.

This time Lelouch is bringing Gino and Anya with him. He thought about bringing Nunnally and Euphemia with him. He might bring them after Cornelia and the little ones leave Japan. Lelouch is still going to have to consider that. Well he will have to spend some time in Japan before he gets to leave for Area 10

**June 30, 2013 ATB**

After spending a few weeks in Japan, they are all heading to Area 10. Cornelia has to head back to Africa. The situation with the EU is starting to get heated once again. She takes the kids back to Pendragon. In preparation for the future Lelouch makes sure that Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta get some knightmare training during the year.

There are nine of them to pilot knightmares (Lelouch. Kallen, Milly. Anya, Gino. Suzaku, Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta). Euphemia, Nunnally, and Alice are also there to observe. They show some interest in knightmares. Lelouch wonders if it is to impress him.

Apart form the Titan and the Sutherland Lelouch brought them, they have constructed their own Sutherland. They have also modified several Glasgows to meet the demands and characteristics of their potential pilots. Lloyd has developed a new test that measures pilot/knightmare compatibility. Things are going to get interesting is the only thing that Lelouch can think. They take a tour and rest on the first day.

The next morning Lelouch is up early to train. At first it is a pain in the butt, however, he gets used to the running and exercise. Normally he also tosses in a few sparing sessions with Gino or any or the Black Knights who happen to be awake. After a while, they started taking turns because Lelouch is a relentless fighter.

He begins going through his paces when he hears the noises of a struggle going on around the corner. He goes over to see what is going on. Nunnally and Alice are sparing while Anya looks on. Lelouch goes over to get a closer view of the action. He sits down next to Anya. During Anya's few weeks with the Black Knights the two of them have become rather close.

Nunnally looks over at her brother, "Hey Lulu, do you want to train with us?"

Lelouch shrugs, "Okay."

Alice takes a sit so Lelouch and Nunnally can spare.

"I'm not going to go easy on you, Lulu."

"I would have it another way."

Nunnally attacks Lelouch who just dodges her attacks. After a few moments of this Nunnally gets frustrated.

"Oh brother, you aren't even trying."

"I thought the idea was to not get hit."

Nunnally puts her hands on her hips, "Well ya, but you still have to fight back."

Lelouch smiles, "Fight back for what. A few minutes of this and you'll be so tired that you'll just drop to the floor"

Nunnally scowls at this. She makes a slight gesture with her hand to Alice. Being ever observant Lelouch catches this and is prepared. Alice jumps in to join Nunnally in her attack on Lelouch. He successfully doges there attacks. He still doesn't attack them but he does trip them on a few occasions. By this time, a crowd has gathered. Gino is standing there smiling.

"Oh man, they'll never touch the boss. Nobody ever does."

Suzaku looks up at he lanky blonde. "Nobody."

Gino smiles even more. "Yep nobody."

After a few minutes, Nunnally and Alice are tired.

Nunnally puts up an exhausted smile. "Fine we give brother. Maybe you should fight Suzaku now."

Lelouch looks over to the Japanese boy. "Well that wouldn't be fair. I'm all warmed up now."

Before Suzaku can answer, Lloyd comes over smiling.

"Ah there you are your highness. The latest shipment is in."

"So all the knightmares are here."

"Yes."

"Very well."

Lelouch begins to walk away. He sighs as he turns around and signals for everyone to follow him. When they reach their destination, he stops and turns around to face everyone.

"Okay is everyone here," Lelouch looks around and nods, "Okay we are dividing into two teams. My team is Kallen, Milly, and Gino. The other team is Jeremiah, Villetta, Kewell, Anya, and Suzaku. If Euphie, Nunnally, and Alice get going on the simulators, they can join a team. We all have one month."

Jeremiah raises an eyebrow at this. "What are the teams for your highness?"

"A knightmare battle what else."

"You highness you must be joking."

"When have you eve known me to joke around," he pauses so everyone can process that, "It will give me an opportunity to test out my new knightmare. Also to test out the adjustments that they have made to the Sutherlands."

Gino is the most excited out all of them. "Yes it's the return of Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron."

Lelouch glares at Gino.

"Okay never mind. We'll just be the Black Knights."

Lelouch looks over at the other team. "You guys are going with Rakshata since she has your knightmares. You guys are getting the two Sutherlands so try not to do anything rash before the big battle," he pauses before continuing, "Euphie, Nunnally, and Alice go with Dr. Croomy. She will take you to the simulators. I think there is someone else there waiting for you girls."

Lelouch signals for his team to follow him while Rakshata and Cecile come over to take the others away. Once inside the hangar they go over to where Lloyd is standing. Lloyd beams as he pushes the button revealing the knightmare.

"I would like to introduce knightmare frame Titan."

**Titan**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source: Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: black with touches of silver

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

4 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted)

1 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x rotating shoulder mounted cannons

Lelouch looks at his knightmare in awe. Despite the fact that the Britannian military's technology division was still working on the fifth generation Sutherlands, they were mostly experimental at this time. Now Lelouch's team has constructed something that surpasses it. Of course, the Titan was even more highly experimental. It was a meter and a half taller than the Glasgow and the new Sutherland.

It was still very experimental but it was operational. The Callisto and the Europa were still months from being finished. Still they will be ahead of what the rest of the world is doing. He has taken the results from Indochina over to New Zealand where Lord Cummins is located. He has tasked the man with creating mass production knightmares and weapons based on the results here. Those were probably not going to be built until sometime next year.

Lelouch looks over at his team. "Well let's get started. You knightmares are over there."

He points to three modified Glasgows. They each have a different color scheme to let them know which one is their knightmare.

Gino is confused by this. "Boss, isn't this a little obvious. They'll know who they're fighting."

Lelouch pushes a button and the color scheme on each knightmare changes.

They are all amazed. Lelouch continues. "There are several color schemes. The controls are inside as well. So let's get to it."

As they ride away with Rakshata, Jeremiah feels unsure about this. Between himself, Kewell, and Villetta he knows they could put up a fight. He is careful not to discount the abilities of the young people with and against him. He knows that the prince and his two girlfriends have been working together for quite some time. For a demonstration such as this, the prince has the advantage. But Jeremiah's team has greater number, which should help. Once they arrive at the hangar, Rakshata goes over the specs of the Sutherlands.

Excuse me, Dr. Chawla," Jeremiah pauses as Rakshata confirms her identity, "Is it necessary to use this Sutherlands. They are new and highly experimental from what I know."

Rakshata laughs very loudly. Jeremiah bristles at that.

"What do you want to use Lord Jeremiah, a Glasgow?" she shakes her head, "Against that beast that Lloyd has created you wouldn't stand a chance. In a Glasgow I doubt a Knight of the Round could defeat the prince in his new toy," Rakshata giggles some more as she continues, "No your only hope is to use these Sutherlands. Even then you will still probably lose."

Suzaku couldn't believe that. Was it possible for a knightmare to be that advanced?

Jeremiah nods now with determination. "Very well if the prince wants to test his new toy. We will give him more than he bargained for. Kururugi, Alstriem the Sutherlands are yours to use."

Rakshata nods. It is just as the prince predicted. Jeremiah would be too reluctant to try the new knightmares. In addition, he would be afraid to go up against the prince in direct combat.

Jeremiah figures that he, Villetta, and Kewell can take out the other three while the Sutherlands tangle with the prince.

Lelouch is eager to begin this exercise. Even the knightmare demonstration from the year before is child's play compared to what they are about to do. Despite being outnumbered they each other well. They probably have the best chemistry of the two teams. He thought about switching Gino and Anya, but he knew that would anger the young blonde. Besides such a move would make his team weaker because of the relationship he has with Gino.

Both teams spend the next few weeks going over strategy. Two weeks in Alice, Euphie, and Nunnally are done with the simulator. They are joined by Sora Cummins, Lord Cummins's young daughter. These girls are added to the two existing teams. At first, they wanted to make their own team with Anya but Lelouch shoots that down. Since Lelouch has less team members, he gets to select first. He selects Euphie because he really has no choice. Jeremiah is told by Suzaku to pick Nunnally. Lelouch then chooses Sora because he likes pink hair. Leaving Alice to join Jeremiah's team. They all go off to train for two more weeks.

Schniezel is looks down at the reports he received fro Clovis. It seems as if Lelouch moved his knightmare lab somewhere else. Clovis has no idea where. Schniezel assumes that it is somewhere near Japan. If Clovis had not been so obvious about his spying, Lelouch would still be in Area 11. Schniezel looks over at the possibilities, Areas 10 or 12. He supposes that Area 9 could also be possible, but it is so far away. If Lelouch is in any of those places, he is doing a good job of bribing the right people. On the other hand, perhaps Schniezel is bribing the wrong people. Schniezel looks at the three names on his paper, Titan, Callisto, and Europa. He wonders if they are some sort of code. He needs to investigate this in greater detail.

General Katase is looking at the reports that have been given to him. There is a stack of them from the previous year. The first is Lt. Colonel Tohdoh's report from the last year's knightmare demonstration. Katase still could not believe that a twelve-year-old boy piloted a knightmare. Even more disheartening is the fact that Tohdoh believes that Suzaku Kururugi also piloted a knightmare that same day.

But that was last summer's events. This winter brought even more news. Just to the south in the Britannian Area 11 there were even more tests on knightmares including on the new Sutherland. The tests looked very experimental but either way Britannia was already advancing in technology while the rest of the world was stagnant.

Even more demoralizing is this new report from Atsushi Sawasaki's contacts in the Chinese Federation. There were reports of even more experimental knightmare testing in Areas 10 and 12. Katase shakes his head at this. Why did Japan allow Britannia to take over all these nearby lands? Those should be part of a renewed Japanese empire. He knows that if it was not for sakuridite that most nations would just ignore Japan. Of course, without sakuridite Japan would probably just be conquered with no other nation saying a word.

He looks at the latest reports. This black knightmare frightens him the most. It is faster and stronger than anything else is. The report also states that there are two or three other knightmares being built on the same site. They are just as potent. At the moment, no one can match Britannia's edge in the knightmare department. Japan has almost no military industry.

He has wonders as to why. Many of the military's economist point to cost and space. Again, if Japan had conquered its neighbors they would have the space and resources to become strong. Instead, they have to rely on Britannia's mercy. There are even rumors that once the Sutherland becomes Britannia's main line unit that Japan will get some old Glasgows.

Katase bristle at that. Japan should be on the cutting edge of military technology, Instead the nation's resources are wasted on all these useless things. Japan is the world leading in video game technology and anime. Rather than reading manga, Japan's youth should be reading knightmare manuals. Rather than defeating sorcerers and saving princesses, they should be playing knightmare simulations. He knows that in Britannia children are taught about war from an early age.

There was even more troubling information. While having a conversation with Taizo Kirihara, Katase learned some troubling information. Suzaku Kururugi is attending Ashford Academy. So one of the nation's greatest and brightest hopes for the future is attending a Britannian school. There was an even more troubling tone in his conversation with Kirihara. It was as if the man wanted to tell him something but couldn't. Something that was more troubling than anything Katase could imagine.

If the knightmare situation wasn't enough to keep Katase from sleeping. There was still much more to give him enough nightmares to last a lifetime.

* * *

Author's note: So I mentioned that our characters are passing into and through puberty in the next few chapters. So things are going to get a little more explicit. Just to warn people.

The creation of the Sutherland is hurried along by the fact that the Ashford Foundation is still going concern. Even if they are no longer at the head of the knightmare race, they still contribute in different ways. Also Lelouch adds to this as well. Lelouch being around causes Odysseus and Guinevere to be a bit more active in military affairs. They aren't going dominate just not be so useless. Even Cornelia will be less of a puppet.

It always seemed a little weird how Lloyd created the seventh generation Lancelot when the fifth generation Sutherland was barely becoming the main Britannian unit. It's one thing to create an experimental unit. It's whole other thing to make something that is light years ahead of what is out there. Of course, Suzaku piloting had a lot to do with it. Still it would have been nice to have some progression in those regards.

Much like the Lancelot the Titan has no ejection system. For all his genius Lloyd is a bit of a scatterbrain. The Callisto is a prototype Guren. It doesn't have the radiation arm yet only bursts. The Europa is what I believe the next progression of the Ganymede would be. Taking into account the technological advances since it was built. The Titian and Callisto are offensive weapons. The Europa is meant more for defense or an initial attack.

**Titan**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source: Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: black

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

4 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted)

1 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

**Glasgow**

**General characteristics **

Height: 4.24 meters

Weight: 7.35 metric tones

Power Source**:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

**Design Features**

Cockpit ejection system

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament**

2x Slash Harken

1x Assault Rifle

**Optional Armaments: **

2x Tonfa

1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun

1x Stun Gun

**Sutherland**

General characteristics

Height: 4.42 meters

Weight: 7.483 metric tons

Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive,Energy Filler

**Design Features**

Cockpit Ejection System

Factsphere Sensor

Landspinner Propulsion System

**Armament**

2x Slash Harken

1x Assault Rifle

**Optional Armaments**

2x Stun Tonfa

Lance

Giant Cannon

Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun

Chaos Mine(s)

Stun Gun


	15. Pride, honor, and glory pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This chapter has the first real knightmare battle or as real as it can get when you have a bunch of overly aggressive puberty age children and some cocky twenty year olds using experimental knightmares.

Glory: noun

1. high renown or honor won by notable achievements,

2. magnificence; great beauty

3. the splendor and bliss of heaven

verb

1. take great pride or pleasure in

Honor: noun

1. high respect; esteem

2. a privilege

3. a thing conferred as a distinction, especially an official award for bravery or a achievement

Pride: noun

1. a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from quality or possessions that are widely admired

2. the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance

3. the consciousness of one's own dignity

New Oxford English Dictionary, Pendragon Press, 2010 ATB

**

* * *

**

July 27, 2013 ATB

They are all finishing their last few days of training as a group. Both teams are finalizing their strategy. Suzaku is not surprised at the speed in which the little princess and her friend have learned to pilot a knightmare. It does appear to scare Jeremiah. None of that matters because they were going to have to work together. In reality, this team is really two teams. Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta are one while the others are more like the B team.

Suzaku finds this annoying. He wishes they would get over themselves and take the damn Sutherlands. One of the people that works with knightmares. One of the people that worked on Lelouch's knightmare. Who also happens to have worked on the Sutherlands. This is the person that is trying to help them, and they are ignoring her advice. This pisses Suzaku off more than anything else. Now he is stuck learning to run the Sutherland. He chose the one constructed by Rakshata.

Suzaku knows that Lelouch's team isn't going through these kinds of problems. He knows that they will work as one team even with the additions of Euphemia and Sora Cummins. They continue to run through Jeremiah's silly exercises. Maybe in an actual battle this might work. However, this is a six and seven fight. There will be no backups.

* * *

Lelouch is looking down at the files of his team. He knows most of them better than he knows himself. He looks over at their information.

**Camilla Millicent Ashford**

**Born: **March 13, 1999

**Hair color: **blonde

**Eye color: **blue

**Strengths**: determination, desire to prove herself

**Weaknesses: **inexperience, desire to prove herself

**Sora Loraine Cummins **

**Born: **May 27, 2002

**Hair color**: pink

**Eye color: **blue

**Strengths: **quickness, familiarity with equipment

**Weaknesses: **inexperience in combat situations

**Euphemia li Britannia**

**Born: **October 15, 2000

**Hair color: **pink

**Eye color: **violet

**Strengths: **desire to prove herself

**Weaknesses: **inexperience, lack of physical strength

**Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld**

**Born:** March 29, 2000

**Hair color: **red

**Eye color: **cerulean

**Strengths: **aggressiveness, willingness to follow

**Weaknesses: **aggressiveness, unwillingness to lead

**Gino Weinberg**

**Born:** September 15, 2000

**Hair color: **blonde

**Eye color: **blue

**Strengths: **patient, follows orders, does not need much instruction

**Weaknesses: **passive fighter, slow to react to new situations

**Lelouch vi Britannia**

**Born: **December 5, 1999

**Hair color: **black

**Eye color: **amethyst

**Strengths: **intelligence

**Weakness: **pride, too much confidence in his own abilities

Lelouch notices that for the most part that everybody's weakness is also their strength. Lelouch knows that they have been working hard so they take the day off well mostly. Euphemia and Sora are still working on improving. Milly and Kallen are working with them. Lelouch is studying his opponents. Gino is playing video games. Lelouch walks over to his friend.

"What are you playing?"

Gino looks up at Lelouch. "It's this new game on my Gamecast. It is called Ragnarok. It's about this kid called Victor who is trying to save the world. He has to defeat a witch named Cera. He also has to save his brother Chuck from an evil spell that a witch named Mary Ann put on him."

Gino stops to catch his breath. "It's pretty cool."

Lelouch picks up the box. On the cover are a small long blonde haired and a green haired woman. The woman looks a little familiar to Lelouch. On the back of the box is a picture of Chuck and Mary Ann. They look very familiar. He wonders about this game.

"Look boss that is Mary Ann and her demon spawn."

Lelouch looks at the game as Gino plays it. Mary Ann's demon spawn happens to look a lot like him except with blue hair.

"You know boss this kid in the game, Dedouche, looks a little like you."

"It's probably just a coincidence, Gino. Don't play too much. We need to stay focused."

"Ah crap Dedouche's sister, Numbolly, got me."

Lelouch shakes his head. He wonders who made this game.

"Don't forget Gino team meeting before dinner."

Gino only nods. Lelouch has more important things to do. He looks over the other team's information.

**Anya Alstriem**

**Born:** October 23, 2002

**Hair color:** pink

**Eye color:** hazel

**Strengths:** speed, follows directions

**Weaknesses: **inexperience, lack of body strength

**Jeremiah Gottwald**

**Born: **June 19, 1988

**Hair color: **aqua

**Eye color: **hazel

**Strengths: **familiarity with equipment

**Weaknesses: **confidence,

**Suzaku Kururugi**

**Born: **July 10, 2000

**Hair color: **brunette

**Eye color: **green

**Strengths: **aggressive determination

**Weaknesses: **too aggressive, willingness to risk himself

**Alice Liddell**

**Born: **September 13, 2003

**Hair color: **blonde

**Eye color: **blue

**Strengths: **unknown

**Weaknesses:** inexperience

**Villetta Nu**

**Born: **November 23, 1990

**Hair color: **silver

**Eye color:** golden

**Strengths: **familiarity with equipment

**Weaknesses: **confidence

**Kewell Soresi**

**Born: **August 17, 1990

**Hair color:** blonde

**Eye color:** light blue

**Strengths: **familiarity with equipment

**Weaknesses: **confidence

**Nunnally vi Britannia**

**Born: **October 25, 2003

**Hair color: **light brown

**Eye color: **blue

**Strengths: **patience, determination

**Weaknesses: **inexperience, lack of body strength

Lelouch needs to find a way to overcome the numbers game. Euphemia and Sora will probably match up well against Alice and Nunnally. He knows that Kallen and Milly match up against Suzaku and Anya. Though he supposes that they will have the Sutherlands. So Gino will probably have to go against them. Lelouch wonders if the Titan will be able to go up against the other three knightmares. He doesn't have to beat them only hold them off and wait for his team to overwhelm their opponents. Gino and Kallen will have to be the ones that come over to help him.

He could of course match up with the Sutherlands himself. That might be the best strategy. He has no doubt that Kallen and Gino in their modified Glasgows can match up with just about anyone. However, he wants to show everybody the abilities of the Titan. In four days, everybody will witness the power of a new generation of knightmares.

Lelouch is tempted to try out a few new moves while training with his team, but both teams are able to see the other team train. He decides to wait until the day of the event. The biggest unknown in the battle is, of course, the Titan, but the Sutherlands also provide a bit on mystery. In particular, the Sutherland that Rakshata built herself. Lelouch is most anxious to see it perform in battle. As he studies the other team practice, it becomes quite obvious who is piloting which knightmare.

Obviously, Lelouch has the advantage since he set everything up. He notices that Jeremiah is attempting to teach his team battle tactics. Despite the bit of terrain that is between the two groups this will most likely be nothing more than a brawl between knightmares. As dinner is being served, the rest of his team comes over to the table.

Lelouch begins the meeting. "So how did the practice run go?"

Kallen, the unofficial number 2 of the team, answers, "It went pretty well. I think they are definitely improving."

Lelouch thought as much. It only took a month last year for Kallen and Milly to learn. Obviously, they are all helped by their desire to improve.

Lelouch continues, "Well let's go over the basic strategy," he pauses as everybody nods in agreement, "We are outnumbered by one. They also have the two Sutherlands. Therefore we have to overcome those odds."

Gino raises his hand, "Boss, shouldn't you fight those Sutherlands. After all old grumpy pants will probably be in one of them. And my future wife will be piloting the other one."

Lelouch smirks at Gino's descriptions of Jeremiah and Villetta.

"No, I don't think so. Unless if you plan on marrying Anya." That comment startles Gino.

"What do you mean? The Sutherland is the best knightmare Britannia has. Even if it is experimental right now. Just looking at the specs and energy consumption of the Titan tells me that it is even faster and stronger than the Glasgow or the Sutherland. Not to mention all the other stuff that has been added to the Glasgows," Gino pauses to let all that sink in, "He can't be that foolish."

"He isn't. He is, however, a proud and stubborn man. I'm sure he sees what the Titan can do," Lelouch pauses to think, "It just may be us that he is unsure about. He also does not see knightmares as anything more than an offensive weapon. Meant to take it to the enemy. After dinner we will discuss assignments but now let's enjoy dinner."

After dinner, they all discussed what the best strategy is going to be. Despite their reservation about leaving Lelouch in a three on one battle, they see no other choice. However since Sora's dad made special modifications to make her knightmare quicker, she will be the one moving around helping other.

Milly and Euphie will fight Nunnally and Alice. While Gino and Kallen fight Suzaku and Anya. Sora will begin with Lelouch and then start to float around as needed. Lelouch hopes that Gino and Kallen can use the Glasgow's speed to defeat the Sutherlands quickly. Obviously no matter who the pilots of the Sutherlands are, they will be unfamiliar with them.

* * *

The battle is the next day and her team is taking the day to work on strategy. This means that Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta stand around talking about what to do. This really pisses Nunnally off. She didn't come over here just to be ignored. She realizes that she is only a child, but she is disabled or crippled. She knows she can fight. After all Anya did much the same thing the year before. She is only a year older than Nunnally. She sits around moping. Suzaku comes over and sees her sitting around looking sad.

"What's up kid? Do want to spare a little?"

Nunnally looks up at him. "You know that Sensei Tohdoh doesn't allow us to spare until he feels we can control our aggression."

Suzaku smiles, "Yes that is true but he didn't say anything about sparing in knightmares."

Nunnally jumps up, "Alright I'll get Anya and Alice."

"Already did and they are waiting for us."

They head off to join their friends in some light knightmare sparing.

Kewell is uneasy with the situation the children have gone off again to practice alone.

"Lord Jeremiah, is it wise to allow them to go off on their own?"

"Don't worry about it Kewell. We only need them for the finishing blow."

Jeremiah is looking at the prince's team practice on video. Not only did the tailor each knightmare to fit the pilot, but the color scheme also matches the pilot. Leaving it oh so obvious who is going where. Jeremiah notices that even his own knightmares are color coded to match the pilots. Was his highness that intelligent to be able to figure out his opponents moves? Did he really know Jeremiah that well? Jeremiah is almost tempted to pilot the damn Sutherlands to teach the prince a lesson but realizes that it is too late for that. The battle starts tomorrow.

**July 31, 2013**

Lelouch looks around as they are making final preparations. He makes sure to give a final rundown on the plan. It isn't all that complicated. He just wants to make sure that everything is done right. Gino is used to it so he is a little oblivious. Milly and Kallen know how Lelouch likes to talk about his ingenious plans. However, Sora and Euphemia are taking notes on what Lelouch is saying after all, it may be important.

* * *

Everybody is in their knightmares so Jeremiah begins to give instructions.

"Lady Nunnally and Alice stay back in reserve. Kururugi and Alstreim trail behind us as we charge forward. Knowing the prince he will just hang back until his team engages in battle."

Jeremiah nods to himself. That is how the prince always fought his mock battles at school, directing from behind. This should be no different. They moved forward to get into position.

* * *

Lelouch looks over at his screens even they are better than the Glasgows are. He notices how everything is clearer and compact. Of course, there is no ejection system, but he is not going to need it for this battle.

"Let's go remember the plan."

They all respond, "Yes your highness!"

* * *

Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell push forward as planned. He glances over at his screens and notices that the other team is also moving forward. He also looks over at the video feed from the outside. The course has several cameras located so they can see everything and log it. Jeremiah notices something unusual. He sees a red and a white Glasgow heading along the sides towards his own rear.

"I see the prince's strategy."

He is sending Gino and Kallen to take out Lady Nunnally and Alice.

"Well played your highness but not good enough. Kewell, Villetta head back and take care of those two knightmares heading towards the back. Kururugi, Alstreim get up here for the attack."

They all respond. "Yes sir."

Villetta and Kewell turn around to head to the rear. As they do the same red and white Glasgows, they saw heading back, attack them. Jeremiah turns his knightmare around.

"What is going on here?"

He looks over at the course camera and notices that the previous knightmares are now pink and blue.

"Is this some kind of trick?"

The two Glasgows attack Jeremiah and Kewell before going off. Jeremiah turns his knightmare around. He decides to trap those two knightmares.

"Kewell, Villetta after them. We will join Kururugi and Alstreim and trap them."

"Yes sir."

A voice from above calls out to them as slash harkens shoot out catching the three Glasgows holding them in place.

"Leaving so soon?"

Jeremiah looks over at what he believes is the Titan. Where did it come from? Jeremiah looks up and sees an air transport. The black knightmare releases the slash harkens and rushes in. Jeremiah is stunned at the speed of the machine. He manages to dodge its attack. However, he does not see the purple knightmare attacking him. He manages to fend off its attack. Not before, it destroys Jeremiah's assault rifle. He is left with only close combat weapons. After attacking him, the purple knightmare rides off.

Jeremiah wants to take a moment to assess the situation. However as he looks up, he notices that Villetta and Kewell are taking a beating from the prince. The Titan's superior specs and the prince's intelligence are a seemingly unstoppable combination. Jeremiah is going to have to help them. He makes a move towards them.

* * *

Nunnally and Alice are sitting at the rear waiting for orders to move forward. There is movement on their screens so it seems as if the action is coming towards them. She sees the color of the knightmares, pink and blue.

"Euphie," Nunnally grins, "Alice, I got the pink one."

Nunnally moves her knightmare forwards to attack Euphie. They both are a little slow. It appears as if they will simply disable each other. Alice moves forward to attack the blue knightmare, which is Milly's. Alice is having trouble keeping up with Milly. Just as Milly gets the advantage over Alice, she disappears. Suddenly Alice appears behind Milly ready to attack.

Nunnally is confused about how Alice moves so fast. "Alice, how did you do that?"

Alice freezes when she realizes what she did. She is not supposed to use her geass unless her life is in danger. However, this situation caused her to act before she thought about it. As Alice is thinking all of this, Milly takes advantage by disabling Alice's knightmare. Nunnally ejects soon after Alice does. Milly takes her knightmare over to Euphie.

"Euphie, can you move?"

Euphie shakes her head. "Not really. If Nunnally would have stayed a little longer, she probably would have finished me off," Euphie looks over to her screens, "What happened with Alice? It was weird."

Milly wonders about that. "It doesn't matter now. I'm going over to help Kallen and Gino. If you can move, come over."

Milly begins to move her knightmare back to where Kallen and Gino are fighting.

After their surprise attack on Kewell and Villetta, Gino and Kallen move further ahead. Their job is fight Suzaku and Anya. They hope that Milly, Euphie and Sora will be able to overpower Nunnally and Alice. They also hope that the element of surprise and the Titan will be able to keep Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell at bay.

Gino and Kallen hold the experience advantage over their opponents, but Suzaku and Anya have slightly more advanced knightmares. In reality, the only difference besides appearance is that the Sutherlands are constructed to fight other knightmares. Therefore, their weapons are mostly for in close fighting. The fighting is pretty even, Kallen realizes that the advantages of the Sutherlands will eventually win out.

Kallen looks over at her screens. She notices that Sora and Milly are both heading in their direction. Another knightmare possibly Euphie is coming up behind Milly slowly.

* * *

Euphie begins to move her knightmare. It is damaged pretty badly but still mobile. She does not want to press it for fear that it will die out. She sees that Milly and probably Sora are on their way to help Gino and Kallen. She decides to go help Lelouch.

"I'm coming Lulu."

Lelouch is using the Titan's obvious speed advantage to tangle with both Villetta and Kewell. By their movements, Lelouch can tell that either they are afraid to fight him or they have not been getting their knightmare practice. He also notices that Jeremiah is coming up behind him. He rotates the Titan's shoulder cannons to fire at Jeremiah. Jeremiah successfully dodges the first few, but the fifth shot catches him on the left arm. Lelouch notices that Jeremiah is missing his assault rifle meaning that he will have to get in close to attack.

Villetta cannot belive that they are losing to one knightmare. She curses herself for not getting the necessary amount of knightmare training.

Jeremiah contacts his subordinates. "Attack formation 4, Circle of death."

Kewell and Villetta smile as they begin to circle around the Titan. This action causes Lelouch to smile. He has seen them practice this attack. He fires two slash harkens to take out Kewell and Villletta's assault rifles. As he does this, he notices that Jeremiah is making his move. Lelouch fires his other two slash harkens at Villetta and Kewell's knightmares catching them on the chest. He launches the Titan at the two Glasgows. This move catches them by surprise. Just before hitting them, he re-launches the other slash harkens. He uses them to catapult himself over himself over the two Glasgows.

While in mid-air Lelouch fires down at the stunned pair with his shoulder cannons. He uses his assault rifle in an attempt to disable the Glasgows. As the Lelouch lands, Kewell and Villetta are ejected from their exploding knightmares. It is a good thing that Lelouch has money to spare. He notices that Jeremiah is standing in the spot he just vacated. He walks over the burning husks of the two Glasgows. He tosses his assault rifle to the side, and activates his stun tonfas. This battle is going to end in hand-to-hand combat.

Jeremiah was hoping that he would not have to use his stun tonfas because that would mean in close fighting. He realizes that there is no other way. It is now inevitable that the prince's team is going to win. Jeremiah decides that the prince will not share in that victory. He activates his stun tonfa. The knightmares left arm appears to be inoperable. Either way Jeremiah will disable the prince's knightmare.

As he moves his knightmare stops and he is ejected. As he flies away, he sees a pink knightmare exploding behind his. Of all the people, he never would have expected it to be Princess Euphemia. He wonders if the battle would have changed if he had chosen to pilot a Sutherland. He knows that his confidence and dismissal of his opponents and teammates skills led to his defeat. This is probably why Jeremiah is not a field commander. He hopes that he at least gave the prince a good show.

Just as Lelouch is going to make his move to attack Jeremiah, he sees a pink knightmare. The pink knightmare hits Jeremiah with its stun tonfas disabling his knightmare. Both knightmare explode in the collision. Lelouch notices both escape pods launching off to safety.

He mutters to himself. "Crazy Euphie. At least she got the job done."

He goes over and picks up his assault rifle. He heads over to where Gino and Kallen are. Euphie's appearance means one of two things. It means that Nunnally and Alice have been defeated or that Euphie was unable to fight with even Nunnally and Sora had to take over. As he arrives, he sees that the Sutherlands have been defeated.

Lelouch looks over the scenario. Even though it seems like an overwhelming victory for his team. Five out of six survived. If things had gone a little different, it is possible they would have lost. It is painfully obvious that Lelouch was able to deduce the entirety of Jeremiah's plan. Everything from Jeremiah's choice of knightmares to battle strategy.

It all went according to plan. Milly and Euphie overwhelmed Nunnally and Alice. Although looking back at the battle data. Something strange happened out there. Gino, Kallen, and Sora distracted Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell. Then Kallen and Gino were able to hold off Anya and Suzaku despite the fact that the latter two had superior knightmares. Most importantly, Lelouch was able to hold off Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell long enough until back up arrived. Not that he needed it.

He looks over the damage report form the battle. Alice's knightmare is mostly salvageable. Nunnally's knightmare is much the same. Jeremiah, Villetta, Kewell, and Euphie's knightmares are gone. They will be salvaged for parts. Their weapons are mostly intact. Kallen, Gino, and Milly's knightmares have some minor damage. The two Sutherlands appear to quite reparable. Sora's knightmare and the Titan are mostly untouched. By the looks on the faces of Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata, everything seems okay.

Lelouch continues to study the battle from different angles. He is joined by Gino and Jeremiah. Everybody else is resting. Gino is used to this kind of stuff. Jeremiah wants to see where he went wrong. Eventually they are joined by everybody else. Lelouch cycles through several camera angles. He takes footage from the cameras that are stationed around the course and on the knightmares. It is the first time that the younger members of Jeremiah's team see the Titan.

Nunnally gasps in amazement at what her brother does in the black and silver knightmare. She wonders what someone who is very experienced in knightmares could do with something like that. Alice is amazed at the speed of the knightmare. She knows that her geass ability is her only edge in a battle. With a knightmare like that she could really do some damage.

Suzaku has seen and piloted both Glasgows and Sutherlands. Nothing is like the Titan. The speed of the knightmare is unreal. He wonders what he could do in a knightmare like that. Anya stares at the video of the Titan in action. She knows that Lelouch is intelligent but to what degree. Obviously, he did not construct the knightmare, but it was made to his specifications. He knew how and when to use every weapon on the machine.

Despite having experienced it Jeremiah, Kewell and Villetta are watching the video of their defeat with great interest. The Titan had such fluid movements. Each move appeared to be calculated. Every use of a weapon appeared to be planned. It was as if everything happened according to a predetermined order.

Lelouch's team stares in awe as Lelouch fights two knightmares with ease. As he does that, he casually fires his cannon at Jeremiah. He uses slash harkens in a manner none of them has ever imagined. First in a precision strike at an opponent taking away their assault rifles. Then in an effort to launch himself at and over two knightmares. It was all planned because he uses his shoulder cannons and assault rifle while in mid-air. They also giggle a little when he throws down his assault rifle and appears ready to challenge Jeremiah to an in close battle.

After watching everything, Lelouch calls it a day. They all go back to Japan the next day. Lelouch, Gino, and Anya leave for West Point the day after that. Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta are getting two weeks off. On the way back to West Point Lelouch, looks over the list of cadets that he gets to choose from to replace those that have left his team. This semester he has to replace five people. Since it is his last year here, he wants to make the big splash. He notices that the war with the EU is heating up again. He wonders if he can visit the front during his winter break. Since Cornelia is there, he might just have a chance.

**September 11, 2013**

Prince Odysseus and his assistant Duke Rolando Flugel are looking at footage that they received from 'a friend'. For once, they are able to get the jump on Schniezel. Odysseus looks at the package wearingly. As they watch it, they are amazed at what they see. It is a knightmare battle between several modified Glasgows, a standard Sutherland, some sort of modified Sutherland, and an unknown black and silver knightmare that towers over the others. Odysseus instantly recognizes the pilot of the new knightmare.

"Lelouch."

His assistant can only nod. Odysseus cannot belive it. How did Lelouch get a hold of ten Glasgows? It is certain that he has more. It is also certain that he has had them for a while. The modifications on them seem to be piloted oriented. Even more concerning is the fact that he has Sutherlands. One is Britannian made while the other is of some other origin. Naturally, the most distressing matter is the black and silver knightmare. It is part of a project code named Moons.

Odysseus is used to worrying about Schniezel, Guinevere, and Cornelia. He never would have expected Lelouch to be a contender. Perhaps he is working with someone else to take over. Odysseus knows that Lelouch views Schniezel as a mentor and Cornelia as a true sister. Odysseus looks at the time. It is almost time for him to do something with his son, Faramond. Since the boy's mother died a few years ago, Odysseus has been spending more time with him.

As his nine-year-old son walks into the room Odysseus wonders how time has flown by. He remembers the day his son was born. Unlike his father, Odysseus had only one wife and one son that was all he needed.

"Hello father, what are you viewing?"

"Just some videos of knightmare battles."

"Oh really, do you know what cousin Nunnally told me?"

"Aunt Nunnally, Faramond. No, what did she tell you?"

"She said that Uncle Lelouch lets her pilot knightmares."

Odysseus contemplates this. "Oh I see. Faramond, why don't you get ready for a walk."

This excites the young man. "That will be nice, father. I will get ready."

"Just give me thirty minutes to look at these videos, and we can spend the rest of the day walking."

The young prince skips away. Odysseus goes back to the footage. He takes a closer look at it. Now he recognizes his two half sisters. Rolando recognizes one of the other boys as one of Lelouch's fellow cadets. Three of them are Lelouch's handlers/subordinates. The others are a bit of mystery. Odysseus looks over the files of West Point Cadets. One of the young pink haired girls looks like Anya Alstreim.

Odysseus remembers that Lelouch also spent a year going to school in Japan. Euphie and Nunnally are still attending that same school. Since the school is Britannian, Odysseus's people are able to get the student files. Three people from the video match the description of these students form Ashford Academy: Camilla Millicent Ashford, Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld, and Suzaku Kururugi. There first two are no mystery. It is obvious that Lelouch has feeling for one or both of the girls from everything he has gathered. The latter is a bit of an unknown. Why would Lelouch invite the Japanese prime minister's son to this event?

This leaves a young blonde haired girl and a young pink haired girl. Odysseus cannot find anything on them from either West Point or Ashford Academy. He looks over at the time. He gets up to go walk with his son. Despite the importance of this work, he cannot ignore his son. He knows that time is running out. In nine months, Lelouch will be done with his Jr. Academy training. A few years after that Lelouch will be if age and who knows what will happen then.

**September 18, 2013 **

Schniezel cannot believe that Odysseus was able to get a jump on the situation. His people are able to hack into Odysseus's files. Unfortunately, they are only able to get a few items. It seems as if the first prince has decided to play for keeps. Schniezel wonders what brought this about. Then he sees it. His people were able to steal a small video clip from Odysseus. It shows a black and silver knightmare of an unknown origin fighting and defeating two Glasgows. Video cuts off at this moment.

Schniezel ponders this. The only thing they were able to get was the codename for the project, Moons. It does not mean much. Clovis is of no help. Not only that but Schniezel still has not idea of the exact location of Lelouch's people. Britannia is an enormous country. It is quite possible to hide something anywhere in the country. Even as Schniezel rises up the ranks on the political side, he knows that there is plenty he does not know about Britannia. He will have to continue to poke and prod.

**October 23, 2013**

Cornelia looks at what Euphie wrote to her. She is a little angered that Lelouch would put Euphie and Nunnally in such a dangerous situation. However, there is much more beyond that. Lelouch sent Lt. Kewell Soresi over with plans for several of the modifications for the Glasgow and the Sutherland. She wonders how Lelouch was able to get his hands on a Sutherland. Cornelia has been asking for a few to be sent to the front. All she hears back are that they are still very experimental and are still being tested. She knows that Lelouch is not a part of that. She knows for certain that Schniezel does not have the information that Lelouch provided her with. Of course, Lelouch is just being nice because he wants something. Perhaps it is even something that Cornelia can provide.

**November 12, 2013**

"Your majesty, we have completed our investigation."

"Yes."

"Whoever did this knew what they are doing. We have not been able to recover anything form the video feeds."

"I see."

The emperor signals for the man to leave. As the man leaves, a child with long blonde hair approaches the emperor.

"Well brother, what has happened here?"

The emperor looks down at the child who is in reality his fraternal twin.

"Someone has managed to come in an attack the thought elevator."

"I see. Was it her?"

"Whoever it was left no clue."

"Could it be one of the others?"

"You know them better than I."

"Yes well I will see what I can find."

The child leaves the emperor. There are only a handful of people who could have committed this. Those that have the code such as his brother or one their accomplices. The plan will have to be delayed because of this attack. The emperor will have to continue to deal with the real world of today. He looks down the new reports that have come to him. Schniezel appear too be at it again. Even Odysseus seems to have perked up a bit.

Not surprisingly, Lelouch is making noise with his work on knightmares. To be expected of his child with Marianne. She is the emperor's only ally besides his brother. The emperor wonders if the leak from Lelouch's facility was planned. It certainly has caused his older siblings to run around like chickens with their heads cut off. The emperor wonders what Odysseus will do with this information. He wonders what can Odysseus do with this information. Most of all he wonders why Lelouch has kept this hidden. Certainly, this research would give him all the honor he could ever hope for. Maybe its pride that keeps the boy from attaining the glory that would make him a legend. On the other hand, it may be something else.

The showdown between Lelouch and Schniezel appears to be inevitable. The emperor hopes to end this world of lies before it comes to that. The plan is still years away from being completed. This situation is a minor setback. It will be accomplished. Nothing can stop it from happening.

"Ragnarok, the death of the gods and the birth of a new world."

* * *

Author's note: Obviously Jeremiah isn't a great tactician while Lelouch is a genius who knows those around him better than he knows himself.

Odysseus isn't going to plot to take over. He just doesn't have the intelligence and drive. He will do more than just sit there and let stuff happen.

At its core this story is about Lelouch and Kallen. There are other very important characters(CC, Milly, Suzaku, Nunnally, Euphemia, Shirley, other royal children).

In the next few chapters everybody is going to do something.

As for who is messing with Ragnarok that is a surprise. It was kind of hinted at.

I got the names for the Lelouch and Nunnally look a like characters in the Ragnarok game from Sierra de Lafayette's fanfic CC of the Rebellion. It's what Gino calls Lelouch and Nunnally in that story.

The Titan is to the Glasgow what the Guren SEITEN is to the Vincent. By this I mean the difference in technology. The Callisto and Eurpoa will be much the same. In other words they will never know what them.

Finally I apologize profusely beforehand for Nunnally's actions and language in the next chapter. Her role models after all are Kallen and Milly.


	16. The Pride of Honor

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

I apologize profusely beforehand for Nunnally's action and language. Her role models after all are Kallen and Milly with a little bit of Shirley and Euphie. THis chapter is Suzaku/Nunnally-centric.

_In this chapter italics will represent character speaking in Japanese_.

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* * *

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Pride is defined as being conscious of your own achievements. Honor is having the respect to not let your achievements control who you are.

_Kyoshiro Tohdoh. _

_Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits _

_Day 13, The pride of honor_

_Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

..

I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace is an interlude during war.

Georges Clemenceau, former Premier of France, former French representative to the Central Hemicycle

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* * *

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Fall 2013 ATB

Suzaku Kururugi is good at what he does. There is none better. In fact, no one in Ashford or even Japan can touch him. Well almost no one. There is one person. It is the most unexpected person of all, Nunnally vi Britannia/Lamperouge. When the little princess started training along side Suzaku with Master Tohdoh, Suzaku laughed a little on the inside. He would never make the mistake of insulting a fellow pupil out loud. Suzaku figures the little girl just wants to show her bigger siblings that she is also tough. It begins slowly but soon Alice and Anya join her.

Now it is no longer a joke. Little by little, the three Britannian girls did away with the competition. Soon they had no more sparing partners. Suzaku was faced with pretty much the same problem. Therefore, the solution was to put them against each other. At first Suzaku felt weird about fighting someone three years younger, but that feeling went away quickly with a kick to the face. He let his guard down again and the same thing happened. After that Master Tohdoh never made the mistake of putting them against each other.

After getting to pilot a knightmare in combat no other experience is the as thrilling. At the moment Suzaku is training for the annual Japanese karate competition. He has to train on his own time because Master Tohdoh doesn't believe in this type of competition. He believes in training as a defense measure and a way of life. Suzaku trains with some of his fellow students. They are no match for him. Finally he decides to ask the only person who can help him. He just has to find a way to approach her. He wonders if it will even be worth it.

**October 13, 2013**

Suzaku needs to find the right opportunity to approach her. The competition is a few weeks away. He decides that today is the day. It's a fine Thursday afternoon and Ashford Academy is out supporting their championship winning jr high girls' field hockey team. Well some of them are supporting, the rest are afraid of Kallen so they show up as well. Suzaku looks on and thinks that it is too bad that she isn't studying under Master Tohdoh. She would be a perfect sparing partner for Suzaku. Of course she could also knock him out.

...

"Go Kallen! Knock their heads off! Yay!"

Alice looks over at the screaming Nunnally with a little concern.

"Um Nunnally, are those moves even legal in this game?"

"Of course they are. If they weren't, they would have disqualified Kallen already."

Alice thinks about it. Perhaps the game officials are afraid of her. Alice has never seen more adults afraid of a thirteen year old girl in her life well at least since Milly was that age.

"Go Kallen score goal. Hell ya!"

Euphemia looks over and gives her little sister a look that tells her to calm down. Suzaku comes over and sits by Euphemia.

"Nunnally, really like her sports, doesn't she?"

Euphemia laughs, "I guess she does. You would think that the karate would have taken out all that pent up aggression."

Suzaku simply nods. It only works that way if you are satisfied with the quality of your opponents. He looks around and notices that the stadium is pretty full. This is one of the few teams at Ashford that actual wins games so people support it. It is also led by the jr high student council president. As Suzaku watches on a box of popcorn comes flying at him. He manages to catch it. He looks and notices that Shirley is walking over carrying popcorn, soda, and candy to feed a small army of pubescent children.

Euphemia shakes her head as she gets up to help Shirley.

"I told you that I could have helped you, Shirley."

"It's not like I'm a clutz or anything."

Suzaku and Euphemia stifle chuckles at this comment. Milly joins them at this moment.

As she takes some popcorn and a soda, she asks, "So what did I miss?"

Euphemia proceeds to explain what has happened to Milly. While in the background Nunnally is going off about the shitty refereeing taking place as Alice tries to calm her down. Milly looks up at the score and notices that Ashford is wining 8-0.

"Nunnally, calm down. I think we won the game."

Nunnally huffs and puffs. "I guess. Maybe I should take a walk."

Suzaku stands up. "You that's a good idea. I was thinking of going down to but some snacks."

Nunnally shrugs her shoulders and walks off with the Japanese boy. Alice decides to give her friend a little space. Recently Nunnally has been a little angrier than usual, and Alice has been taking a beating in their sparing sessions.

As they walk, Suzaku is trying to figure out what to say.

"Okay um listen Nunnally. I was wondering if maybe."

Nunnally looks over and sees the look on Suzaku's face. "Yes."

"Well see I was wondering if we could perhaps."

"Yes I'll be your sparing partner."

Suzaku isn't shocked in the least. He figures that Nunnally would realize what he wants to do.

"Alright then when do you want to get started?"

"Today after the game.

"I see. Maybe we should wait until the dojo opens tomorrow morning."

"Okay then tomorrow at 6 am."

Nunnally nods and orders some snacks for Alice and herself. Suzaku offers to pay. Nunnally was thinking about asking Suzaku to be her new sparing partner as well. She is getting tired of Alice not giving one-hundred percent. Of course Sensei Tohdoh has forbidden them to spare with each other. In their few previous spring sessions they beat the shit out of each other with Suzaku taking the worst of it because of his carelessness. Well she needs to find a partner to train with and Suzaku fits the bill.

The next day at six Nunnally is waiting meditating as Suzaku walks in to the dojo. Alice is sleeping in the back.

"_You are late Suzaku-san."_

"_I am right on time Nunnally-chan."_

"_Well in my book if you are five minutes early you are on time. If you are on time, you are five minutes late."_

Suzaku laughs, _"Do you plan on taking over the dojo when Master Tohdoh retires? Because that would be a great motto."_

The other students that have gathered don't; like Suzaku's comment at all. Apart from being Britannian, Nunnally is pretty crazy. They would all hate to be under her leadership.

Suzaku goes to get dressed so he can begin his meditation. After about ten minutes of that he begins his warm up routine. He notices that Nunnally is already doing her own warm up routine. Alice finally wakes up and starts her meditation or at least Suzaku thinks she has. Ryoga Senba and Kosetsu Urabe watch from the side. Much like Tohdoh whe not on military duty, they hang out here at the dojo.

Nunnally and Suzaku prepare for their first session. As they move around it looks almost like a scripted dance. Most of the male and a few of the female students jeer Suzaku for not being able to put down a girl three years younger than him. Never mind that all have lost to Nunnally in the last month. Naturally Alice reminds them of this and that shuts them up.

After managing not to kill each other they go and get ready for school. Tohdoh approaches Suzaku just before he leaves.

"_Kururugi, may I have a word with you?"_

Suzaku comes over to his teacher. _"Yes master."_

"_That was interesting to say the least."_

"_Yes master, I figured that there was only one person I could train for the tournament with."_

"_Very well as long as the two of you don't kill each other, I will consent to it."_

Suzaku bows, _"Thank you master," _and leaves for school.

Tohdoh stands there wondering if his prized pupil can handle that fact that a small Britannian girl is surpassing him. Obviously at first Tohdoh didn't want tot train the girl and her friend, but Lord Kirihara insisted. Just as he had insisted in the past that Tohdoh train Suzaku. He looks over at his fellow holy swords and signals to them that it is time to go.

...

Alice is staring at Nunnally during lunch. The young princess is practicing her karate.

"Nunnally sit down. Everybody is going to think you are crazy."

Alice knows it was too late for that. Most of their grade if not the school thought that Nunnally is a little insane or weird for wanting to learn karate from some old Japanese guy. It is okay for Suzaku since he is Japanese.

"Sorry Alice. I have to train for the competition."

Nunnally continues her training routine. Alice sees some older kids walking over. Normally they just leave them alone because they are always hanging around Lelouch's friends, but today they are alone. Some of the boys stop and stare at Nunnally training.

"Well little kid that's cute did your daddy teach you that?"

They all laugh. Nunnally joins in. "My dad didn't teach me shit. In fact he probably barely remembers I'm alive."

Nunnally continues to train. As she does she gets dangerously close to the boys. One of them gets in front of her.

"Obviously your bastard of a father didn't teach you any manners. I'm guessing neither did your whore of a mother."

Some of the boys laugh nervously. Others begin to slink away.

Nunnally smiles, "You're right. They didn't teach me any manners. But it's obvious that your slut of a mother and cuckold of a father didn't teach you to respect those that are better than you."

This gets the boy angry. Alice runs off to get some help.

Nunnally grins, "Well maybe I'll teach you that lesson."

The boy moves in to attack Nunnally. She dodges his first attack and with precision strikes proceeds to take him out. Her primary teacher at the dojo is Sayoko Shinozaki. She is the 37th successor of the Shinozaki School of martial arts. She taught Nunnally the art of taking someone down with minimal effort and movement. In less than a minute the boy and a few of his friends are down on the ground unable to move. Nunnally walks away just as Alice returns with Rivalz and Milly. As if they could do anything.

Milly runs over to Nunnally who seems fine. "Nunna, are you all right?"

"Of course Milly. Those guys tried to get rough, but I took care of them."

Milly looks over at the carnage that Nunnally left behind. She wonders if she should tell Lelouch about it. Knowing him he probably already knows what happened. Milly knows that Lelouch has a team of spies working around the clock keeping tabs on all of them.

Rivalz just stands there with his jaw open. Who knew that little Nunnally is such a badass. Rivalz probably would have gotten beaten but Nunnally took them all out without breaking a sweat. Rivalz took out his Z-phone. He presses the record button.

"Note to self NEVER piss of Nunnally."

Milly nods in agreement.

After school, Suzaku approaches Nunnally.

"_Hey Nunna-chan, can we talk?"_

"_Sure Suzaku-san."_

Suzaku takes Nunnally over to nice secluded corner. Alice keeps watch.

"_I know that Stuart and his friends are pains in the ass. But you can't beat up everybody that gets on your nerves, okay."_

Nunnally nods in agreement. _"Fine, I'll keep the butt-kicking in the dojo. Are we going again tomorrow?"_

Suzaku nods, _"Ya sure. Tomorrow at 7 a.m."_

Suzaku and Nunnally spend the next few weeks training for the 25th annual All Japan karate tournament. They manage not to kill each other.

**November 5, 2013**

It was the day of the big tournament. People of all ages from all over Japan are in attendance. There are several divisions ranging from ages five and up. The contestants are also divided by rank. Nunnally and Alice are in the same group. Euphemia who also takes karate lessons is also competing. She enters an all girl division while Nunnally and Alice enter a co-ed division. Suzaku enters an open for all those eighteen and under division. All the boards and people walking around confuse Nunnally. She wishes Lelouch was here. He would be able to figure all this stuff out.

Sensei Sayoko comes over to get Nunnally. She is followed by someone surprising, Jeremiah Gottwald. The two of them are chatting away. Probably trading secrets on how to handle royal brats.

"_Nunnally-chan, it is time to go."_

"_Very well sensei."_

Nunnally and Alice follow Suzaku. The younger children and lower ranks are competing in the morning. The more experienced and older children fight in the afternoon. Adults and all open competitions are in the evening. Of course the schedule is subject to change. Euphie is also competing in the morning.

Suzaku notices that Alice and Nunnally are opposite sides of the bracket. That can't be a good idea. Suzaku looks over at the list of the competitors. He doesn't know many of them, but not one of the names is familiar to him. Well almost none of the names. He notices that his cousin Kaguya is listed. He wonders how good she is. Suzaku is surprised that she isn't entered into the all girl division.

The scoring system is pretty simple. A point for hit. A hit counts if it is scored from above the knees to the front of the head. Hits to the crotch and back of the head are penalties. Three hits get the win in all preliminary matches. The semifinals and finals go up to five points. Suzaku goes over to where Nunnally is fighting. Her group includes children from the ages of 8 to 10. She is in the advanced level of this age group.

Nunnally looks over at her opponent. It is a small black haired Japanese boy with white streaks in his hair. The fight begins, and Nunnally is having an easy time. She quickly gains a two point advantage. She is now only toying with the boy. Nunnally can hear Kallen yelling like maniac in the background. Nunnally wonders if that is how she sounds when she is cheering Kallen on during one of her games. Kallen is also lucky that Nunnally knows that she is Lelouch's girlfriend or else something bad might happened to her. Milly and Shirley are also joining in on the cheering.

After a restart the boy has a determined look on his face. He yells out, _"Bankai, Senbonzakura."_

Nunnally laughs as she moves in to kick the boy on the chest for the win. With that out of the way Nunnally keeps moving forward. Most the crowd is quiet. However Nunnally's friends including Suzaku cheer her on.

It is quite obvious to Suzaku that Nunnally and Alice on a collision course to meet in the finals. Suzaku wonders what the tournament officials think about the fact gaijin will probably win the division. It is one of many divisions but in a way it is a vision of what the future will look like. As the tournament continues, the officials are probably scrambling. Suzaku notices one more thing.

Traditionally both the names of the contestant's school and dojo are announced and listed. Next to his name only the dojo is listed. Next to Alice and Nunnally's names only the school is listed. That changes when they reach the semifinals and the name of the dojo is added. Suzaku wonders if this is about pride. If it is way of saying that Tohdoh's teaching methods are so great that anyone can learn and be great. There is still no mention of Suzaku attending Ashford. However it is obvious that he attends that school since its students are cheering him on.

Of course the teachings of Kyoshiro Tohdoh and Sayoko Shinozaki helped Nunnally and Alice, but those girls just have a killer mentality and drive in them. Suzaku leaves to begin his meditation. His first match is before lunch with his bracket continuing into the night. His bracket also represents a glimpse into the future of Japanese karate.

It is the first year that Suzaku has entered into the open to all those eighteen and under bracket. That name is sort of a misnomer. Since most contestants that are sixteen and up enter adult brackets. It is a little shameful for any sixteen and seventeen year olds to enter in this particular bracket. Suzaku understands pride but in his mind his people take it to a whole new level.

He looks around and sees that parents and teachers are scolding the losing children. Especially if they lost to someone younger or smaller. Even more so if it is a boy that lost to a girl. Obviously Nunnally and Alice are getting a lot of boys in trouble. Euphemia is surprisingly also still in the tournament having reached the quarterfinals of the all girls bracket, ages 12 to 15. Suzaku walks over to Nunnally.

"_Later kid, I have to go train."_

"_Okay Suzaku-san. Kallen and Milly are recording it for me."_

Suzaku looks over and notes that that is a bit misleading. Kallen and Milly are directing three hapless cameramen around. The tournament is being carried by several stations throughout Japan and maybe the world. He notices that there are two Britannian companies televising/recording the event, Orange Technologies and The LL Entertainment Corporation. Suzaku shrugs as he goes to the back. Out of the corner of his eye he sees that Master Tohdoh is being interviewed by various reporters.

Suzaku chooses a corner in the back to meditate. One where he can see a monitor of what is going on outside. He notices that Euphemia finally lost in the semifinals. He also can see that Alice and Nunnally have both made it to the finals. He continues going through his routine.

...

Lt. Colonel Kusakabe is both pleased and disgusted at what he sees and hears. He wonders why General Katase sent him to this event. Sure he sees some of the brightest and best that Japan has to offer. He does see some signs of Japan's decline. Two Britannian girls are in the final of the ages 8-10 advance level open bracket. This bracket represents the future. In a decade those combatants will be heading to university or the military. In twenty years they will be leading Japan and having their own children.

Kusakabe is walking around with a bright young corporal. If the young man continues with a military career, Kusakabe has no doubt that he will go places. He notices that the young man is staring at something. Kusakabe looks over at where the corporal is looking. He sees the aforementioned Britannian girls. They are surrounded by what are probably their school mates. Kusakabe notices a several girls, a blonde, a red head, an orange hair, and a pink hair. No doubt they are all Britannians. He is a bit surprised when two very Japanese women walk over to them. One is a kindly looking older woman who goes over to the red head. The other is younger but has a look in her eyes that frightens Kusakabe a bit. She goes over to the two contestants. She is possibly their sensei.

Kusakabe continues to study the corporal. He knows the young man can't be attracted to the little girls. Perhaps one of the Japanese women. One seems a little too old for him. But the other one, the one with the death stare might work. Perhaps the young corporal is upset at the fact that there are Britannians here. Kusakabe notices that the red head and the older woman are looking in their direction. The corporal turns and lowers his head. Kusakabe decides to continue his walk.

"Yes the presence of Britannians is upsetting. Let's go corporal.""Yes sir."

The two walk off. Kusakabe will have to get to know more about this corporal. It could prove useful.

..

At lunch Suzaku notices that everybody is quiet. He understands why Nunnally and Alice are quiet but from the other it seems odd. Kallen looks unusually disturbed by something. Suzaku wonders if her mom stopping by had anything to do with it. The other girls just seem tired. Suzaku won his first match without breaking a sweat. After lunch Suzaku goes on to win his division. Nunnally also beats Alice to win that division. As Suzaku leaves he dreads what is going to happen at school on Monday. Even though Milly is already in high school, she will no doubt want to have some sort of celebration.

...

Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh stands around contemplating what happened today. He saw Kusakabe walking around with a young corporal. He wonders what he was doing walking around during the morning sessions since all the combatants were children. Tohdoh certainly expected him at the afternoon and evening sessions. There were a few military men and some probable military men competing in those sessions.

Well Tohdoh undoubtedly had reasons to be proud since he students did so during the event. There is a few disturbing things in Tohdoh's mind particularly in the morning session. He remembers his talk with General Katase a few days ago about the state of Japan above all with the youth. He heard a lot of bankais and kamehamehas. He is quite unsure what that means. He wonders if any of his young pupils know anything about it.

**Winter 2013**

Suzaku is spending his winter break training. Lelouch, Gino, and Anya are off at the African front in the war with the EU. Milly and Kallen are probably playing with their knightmares. Euphemia and Nunnally are off to Pendragon to visit their family. Out of his friends that leaves only Rivalz, Nina, and Shirley neither is his first choice. He figures that Rivalz is probably useless when it come to training so he asks Shirley if she wants to train with him. Surprisingly the orange haired girl agrees. He usually ignores Nina.

Shirley decides to train with Suzaku. Everybody else is involved in something outside of school Lelouch and Anya are off at a military academy. Suzaku, Nunnally, Alice, and Euphemia take karate lessons. Kallen has her sports. She and Milly also seem to be doing something with Lelouch. Of course Milly has all her festivals to plan.

Shirley decides to do some light training with Suzaku after all what could be the harm in that. Besides all her friends have left for Winter Break well except for Rivalz. But he is so annoying; all he does is talk about Milly. Even Shirley can see that Milly has no interest in the boy. From Shirley's point of view is anything Milly is obsessed a little with Lelouch. Maybe something good will come from her training with Suzaku.

..

Nunnally and Euphemia are in Pendragon visiting their mother. Well they are there more or less to visit their little siblings. If they see Empress Marianne well it would a bonus. Nunnally wishes that she could have gone with Kallen and Milly to Area 10. She is now ten years old. She doesn't need to be babysat. She is training in the garden when Evelyn comes out.

"Whatcha doing Nunnallys?"

"Training Evie."

Evelyn twists her mouth and tilts her head. "Training for whats?"

"Nothing, just trying to stay in shape."

Evelyn shrugs her shoulders and joins her older sister. Nunnally attempts to show her some moves. Euphemia comes out with the twins, Castor and Pollux. They are eighteen months old and usually walk around on their own. They also speak a few simple phrases. They join in on the training along with Euphemia. Euphie knows that she may never have the killer mentality that all her true siblings have, but she tries her hardest.

After two weeks Euphemia and Nunnally head back to Japan. They wonder if Evelyn will be able to come live with them when she starts school. They fall back into their routine.

Suzaku and Shirley spend two weeks training with Rivalz dropping by once in a while. Shirley picks up the moves quickly. Suzaku doesn't understand why he has the patience to teach her. They rarely talk during the year. Perhaps that will change from now on.

Everything continues the same for everyone. School, festivals, Sporting events, and parties they do it all.

**March 29, 2014 **

Suzaku can't wait for school to end this day because he is going off to Area 10 to work with knightmares again. He will continue to work with the Sutherland. Kallen and Milly get to use their new knightmares. Since Lelouch isn't here the Titan just sits there. Nunnally goes over and uses it for a bit but mostly they just stick to the Sutherlands. Now there are four of them. Apart from the one Lelouch acquired and the one Rakshata built, there are two others that Cecile and Lloyd built. They arrive late the first day so they rest up.

Suzaku decides to work with the same knightmare that he used during the summer, the one Rakshata built. He goes over to see what changes if any she has made to it.

"Ah Mr. Kururugi. As you can see the Sutherland is about the same as before," She pauses as they walk over to it, "I have added additional slash harkens. They are now shoulder and hip mounted. The machine gun has also been added. The lance now has a holder on the back of the knightmare."

Suzaku smiles as he walks around the knightmare. "Thank you Dr. Chawla. I will take a look at the manual and controls."

Suzaku spends the day working with his Sutherland. He engages Nunnally in a little knightmare sparing. He wishes they could have brought Shirley and Rivalz. If nothing more than for the comedic relief, but he understands the need for secrecy. They probably would have had to bring that nerdy girl Nina along as well. For some reason she is always around Milly.

...

Nunnally decides to use the knightmare constructed by Lloyd since he built the Titan. He scares her a little. Not nightmare scary just mad scientist scary. Euphemia gets Cecile's Sutherland. Alice gets the standard one that Rakshata as been toying with. They all spend the day working with their knightmares. Nunnally looks over at the Callisto and Europa and notices that they are quite a step up from the Glasgow that everybody is used to.

What gave the Glasgows edge was its numbers and speed. It excelled against conventional weapons and armor. But Britannia is already losing its edge in that department. Other nations are using captured, stolen, or abandoned Glasgows to construct their own. This is why Britannia began to develop the Sutherland.

Nunnally wonders if that is why Lelouch began to design his own knightmares. For them it started at an early age. Even before they were born their mother piloted the Ganymede and proved that knightmares were a viable weapon. After spending all day Saturday working on getting familiarized with their knightmares, they rest up. On Sunday they do more of the same. They are a little afraid to go all out despite the assurances of the scientists. Sunday night they go to asleep. They decide that the next day they will do some light knightmare sparing. Everyone wants to see the Callisto and Europa in action.

Suzaku can't sleep that night maybe he is a bit anxious about going up against the Callisto. Thus far Suzaku has had only losing experiences in knightmare combat. This is mostly due to his inexperience. He notices that Nunnally is up and about as well.

"_Hey kid, what are you doing up?"_

"_I can't sleep. Plus it's nearly morning."_

Suzaku takes out his phone. It is five am. Suzaku till hasn't gotten used to the time difference. It is two hours earlier here than in Japan. He wonders how the girls do it every few months when they go back to Pendragon where the time difference is seven hours. He wonders how Lelouch does it going back to West Point or to Africa where he spent the winter.

"_Still we should get some more rest before everybody else gets up. Because you know they are going to work us over. Those two knightmares are just as crazy as the Titan."_

Nunnally nods at Suzaku's comment. She goes back to the room she shares with Alice. Just as she begins to fall asleep when an alarm rings. Alice and Nunnally wake up and run down to the hangar. Everybody is also running to the hangar. As they arrive, they notice that Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata are all ready there. This isn't surprising in itself, but the look on their faces are a bit disturbing. Nunnally wonders if this is some kind of drill. She looks over at Kallen and Milly who seem just as distressed as the rest of them.

Cecile is the first to speak. "I believe that we may have to evacuate this property."

Kallen is the first to ask, "Why? What's going on?"

"Area 10 is under attack. The forces here are not enough to hold back the rebellion."

Nunnally is confused. "But Britannia is going to send some more soldiers from other areas right."

"Yes but well I don't think his highness Prince Lelouch would be too happy if one of you got hurt here. The rebels are still miles away but seem to be getting some sort of help from the Chinese," Cecile pauses so all that can sink in, "So you see I think it would be a wise if we move everything away from here. Either over to Area 12 or possibly Area 11."

Everybody considers this. There is a reason why Lelouch would put his facilities and staff here. He wouldn't want them to leave. He would want them to stay.

Euphemia looks over at everyone. "No, we stay here and fight. "

The three scientist look over at the children in amazement. They all have determined looks on their faces.

Nunnally grins mischievously, "Yes, we'll show them that it was a bad idea to mess with us."

* * *

Author's note: I was going to try to make Suzaku to be a little more of an ass, but I just can't seem to do it just yet. The next chapter is Milly-centric but it is still pretty cool.

Cornelia, Lelouch, Euphemia, Nunnally, Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux consider each other true siblings. Cornelia and Euphemia consider Empress Marianne to be their mother and whenever they refer to mom that is who they mean.

Here are some knightmare specs. The cannon ones are taken from the Code Geass wikia page.

**Sutherland**

General characteristics

Height: 4.42 meters

Weight: 7.483 metric tons

Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive,Energy Filler

Color: generally purple

Lelouch's are black with camouflage capabilities

Design Features

Cockpit Ejection System

Factsphere Sensor

Landspinner Propulsion System

Armament

2x Slash Harken

1x Assault Rifle

Optional Armaments

2x Stun Tonfa

1x Lance

1x Giant Cannon

1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun

Chaos Mine(s)

1x Stun Gun

Additional Slash Harkens

**Titan**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: black

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

4 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted)

1 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

**Callisto**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 4.51 meters

Weight: 7.51 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: red

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

2 x shoulder mounted slash harkens

Right hand radiation bursts

Left hand stun Tonfa

Assault rifle

Chest mounted missile launcher

**Europa **

Height: 6.32 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: white

**Armament:**

4 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

1 x assault rifle

1 x Stun Tonfa

2 x chest mounted cannons


	17. The anxiety of Separation

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This is a Milly-centric chapter. It covers the same period of time as the previous one but from Milly's point of view.

Anxiety: noun:

1. a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome

2. The desire to do something, typically accompanied by unease:

...

The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving.

Ulysses S Grant

Commanding General

Army of the Holy Empire of Britannia

**

* * *

**

Fall 2013

Milly remembers the day that she met Lelouch vi Britannia. In a way she can say that her life began on that day. Before then she was just a little girl with nothing. But on December 5, 2005 her life began. They danced a few songs. She really doesn't remember much from that day. It was almost eight years ago. Over the next few years the two of them shared plenty of other moments. The Ashfords were almost a fixture at Aries Palace.

They played plenty of games. Of course Nunnally and Euphemia were always there. But in the end that wouldn't matter if it was advantageous Milly and Lelouch would be married. As Milly grew up she came to the realization that one day she would marry Lelouch vi Britannia. At a young age she learned to accept this. She learned to live with it. But most of all she learned to love him. She thought that he loved her. It is now the third and hopefully final year of Lelouch's military training.

"Milly, Milly."

She turns around. Coming towards her is one of her fellow student council members. Since Milly is a freshman, she can't be student council president but that doesn't mean she isn't in control.

"Yes Veronica, what is it?"

"The president wants to know what you think about the new decorations."

Milly sighs. Her job is endless. She is pretty sure the student council would be fine without her but for some reason they really depend on her.

"I'm on my way."

Milly goes over to see the new decorations. Everything seems in order. Some people think that there is more to school than festivals and cosplay. Well those people don't know what they are talking about. Because here at Ashford Academy the students get a very well-rounded education.

After checking the decorations Milly hangs around the student council room. She looks over her list of upcoming events. Once done with that she pulls out her even more important list of things to do once Lelouch returns. She has three years to make up for. Milly begins to laugh.

Thousands of miles away at West Point Lelouch feels chill and sneezes. It almost causes him to get shot during a game.

"Hey boss, what's going on up there?"

Lelouch shakes his head. "Nothing it just feels like someone is planning something wicked."

His teammates laugh as the Black Knights continue to dominate.

Milly leaves the high school student council room. As she walks down the hall she hears laughter coming from one of the rooms. She pokes her head into the room. It is the jr high student council room. Since Kallen is president now, she is at the head of the table. Rivalz is vice president. Nina is treasurer. Shirley is secretary. Milly isn't sure what Suzaku and Euphemia do. Kallen looks over and sees Milly.

"Hey Milly, do you want to join us?"

Milly nods and walks into the room. She takes a seat. She doesn't know why she feels comfortable here. After all these aren't really her friends. They are Lelouch's friends. She looks them over. They all smile at her. Finally she looks over to Kallen.

During their two years together in jr high, Kallen served as Milly's vice president. It wasn't what Milly expected when Lelouch announced that he was staying in Japan to come to Ashford. Milly was expecting for the two of them to spend a little time together to build their relationship. Then one day Lelouch would propose to her. She had it all planned in her head. It was very much fairy tale like.

Needless to say things don't always work out the way people plan them out. Instead of staying here and falling in love with her, he leaves for a military academy. If anything he seems to have fallen in love with Kallen. The saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' seems to have worked on Lelouch and Kallen. It seems quite obvious that Lelouch has chosen Kallen.

Milly remembers the day she lost Lelouch vi Britannia. It happened a several years ago. The day he met Kallen. It happened in Pendragon one day. Kallen showed up with her dad. It was an accidental meeting but one that would change all their lives. Everything seemed to steamroll from there. Since Kallen's mother was Japanese, she lived here.

Milly always wondered why her grandfather chose to come here and start his school. It seems something that he should have done in the mainland or at least an area. It was obvious that her grandfather wanted to move away from the life of the royal court and politics. So he chose to come to a foreign country albeit one that had a very good relationship with Britannia. Also one that has a large amount of Britannians living in it.

As that first year went on it seemed very obvious to Milly that Lelouch came here for two reasons. To be near Kallen and to get away form the royal court. The latter didn't matter much to Milly. She had no use for all the trappings and etiquette of the royal court. She wouldn't mind the power however. It was the former that really bothers Milly. Why would Lelouch begin to like someone he has only known for a few days?

In reality Milly doesn't hate Kallen. She finds her to be efficient and a good friend. However she can't help but think of where her relationship with Lelouch would be if Kallen wasn't around. Milly looks over at her friends. Certainly Lelouch wouldn't be interest in Shirley or Nina. There was still another person that could have Lelouch's heart. Milly glanced over at Euphemia.

For many years Milly knows that Lelouch loved the pink haired princess above all else. Of course that relationship would be taboo. Well in the eyes of commoners it would be taboo. Who really knows how the emperor and the royal court will see such a relationship. Could they see it as a situation that will only strengthen the royal line?

The meeting appears to be wrapping up. Milly decides to leave before that. She has no desire to have Rivalz follow her around after the meeting. She leaves continuing to contemplate the situation. Apart form coming to Japan because of Kallen it seems as if Lelouch keeps finding opportunities to be with her.

During that summer when they worked with the simulators and knightmares. Also before the Military Academy Winter Formal the year before. Kallen arrived a few days before everyone else. It was very obvious that something happened between the two of them. There were little hints of it. The way they acted around each other. That locket he gave her. The fact that his tie matched her dress. The way they danced was unlike anything Milly had ever seen. Then they kissed. It was simple, but it spoke volumes. Lelouch had never kissed her in that manner. By Euphemia's reaction Milly was almost sure Lelouch had never kissed her like that.

Still life moved on. Milly has no choice but to accept things the way they were. Even if somehow Milly and Lelouch married, she knows that it would most likely be a marriage of convenience. Still if it began in that manner Milly will make it work. She knows she can. In reality she has no other choice.

Her family's influence and fortunes have been in steady decline. There were so many people to blame for that fact. Her grandfather's wanton and superfluous spending. Her parent's dislike for anything to do with knightmares. They blame knightmares for the families fall from grace. The failure of the Ashford Foundation to make a new generation knightmare.

With her fifteenth birthday coming up in few months the pressure on Milly to at least get an engagement from Lelouch would begin. Well Milly was having none of that. She would make her own fortune. She would single-handedly return the Ashford family to glory and honor. Well her prince charming will aid her a bit.

Milly continues to do all the regular school stuff. She supports her friends at their events. Always smiling, always seemingly happy. She particularly likes to attend Nunnally's karate matches. Milly wonders if she should take some fighting classes. Like most girls her age she has taken self defense classes.

**Winter 2013-2014**

This year they will not be attending the Winter Formal since Lelouch, Gino, ad Anya are going to Africa. They are part of a select group of cadets that is chosen to go be on the frontlines in the war with the EU. They will be under Cornelia's command so Milly isn't too worried. That doesn't mean that Milly has to stay in Japan. Since her knightmare is near completion, Milly decides to check it out. Lelouch helps with this. Kallen goes with her. Since Lelouch isn't coming, Euphemia makes no effort to join them.

It is a good thing that their knightmares are in different hangars. Because the day they arrive is exactly one year after the Winter Formal. The day everybody saw Kallen and Lelouch kiss. Milly wants to get to work on familiarizing herself with her knightmare, Europa. Dr. Cecile Croomy did most of the work on her knightmare.

"Ah Miss Ashford, allow me to introduce to you knightmare frame, Europa."

She presses a button on a control panel to reveal the knightmare.

**Europa **

Height: 6.32 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: white

**Armament:**

4 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

1 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa

2 x chest mounted cannons

2x chest mounted machine guns

"At the moment it is quite experimental. But it is a quite leap in technology from the Glasgow," Cecil smiles as she continues, "I would venture to say that it is even more advanced than the Sutherland."

Milly simply nods. The Europa is designed to be a continuation of the Ganymede. From everything Lelouch said these people who are building his knightmares are extraordinarily intelligent. Even a little insane in the case of Lloyd and Rakshata. Couple that with Lelouch's intelligence and extremely large funding abilities and you have something very great. Milly goes over to the knightmare. She has been reading the preliminary manual since the summer.

"Dr. Croomy, are all the system operational."

"Yes Miss Ashford everything is ready to go."

Milly smiles. She knows that it would be wrong to spare with Kallen. For one Kallen would probably defeat her. Secondly Lelouch would be so mad if they did anything to his precious knightmares. Well maybe she can spare with someone else in a Glasgow.

"Dr. Croomy."

"Cecile, please dear."

"Okay very well. Miss Cecile, are there any Glasgows here?"

"Yes there are. There are also a few pilots."

"Very well. Would it be possible if I took it out?"

"Yes but first you must familiarize yourself with the controls."

Milly gets up into the knightmare. The controls seem pretty simple. Milly notes that Lelouch had designed the Europa to be mainly defensive. About half of the mass production models he hopes to base on his three knightmares will copy the Europa design.

She also notices that with the amount of firepower the knightmare has it can be used as an initial attack weapon. Once the battle begins the Europa would fall back to be reloaded and get into a defensive position. Milly begins to play around with the controls. She feels comfortable with the basics of it. She takes the knightmare out of a spin. Kallen isn't out there.

Milly takes the knightmare through a few exercises that Lelouch taught her. Like the Ganymede the Europa had an extra joint in the arm. The Glasgow and the new Sutherland have arms that similar to humans. The extra joint allows for better flexibility in the arm. It allows the knightmare to turn in one direction while the arm can turn in a completely different angle. Miss Cecile sets out an obstacle course with several targets for Milly to shoot and reach.

Milly performs at a decent level. When she gets off Cecile comes over to her.

"Well Miss Ashford that was quite well for your first run. You got an 85%."

Milly shrugs. She has no concept of what that means.

"Do you know if Kallen has been out on the course?"

"Well since she is working with Rakshata, her numbers will be kept separately. No doubt his highness will have all the numbers."

Milly nods. She will have to wait to know if she did better than Kallen. That night she sleeps alone. She writes to Lelouch. She hopes that he is doing okay. He may be under Cornelia's command, but Milly knows what kind of person Lelouch is. He will no doubt find a way to get to the frontlines.

The next day Cecile sets up the obstacle course once more. Once again Milly performs at 85%. After lunch Cecile sets up to have Milly face some Glasgows. Milly goes out the sky is perfectly clear. Just right for something like this. Having grown up in and around Pendragon the weather here in Area 10, Indochina, is about the same. It is a little more humid but now in winter it was very cool. At first Milly would only face one Glasgow depending on the results the number would increase.

"Ready to go Miss Ashford."

"Yes Miss Cecile."

"Very well your opponent is already out on the course."

Milly got a look at her opponent. He appears to be nothing more than a raw recruit. Well he must have some skill to be piloting a knightmare. Well Milly knows better than to judge a book by its cover. Nobody looking at her would imagine her capable of doing what she is now. Despite the Europa's obvious defensive capabilities, Milly knows she can't hang around and wait for her opponent. Wherever Kallen is, she would go after the enemy. Just like she went after Lelouch.

Milly takes her knightmare out. Those words are still odd to her. The conditions on this course are too perfect. This is no real test of what war would be like. Not that Milly herself knows anything about war. She just knows that it tears up the landscape. She finds her opponents signal on her tracking meter. He is heading straight for her. This will be nothing more than a test of strength.

Milly sees the Glasgow in front of her. She uses the chest machine guns. They aren't enough to do anything to a knightmare but still it is a distraction. The Glasgow moves to avoid the bullets. A stray bullet can still damage a vital system. Milly decides to use the chest cannons next. Her aim is pretty deadly but the Glasgow just manages to avoid it.

"Damn that pilot is better than I thought."

The Glasgow is now basically upon her. Milly raises her assault rifle but it is knocked away. However with her other arm she release her stun tonfas and hits the Glasgow on the chest. The Glasgow back away but Milly uses the opportunity to use her cannons once again. This time it is a direct hit. Milly moves the Europa closer to the Glasgow. She releases the other stun tonfa and stands above the fallen Glasgow.

"Do you surrender?"

The pilot comes out of the Glasgow with his hands up. Milly took that as a yes.

At that moment Cecile comes out in a transport. Several workers come over to look at the Glasgow. Milly hopes she didn't damage it too much. She was only trying to win.

"Okay Miss Ashford, take the Europa back to the hangar."

Milly does as she is told. After disembarking from the knightmare she goes over to Cecile. Cecile is standing there with the Glasgow pilot who is very surprised to see Milly.

"Miss Ashford, I would like to meet Rudolph Korgan. He was your opponent today."

They greet each other. Milly can feel his eyes going up and down her body. It is something she is used to but this feels different. He is sizing me up as an opponent.

"I never thought a girl would be so aggressive," he pauses, "Well at least not one so young."

Milly nods at that. Too bad this guy never met Kallen. She would take care of all his misconceptions.

The next day Milly continues to run more tests on the Europa. Against one and two knightmares. Against several knightmares attacking her position. She doesn't win them all but she wins enough to gain confidence in herself.

On her last day there Milly and Cecile go over her data.

"Well Miss Ashford you did surprisingly well. But that wasn't your first time in a knightmare, now was it."

Milly shakes her head. Cecil knows the answer to that. The knightmare demonstration from a year and a half ago. Last year in Area 11 she got use the new Sutherland as well as the Glasgow. During the summer she used the older knightmares and even got to pilot Lelouch's Titan.

Two years ago all these numbers would have meant very little to Milly. She isn't stupid, but nobody would consider her a genius at least academically. She will never match Lelouch, Nina, or Kallen, but she won't allow herself to fall far behind. She will probably never match them in knightmare proficiency but again she will do her best. If this is the way to win Lelouch's heart then Milly will do her best. It is her destiny to marry Lelouch vi Britannia.

**Winter 2014**

Once back in Japan it took Milly a few days to get back into the routine of things. Spending two weeks with no one but scientist and researchers can have an effect on your mental state. It is a good thing that Milly doesn't have anything planned for a few weeks. The weeks and months drone on and on for Milly. Sure she loves her events, festivals, etc., but Lelouch is so close to coming back.

Ruben Ashford is a bit concerned about his granddaughter, Milly. Even though he sees her everyday, she seems distant. She seems happy and cheerful but underneath he senses some sort of anxiety or distress. He knows that the girl is under pressure from her parents to make herself attractive to Prince Lelouch. However the elder Ashford senses than there is much more than that. Even his wife has been unable to get anything out of the girl.

He remembers a day when the three of them were close. This is one of the many reasons why Milly chose to live with them here in Japan. Ruben Ashford decided about four years ago that the family would not worry about building knightmares. They would rather worry about knightmare education and training. The Ashford foundation produces the manuals for all new knightmares.

It was quite a disappointment when his son chose not to be involved in knightmares. Instead he chose to go into business. He left a trail of failed business ventures. Naturally Ruben and his spendthrift ways are blamed for it all. Was it the elder Ashford's fault that he loved a good party? At the moment Ashford Academy is the only thing keeping the family afloat. Since Milly somehow convinced Prince Lelouch to pay for all her festivals and celebrations, all the Academy tuitions go to the family.

Even more distressing then his son's attempts to usurp the position of family head is the fact the Ruben believes that Milly is hiding something from them. There are numerous rumors about Milly and Lelouch having secret trysts. Ruben can't belive that his granddaughter is ready for such things. There are even quiet rumors that Prince Lelouch is building some sort of knightmare army. This concerns Ruben a bit. He has noticed that Milly has become interested in knightmares lately.

**March 9, 2014**

Milly walks over to her closet. She pulls out a provocative piece of sleepwear. Milly is really glad that her grandparents trust her to buy her own clothes. If she was at home with her parents, half her wardrobe would be gone and replaced with more conservative pieces. How is she supposed to convince Lelouch to be with her if she can't entice him with her body? Her parents are fools. Lelouch is becoming much too important to be wasted on someone from a minor noble family that is falling into disgrace. The only way that Lelouch will ever marry Milly is if she can seduce him.

Milly slips on her black teddy. It reminds her of Lelouch's hair. Milly is glad that her grandparents go out walking every Saturday morning. That means that it is only her and the servants. Unless if something important happens they won't bother her. Milly goes over to her bed. She begins to imagine that Lelouch is there with her. She begins to fondle her breasts in the manner she imagines he would.

At first when these feelings overcame her, she felt ashamed. She really had no one to talk to. She couldn't go to her grandmother and tell her she was masturbating. She certainly couldn't tell her parents That left only teachers and friends. She got along with her teachers and counselors, but they were in essence her grandfather's employees. Her so-called friends were nothing but fakes. The only person that she could confide was her enemy, Kallen. Milly wonders if Kallen does the same thing when she is alone.

As she fondles her breasts with her left hand, she moves her right hand further down her body. Like any curious teenager Milly has seen videos and websites. It isn't all that hard. She has her own credit card. There are ways to be discreet about such things.

She begins to undo her teddy exposing herself. She gently begins to toy with her lower lips. This isn't quite the way she wants things to be but soon Lelouch will be here to do this himself. Milly begins to insert her fingers into her vagina. She grabs one of her plushies and stuffs it in her mouth so no one hears her yelps of pleasure. After a few minutes she is done and satisfied. She gathers a few more plushies that she has modified to make them look more like Lelouch. Milly falls asleep satisfied.

"Miss Ashford, you have a guest," A slight pause, "Miss Ashford, You have a guest."

"It's okay Brenda. I'll just in there myself. You won't get in trouble."

"Very well Miss Stadtfeld."

Kallen opens the door to Milly's quietly. Just as she thought Milly is sleeping. She creeps over to the bed and makes a shocking discovery. Milly's orgasmic juices are still all over the bed. She is hugging onto several plushies tightly. She is also mumbling Lelouch's name over and over. Kallen gasps at the scene. She makes a quick exit. Barely remembering not to slam the door on her way out. As she leaves she tells the maid that Milly is still sleeping and not to tell Milly of her visit.

Milly wakes up. She looks down at the mess she created. She gasps. What of someone had come in? Milly begins to clean up after herself. She is going to have to be more careful when doing this. As she cleans her phone rings.

"Milly Ashford here."

"Hey Milly, it's me Kallen."

"Oh hey Kallen. What's up?"

"What are your plans for Spring Break?"

"Well nothing really. I was wondering if maybe we could all go over to a beach."

"Oh because well Lelouch asked if we wanted to make a visit over to Area 10 again."

Milly thought about that. He hadn't sent her anything. Of course Spring Break was a week away but still. Maybe this time they would allow them to battle each other.

"That would be nice."

"Well okay. Just to let you know that Euphie, Suzaku, Nunnally, and her crew are also coming."

"What about Lelouch?"

"No, I don't think he can get the time off?"

"Well sign me up."

"Cool I'll let them know you are coming."

While she is still upset that Lelouch chose to contact Kallen first about this, Milly decides to get over it. Maybe this time they would let Milly and Kallen spare in the new knightmares. Milly got all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. Speaking of warm and fuzzy Milly decides to take a long bath. Thinking about knightmares and Lelouch has gotten her excited. She takes the shower head off its holder. Milly wonders when she became so perverted.

**March 29, 2014 **

The student council is making final preparations for the Annual Ashford Academy Spring Cosplay Show. Milly can't wait for the day to end because after school they are heading off to Area 10 to do some more work on their knightmares. They arrive in Area 10 late that night.

In the morning Milly decides to head over to her knightmare. That day they are going to run a few tests. They aren't going to do what Milly wants to do, which is sparing against Kallen. Lelouch's people have also constructed two Sutherlands. Apart from making improvements to the Glasgows and the Titan, they worked on improving the Sutherland. Milly is unsure about why Lelouch is worrying about it. After all his own knightmares surpass the Sutherland in every fashion.

She wonders if Lelouch is leaking out information about what his people are doing. According to what her grandfather told her a few years ago, Britannia should have been years away from making the Sutherland its main unit. She knows from watching the news that the Sutherland is already being used in the war with the EU.

They arrive late Friday and spend Saturday and Sunday working on some light knightmare sparing. On Sunday night they decide to do a little more the next day. Everybody wants to see what the Callisto and Europa can do against the Sutherland. They all go to sleep that night dreaming of what will happen the next day.

Since it is only their second full day here, Milly is still trying to get used to the two hour time difference. The previous year they spent about six weeks here so Milly had time to get used to it. This time they are only here for a week. By the time Milly gets used to the time difference it will be time to go back.

As Milly begins to wake up, she notices that it is just past five a.m. here, but it is seven in Japan. Milly turns in the bed. She is in a room she shares with Kallen and Euphemia. As Milly begins to fall asleep again, an alarm goes off. She jumps out of bed. She wonders if it is a drill. Even if Lelouch is over at West Point, he knows that they are there. She wonders if he put them up to this. Either way Milly gets up and joins the others as they head over to the hangar. She notices that the three scientists are already there. This isn't the least bit surprising since Milly knows that they are workaholics, but the look on their faces is one of concern. There is a moment of silence

Dr. Cecile is the first to speak. "I believe that we may have to evacuate this property."

Kallen is the first to ask, "Why? What's going on?"

"Area 10 is under attack. The forces here are not enough to hold back the rebellion."

Nunnally is confused. "But Britannia is going to send some more soldiers. From other areas right."

"Yes but well I don't think his highness Prince Lelouch would be too happy if one of you got hurt here. The rebels are still miles away but seem to be getting some sort of help from the Chinese," Cecile pauses so all that can sink in, "So you see I think it would be a wise if we move everything away from here. Either over to Area 12 or possibly Area 11."

Everybody considers this. There is a reason why Lelouch would put his facilities and staff here. He wouldn't want them to leave. He would want them to stay.

Euphemia looks over at everyone. "No, we stay here and fight. "

The three scientist look over at the children in amazement. They all have determined looks on their faces.

Nunnally grins mischievously, "Yes, we'll show them that it was a bad idea to mess with us."

Euphemia adds, "After all Lulu got to fight during his winter break in Africa."

They all look towards Euphemia. This is all news to them.

"Well I only know because big sister told me."

That sort of settles that. As this goes on Milly looks over at the monitors. She sees that the rebels are using the element of surprise. She agrees with Nunnally and Euphemia. They can't run away. They have to stay and fight. However none of them are great at strategy or tactics. None of them have ever devised a battle plan. They all are standing there trying to figure out how to approach this.

Milly decides to speak, "I think that Kallen should be our leader."

It isn't that much of a stretch. The year before Kallen was unofficially Lelouch's number two despite Gino being there. Kallen is also the captain of the jr high girls' volleyball and field hockey teams apart from being student council president. Everybody else seems to like this idea.

Kallen nods, "Okay I'll do it. We should get ready to go out there."

They quickly move to get ready. Milly feels a little nervous but knows that it is what Lelouch would want them to do. They all walk over to the knightmares.

Milly decides to bring up an important point. "What are we going to do with the Titan?"

They all look towards the knightmare. It is obvious that they can neither leave it unused nor allow it to be captured. Nunnally used it once on Saturday, but they have mostly left it alone. The controls aren't any more complicated than those on the Sutherland or Glasgow. Still they are afraid to touch it.

Milly is unsure about what to do. There are other options besides themselves. There are the other pilots that she and Kallen spared against during the winter. She knows that they are here somewhere. Most likely they are heading towards the Glasgows which are stored somewhere else.

Suzaku steps up. "I'll pilot it."

This surprises Milly just a bit. When she asked about the Titan, she wasn't sure what to expect. She wonders if Suzaku can handle it. She laughs a little inside. A few years ago Milly would have never imagined herself in this position.

Suzaku reaffirms his position. "I will pilot the Titan."

Kallen nods in agreement. "Very well let's go we have a lot to do."

With that they all board their knightmares and get ready to head out. Milly notices that the pilot that she spared against in December is going over to what was Suzaku's Sutherland. Milly sighs. Here they are a bunch of teenagers getting ready to put down a rebellion. She hopes that it works.

Milly gets on the intercom, "I think it's time to go."

* * *

Author's note: Sorry about leaving the situation the same as last chapter. The situation will resolve itself in a few chapters so have patience. Lelouch returns in the next chapter. It is a pretty important chapter from his point of view.

Here are soem knightmare specs. The cannon ones are courtesy of the Code Geass wikia page.

**Sutherland**

General characteristics

Height: 4.42 meters

Weight: 7.483 metric tons

Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive,Energy Filler

Color: generally purple

Lelouch's are black with camouflage capabilities

Design Features

Cockpit Ejection System

Factsphere Sensor

Landspinner Propulsion System

Armament

2x Slash Harken

1x Assault Rifle

Optional Armaments

2x Stun Tonfa

1x Lance

1x Giant Cannon

1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun

Chaos Mine(s)

1x Stun Gun

Additional Slash Harkens

**Titan**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: black

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

4 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted)

1 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

**Callisto**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 4.51 meters

Weight: 7.51 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: red

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

2 x shoulder mounted slash harkens

Right hand radiation bursts

Left hand stun Tonfa

Assault rifle

Chest mounted missile launcher

**Europa **

Height: 6.32 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: white

**Armament:**

4 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

1 x assault rifle

1 x Stun Tonfa

2 x chest mounted cannons


	18. The Glory of Honor

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

You know I almost forgot that something big happens in this chapter. Don't you just hate it when you have an idea for weeks, but when it comes time to write it down, you forget. So this was supposed to be a Kallen-centric chapter. But I switched it around for you Lelouch addicts. This chapter is all about Lelouch, Gino, and Anya.

* * *

Glory is when you stand on top of the world. Honor is remembering how you got there.

Lelouch vi Britannia

.

Evelyn vi Britannia

The Adventures of the Black Prince

Neo-Pendragon Press 2034 ATB

…

Take that you evil doers.

Lelouch vi Britannia

.

Castor and Pollux vi Britannia

The Black Prince coloring book

Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

…

All war is deception.

Sun Tzu

**Fall 2013**

Lelouch, Gino, and Anya arrive back at West Point for another semester. For Lelouch and Gino it is their last year. Anya is in the middle of her first year. She came in during spring semester. Now in the first division the Black Knights are going to encounter their toughest challenges yet. Apart from Anya who is technically new the Black Knights have to replace six members.

Anya is the perfect team member. Apart from being small she is really good at following orders. Most of all she is completely loyal to Lelouch. This causes the other Black Knight to wonder about their relationship. Nevertheless they continue their winning ways. Since Lelouch joined them in January of 2012 the Black Knights have yet to lose. There is rampant speculation about what this means for Lelouch's future.

He puts all that talk on the back burner. He has a semester full of studies and games to concentrate on. There is also the possibility that he may be able to go to Africa to visit Cornelia. The situation with the EU has broken down again and there are border skirmishes. The speculation is that full scale war will break out in a few months.

At the moment they are all sitting around watching Nunnally, Alice, and Suzaku fight in their karate tournament. It is very late in the late in the night or early in the morning depending on how you look at it. Lelouch tells them that it is being recorded and they could watch it at a reasonable hour, but they decline. Their next game isn't until the evening. All they have in the morning are classes.

Gino looks over towards Lelouch. "I didn't know that Nunnally was such a badass. Even Euphie is doing good."

Lelouch nods, "See Anya you could be over there kicking ass instead of sitting around with this perverts."

Most of the guys take exception to this. None of the girls do.

"Let's go to sleep. I don't want any of you guys missing class tomorrow."

They all groan but comply with his command. They know he is right. While the game is the most important thing their studies are also important. The Black Knights continue their winning ways. Lelouch knows there is talk to allow him to graduate early. He tells his team to pay no attention to that because he will be with them until May.

**December 16, 2013 ATB**

There will be no winter formal for Lelouch and most of the Black knights instead they are visiting the African front. The war with the EU has restarted; Cornelia is currently stationed in Northern Africa. Lelouch knows that his sister won't allow them to close to the front, but he will find a way to get up there. They also have to find a way to ditch Lieutenant Oppel. The West Point school commandant has sent his assistant to watch over his cadets.

The temperature is decently temperate. Despite being at the edge of the Sahara it is cool. Of course it is winter so that must have something to do with it. At the moment they are still aboard the carrier they landed on. It is early in the evening. Lelouch, Gino, and Anya are standing in the deck looking at towards the coast. They can feel the breeze blowing out from the continent. It smells like nothing they have ever smelled in their lives. Off in the distance they knew that there is a battle brewing. No matter what they would be a part of it.

**December 19, 2012 ATB**

Well it is easier said than done. They do manage to get on the mainland. They have to pull a few strings. Lelouch is glad that he doesn't have to use his special advantage. It could be costly to waste it on something like this. They mostly spend it in and around the barracks. The soldiers there look at them wearingly. Lelouch can sense the disgust in their eyes. They know that each of these kids will be ranked higher than them in a few months or years. Some of these soldiers might not ever make it to sergeant. Lelouch is guaranteed to be a captain if not higher in May at the age of fourteen. By the time he is eighteen Lelouch will probably be a general. Gino and Anya will at least be commissioned lieutenants when they graduate.

The cadets make on effort to talk to the soldiers. Most of them are scared. The soldiers do their best to make this happen. The manner in which they talk. The subjects they talk about. Most importantly despite the fact that the barracks are co-ed, everybody walks around naked. This particularly gets to most of the cadets. It even gets to Lt. Oppel.

Lelouch ignores all of it. After seeing Villetta, Jeremiah, Kewell, and lots of his siblings with very little clothes on, nakedness doesn't really bother him. The rest isn't any worse than what some of the older cadets talk about. It's really the combination of all of it that has the effect. Lelouch walks over to a wall that has several maps and newspaper clippings. He looks them over to see who this group is and what they are doing. Gino and Anya walk over beside him trying not to stare at all the naked bodies around them.

Finally one of the soldiers goes over to Lelouch. "So I take it you aren't scared by our little show here."

Lelouch shrugs, "After all the shit I've been through in my life. It just doesn't seem that important."

Lelouch looks over at the soldier who is standing there naked. Gino and Anya look away. They are still looking at the wall with the maps.

"The soldier nods his head. "So you dad put you through some crap, huh."

"Sort of. Let's just say my parents weren't always there for me."

"I guess. It's probably the same for most of us here. There's a few that keep in touch with home but not many," The soldier begins to get dressed, "Well anyways. I'm Sergeant Steve Libbon at your service."

As Lelouch goes to introduce himself, someone calls out tot him. "You highness, there you are. We've been looking for your group for hours."

Lelouch nods. He knew that the second his group of cadets landed that his sister would send one of her people after them. They got Darlton. The scar-faced man is staring at the sergeant who dares to talk to a prince.

Lelouch smiles and shrugs it off taking the sergeants hand in his. "Sergeant Libbon, I am Lelouch vi Britannia, eleventh prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia. I have a bunch of other titles and stuff but Lelouch will suffice."

The others in the room are stunned at the candor of the prince. Especially Darlton and his two sons that are standing behind their father.

"General Darlton, those must be Alfred and David?"

"Yes your highness. They are serving on the front here alongside me."

"Good it is nice to see family working together," Lelouch smirks as he says this, "Well lead away. Cornelia is no doubt incensed that I didn't go and see her right away."

Lelouch signals for the rest of the cadets to follow him. He knows where Cornelia's office is. One look at the floor plan of the building told him it could only be in one place. Cornelia appears to be going over her battle plan with her knight, Guilford when Lelouch barges in.

Cornelia smirks, "I assume they haven't taught you manners yet at West Point."

Lelouch smiles, "They did I just slept through the entire class. "

Cornelia laughs. This causes Guilford and Darlton to stir. They are used to seeing the princess in many different emotional states. But this moment was not the time to be joking around with the prince.

Cornelia gets serious, "Very well now. Let's get down to business. Care to tell me about your Moons project."

Lelouch smiles but looks over towards Guilford and Darlton.

Cornelia acknowledges her brother's concerns. "You know that I trust Guilford and Darlton with my life. They will not leak anything they hear."

Lelouch sighs, "Well then can Gino and Anya enter the room since they know what is going on."

Gino and Anya are allowed into the room. Lelouch signals for them to sit down. They are unsure about whether this means they have to still greet Cornelia or not. Lelouch waves them off. They take their seat. He also signals for Guilford and Darlton to sit down. Their standing around makes him edgy. After Cornelia assents to it, they all take a seat.

Lelouch is satisfied with the situation and begins. "Project Moons is a knightmare project that I began about a year and a half ago. Obviously its origins go back much further. But I digress. The idea is to tailor certain experimental knightmares to fit a specific pilot or specific pilot set. I believe that this will make the knightmare more effective."

Cornelia nods. She knows that even as they are speaking Britannia scientists are working on making the Glasgow and the new Sutherland more efficient.

Lelouch continues, "The success of the Glasgow in Areas 10, 11, and 12 have shown that the machine is effective. However much more can be done to improve it."

"Such as?"

"I know that you are the type of commander who likes to be up on the front."

Lelouch waits for her to acknowledge that fact. "So it seems ridiculous that you have the exact same knightmare and weapons as the common soldier," Lelouch pauses slightly, "Also Britannia is so sure of its edge in the technological department that they have become a bit lax in producing the next generation of knightmares. I've decided to speed things up a bit."

Cornelia knows all about the grainy footage of a knightmare battle in which some unknown black and silver knightmare decimates its opposition. There is also footage of several heavily modified Glasgows and Sutherlands.

Lelouch continues as Cornelia ponders all of this. "I have hired a few of the world's most brilliant young minds to construct a few knightmares to certain specifications. Also they have modified several Glasgows and Sutherlands."

Cornelia continued to ponder this. She could understand having Glasgows to tinker with. There are plenty of them to go around. She even knows that the enemy has managed to get their hands on few but Sutherlands are a whole other thing. There was only a few in all of Britannia. In fact she could only get half a dozen for her forces here. Then it hit Cornelia.

"You've constructed Sutherlands."

"Amongst other things. In a few days some of my friends will be visiting my facility and be working with my new creations," Lelouch smirks, "If you want, I can have a few Sutherlands shipped here. It would be no problem."

Cornelia wonders how Lelouch got the funding for such a project. She nods at his offer.

"Did you want to speak about anything else, sister? If you want I can get you the real footage not the grainy one I leaked to Odysseus so Schniezel could steal."

"No Lelouch, just abstain from entering the common soldiers barracks."

"Very well sister. Gino, Anya lets go."

With that they leave. Cornelia asks Darlton and Guilford to give her a few moments to herself. Later she has her knight get the knightmare battle footage from Lelouch. It surprises her extremely. The footage starts from before the mock battle began until it ended. She is not surprised to see Lelouch in the black and silver knightmare. The Titan it is called. She almost falls out of her seat when Nunnally and Euphemia board Glasgows. Just as surprising are Kallen Stadtfled and Milly Ashford. Cornelia watches several of the video feeds. At first she is surprised, but as she continues to watch fear comes over her. None of them should be capable of doing this.

Lelouch takes Gino and Anya over to the barracks where the rest of the cadets are. Nobody says anything to Lelouch. It is one thing knowing that he is a prince but it is quiet another seeing it. Having Cornelia summon him and having him talk to her as an equal is jarring to Gino. Even though he has seen Lelouch interact with his mom and some Knights of the Round.

"Lulu, oh Lulu. I mean your highness Prince Lelouch."

Through the door comes the Knight of Nine, Nonnette Enngream.

Lelouch groans, "Yes Nonnette."

"That's not nice, Lulu."

"Very well. What does the esteemed Knight of Nine want with little old humble me?"

The few Black Knights amongst the cadets begin to giggle at that.

"We need to talk your highness."

"Fine let's go into one of the other rooms."

Lelouch leads Nonnette over to an empty room.

"You know for someone who has never been here, you know your way around."

Lelouch shrugs, "What did you want?"

"Well Nelly says that you are bringing in some of your fancy knightmares here."

"No, just some Sutherlands."

"Oh I see. Not that cool Black one."

Lelouch shakes his head.

"No huh. What about that blue one or the red one?"

Lelouch gasps when he hears this. He seems genuinely surprised by the fact that Nonnette has this information.

Nonnette grins, "Well I guess your Sutherlands will do. At least they have to be cooler than what the boring guys over at Ford-Lincoln are building."

Lelouch shrugs, "If you are going to get one. Tell me so I can go over the weapons with you."

Nonnette smiles, "Of course."

Lelouch goes back to the barracks. They spend the next few days in and around the barracks. They are given tours of the area and the knightmare hangar by a very cheerful lieutenant. Even Lt. Oppel is annoyed at how cheerful the man sounds. Their tour guide act as they are kids when in front a knightmare.

One of the cadets (not a Black Knight) gets upset and finally says something.

"Who the fuck do you think you are talking to? We are West Point cadets. This isn't Mr. Crapple's third grade class. Man, when was the last time you ever rode a knightmare? I'm willing to bet that even little Anya has seen more action than you."

He didn't specify what kind of action. That shuts the lieutenant up.

**December 23, 2013 ATB**

After being led around for a few days, they are left alone. It is obvious that something is going on out at the front. Even here in what is basically his sister's territory; Lelouch manages to wrangle a small piece for himself. He has hidden away three Sutherlands. For Anya he brings the same one she piloted during the summer. For himself and Gino he brings two new ones created by Lloyd and Cecile respectively. Lelouch feels comfortable in Lloyd's creations.

Apart from managing to get some space to hide some knightmares Lelouch also secures a radio that will let him know what is going on out in the battle. Things seem to be going well at the moment. Lelouch wonders if Kallen and Milly are having fun testing out their new knightmares. At the moment it seems as it would have been better to have gone with them.

Lelouch begins to doze off when he hears people screaming on the radio. Lelouch signals for Gino and Anya to come over. They listen in on the conversation. It seems as if the enemy got luck, and they managed to separate Cornelia from everybody else. If that wasn't enough it appears as if Cornelia's communicator isn't working.

Lelouch smiles, "Gino, Anya let's go.

They all hop aboard their Sutherlands. Lelouch calls for air transportation. Gino is done trying to figure out how Lelouch does it. The transport takes them up into the air. Lelouch directs the pilot to the location where he wants to land. Lelouch has fitted their Sutherlands with voice modulators so that they don't sound like kids. Lelouch notices that the Britannian forces seem lost without Cornelia's direction.

He wonders where Darlton and Guilford are at. He supposes that Guilford is probably with Cornelia. Sometimes that man's devotion is dangerous especially at a moment like this. Lelouch suspects that Darlton has been taken out or his communicator is also disabled. That of course leaves Nonnette. Lelouch remembers that she was going to go fight further away from this particular front. After looking over the situation and asking his friends for their opinion Lelouch decides to step in.

"This is Lelouch vi Britannia, eleventh prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia. Since it appears that my sister, the commander of this front, is unable to respond, I will be taking over command here."

Gino snickers. The voice modulator is doing its job. Lelouch sounds very much like an adult. Gino thinks a little too much. There are a few murmurs. However since the signal is sent from a friendly channel and more importantly from one of the new Sutherlands, everybody complies. Lelouch begins to assign everybody code names. As is his custom he uses chess pieces as his code. He assigns Gino and Anya the names R1 and R2.

Cornelia and Guilford are caught in an enemy trap. Thanks to the Sutherlands superior strength, they manage to escape. They are now fighting for their lives. The EU is using very primitive knightmare prototypes. That isn't the problem. The problem is the number of them. Cornelia knows that it is time for her force to retreat and regroup. She then hears a familiar though slightly lower toned voice. The voice begins to take command.

"Lelouch."

The enemy knew Cornelia well. It seems the crux of their plan was to separate her from her force. In fact that seems to be all the enemy planned. Lelouch cautiously began to direct Cornelia's forces in a counter-counterattack.

"P-1, P-10, K-2 lead your teams to point Beta 5. Wait there for P-2 and P-3 to push the enemy back."

Lelouch turns off the main communicator and contacts Gino and Anya.

"Gino, Anya let's go over to point Delta 2. We will attack them there."

They respond, "Okay boss."

Lelouch's plan begins to unfold. He gives out a few more instructions. As expected the enemy begins to respond to Lelouch's plan. Their tactics aren't very imaginative. Lelouch also notices that their knightmare prototypes are very slow. Their only advantage is that they seemingly have a large number of them. Lelouch wonders of some of them are automated. It might also explain their slow reaction time.

Lelouch decides to try something. "Gino, Anya let's go."

They move in for an attack. As he does this he leaves instructions with B-1. They spread out and begin to dispatch enemy knightmares. Lelouch notices that some enemy knightmares pull back apparently for a counterattack. The enemy begins rush in at them.

"Gino, Anya pull back."

They do as ordered. Lelouch stays in place. He pulls out one of the highly experimental chaos mine depth charges. He throws it towards the charging knightmares. They do not try to avoid it. Lelouch quickly slash harkens at one of the incoming knightmares and uses it to swing out of the way. The chaos mine explosion still reaches him but does not manage his systems.

Gino can't believe what he just saw. "What the fuck?" He knew if his parents heard talking like that they would slap him. But what other response was there to Lelouch's crazy knightmare tricks. "Boss, are you alright?"

"Ya Gino. Most of my systems are operational. Let's get moving. By the way most the knightmares are automated."

"Automated?"

"Nobody is in them. Did you see they way they just came rushing in?"

Gino nods. He did notice that after the chaos mine went off the knightmares still rushed at Lelouch.

"Let's finish these guys off boss."

Lelouch begins to give instructions to the rest of Cornelia's force. He sends a few over to help her out. He also informs them about the knightmare automation. Cornelia's force is extremely disciplined. They just suffered through a moment of confusion. They lost contact with their commander and were overwhelmed by the enemy. In fact Lelouch did very little but follow what he believed was Cornelia's initial plan. The key was discovering that the knightmares were empty and were being controlled from somewhere else.

Lelouch begins to look at the map on his screen. He tries to deduce where the machines might be controlled from. He finds a suspect location. He calls in an air strike and calls for the knightmare air transports to come in. The plan is simple get in, attack, and then get out. Lelouch, Gino, and Anya hang back to draw the attention of the enemy. Since they are in Sutherlands, they are obvious targets.

Eventually Cornelia and Guilford come back to join everyone else. Darlton's knightmare is severely damaged. He manages to eject and is taken safely back. Just as Lelouch is being overwhelmed by the enemy, Cornelia shows up to save the day.

Lelouch grins, "You know I had them right where I wanted them."

Cornelia's communicator is back on line. "I'm sure you did."

As they banter back and forth some of the enemy knightmares slump over and collapse.

Lelouch's grin becomes seven bigger. "It seems as if the objective was reached."

There are still a few enemy units up. Lelouch signals for Gino and Anya to take care of them. They move in with such speed that Cornelia is amazed. Taken in its entirety the battle is an eye opener for Cornelia. Obviously her command structure needs to be amended. She can't have both Guilford and Darlton rushing to protect her. It put the both of them in danger themselves. There also needs to be a better plan of action if the three of them happen to go down or can't communicate. If it hadn't been for Lelouch the battle would have turned out much worse than it did.

After dispatching the majority of the enemy units, they had back to base. When they reach the base, a few of Cornelia's men are out there cheering them on. She does nothing to stop it. Her little brother deserves the credit. She wonders what their reaction will be when Lelouch and his friends exit their knightmares. As they do it is not as bad as she figured. Maybe he had a chance to introduce himself to a few of the soldiers. It is quite obvious that Lelouch has the charisma to deal with the common man. She wonders is his being half commoner has anything to do with it.

Of course it does. Not in the sense that she thinks. The fact that his mother was a commoner drives Lelouch to prove himself. Something inside him pushes himself to do more and be better than those around him. One day no one will look down at him. In fact one day all eyes will have to look up at him. After being congratulated for his quick thinking he is left alone. Even Cornelia realizes that he wants to spend time alone. Gino goes off to join the rest of the cadets in a little celebrating. Anya hangs around Lelouch for a bit.

"It's okay Anya."

She leaves him alone. Lelouch stares out at the battlefield. He ponders what he did today. Certainly not all battles will be so easy.

"You know they say that the only thing worse than a battlefield lost is a battlefield won."

Lelouch turns around to a man wearing a torn uniform. He has long black hair and a thin mustache. He speaks with an odd accent.

"Who are you?"

"Oh there is no need to raise your voice at me, your highness. You are Lelouch vi Britannia, aren't you?"

Lelouch looks at the man angrily. He activates his geass. "How do you know who I am?"

The man laughs. "That's a neat trick, but it won't work on me. Forgive me I'm being rude. My name is MM."

Lelouch wonders why it doesn't work. He gets ready to activate it and try again.

"No matter how many times you try it. It won't work."

The man begins to play with his mustache. "Let me see since you are Britannian. Your contractor must be VV or perhaps CC."

"VV? CC?"

"I see those names don't mean anything to you. VV looks like a little kid with long blonde hair. CC is a hot girl with green hair."

At the mention of green hair Lelouch looks up.

"So it was CC. That explains a lot. So what do you know?"

Lelouch explains a little about his geass.

The man sighs, "I see. So you don't know anything. Let me break it down for you kid. We should probably sit down somewhere."

Lelouch directs him to a few chairs in the distance.

"Let's see where to begin." He unbuttons his shirt and reveals a red bird looking symbol. "This is called a code. Anyone with this has the ability to give others geass. Also the person has unlimited recuperative powers. A side effect to this is immortality."

This catches Lelouch's attention. "How many codes are out there?"

"A few. CC is the oldest. That green haired witch has been around for hundreds of years."

"What's the purpose of giving out geass?"

"When a geass user reaches a certain level it is possible for that person to take the code away from a code bearer."

Lelouch ponders this.

The man, MM, continues, "This means that the code bearer is once again mortal and subject to all those risks including death."

"So CC wants to die. What about you or the others?"

"Well yes CC's wish is for someone to take her code and immortality. As for the others. Everyone has different wishes and concerns," MM pauses slightly, "Some like VV want to advance their own agenda. Others just sit back enjoying life. Like yours truly. Maybe one day I'll be ready to pass this on."

"What kind of agenda would this VV have? When you first noticed I had geass you asked if he gave it to me."

MM grins, "I guess I did. His agenda is simple. He wants to end what he calls the world of lies and kill the gods."

Lelouch stares at him blankly. "World of lies. Kill the gods. What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure. But they are using certain sites that have some connection to geass. I wonder if anyone knows what it all means. Well besides VV and the emperor."

"The emperor."

"Ya well I guess that's enough for today."

Lelouch contemplates everything the man told him. The man begins to walk away but suddenly stops and turns back.

"Well I guess I better warn you about one last thing. One of CC's contractees is some Chinese guy. His geass gives him the ability to read minds. From what I can tell someone like you stands no chance against him."

Lelouch looks up at him. "Reads minds."

"Yes well his power has reached its ultimate stage and can't be controlled. It is always on and has a range of 500 meters."

"So the power loses control."

"Ya well after lots of use the power grows stronger and loses control."

Lelouch thinks about a way to counteract this. Maybe there is some sort of glass that he can use. Perhaps sunglasses or contacts.

"Well anyways about the Chinese kid. A thinker like you will fall right into his hands. You need to be more spontaneous. Not so thinky."

Lelouch twists his mouth and wonders what the man is talking about.

"You don't think I noticed when you entered the battle. I was after all your opponent out there. That was some crazy trick you pulled out there."

Lelouch shrugs. He does what the needs to do. After all if the king doesn't lead, his subordinates won't follow.

MM stares at Lelouch. He has a good feeling about the kid. Despite all his talk he was growing tired of it all. He has been around for longer than he let on.

"Well let me do you a favor kid. I'm going to offer you a contract."

Lelouch looks over at the man. He slightly nods. As MM comes over to him, he feels an odd sensation comes over him. When he comes to, MM is gone. Gino and Anya come over looking for Lelouch.

"Boss, you're missing out on the party."

Lelouch looks over at them. He decides to activate his other geass. Somehow he is able to differentiate between them. He begins to see Gino and Anya's future movements. So that must be his geass he can read people's future movements. Anya comes over and puts her arm around Lelouch's.

He gives in. "Okay I'll go to the party."

Gino is ecstatic. "Yay! Come one boss after all it's in your honor."

"I guess so but the glory should be given to all of us."

Gino shakes his head. "That's just like you boss. Worrying about everyone else."

The three of them go over to the celebration thrown in their honor.

…

Upon his return to West Point Lelouch is greeted by the Knights of One and Four.

"Your highness, we have a message from the emperor."

"Is the emperor going to call me?"

"No your highness, there is no need for that."

The Knight of Four is silent. She is obviously displeased at having drawn this assignment.

The Knight of One continues, "In accordance with the traditions of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Lelouch vi Britannia has been given the rank of captain and the title Duke of Wellington."

Lelouch smiles at that. It actually meant that his time at West Point was done, but he promised his men that he would remain until May.

"Thank you Lord Waldstien, Lady Ernst."

His father's two knights begin to leave. "Wait Bismarck there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a few years."

The Knight of One stops and goes back towards Lelouch. "Yes your highness."

…

After having a discussion with the prince about his family history the Knight of One walks away form the prince. There is much that he wants to ask the prince but it is not part of is mission this time. Nonnette managed to see the video of Lelouch's mock knightmare battle from the previous summer. According to her it was a much improved version of the video that they now know was leaked by Lelouch to Odysseus so Schniezel and his majesty's secret agency could steal. Her description alone of the events sent a chill down Bismarck's spine. That was several months ago. Who knows what the prince had up his sleeve at the moment? They were going to have to keep a closer eye on the prince.

**March 29, 2014 **

Lelouch manages to get the Black Knights a few days off. It's Kallen's birthday but at the moment she is in Area 10 probably getting working with the Callisto. He gets a phone call early in the morning. He looks down at the number.

"This is Lelouch. Go."

….

"I see in two days."

…

"No, I have a surprise waiting for your friends."

…

"I'll see you there."

.

Lelouch makes a phone call.

"Hello."

….

"Yes it's time."

…

"I see. That is all we will need."

…

"Yes in two days."

…

"See you there."

.

Lelouch makes another phone call.

"Luciano, how the fuck are you?"

..

"What are you doing this weekend?

…

"Going to the beach. Well what about you head down to my private beach."

…

"Yes I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

…

"Ya see you in a few."

Anya and Gino's beds are next to Lelouch. They are looking over at him. He smiles.

"Come on it's time to go play."

* * *

Author's note: Lelouch's second geass is similar to Bismarck's. While young Lelouch wanted to be able to tell people what to do. Teenage Lelouch is all about war so his desire now is to see what his opponent is going to do. To him he is seeing people's future movements, but in reality he is reading their minds and sees what they are thinking. geass. He sees what they are thinking movement wise rather than hearing it like Mao. This will come into play in a few chapters. Yes Mao will come into play. He will actually play a decent role in Lelouch's development. He won't be as malignant as in the anime at least not initially. The reason for this is pretty obvious. The next chapter is Kallen-centric with some Lelouch at the end.


	19. The Anguish of Separation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.**

This chapter is Kallen-centric. Don't worry Lelouch is returning next chapter with a vengeance. Italics will mean Japanese from here on out.

Anguish: noun

severe mental or physical pain or suffering:

…

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

George S. Patton, Jr.

Major General

Army of the Holy Empire of Britannia

…

War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.

Georges Clemenceau, former Premier of France, former French representative to the Central Hemicycle

**

* * *

**

Fall 2013

For the first time in her life Kallen Stadtfeld felt lonely. She is surrounded by friends. Everybody loves her. Even those that should be angry with her still love her or at least publicly they do. But something is missing. The oddity is that it has been missing for most of her life. She just never noticed that it was missing. Until he came into her life and then left. If that had been it, Kallen would have moved on. But he kept coming back into her life. Everyday when she saw his sisters it was a reminder of what she was missing.

At every one of their meetings things escalated. At first they were just friends. Then little by little they become closer. The previous year at the Military Academy Winter Formal Kallen felt as if she was floating on air as she and Lelouch danced. Then it was off to Area 11 to work with knightmares. Unlike their two days in New York this time they weren't alone. Kallen hoped to spend some time with him alone, but Milly was there.

In a way it was Kallen's fault for wanting to keep their relationship secret. To her it seems as the best thing to do. She is the one that is going to have to put up with the looks from Lelouch's sisters and friends. All while he is off at West Point oblivious to what she is going through. She knows it isn't that simple but it is just easier to think of it that way.

Then they spend the summer in Area 10. Once again they are not alone. They do get to work together. Kallen proves that Lelouch's attention is not misguided when she helps him come up with the winning strategy in their knightmare battle. After that she comes back to Japan, and Lelouch goes back to West Point.

Kallen wonders how it all came to be. She has so many questions about the way she is feeling. Her mother is of no use because she just thinks it's cute that Kallen likes a boy. It is like her parents are the only ones that don't see that she is growing into a woman. To make matters worse there is still no word from her brother. The only people Kallen knows she can talk to are her competitors when it comes to Lelouch's attention. So Kallen has to keep her feelings hidden.

Kallen is elected jr. high student council president. Rivalz is vice president. Nina is treasurer. Shirley is secretary. Kallen isn't sure what Suzaku and Euphemia do. They are, however, hard workers. They mostly just help plan a few events for their section and work booths at festivals. Since Milly is now in high school, that section does most of the work.

Kallen signs up for field hockey and volleyball as usual. She wonder is she should take karate with Nunnally and Alice. Of course she would be in Suzaku's division. There was no way she would ever fight in some all girls' division like Euphemia. Of course the pink haired has only been training for a few months. Kallen knows that previously Euphemia never even considered training or knightmares.

The school year drags on as it always does. Festivals, parties, dances, plays, there is very little that Kallen doesn't do. She wonders if they are going to the Winter Formal again this year. She wonders what surprises Lelouch has planned this year. However it does not play out like that. Lelouch is going of to the African Front in the EU war. Cornelia has given him permission to bring a few fellow cadets. Still Kallen won't have to stay in Japan because the Callisto is finished and she will be on her way to test it out.

**December 21, 2013**

Naoto Kouzuki gets stuck airport duty again. However since he is a corporal now, he doesn't have to stand there the whole time. Colonel Kusakabe has even told that he may move up to sergeant soon. That would be a tremendous move for someone his age. Despite his vow a year ago to see his sister and mother, he has backed down every single time. He has even been at the door and each time he has walked away. He remembers the way they stared at him during the All Japan Karate Tournament. He certainly couldn't say anything there. Not while he was with Colonel Kusakabe.

A few days ago he was also here to see two Britannian brats off. Normally that would have been it for airport duty. But the Colonel insisted, so Naoto is stuck here with a bunch of raw privates. It isn't like he is much more experienced than they are. The only way for Japanese soldiers to get battle experience is through illicit means. Every so often the Japanese government lends out a portion of its army to other nations as mercenaries. Most of the men are volunteers, but who would refuse if asked to go. Nobody wanted to be made out to be a coward.

Naoto looks over. He wonders who is important that they had to call out a company of Japanese soldiers. Naoto wishes he could ship all those damn Britannians away. He doesn't care where they go as long as they leave his country. Since he received the right to vote he has always voted against the Kururugi party. He knows why it always wins though. Because people are fooled by false prosperity.

Sure everyone has a job and a home, but it they looked the big picture. They would see they truth. Naoto simply shrugs. The best part about airport duty is telling those damned Britannians that it isn't a free service. Sure for heads of state and the like it is a necessary item. But for ordinary citizens not matter how noble they think they are there is a fee. Naoto loved going with the Colonel when he goes to tell them this.

Naoto notices that there is movement by the gate. Whoever it is must either be important or rich because they had no qualms about paying the fee. In fact they gave a bonus to have the soldiers to stand further than usual. Naoto looks back at the men who are at attention. He is standing closer to the jet than they are. He looks over at the oh so important Britannians hopefully leaving his country forever. What he sees stuns him. It's his sister. She just gets on the plane. She is followed by some blonde girl. Naoto notices that no one else is boarding the jet. He stands still for a few minutes.

"_Corporal, should we dismiss the men. Corporal."_

Naoto stand still not saying a word. He tries to remember the man's name. Inoue, that's it. Naoto can only nod at the request. He sees the other man go over to the soldiers and releases them form their duty. Since it is Saturday, they have the rest of the day off. Naoto eventually regains his composure. He wonders where his sister is going off to. He hopes she comes back. Inside his heart he knows that Japan needs people like Kallen if it is ever to be great.

…

Kallen and Milly are heading to Area 10 to work with their new knightmares. Kallen is so excited that she barely notices that Milly is ignoring her. Kallen is a little glad that their knightmares are stored in different hangars. She knows part of the reason is to keep Lloyd and Rakshata apart from each other. Also so that the knightmares are built in semi-isolation. Kallen goes over to the hangar immediately. Dr. Rakshata Chawla is waiting for her there. She smiles as Kallen approaches. She signals for Kallen to follow her.

"Allow me to introduce knightmare frame, Callisto."

She unveils the knightmare.

**Callisto**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.09 meters

Weight: 6.72 metric tons

Power source: Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: red

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

2 x shoulder mounted slash harkens

Right hand radiation bursts

Left hand held stun Tonfa

assault rifle

Chest mounted missile launcher

Kallen looks up at it in amazement. It was all hers. This knightmare was built specifically with her in mind. She has spent months reading the manual. It is always at her sides. At every free moment she reads it. Sometimes she reads it so much that it worries her mother and teachers. The situation is compounded by the fact that no one knows what the manual is. In fact it is so worn out that it hardly looks like a book at all. Rakshata smiles when she sees the condition of the manual.

"Eager to get out there, are we?"

Kallen nods. "Yes, I want to see how it works."

"Very well I'll see what I can do. The obstacle course can probably wait. I will call up one of the pilots. Just familiarize yourself with the controls."

Rakshata leaves as Kallen is helped into the Callisto. The knightmare frame is unique to say the least. All of Lelouch's knightmares are oddities when compared to the Glasgow or Sutherland. The most intriguing thing is the right hand which has a claw-like shape. Rather than featuring conventional weapons such as stun tonfas or assault rifle, the Callisto's main weapon is its right hand radiation bursts.

It is a very unusual weapon. From what Kallen was able to get from Dr. Chawla, the weapon is not quite what she hoped. There is still work to be done on it. Kallen looks over the controls. They are similar to the Glasgow but a bit different. Most importantly the seat is completely different. Rather than a conventional seating configuration, the Callisto features a motorbike seat. As Kallen works with the controls, she thinks that maybe she should have tried the obstacle course to get used to the way the Callisto works. She shakes her head. No that is something that other people would do. Kallen Stadtfled is not that kind of person.

"Miss Stadtfeld, your opponent is ready for you."

Kallen moves the Callisto out to the course. Despite her initial discomfort in the knightmare, she feels better now. She supposes that reading the manual religiously has something to do with it. Everything works the way she thinks it will. As she guides the Callisto out through the course she looks over to her screens. She sees her opponent. By its movements and appearance, she figures that it is a Glasgow. Kallen decides to go after it.

The Glasgow seems to have stopped. Kallen wonder why until she approaches its location. The Glasgow has the high ground and is standing there with its assault rifle ready to go. Kallen smiles as the Glasgow begins to fire at her. She pulls the Callisto back and leaps into the air. Just as she suspected the Callisto has greater jump capabilities. She fires a radiation burst but the Glasgow manages to move just in time. Kallen knows she has to be careful to manage the output on the radiation burst. The longer and stronger she makes it; the longer it takes to recharge.

Kallen has an idea. Now that she has the Glasgow on the run, she begins to fire her assault rifle at it. The Glasgow moves the way Kallen wants it move. The Callisto's superior speed makes the race no contest. As Kallen begins to guide the Glasgow's path with her assault rifle, she releases her left arm stun tonfa. She flings herself at the Glasgow. It barely manages to avoid the hit.

"Damn that pilot is good."

Kallen has another idea. She launches a few missiles at it. The Glasgow manages to avoid them, but is unable to doge Kallen's slash harkens. Kallen hooks the Glasgow with her slash harkens. She activates her radiation burst and aims to the torso. The other pilot ejects as the Glasgow crumbles away. Kallen looks down at her screens. She only used 75% of the radiation burst. She will have to run a few more tests to discover what is the least amount she will have to use to disable a knightmare. She heads back to the hangar. She sees that Dr. Chawla is talking to a young man.

Kallen is helped off the Callisto. She walks over to Rakshata.

"Miss Stadtfled, allow me to introduce you opponent Rudolph Korgan."

Kallen shakes his hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Kallen notices that he is looking her up and down. Not in a perverted fashion, sort of sizing her up.

"You are a good pilot Miss Stadtfeld."

Kallen smiles, "You aren't so bad yourself."

With that the other pilot walks away. Kallen didn't lie. Only the Callisto's superior specs and weapons got Kallen the win. Kallen walks over with Dr. Chawla. They go over the battle video and stats. Kallen tells Dr. Chawla about any of her concerns and suggestions.

The next day Kallen runs the obstacle course. She has to reach several targets and shoot at others. After she is done with that, she returns to Dr. Chawla is ready with her stats.

"Well it seems as if you performed at a 95%."

"Do you know if Milly has run the course?"

"No, I don't Dr. Croomy would have her information since she created the Europa."

Kallen nods. Kallen runs the obstacle course a few more times but does not improve her score. She also has few more matches against other Glasgows. She fights in several different scenarios. Kallen comes out on top of most of them. A few times the numbers game overwhelms her. Still everybody is impressed with her abilities.

Kallen and Milly return to Japan. Milly is still ignoring Kallen. Kallen wants to do something about it but doesn't know how. No matter what her relationship is with Milly in a few months Lelouch is returning to Japan to be with Kallen. It takes her a few days to get back in the routine of school. None of her friends can share in her knightmare joy. Except for Nunnally who is excited to hear about the Callisto. Kallen wonders if she asks Milly about the Europa. All Kallen can think about second semester is Lelouch's return.

**March 22, 2014**

"_Corporal."_

"_Yes colonel."_

"_I need to ask you a question."_

"_Sir."_

"_How would you like to go on a training run?"_

_The corporal looks over to his superior. "Sir, well I wasn't expecting."_

"_Corporal, I understand your reluctance. This is the reason why I am asking you personally. I don't want anything to go on your permanent record. You show much potential."_

The corporal nods. He knows that training run is a euphemism for a mercenary mission.

"_Very well colonel. I will go."_

The colonel smiles, "_That's good sergeant."_

This makes the corporal now sergeant look up. The colonel nods and walks away. A few days later the newly minted sergeant is on a boat heading towards the location. He gets a few looks because of his age. Others know that his is a favorite of the colonel. He knows that he should have done some more research about the mission. As a sergeant he has greater responsibilities. He doesn't even remember where they were heading. He does remember the name of his contact.

They finally arrive. As they disembark a man of small stature comes over to them. The man appears to be quiet elderly perhaps near seventy years old. He speaks in halting Japanese.

"_My name is Nguyễn Ái Quốc. Welcome to Vietnam."_

**March 29, 2014 **

It is Kallen's birthday. Lelouch is once again giving Kallen a great birthday present. The only thing that would make it better would be if Lelouch was going to Area 10 as well. Of course he tells her that she has to take Milly, Suzaku, and his sisters. It doesn't matter. Kallen is going to have a good time using her knightmare once more.

The student council throws a party for her. It turns into a school wide celebration since it is the last day before Spring Break. Kallen enjoys her party. Even so it is bittersweet but it is the last one she will spend without Lelouch. Now that Kallen thinks back Lelouch has only been here for one of her birthdays.

As she boards the jet to Area 10 Kallen notices the Japanese soldiers in the distance. She can't tell if her brother is amongst them. Once aboard the plane she takes out her laptop. She looks over the updated information on the Callisto. Dr. Rakshata said she was going to take the information from her winter break training session and make some upgrades. She was going to send the new specs to Kallen.

Kallen looks over at Milly. What she really wants to do is test the Callisto against the Europa but that probably won't happen. They rest the first day since they arrive very late. On Saturday and Sunday they run through the obstacle course. They have a few mock battles against some Glasgows. On Sunday night they decide that they will do a full mock battle the next. The Callisto and the Europa will go up against the four Sutherlands.

Kallen is not quite sure what the mock battle will prove. Since out of the Sutherland pilots, only Suzaku has proven that he is decent. Despite having lived most of her life in Japan, Kallen is having very little trouble getting used to the two hour time difference. She hears some sort of alarm going off early in the morning. She looks over at the time. It is just past five a.m. Kallen silently curses and wonders if Lelouch put them up to this.

Kallen struggles to get out of bed. She sees that Euphemia and Milly are also doing the same. They throw on their robes and head down to the hangar. Kallen isn't at all surprised to find the three scientists there. They seem to sleep very few hours. Of course they can sleep once everybody is gone.

Dr. Croomy is the first to speak. "I believe that we may have to evacuate this property."

Kallen asks, "Why? What's going on?"

"Area 10 is under attack. The forces here are not enough to hold back the rebellion."

Nunnally looks confused. "But Britannia is going to send some more soldiers. From other areas right."

"Yes but well I don't think his highness Prince Lelouch would be too happy if one of you got hurt here. The rebels are still miles away but seem to be getting some sort of help from the Chinese," Cecile pauses so all that can sink in, "So you see I think it would be a wise if we move everything away from here. Either over to Area 12 or possibly Area 11."

Everybody considers this. There is a reason why Lelouch would put his facilities and staff here. He wouldn't want them to leave. He would want them to stay. Kallen is about to say something when Euphemia does it first.

Euphemia looks over at everyone. "No, we stay here and fight. "

The three scientist look over at the children in amazement. They all have determined looks on their faces.

Nunnally grins mischievously, "Yes, we'll show them that it was a bad idea to mess with us."

Euphemia adds, "After all Lulu got to fight during his winter break in Africa."

They all look towards Euphemia. This is all news to them.

"Well I only know because big sister told me."

It is then decided to have Kallen be the leader. Suzaku also offers to pilot the Titan. As Kallen prepares, she has to formulate a plan. Since Suzaku is piloting the Titan, it leaves a Sutherland open. She is about to say something. When she notices that pilot she spared with back in the winter heading in its direction. What was that guys name? Rudolph Korgan that's it, she remembers. She can't think of anyone else to pilot it. Despite their eagerness, she knows that Nunnally and Euphemia will have to be left behind. In a real battle anything could happen. She didn't want them to get hurt.

Kallen counts the number of Glasgows at her disposal. As she sees them leaving the facilities, she is astonished at their numbers. There is no way all those Glasgows have always been here. There is about twenty. There are even five more Sutherlands.

"Commander Stadtfled, what are our orders?"

Kallen snaps out of her daze. She thought for moment. The enemy was still miles away. Of course recent reports indicated that there are also some rebellions nearby.

"For now we will travel in one group. Once we reach point," she pauses as she looks over her screens and maps, "Delta 3, the Glasgows and Sutherlands split up into five groups. I want a Sutherland in each group. The Glasgows should engage any conventional armor they may have. The Sutherlands and the experimental knightmares will engage any knightmares or prototypes they may have."

Kallen pauses for moment satisfied with her orders. They were apparently decent or at least not crazy because everybody begins to move as she orders. She has one more order.

"Nunna, Euphie," she used those nicknames on purpose, "I think the two of you should stay back and protect the base. If for some reason it needs to be evacuated."

The two young princesses can only murmur in agreement. Euphemia is the first to speak.

"Be safe Kallen."

"Ya Kallen-chan be safe."

Kallen nods even though no one can see her. "You girls too. I won't go too far ahead just in case."

They all take off. There is no resistance at first. Kallen wonder about the location of Lelouch's facility. It is not near the Area 10 capital in the south. In fact at the moment they are closer to the invader/rebels than they are to the Area 10 capital.

…

The sergeant notes that everything is going according to plan. There is nothing that will hold back the attack. He does what he can to keep his own soldiers from the front lines. Just in case Britannia is successful in repelling the attack, it would not be good for them to catch Japanese soldiers. He knows that at the moment they are not technically in the Japanese army. He knows that anyone who is caught will be disavowed by the Japanese military. He isn't quite sure how it works, but he knows that is not a good thing.

Somehow these Vietnamese have managed to get some old Glasgows. They have also managed to get some other odd looking knightmares. They only state that other friends have been helping them. The sergeant wonders if they are from the EU or Chinese Federation. For some reason they figure that the Japanese would be able to pilot them. The sergeant wonders if it is because of the relationship to Britannia.

The plan is pretty simple. The main group of rebels will attack from their bases in China. The Chinese have provided weapons and intelligence, but are careful not to provide too many troops. The fact that the situation with the EU seems to be going Britannia's way probably factors into this. After the main group draws out the Britannian forces, a secondary force led by their few knightmares will attack behind the Britannian lines. Their main target is some sort of research facility. According to the information they were given it is a knightmare training facility. Despite his reservations the sergeant and his troops will be a part of the secondary attack. Everything is ready for the attack. For the second time in as many weeks the Japanese soldiers are on a boat heading to an unknown location.

…

**April 2, 2014**

Kallen sees the main portion of her force go forward. She hangs back. She doesn't want to get to far from the base and the princesses. From the reports she receives from the frontline knightmares the enemy is using mostly conventional weapons. In fact the knightmares mobility is paying off in an unforeseen manner. The rebels can't bring to much heavy machinery south because of the terrain. The knightmares however have no such problem. In fact the weapon being used the most is the anti-personal machine gun. Kallen sends Milly and Alice forward with some supplies. The Europa's defensive properties make it perfect for this mission. She has concerns about sending Alice along but she doesn't want to send the Titan since Suzaku is still getting the hang of it.

They are on the outskirts of the city of Vinh. Lelouch's facilities are down near the city of Hue. They are a few hours away just in a case anything happens. Kallen notices that Milly and Alice are returning. It is early in the morning. They have been up for almost a day. The initial attack started early the day before. It takes them a few hours to get up and make contact with the enemy. Since the Britannian forces overwhelm the rebels, Kallen decides to pull back Lelouch's knightmares. She scatters them along the coast just in case the rebels try a sneak attack.

Kallen contacts her forward force and tells them that she is heading back towards Hue. Suzaku, Milly, and Alice follow her. It all seems too easy. Kallen also makes contact with the local Britannian commander. He has integrated his forces into Kallen's command. Kallen is glad that Lelouch fitted the knightmares with voice modulators. Obviously piloting a special knightmare and doing things in the name of a prince help a bit. As they head back Kallen's communicator comes to life.

"Kallen-chan, Kallen-chan."

"Yes Nunnally."

"The bad guys are here. And they got some funky knightmares."

Kallen notes that they are nearing the facility. Her scanners pick up traces of something on the edge.

"We're almost there."

Kallen tells the pilot of her transport to hurry. As she does she notices that Alice drops her knightmare to the ground and disappears.

"Hey, where did Alice go?"

It doesn't matter much because Kallen can see the enemy now. She notices that Nunnally and Euphemia are putting up the fight of their lives to keep the enemy on the coast. She also notices that Alice is down there now. Kallen sees that the enemy transports are also carrying more soldiers and conventional armor.

"Suzaku, take the Titan and help out the girls."

Suzaku complies. Milly asks, "What do we do?"

Kallen grins, "We keep them from landing any more troops."

She begins to charge her radiation burst. If she hits this right, it's possible that the transports will overturn stranding the enemy troops on the beach.

…

The sergeant can't believe the good luck his men are having. It seems as if Britannia sent an overwhelming force north. All they had to do is hold off in the north while this force and a smaller one going further south slice through. Britannia sends out two unusual looking knightmares. The sergeant believes they are those Sutherlands he has heard rumors about. Despite the fact that it is only two knightmares, they are doing damage. The sergeant supposes that experience counts for something.

The two Sutherlands are joined by another. This one moves so fast they can barely see where it is. Their good luck does not hold out because in the air he can see three knightmares. A closer look at them tells the sergeant that they are the experimental knightmares he was warned about. The black and silver one falls near the Sutherlands and begins to attack. The other two appear to be getting closer to the transports. As it is released from its air transport the red one shoots some kind of laser from its right arm.

It not only destroys a transport but causes a small tidal wave. The sergeant knows that no matter what he has to take that knightmare out.

…

Kallen lands the Callisto carefully. She attempts to avoid the small tidal wave she created. However it moves too fast for her. She manages to get the Callisto upright. As she does she sees a few knightmares rushing at her. She uses her assault rifle and stun tonfa to dispose of them. She also notices that Milly has landed and is heading back to defend the base. She probably also used most of the Europa's armament firing at the transports.

She sees that Suzaku is having his way with a few knightmares. He uses every weapon in the Titan's arsenal. Kallen watches him use his slash harkens to catapult over several enemy knightmares. As he flies through the air he uses his cannon and assault rifle to destroy the enemy. Kallen remembers Lelouch doing the same thing the year before. Kallen turns Callisto around to fight someone.

Out of nowhere Kallen sees a missile coming at her. She raises her right arm to fire a radiation burst. She notices that her power has dropped to dangerously low levels. Suddenly a slash harken comes down and destroys the missile. Kallen blinks as she sees four knightmares with the same camouflage abilities as Lelouch's knightmares. They are taller than her Callisto but not as tall as the Europa. They appear to be similar to the Titan. Suddenly Kallen hears a familiar voice on the communicator.

"Hey Kalli happy late birthday. So do you need any help?"

* * *

Author's note: Kallen and Milly spar with the same pilot during their winter break initial test run. He actually faces Kallen first which might make his comments to Milly a few chapters back seem odd.

The story will return to its Lulu-centric point of view. With tidbits from the other major players.

I want to give a special thanks to the dark Euphie who gave me some ideas that will take place in the next few chapters.


	20. Pride, honor, and glory pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

So we return to the Lulu-centric story. It is after all the Rise of the Black Prince. I will put some stuff about the others. They matter as well. I just won't go several chapters with no Lelouch.

_

* * *

_

An honor is only worth it if one is proud of what he has accomplished. There is no glory in accomplishing anything through dishonorable measures.

_Kyoshiro Tohdoh_

_Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits _

_Day 1, Pride, honor, and glory_

_Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

…

Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates.

F.E. Adcock, Britannian classical scholar

…

What you do is only important if who you do it with is important.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Memoirs of the Black Prince

Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

…

**March 31/April 1. 2014**

Guinevere su Britannia decides to take action on the information she receives. If all goes according to her plan, she will put down a minor rebellion and be back to the African front before anyone notices. Except that after her action they will all have to notice her. She first makes sure that it is not just some elaborate joke being played on her by some sibling.

As she travels she notices that Britannian forces are already fighting back. Once she lands the commander will have no choice but to turn over command to her. She will then be given the credit for pushing back the rebels. Then in a flash she will return to Africa. It almost seems too easy. She decides to get some rest. It will still be several hours before they get there. Once they arrive her assistants can take care of the situation. She will only need to wake up so that everyone can see that she is there.

…

Lelouch looks down at his reports. So it appears like Guinevere is going to try to make an appearance. Well Lelouch has just received all the authority he needs. His oldest sister is in for a huge surprise. In fact she may wish that she had gone to sleep before she read that report about the attack. Once again Lelouch is able to make one of his older siblings look foolish. When she arrives Guinevere will have two choices. The first is to return to Africa as if nothing happened. The other is to attempt to take control. Lelouch will not allow the latter to happen.

….

Guinevere is woken up by one of her servants. She notices that it is late in the day. They should have arrived by now. She thought that her assistants were going to have to spend the better part of the night convincing the governor and commander to turn over command to her. But it seems to have worked itself out. She puts on her most royal outfit. She notices that the servant wants to say something but is afraid. Guinevere smiles. It is important that those in lowly stations know their place.

She asks for transportation to the governor's palace. At first everybody is amazed that she is leaving the ship. She has no time for these incompetent fools. She will have to have a talk with her entire staff about making sure that everybody is kept informed about what is going on. As she rides she is informed that a Commander Stadtfeld is in charge of the operation. Well she is going to have to have a talk with him. She notices that a small crowd gathers as she makes her way to the palace. Once again her assistant has failed her. She had hoped that word would have spread about her taking over.

To top it off there is no one waiting for her as she enters the palace. This is extremely upsetting and in appropriate. Guinevere makes her way over to where her assistants seem to be having a heated argument with some area officials. She decides to put a stop to all of this. The longer the delay, the less credit she will get.

"What is the meaning of this?"

They all look over towards Guinevere. Her own people seem the most frightened. The Area officials don't seem as concerned as Guinevere hoped they would be.

"I am the Margravine of Gloucester. First Princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Guinevere su Britannia."

As soon as she is done, there is applause coming from behind her. It is slow almost sarcastic sounding applause.

"Aren't those the titles you were born with sister? Shouldn't you be off in Africa screwing up the war against the EU?"

Guinevere spins around. She sees Lelouch standing in front of several people. They are wearing uniforms similar to what the Knights of the Round wear only black with silver lining. Lelouch turns to reveal a symbol on his cape. It is similar to the end of a trident only the outer two spikes are bent towards the side. They form an L shape.

"Who do you think you are to speak to me in this manner?"

Lelouch ignores Guinevere. "A quick check to imperial records shows that Guinevere su Britannia was born Margravine of Gloucester. Not only is your military career a disaster but your court ranking has stayed the same for almost twenty-seven years," Lelouch smirks, "While others such as myself have scratched and clawed their way up the ladder."

Guinevere laughs, "What do you, a mere boy, know about these matters? Stand aside and let those that know handle matters."

Lelouch laughs so loud that it startles Guinevere. "I, Lelouch vi Britannia, eleventh prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Duke of Wellington, have been granted permission by his majesty the emperor to handle the situation here," he pauses to let that all sink in, "As far as I am concerned you are nothing but an unwanted usurper."

With that Lelouch turns around to face his subordinates.

"Jeremiah, take a few knightmares and head towards point Alpha 5. You should encounter an amphibious force in the morning."

Lelouch signals for the rest to follow him. Guinevere just stares at him leave. This was all too insane for words. How dare her father grant Lelouch the title Duke of Wellington? There hasn't been a Duke of Wellington for more than a hundred years. The last one died childless as he fought against savages while attempting to open up the continent for Britannian settlement.

If Lelouch was granted such a title that meant he has spoken to the emperor or perhaps a Knight of the Round. Guinevere can't remember the last time she did either. No matter what she would not allow Lelouch to steal her glory. She would make her father acknowledge her. She signals for her assistants to follow her out. They still look frightened. She will have to have them check on Lelouch's claim.

"Lulu, Oh Lulu where are you?"

Standing in front of Guinevere is the Knight of Nine. Guinevere clears her throat. Nonnette ignores her.

"Damn that boy. The second he becomes s duke, he goes around ignoring his friends."

Guinevere clears her throat louder this time. Now Nonnette looks at her.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know where Lelouch has run off to?"

Guinevere glares at her. Nonnette puts her hands on her hips.

"Well if you aren't going to be of any help. I guess I'll have to go look for him myself. Now what is the name of that city?"

Nonnette walks away leaving a stunned Guinevere.

Guinevere turns to her assistants. "Let's go."

She isn't about to allow this breach of etiquette.

**April 2, 2014**

Lelouch has spent most of the last four days traveling. First from West Point to New Zealand. That took up most of the first day. They spent the second day there working with Lord Cummins's creations. The third day they spent traveling to Area 10. Most of the fourth day the rest up for the upcoming battle. He expected Guinevere to show up. After all he leaked the information of the rebellion before it happened. Lelouch is getting used to showing up his older siblings. He knows that he better not get to comfortable. He will have to be on the look out for anything his older siblings might do to get back at him. As they travel towards Hue. Lelouch thinks back to a few days ago when Lord Cummins introduced the Io.

…

"Well your highness I was hoping for some more time. Still we were able to construct a few from the Titan information. I did make some adaptations from the Europa and Callisto test runs."

Lelouch nods, "This will do Lord Cummins. We are grateful for your diligence in the matter."

The elderly noble leads them to the hangar. "Allow to introduce knightmare frame Io."

**Io series**

**General characteristics **

Height**:** 6.02 meters

Weight: 7.05 metric tones

Power Source**:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Color: purple with camouflage capabilities

**Design Features**

Cockpit ejection system

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament**

4x Slash Harken (2 shoulder mounted, 2 hip mounted)

2x chest mounted Missile Launcher

1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun

2 x Stun Tonfa

**Optional Armaments**

2x Assault Rifle

1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle

Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)

Unlike the Titan, Callisto, and Europa the Io is not a specialized knightmare but rather a series of mass production models based on those three knightmares. The current Ios are mostly based on the Titan with a few things from the Callisto and Europa. The Callisto's radiation bursts are deemed to energy consuming for mass production. The Io is taller than either the Callisto or Titan but not the Europa. They prepare the knightmares for their trip.

…

Lelouch looks over at his screens. In the distance he notices movement. He orders Gino, Anya, and Sora to drop at a distance. He sent Luciano off with Jeremiah. That way nothing can get in the way of his bloodthirsty nature. He continues on course through the air. He notices that there are several explosions near the shore. Lelouch wonders what causes it. He looks down and sees the Titan battling several knightmares. From what the information he received, Suzaku is piloting it.

He sees two Sutherlands pulling back towards the base. He also recognizes the Europa in the same position. He has seen several pictures and video of the Europa and Callisto. He has yet to see them in person. He wonders if the Callisto is responsible for the explosion near the shore and the tidal wave. He activates his second geass. He sees one of the enemy knightmares firing a missile at the Callisto. Lelouch releases himself from the air transport and drops down. As he does he fires a slash harken at the missile. He turns his knightmare to face the Callisto.

Lelouch smirks, "Hey Kalli happy late birthday. So do you need any help?"

He notices that Gino, Anya, and Sora are now in front of him sweeping the enemy into the ocean. Kallen fires up her radiate wave burst and destroys the knightmare that fired a missile at her.

Kallen smiles, "I was doing fine on my own."

Back inside the facility Lloyd is having what Rakshata and Cecile have termed a Lloydgasm. They are all looking at the information streaming in from the knightmares. The information is so much better than any mock battle they could produce. Even more surprising is the appearance of the Io knightmares which immediately show up on their screens. The three scientists are already working on make improvements to their knightmares.

Kallen watches Lelouch lead his new knightmares in finishing the rebels off. Soon the rebels begin surrendering. Lelouch has them line up and walk back towards the facility. Kallen doesn't stay to watch. She takes the Callisto back. She is exhausted. She can imagine how the others feel. Nunnally and Euphemia's Sutherlands are completely ruined. Kallen wonders how the two of them were able to hold off the enemy for almost twenty minutes.

The moment that the purple knightmare fell down and saved Kallen, Euphie knew that it was Lelouch. She also noticed three similar knightmares. As she sees them pushing the enemy back, she relaxes. She looks over at her Sutherland's damage report. If this kind of damage was inflicted on her body, she would probably be dead. She looks over at Nunnally. Her knightmare isn't in any better shape.

Suzaku finally gets a moment's rest. He has been up for over thirty hours. He watches as what he believes is Lelouch with probably Gino, Anya, and some other person finishing off the enemy. Suzaku hopes that he didn't do too much damage to the Titan. He looks over at the Europa and Callisto. They seem to be in pretty good shape. However Euphemia and Nunnally's Sutherlands are mostly destroyed. He doesn't see where that Alice girl went off to. He notices that the rebels are beginning to surrender.

"Euphie, Nunnally, Kallen, Milly, Suzaku, Alice, why don't you guys go inside and rest. We'll handle it."

The six are too tired to complain. They take their knightmares inside. Lelouch is just as tired as them. He knows that Gino, Anya, and Sora are as well. After all they have spent most of the past few days traveling. They have also been up since last night. There is another reason why Lelouch asks for them to go inside. As the rebels begin to surrender Lelouch notices that some of them are speaking Japanese.

The rebels are taken inside. They are place in a makeshift prison. Lelouch goes over to see how they are doing. Most of them stare in awe at their jailor. While others curse at him in barely intelligible English. Others stick their native tongue. The Japanese are sitting at the end apart from the others. They are surrounding a young man. Lelouch remembers him being dragged out of the knightmare that attacked Kallen as Lelouch arrived.

"_How is he?"_

The men look up at him nervously.

Lelouch sighs, _"Don't worry you will be returned to Japan. No word of your involvement here will be spoken."_

Finally one of them spoke up. _"The sergeant will survive. He is just in shock."_

With that Lelouch turns around and walks out. The rebels looked over at the Japanese in disgust.

A few minutes later Jeremiah returns with a group of soldiers guns ready. He points at the Japanese and yells out orders in rapid fire English. At the same time he drops a piece of paper with instructions. He makes a move to hit one of the men when they all get up and walk out. The rebels stare as Jeremiah walks the Japanese over to a secluded corner of the giant warehouse. Jeremiah and the soldiers are still in view of the rebels. The Japanese however are hidden. Jeremiah begins to read out their various offences. He then has the firing squad do their thing. After that a door opens so that the bodies can be dragged out.

Lelouch goes back inside. Despite the fact that they are all tired everyone is waiting for him. Nunnally and Euphemia run over to give him a hug. Even Gino and Anya get big hugs.

Lelouch comes over to greet Milly and Kallen.

Milly states, "You have flair for the dramatic your highness. Don't lie you could have been here yesterday or perhaps even earlier."

Lelouch simply smirks. "That wouldn't have been any fun."

Kallen pushes him in the shoulder. Nunnally and Euphemia wish she would do more than that.

"Well it all turned out for the best didn't it?" Lelouch begins to look around. "You know I could have sworn that Nonnette and Guinevere followed me here. I wonder where they are."

Kewell walks in with a small dark skinned man wearing simple clothes. It is a great contrast to what everybody else is wearing. The man walks up to Lelouch and bow before him. Lelouch gives him leave to stand. In perfect English the man begins to speak.

"I hope everything was to your satisfaction, your highness. I am very sorry about the delay but the Chinese were most obtrusive. "

"No, no everything went according to plan."

"Yes of course, in this manner I believe these damn rebels will know the true might of the Holy Empire of Britannia. The Chinese may have also been taught to keep their noses out of other people's business."

Lelouch nods. He turns to face the others. "Allow me to introduce Nguyễn Ái Quốc. He is my contact here in Area 10."

The man bows before everyone. "It is a great pleasure to meet all your excellencies and highnesses."

"Let's go somewhere and discuss our next course of action."

As Lelouch and his friend begin to walk away, Nonnette finally enters the room.

"There you are," she pauses as she sees what is going on, "your highness. His majesty the emperor would like a word with you. He will contact via satellite in the next room within the next few minutes."

Lelouch nods. "Nguyễn would you like to join me."

The man shakes his head. "Oh no your highness someone like myself is unfit to look upon and be spoken to directly by his majesty."

Nonnette wants to giggle at the man's comments but realizes that he is serious.

Lelouch and walks into the room that Nonnette indicated. At this moment Guinevere happens to come storming into the room. She does not look happy. Normally Nunnally and Euphemia would cheerfully greet their oldest sister just to get under her skin but they are too tired. They only grunt a hello.

Guinevere doesn't have time for this. She has to find this Commander Stadtfeld and coordinate with him.

"Where is Commander Stadtfeld?"

When Nonnette hear this she walks away laughing. That Lulu really knows how to pick them. So that little red head ran the whole operation. Nonnette is going to have to keep an eye out for her.

Guinevere is not at all pleased with Nonette's reaction. A teenage red haired girl is standing before her.

"I see. So child are you going to lead me to Commander Stadtfeld?"

Kallen shakes her head.

"And why not?"

Nunnally and Euphemia come over beside Kallen. Nunnally responds for Kallen.

"Kallen is Commander Stadtfeld."

Guinevere is in shock. "What did you say?"

This time Euphemia answers. "She said Kallen," she point towards Kallen, "is Commander Stadtfeld. So you probably should leave since you aren't going to convince her to give you any credit."

Euphemia knows the way Guinevere thinks. Euphemia leans in so only those around her can here what she is saying.

"Kallen is after all Lelouch's secret girlfriend so it would be nice if you left."

Guinevere is even more displeased. She knows that Lelouch is a teenager with raging hormones but this was too much. She is still determined to convince this girl to at least give her something. She reaches out and grabs the red head's arm.

"Come with me child."

Euphemia and Nunnally don't like this one bit. Nunnally tries to push Guinevere's hand off of Kallen. Guinevere fights her off. She is not so lucky with Euphemia who manages to avoid her and kick her in the leg. Kallen is freed and steps back a few steps. This gives Nunnally the opportunity that she needs. She stands up and jump kicks Guinevere in the chest. Guinevere is pushed back a few steps before she rushes in at her younger sister.

Jeremiah makes a move to pull them apart when Suzaku grabs him and shakes his head.

"_Hey kid, bakudo number one, sai."_

Nunnally laughs at Suzaku's suggestion. They have this crazy Bleach inspired code and move set. As Guinevere rushes her, Nunnally slides sideways. She gives her sister a roundhouse kick to the stomach followed by a reverse spin kick to the hip. This makes Guinevere double over in pain. Nunnally uses her body to sweep Guinevere off her feet face first. She then sits on top of her sister's back pulling her arms back and putting her weight on them. Guinevere is trapped.

"Do you give up or are you thirsty for more?"

Guinevere lets out a yell. One of her assistants comes over to help her but he is subdued by Suzaku.

"I wouldn't move if I were you. I've broken a man's arm before," Suzaku looks over to Nunnally and smiles. "So has Nunnally in that same position she has your princess in."

Jeremiah can't believe what he just saw. It is one thing for the princess to take down someone her age but someone much bigger. Well Princess Guinevere isn't exactly a work-out nut. Still Jeremiah knows where he has to go when he wants to do some intensive training. He signals for Nunnally and Suzaku to release Guinevere and her assistant.

Guinevere leaves without saying a word. Gino pulls out his Z-phone. He turns around and hits the record button.

He quietly whispers, "Note to self. NEVER make Nunnally angry."

Anya stares at him and nods.

As Guinevere leaves she stops in front of the room Lelouch walked in to. If he is talking with the emperor, Guinevere has a few things she needs to say to her father. She storms into the room. She sees Lelouch kneeling down facing the emperor on a large screen.

"Very well my son. Go forth. Nonnette has the papers you will need."

Guinevere fixes herself up a bit. "Your majesty, there are pressing matter to discuss."

The emperor looks annoyed at the interruption.

Lelouch sighs, "Your majesty, allow me to deal with this matter. The situation here is under control. In a few days Jeremiah will have the situation in Africa back to its appropriate state."

"Very well Lelouch that is acceptable. That is all."

Guinevere runs up to the screen. "Your majesty. Wait. Father."

The emperor signs off. Lelouch stands up. Guinevere grabs him by the collar and begins to shake him.

"What lies did you tell my father, you guttersnipe?"

Lelouch doesn't answer. Guinevere continues to shake him."If Nunnally was able to take you down and hold you, what do you think he can do? He is twice as strong, twice as fast and a lot less forgiving."

They both look over at Nonnette standing by the door holding a stack of papers. Guinevere walks over and rips them out of her hand. She stares at them. As she leaves she throws the papers down in disgust.

Lelouch walks over and helps Nonnette pick them up. Lelouch takes the paper and looks down at what could have gotten Guinevere so upset. Now he knows why the emperor didn't want to tell him this personally. Lelouch almost feels faint from giddiness.

Lelouch walks back over to his friends. For a moment he considers if his Black Knights can when a few games without three members. But he quickly reconsiders it and remembers his promise to them. He sighs as he looks over to Kallen and Milly. At least they seem to be on speaking terms now. Suzaku, Alice, and Nunnally seem to be discussing her recent fight with Guinevere. Lelouch is going to have to ask about that. Gino and Anya are discussing knightmare and Black Knight stuff. Euphemia comes over to Lelouch.

"Hey Lulu."

"Hey Euphie."

Lelouch hugs his sister. He kisses her forehead. Nunnally comes over and jumps on top of them. As Lelouch hits the ground he feels like sleeping right there with Nunnally and Euphie in his arms. Kallen and Milly take care of that as they pile on top. Anya jumps in as well pulling Gino in with her. Gino of course pulls Suzaku who pulls Alice in as well. There is some inappropriate touching going on so Jeremiah puts a stop to it.

Lelouch looks over at everyone and yawns. "Let's get some sleep."

Everybody agrees. In the morning Kallen hopes to spend some time with Lelouch. She notices that Euphie and Milly are awake. She decides to take a shower first. If the other girls are up, they will most likely be with Lelouch. After her shower, Kallen heads over to the hangar. Almost everybody is there. She notices that Lelouch and his people aren't there.

Milly notices that Kallen is looking around. "He's not here. He probably left when we all fell asleep."

Kallen goes over to where everybody else is. They are looking at the several video feeds form the day before. The knightmares all record from several angles. Also there are cameras from the base pointed at the beach where the final battle took place. Kallen takes a seat. She is still exhausted. She looks around it is only Wednesday. They still have several days before they are heading home. Kallen leans back.

"Hey how about we go over to the beach?"

Everybody nods in agreement. After the past two days they desperately need a break.

* * *

Schniezel look over at his new reports. Lelouch's new knightmares have made their first appearance on a battlefield. It seems that the emperor has given Lelouch leave to send some of his people to eastern Africa to recover the situation. Damn that Guinevere if she had only maintained her position, she could have had all the glory she wanted. Not only did she fail to do anything in Area 10, but she left the situation in eastern Africa in quite a disastrous state. If not for Lelouch's team and his knightmares showing up when they did, Schienzel's negotiations would be going much worse.

At the moment Schniezel and Kannon are negotiating a cease fire with the EU. Cornelia has managed to continue her push in northern Africa. Even if the EU does not cede much territory, the will have to pay a substantial reparation. Of course they will all get a piece of the pie. Schniezel will get the largest piece since he is negotiating. Of course some has to go back to the Imperial treasury. Cornelia will also get some for her efforts. Obviously Lelouch could not be denied a reward. Apart from aiding Cornelia, he put down a Chinese backed rebellion in Area 10 and he helped regain the situation in eastern Africa. Schniezel has even heard rumors that the emperor has given Lelouch much more than he has let on.

* * *

Cornelia glad that she remained in Africa. They are at ceasefire with the EU. That has nothing to do with her wanting to stay away form Pendragon. Guinevere is complaining to anyone who will listen. She is complaining to even those that won't listen. She received a phone call from Evelyn and the twins a few days ago. They were complaining about stupid Ninuvere. Cornelia wonders how the kids managed to make the phone call. Either way she was glad to be in the hot African sun drinking some iced tea.

* * *

Naoto was lying in a bed. By what he knows he is in a pretty fancy hospital. At first the wonders how he got here, but then he remembers. Colonel Kusakabe came to visit him. He brought a paper for Naoto to sign. It was a written account of what happened officially. I stated that Naoto and his men were out on a two week training run when two of the men mutinied. Naoto noted that the two men listed were dead and had no family left to speak of. Naoto looked over the paper once again and signed it. The colonel looked over the signature and left.

As he lied there, Naoto looks up at the ceiling. It doesn't matter if he owes that little bastard his life and career. Naoto will make Lelouch vi Britannia pay. Even in the daze he was in, he recognized the damn Britannian prince. Naoto wonders if that is how he landed in this fancy hospital. He looks over at the clock beside his bed. It reads April 10. Meaning Naoto has been here for several days.

He vows on all he holds holy. He swears upon his life and that of his mother and sister that only will he get revenge on Lelouch vi Britannia. He will destroy that red knightmare and drag its pilot out himself. After that is accomplished you will be able to return home and see his sister again.

* * *

Author's note: To those that know about such things the Black Knight symbol is the geass sigil with a sword across the center. To those that don't know about such things it looks like the end of a trident with the ends bent to the side. They are shaped like an L.

Nguyễn Ái Quốc is Ho Chi Minh. Let's just say Lelouch made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

If anyone wants to know how Nunnally and Euphemia held off the enemy, let me explain. It is actually pretty simple. Both knightmares were heavily modified to account for their physical weaknesses. Although because of their training both girls are stronger than others their age.

More importantly imagine you are some Japanese or Vietnamese soldier who has shipped off somewhere. You most likely have never seen a knightmare much less piltoed one. The knightmares are several years old and are probably held togeter with tape and hope. Then you see soemthing fancy like Lelouch's Sutherlands. Who in their right mind would ever believe that anyone would be crazy enought to let little girls pilot a brand new knightmare. Let's not forget they are waiting for you. Lastly the base has several defense systems to account for such an event. Lelouch's facilty/base is near the beach.

If anyone is wondering why the emperor keeps giving Lelouch more titles and stuff. Well it just pisses everyone else off. He also hopes to recruit Lelouch for Ragnarok. In case he can not accomplish it. VV and Marianne may also want recruit Lelouch for Ragnarok as well. They all figure he has geass. From who is up for debate.

Also Lelouch now has two geass powers. One from CC and one from MM. Apart from the obvious, his meeting with Mao, there is another reason for this. Like all codes MM was tricked into getting the code. At this point he is only about one-hundred and fifty years old so he retains a little humanity. This is why he told Lelouch about geass and the code. He is already getting tired of living and much like CC finds Lelouch to be a good candidate. I am also changing the nature of what happens when you gain the code. Sure unlimited recuperative powers and immortality are great but what happens when you give up multiple geass powers like Lelouch. Well you will have to wait for the answer. It's at least going to be interesting.


	21. Graduation and Relaxation

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.

Napoleon Bonaparte

* * *

You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.

Will Rogers

**

* * *

**

May 24, 2014

It is graduation day for Lelouch and Gino. Anya is helping them get snazzy for their graduation. Gino is off in one of the other rooms making the finishing touches to his look. Anya hugs Lelouch. He kisses her forehead.

"It'll be okay Anya. Andrew will make a good team captain and Julian is probably going to end up as his assistant."

Anya nods. She knows that things are going to be alright. But how can you work for someone else after having worked for Lelouch. He is just about finished getting ready.

"Brother Lulu."

"Buther Lulu, where is you?"

"Opens the door, brother."

Lelouch goes over to the door to discover his little siblings at the door. They are standing there alone holding a note and an envelope. Lelouch opens the note. It's from his mother.

…

Lelouch, can you and watch the kids for a while. I have so many things to do. There's some lunch money in the envelope. Thanks.

Your ever loving mother,

…

Lelouch crumples the note and tosses it. He looks into the envelope and sees some restaurant gift cards. He sighs loudly.

"Come inside munchkins. You guys can hang out with Anya while Gino and me finish getting dressed."

The three vi Britannia kids go over to Anya who is standing there with a stoic expression and holding her camera phone.

"That's memorable."

Anya begins to laugh, "Who wants to play some video games?"

The twins raise their hands. They are days away from their second birthday so they aren't very good. Evelyn pulls a game out of her bag. It is their copy of Lelouch's video game, The Adventures of Zero and the Black Knights. Anya shrugs and puts the game in Lelouch's Mii. Since Kallen's dad owns the Yamauchi Company, the Japanese video game company, Lelouch got to make his own video game.

Then main part of the game involves Lelouch as Zero fighting against criminals around the world as a sort of vigilante. The other part involves a battle mode with the main characters. All of Lelouch's friends and siblings are in the game including the younger vi Britannia kids as secret characters.

The twins just jam buttons on the controllers. Evelyn and Anya sit back and watch them. Kallen, Milly, Euphie, and Nunnally walk into the room. The twins get all excited and run over to them. There are hugs all around. Gino comes running out to get some hugs. Everybody puts out their hands for a handshake but like that is going to stop Gino from hugging them. He holds onto Kallen for a good while. Hugging Milly resulted in him getting pinched in the butt.

Lelouch refuses to come out of his room so they all went in to get him. Once he is out, Anya takes pictures of everyone in many different poses. Since they have all been there before and have received the grand tour, they just hang around Lelouch's quarters. In his last year he used more often for privacy. They all play Lelouch's game. Lelouch decides they should have little tournament with the exception that they all have to pick themselves in the game. Evelyn complains because she wants to pick the Quaker Oats guy (Her not so secret nickname for their father).

It comes down to Lelouch and Kallen. Everybody thinks that it is unfair since he made the game and her father owns the video game company. Gino complains that he is too goofy in the game. Euphie complains that her new moves aren't in there. Nunnally complains about her characters skill levels. Milly complains about her characters figure not matching up with hers. Kallen complains that her character has too much of body. Lelouch ignores them stating that the game was already made. It's almost time for the ceremony to start anyways.

Neither the emperor nor empress is there but several Knights of the Round are as are some of Lelouch's siblings. The ceremony is all about the greatness of Britannia and its military. Lelouch tries not to look too bored. He notices Schniezel raise an eyebrow as he gives his speech. Despite being an excellent speaker, Lelouch decides to use his best monotone voice. After the ceremony Gino goes over to his parents. They want to show him off to all their noble friends. Not surprisingly a lot of those noble friends have teenage daughters. Lelouch walks over to his siblings. At least he doesn't have to go through what Gino's going through or does he?

He notices that his mother has arrived, and she is not alone. Both the Ashfords and Stadtfelds are with her. They seem to be having quite an animated conversation. Lelouch wonders how they got invited. He notices the looks in his direction as his siblings, Kallen, and Milly congratulate him. He notices Guinevere is also there looking around. She must be looking for the emperor. Lelouch wonders if that means he is here. A glimpse of Bismarck Waldstein in the distance tells him all he needs to know. After spending some times with his siblings and friends, Lelouch decides to go over to get the rest of his stuff.

As he expected Guinevere follows him at a distance. The Knights of One and Two are in his room. He grins as he sees them standing around. That means that the old man is in the bedroom. Lelouch sighs slightly. He isn't at the point in his life when he can cross his father without consequence. He can however mess with his knights but there is no time for that today. He enters the room and kneels before his father.

* * *

Schniezel notices that Guinevere is snooping around. There is no way that she is here for Lelouch. She must be here for something else. He was hoping to spend some time talking with Lord Stadtfeld about a few business ventures, but he notices that Empress Marianne has the attention of both the Stadtfelds and Ashfords. Lelouch seems very comfortable with both young ladies. Schniezel thinks that Lelouch is more like their father than anyone could have imagined.

Despite the obvious advantage to him of a Lelouch-Kallen marriage, he will worry about such matters at another time. Schniezel notices that Guinevere is conspicuously moving slowly behind what he believes is Lelouch. Schniezel decides to follow. Lelouch seems to heading towards his private quarters. On his way there Schniezel contemplates the situation. In a way he is glad that Lelouch has chosen to befriend the young Miss Stadtfeld of his volition. Schienzel can already see that getting on Lelouch's bad side is a huge mistake.

Not that Schniezel would ever be as foolish as Guinevere. Speaking of his oldest sister, she is slowly making her way up the stairs. Schniezel catches a glimpse of Lelouch pausing at the top of the stairs. For a moment Schniezel swears he sees a grin on his little brother's face. Then it hits Schniezel. The little rascal knows that Guinevere is following him. That means the emperor is up there. Schniezel wisely decides to wait for Lelouch down here. He notices that his other siblings and Lelouch friends are heading in his direction. Trailing behind them are the Ashfords, the Stadtfelds, and Empress Marianne.

There is some commotion upstairs. Schniezel see the Knights of One and Two walk down with the emperor behind them. As they descend the stairs, Schienzel sees an incensed Guinevere at the door. Schniezel hear Evelyn mumble something about the stupid Quaker Oats guy telling retarded Guinevere to shut up. He hopes that none of the other adults heard the little princess say that, but there is a chuckle from the Ashfords, a gasp from the Stadtfelds, and a hushing sound from Empress Marianne. Even Kannon seems amused at the little princess's comment.

As the emperor reaches the bottom of the stairs Lelouch comes swiftly out of what is no longer his room. He runs down the stairs. The emperor pauses slightly. In private Lelouch is very respectful, but here in public where there are others he is not so much.

Lelouch grins and looks down at Evelyn, "Don't pay any attention to the Q. O. G. He isn't officially here."

Lelouch looks over towards Bismarck who begins to lead the emperor away. As he leaves the emperor grins. He decides to let Lelouch have his moment. He knows that it is better this way. Guinevere's impulsive actions have knocked her out of any real contention. Even with his recent actions Odysseus would never amount to much. Cornelia has too much of a fighters mentality. Euphemia and Clovis not enough. The others Lucius, Cassius, etc. rely too much on their noble names and heritage. Only Schniezel and Lelouch were actual competitors to wrest the throne from their father. The emperor will have them at each other's throats soon enough.

Though one thing worries Charles. His other children with Marianne although young were showing lots of potential. Nunnally was proving to be much stronger than anyone had imagined. If given time she would surpass Cornelia perhaps Lelouch. The younger three appeared to be even more dangerous. Charles has always left his children to their mothers. But lately he has needed Marianne more and more, leaving Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux in the care of nannies. Charles knows that soon Marianne will send the three to wherever Lelouch is, and the boy will not refuse his younger siblings.

What worries him is that the combined might of Marianne's children, Schniezel, and Cornelia will undo all his plans. For this reason Ragnarok must be completed. It will be completed soon.

After watching his father walk away, Lelouch goes over and picks up the twins. They squeal as he lifts them up. Evelyn wraps herself around his legs. Lelouch wants to change out of his uniform but everybody mentions how cute and cool he looks in it. He has no choice but to leave it on.

That night Schniezel has rented out the ballroom at the Waldstein-Astoria for a special dinner. Lelouch has recently found out that Bismarck's cousin runs the hotel. They also invite Gino and his family. Of course the usual suck up nobles are present. As Lelouch and Gino walk in they are greeted with applause. Gino obviously eats it up. Lelouch just grins as he takes his younger siblings to a table.

"Okay you guys be good."

He walks over to where his mother is sitting. Quite surprisingly the emperor is also there. They are sitting with the Ashfords, Stadtfelds, and the Weinbergs. Lelouch politely greets everyone there and introduces Gino and Anya to those at the table. After that they walk over to a table where Kallen, Milly, Euphemia are waiting. Cornelia, and Clovis, Schniezel are sitting at a table with Odysseus, Guinevere, and some of their friends.

After the dinner Lelouch is exhausted. For some reason he decides that he will spend one last night at West Point. Gino and Anya go over with him so he isn't alone. After making sure that they are asleep, Lelouch leaves the room. The campus is mostly empty. Only a few cadets stay during vacations. Most have been gone for a few days. Lelouch notices movement down below. Lelouch slowly walks over. In front of him is a teenage girl no older than seventeen with long green hair.

He smiles, "Hello CC."

CC decides to check on Lelouch. She has a feeling he may soon need something for that eye of his. She has a special contact lens made. Since Mao and Marianne are abysmal failures, she hopes that the boy will be successful. She felt the pain a few days ago. A pain she knows is caused by the evolution of his geass. It is a good thing she had that special contact lens made. She almost forgot about it when the pain of the geass evolution hit her.

She wonders where he could be. She remembers hearing something about him going to West Point from Marianne. She was never much of a technology nut, but she knows her way around. She manages to find out that he is graduating on May 24. She decides to head over there. She notices that he leaves with his family. She stays hidden because she see Marianne and Charles. She wonders if they actually care about the boy if there is another reason why they are here. After he leaves with his family, she curses herself for not having approached him earlier. However this wish of hers is granted when he returns with some friends. She tries to find a way to get up to his room; however, he comes down on his own. She sees him standing there before her.

He smiles, "Hello CC."

CC stares at him blankly. "How do you know my name?"

Lelouch smirks, "I have spoken to one of your friends."

Lelouch points to his forehead. On CC's forehead he can vaguely see what MM called the code.

"Who was it? Was it VV?"

CC thought about it. There were others but which of them would have the opportunity to approach a Britannian prince. Of course he didn't remain here at West Point year around.

"Well it doesn't matter who it was I brought you something."

CC pulls out the special contact she had made for Lelouch. Lelouch takes it. As he does he removes the contact he has made himself.

"Well I will keep this just in case I need them both."

"I see you are well prepared and informed." CC pauses and begins to walk away. "I'll be on my way."

"Wait there is something I need for you to do."

CC impatiently turns around. "You need something from me. Well what is it boy?"

Lelouch smiles, "I need you to give geass to Kallen."

Lelouch has pondered this long and hard. Which of his many friends and family would benefit the most from gaining power. More than that he considered which of them would be the most help to him. While Nunnally and Euphemia might to more will to do anything for Lelouch. Even Milly might be more willing to do more than Kallen. Lelouch chose Kallen because of her independent way of thinking.

"Which one is that, the red-head?"

Lelouch smirks. It was obvious that CC was keeping any eye on what he did.

"Yes that is her. We will be in Pendragon for a few days. But if you wish, we will be in Japan in week or so."

CC only nods to this as she continues to walk away. Lelouch can only shrug. He goes back up to his room. He finds Gino and Anya soundly asleep. He decides to get some sleep himself. As he sleeps he feels something snuggle up next to him. He hopes that it isn't Gino.

In the morning he discovers that Anya is the one who cam in to his bed. Lelouch gets up and decides to shower before leaving West Point for the last time. Well he will probably come back to Anya's graduation in a year and a half. He technically is no longer a cadet. He is actually a major in the Britannian military. Gino is a captain. Their actions in Africa and then Area 10 have granted them these rankings. Along with all their West Point stuff.

Gino and Anya wake up eventually. The three of them sit around the table. There is no breakfast. Lelouch didn't think about it. He thought that perhaps Jeremiah or someone else would remember to bring them something. They were in luck because at the moment their stomachs begin to growl. Nunnally, Evelyn, and the twins walk in with some McDonalds. Lelouch remembers the kids' gift cards.

Evelyn brings a bag over to Lelouch. "Hey brother Lulu, I brought you some breakfast with my money."

Lelouch takes the bag from his sister and sits her on his lap. He gives her a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you very much."

Nunnally and the twins give some bags to Anya and Gino. They all begin to eat their breakfast. It is greasy and probably not very healthy, but it is very good and satisfying. A few minutes later everybody else comes in. Schniezel and Cornelia are a little appalled at the fact that they are eating McDonalds. Lelouch points out that they got the gift card from his mother. Still a little hungry Milly and Kallen join in on the feast. Euphemia is held back by Cornelia.

After breakfast they head to Pendragon. Once there Schniezel and Cornelia let out a sigh. In their minds they are home. They are quite used to the heat. Lelouch is glad that it isn't July or August when the humidity rises. One of the things that Lelouch has always hated about Pendragon is the ungodly heat. Who in their right mind moves the capital of the world's greatest superpower to the middle of the desert?

Lelouch stops contemplating this because Schniezel and Cornelia are both taking to him. He doesn't hear all of what they are saying, but he supposes that they are trying to convince him to return to Pendragon. Lelouch thinks about it Where is home to him? Is it here? Is it Japan or West Point? Logically his home is here since he has spent most of his life here. He spent a little under a year in Japan. He spent most of the last three years at West Point.

Either way Lelouch decides to rest this day. He will get back to work tomorrow. He knows the next few days will be difficult. There is no indecision in him. He will go back to Japan. In part because Kallen and Milly are there but also because of his facilities in Area 10. He knows that convincing his mother will be no problem. In fact he will have to convince her that Evelyn and the twins are not ready to go with him and Nunnally.

They spend the day playing at in the garden. The kids in particular want to play with Lelouch. He shows them his old hiding spots in the garden. He makes sure that Nunnally and Euphemia are off doing something else when he does. Lelouch decides to enjoy these next few days with his little siblings. Of course he figures that they are probably going with him to Japan if only for the summer. He doesn't expect CC to come to Pendragon. Lelouch believes that she was a friend of his mother, but they had some sort of falling out. Nevertheless he hopes that she will at least go to Japan. A week later the royal children and friends arrive in Japan. Lelouch knew that to delay anymore would only increase pressure from Cornelia and Schniezel.

Lelouch walks into his room. Over the last few months he has had Jeremiah and Villetta redecorate his room to match his new style. They also got rid of all his clothes since none of it fits him anymore. Lelouch is going to have to go shopping. Lelouch flops down on his bed. He is joined by Evelyn and the twins. Lelouch remembers that as children he, Nunnally, and Euphie would often fall asleep in bed huddled up with each other. Lelouch spends a few weeks getting accustomed to life in Japan. He also has to practice his Japanese.

Near the end of June he decides to head over to Area 10. He takes his siblings with him. Another reason he decides to leave is that Ashford has all high school freshman take a month and a half orientation. Of course Milly is the orientation planner and host. Lelouch does not want any part of that. The kids are the most excited. They want to see the new knightmares.

There isn't much to do since the three scientists are just working the numbers they got a few months ago. Lelouch does some exercises on the Titan. He takes Evelyn up with him. Since Nunnally and Euphemia's Sutherlands were destroyed, they work a little with the Callisto and Europa respectively. Despite the fact that all three knightmares have been around less than a year, Lelouch is already looking towards the future. Now that every minute of his day isn't planned out, he will have some more free time. Since Area 10 is only a few hours flight from Japan, it would even be possible for Lelouch to make a weekend visit every once in a while.

Well Lelouch spent a few days working on making the obstacle course more difficult. After doing that he takes a break. They all spend the next few days hanging out at the beach. Euphemia and Nunnally are obviously a little uncomfortable out there. This is the spot where they first killed someone. They get over some of the anxiety. The kids playful nature helps make the time more enjoyable. Lelouch wished they could have brought Milly and Kallen along. Of course once they get back to Japan, Lelouch knows that they will make him pay for missing the orientation.

Lelouch is up late one night looking over the reports of the Io series. The knightmares are being manufactured on schedule. The best part of it all is that Lelouch gets to select which of his siblings he sells them to. Schniezel and Cornelia get first dibs on the newer ones for their war with the EU. Lelouch also has a few stationed here in Area 10. They are replacing the Glasgows and Sutherlands.

Not only are people interested in his Io knightmares, but there is also interest in his adaptations to the Glasgow and Sutherland. He has also made money selling those to agencies and people from all over the Empire. A few police forces are interested in the new adaptations to the older knightmares since it is what they mostly course other knightmare manufacturers are also interested in what he is doing. There is already talk in improving the Sutherland by making it more capable in knightmare to knightmare combat. Lelouch has heard the name Gloucester being tossed around. Some of these new changes and improvements won't be years from occurring.

Lelouch is already thinking about the next step. So far all attempts at the maser vibration sword have been a failure. Still Lelouch has time and money to spare. Apart from his allowances as a prince. He now draws a small military salary. He has also commandeered some of Nunnally and Euphemia's money. But with the way his knightmare and knightmare ideas are selling, he will return the money back to his sister's by years end.

Of course he has other money making schemes beyond knightmares. As he pulls out his Z-phone and begins to use his Z-pac computer, he knows that he needs to expand his technological empire. He wonders what would happen if anyone knew the truth behind Orange Technologies or The LL Entertainment Corporation. Well in the end what could they do. Lelouch will also have to have a talk with Kallen's father about some investments.

Well most that can wait a few months. Lelouch decides to let his three geniuses rest on their laurels for a bit. They also deserve credit for what happened here in early April. They are the brains behind the knightmares. Sure Lelouch is the originator and money man, but they actually put it all together. Of course he put them all together

Lelouch closes the folder on the Moons project. There is still work to be done with it, but it is mostly just minor adjustments to improve certain systems. Lelouch picks up a new folder. In it he has a few rough sketches of new projects. He won't trouble them with this for a few months. He puts the folder away. This new project will blow all other knightmares away. It is really light years ahead of what anyone else is thinking. He has named it Caerleon. Lelouch puts his things away and decides to enjoy the rest of his vacation. He knows that once back at Ashford. Milly will have him working his butt off.

* * *

Kallen has been at Ashford Academy freshman orientation for a month. It all seems a little excessive to her. She blames her boredom on Lelouch who conveniently isn't here. As she looks around she wonders if she is the only one. Rivalz is all too happy to be with Milly. Shirley is her usually happy self. Nina hides in the corner. Milly knows better than to expect anything out of her. Only Suzaku seems just as bored as Kallen. Suzaku walks over to the door. As he pulls his collar up, Kallen stifles a laugh. That is part of Lelouch's secret code. Kallen quietly gets up and makes her way to the door. She goes up to the roof. Suzaku is standing up there looking out.

"I guess your boyfriend is good for something."

Kallen grimaces at that comment. "I guess so. So are you as bored as I am?"

Suzaku nods. "What do you think? So you think Milly is going to put us through some crazy shit this year?"

Kallen shrugs, "Maybe not because we are only freshmen. Although there may be some kind of hazing."

Suzaku frowns, "Well whatever. Speaking of your boyfriend when is he going to get here. I'd hate to be in his shoes when Milly gets her claws on him."

Kallen shrugs, "He is vacationing with his brothers and sisters."

Just then Kallen gets a text message on her Z-phone, another one of Lelouch's gifts. Suzaku comes over and sees who it is from.

Kallen smiles, "It's from your girlfriend."

Suzaku grins. It has to be Nunnally because Euphemia would never text Kallen. His suspicions are confirmed when his own phone buzzes with a message. If seems as if the little princes and princesses are returning but without Lelouch. As Suzaku begins to have a text conversation with Nunnally, he notices that Kallen is receiving another message. This makes her smile. It must be from Lelouch. Their little happy text time is stopped when Shirley comes running towards them.

"Oh there you guys are. Milly has been for you two."

Kallen finishes sending a message to Lelouch. "Why? What does she want?"

"Didn't you guys hear? Lelouch is on his way back and Milly wants to do something special for him."

Shirley takes Suzaku and Kallen downstairs so they can participate in Milly's insane plan. Later that day Euphemia, Nunnally, Evelyn, and the twins arrive in Japan. The go over to Ashford to help with the planning. Lelouch isn't going to in Japan for a few days or so they believe.

As he flies back to Japan, Lelouch is looking at several items. He continues to work on his Caerleon project. There is also the matter of the reward his father gave him back in April. His reward for putting down the rebellion in Area 10. He looks them over. Of course Jeremiah, Villetta, Kewell, Gino, Sora, and Luciano got there reward. Lelouch has even heard that Luciano may become a Knight of the Round. The way Luciano likes to fight that may not be the right position for him. Anya will get her reward once she graduates. As for the others Lelouch has until the end of the year to tell them.

Three people arrive in Japan late in the day. They arrive in very different ways. They also go to very different places. One is hiding in the worst, most abandoned ghetto there is. He is wearing large headphones connected to a Z- pod. He wears giant sunglasses. As he hides he cringes in a corner and raises the volume. The second is sitting in his own hotel room jumping around on the bed. The blonde is excited about finally being allowed out on his own. The third arrives at Ashford Academy wearing his new black school uniform. He looks up and notices that the lights in the school are still on. HE has a surprise in store for them.

* * *

Author's note: So Mao will probably show up in the next few chapters.

Writing for CC was a little hard. Normally I don't do much with CC. I think the most I have had her do is tie up Lelouch so he wouldn't interfere in the making of the world's largest pizza in the Demon and the Flash. I guess I also made her go around and adopt a bunch of kids. Well there won't be a lot of CC for a few chapters but she is coming back. You know I always loved that scene where CC doing something with a gun and it slips out of her hand. It always makes me laugh that she has been alive for so long and she can barely handle a gun. Of course it appears as if the creators were just playing with us because she is obviously capable.

In case anyone doesn't know Pendragon is located in what would be the southwest US. Most likely Arizona. I remember the first I saw the map that showed the location of Pendragon and I yelled out hey that's where I live. So I am very familiar with what the weather conditions are like in Pendragon having to experience them every day.


	22. Return to Ashford

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them. God must love the common man, he made so many of them.

Schniezel el Britannia

Royalty and the common man

Neo-Pendragon Press 2028 ATB

...

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.  
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.  
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself

Sun Tzu

The Art of War

**

* * *

**

Monday July 22, 2014 ATB

Lelouch knows that Milly is probably planning some sort of party or celebration for his return. He decides to make a preemptive strike. He tells his sisters and Kallen that he will arrive in a few days, but he really comes a few hours after them. He has Jeremiah get him a uniform. He puts it on before leaving the plane. He instructs the driver to take him over to Ashford. During his few visits to Japan, he has mostly stayed away out of fear that Milly would do something.

Lelouch steps onto the Ashford Academy campus. Because of his newfound fame he has security near him at all time. For now he hopes to keep his true identity a secret. It has been a lot of work. He has had to setup a webpage for Lelouch vi Britannia. Of course there are no close pictures. There were several pictures of him from afar. There were also plenty of pictures of his knightmares. He didn't do it only for his own protection. He knew that his sisters were very happy here. Apart from his sisters, Milly and Kallen's safety is also at stake.

Lelouch marvels at the way the campus looks now. It is quiet a change from how the school started a few years ago. Lelouch has had a hand in that. Besides using his money for his new technologies, he has also set apart some money for Milly to use for her festivals. With the money coming in from the sale of his Io knightmares to Schniezel and Cornelia, Lelouch has never had so much money. In an effort to appease Clovis, Lelouch has turned his old facility in Area 11 into a knightmare factory. He has also put a factory for Orange Technologies in Area 11. Nobody knows that Lelouch is the person behind that company but still it helps make Clovis happy. More jobs in Area 11 means less unrest.

At the request of Schniezel and Cornelia he has sold his Glasgow and Sutherland upgrades to some of his other siblings. Of these Odysseus and Clovis got first dibs. Another thing Lelouch attempted to do was get some of his other siblings involved in knightmare design and construction. Many of them thought it was below them. After all the royal blood that flowed through their veins made them natural leaders. They were not grease monkeys. Others would build the weapons, and they would use them.

He did manage to convince Cornelia to his point of view or rather he convinced Darlton and Guilford. With them Lelouch started up the New Britannia Technological Company. They got some distant Darlton relative to run it for them. The company is being tasked with creating the Gloucester before the main Britannian knightmare producers do. Once the weapon is complete it will be given exclusively to Cornelia.

Lelouch puts all that out of is mind as he enters the student council clubhouse. He has been here a few times this past year. Milly would bring him here when she wanted to be alone with him. Before he enters the room. Before he returned to Japan he had hoped to get his feelings figured out, but things weren't that simple. He obviously likes Kallen and Milly. He has yet to reconcile his feelings for Euphemia. There is obviously no hurry, but he knows that time is running out. Of course he could have them all. It is one of the many privileges of being a prince.

He can hear Milly arguing with some people. It must be the remaining members of the student council. Elections aren't going to be held until school starts. So the members from the previous year's student council have to work hard for the pre-school festival and the back to school festival. That is if they want to get reelected. Unlike other schools in Britannia, Ashford does not have a boy and a girl leader. They also do not have individual councils for the separate grades. The Jr high and elementary sections do have their own student councils, but the high school one is still dominant.

Lelouch perceives that it is an effort by Milly to dominate the situation. At the moment things don't seem to be going her way. Even though she is the principal's granddaughter and a member of minor nobility, she still seems to have problems with a few of the upper classmen. Lelouch shakes his head. He hates hearing Milly treated in this manner. If he wasn't so worried about his own situation, he would have tossed the Ashfords some knightmare designs. Well he will at least help Milly. Out of this situation and out of any arranged marriage her parents will try to set up for her.

Milly turned fifteen in March and her parents are desperate to get her connected to someone with influence. Lelouch knows that it is really an attempt on their part of have his parents commit to a Lelouch-Milly union. Lelouch has long accepted the fact that he will probably have to marry Milly, but he wants to do it on his own terms. In a way his father has given him the ability to make that happen.

Lelouch walks into the student council room. They are arguing about the pre-school festival and the back to school festival. Of course Milly wants to make them as big as possible. The others want to make them a little more sophisticated. Lelouch recognizes the ones that advocate the latter as children of minor nobility. Those that seem to agree with Milly are mostly commoners. Of course Lelouch did his homework on those in the student council but also on most of the students at Ashford. While he didn't memorize them all, their information is only a few clicks away.

Lelouch clears his throat, "I think we should go with the idea of the Lady Ashford."

The room turns towards Lelouch. A senior that Lelouch recognizes as the son of an earl answers Lelouch.

"Who are you?"

"I am Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Well Mr. Lamperouge, it appears that you are a little out of your league. I take it you are a freshmen."

Lelouch nods to that.

"Apart from that, Miss Ashford." he emphasized the miss. "here has noble parents. From what I hear her family has lost much influence in the court. I hear that they may lose their noble status. I am sorry to say. She herself is not Lady Ashford. That title would belong to her grandmother or mother."

Lelouch smirks. " I see. I guess that teachers at West Point didn't know what they were talking about." Lelouch pauses, "However I have heard that a certain prince is after our Lady Ashford here." Lelouch emphasizes the lady.

The boy gulps. Lelouch's instincts were correct on the matter. The boy was hoping that his status as an earl's son and whatever standing his father has in the court would be enough to win Milly and her parents over. Lelouch hated the fact that every minor noble thought himself to be important. He hates those kinds of nobles.

"Which prince is that?"

"Oh does it really matter. My sources from within the royal court are usually never wrong."

The boy scoffs.

"Very well. One Lelouch vi Britannia."

One of the girls in the room squeals. "You mean the Black Prince. I hear he's dreamy."

The other girls in the room seem to off in dreamland imagining just how dreamy the Black Prince is.

Lelouch blinks, "Wait, what did you call him?"

Another girl answers him this time. "They call him the Black Prince because they say he likes wearing black. At West Point he led the Black Knights to an undefeated record."

The first girl jumps back in. "Also have you seen his personal knightmare the Titan. It is black and silver."

Lelouch never thought about it. He guesses he likes black. In reality it was all just a coincidence. The two girls babble on about it. They wonder if the Black Prince would like to come to Ashford Academy because of their black uniforms. Lelouch decides that he has made enough ruckus for one day.

"Well I guess I'll be off. I just wanted to say hi to Milly because she is an old family friend."

Lelouch goes over and gives Milly a peck on the cheek. With that he leaves. The girls in the room whisper about all the choices Milly has. Some of them remember Lelouch from his year there. Others remember hearing about how he pays for everything. Lelouch smirks as he leaves the room. He notices that the girls are squealing at the kiss, but the guys seem very displeased. It seems as if more than one hoped to get with Milly.

* * *

Mao is huddling in a corner. He silently curses the stupid Japanese. He is on a quest to find CC. He has no idea where she could be. In fact he has no idea how long she has been gone. Since she left, he stopped paying attention to time. He really had no real method to finding CC. He would just read the minds of people in an area and hoped that he would catch a glimpse of her somewhere in there. It is looking pretty hopeless when suddenly he found something. It is just a glimpse. He isn't able to zero in on where it came from. He will have to spend some time narrowing down his options.

* * *

The next day Lelouch knows he has no choice but to attend the freshman orientation. His sisters are somewhat surprised to see him there. They mostly are upset that they won't be able to surprise him. After a quick breakfast Jeremiah wants go over the situation at the house. Lelouch decides to put it off until later. Lelouch wants to get to school early hoping to get out of some of what Milly is planning. He also wants to keep on the ruse that they are simply the children of a duke.

Lelouch arrives and goes over to the student council room hoping to find Milly there. As her hoped, she is alone. She appears to be working on something probably Lelouch's welcome home party. He tries to sneak up on her but to no avail.

"Stop right there Lulu."

She turns her chair around. Lelouch is over to her now. As he hovers over her, Milly stands up and brushes her lips across his.

* * *

Gino is having a hard time getting adjusted to Japan. He has only been here one night. He goes over to Ashford Academy early in the morning. He hopes to catch Lelouch or one of his friends. Gino hopes that he is able to find Kallen more than anything else. But he won't risk getting lost just for the chance to do that. His servants go over to make sure that he is properly registered. Gino stands around an open area looking around. He gets a few looks form some girls. Hell he gets some looks from some guys. Finally Gino spots Lelouch in the distance. Gino begins to follow him. He hopes that he doesn't lose him. Gino sees Lelouch enter a building and follows in after him.

As he enters Gino notices that the building is not a regular school building. It almost appears to be homelike. The room Gino is walking through is large. There is a staircase in the middle that splits into to half way up. Gino decides to go upstairs since it seems to contain most of the rooms. He has no luck there so he goes back downstairs. He begins to ask around for Lelouch.

* * *

After Milly brushes her lips across his, Lelouch sits down and brings her down with him. She is straddling his lap. They begin to kiss some more. Eventually Lelouch stops to catch his breath. When he does he thinks he hears a familiar voice by the door. Milly comes in for another kiss, but Lelouch gets up and this causes Milly to fall to the floor. Gino walks into the room.

"Hey Lelouch there you are."

Gino walks in and looks around the room. Milly gets up off the floor. Gino grins.

Lelouch looks over to Milly. "Did you find what you were looking for Milly?"

Milly sighs, "Yes I did."

Gino smiles, "Well I'm here."

Lelouch looks over at Gino in amazement. "Yes, we can see that but why are you here?"

"Well my parents were going to send me to some boarding school. I told them why not send me to the same school as my friend Prince Lelouch."

Lelouch looks at Gino in disbelief. "And you didn't tell them that I was in Japan."

Gino shakes his head. Lelouch thinks about it more. Of course who in their right mind would think that the emperor would allow one of his sons to go to school in a foreign country. If only they knew the truth about his father.

Lelouch sighs, "Have you registered yet."

Gino smacks his head with his palm. "I sent one of my servants to do it for me."

Lelouch silently mouths the word babysitters. Gino runs out of the room. By now his handlers are probably worried sick about him. Lelouch shakes his head. He hopes that Gino can keep his secret. Lelouch remembers that he has to check in also. He gives Milly a peck on the cheek and runs off. He runs out of the student council clubhouse over to his meeting spot with Kallen.

"Hey Kalli."

"Hey Lulu."

Lelouch takes her to a nice well concealed corner. Lelouch puts his arms around her. He leans in to kiss her.

"So are we dating Lulu?"

"I thought you wanted to keep it secret."

Kallen plays with his hair. "That was before when you were gone."

"I think we should keep it a secret."

Kallen sighs, "Whatever you want Lulu."

Lelouch hugs her tighter. "If it makes you sad, we can become official."

"No, I don't want to force you to tell everyone that we are going out."

Before Lelouch can answer, he hears Gino calling out for him. Damn that Gino and his Lelouch-dar.

"How does he always find me?'

"Lelouch! Where are you?"

As Gino stands there yelling for Lelouch, he attracts some attention. He is after all a cute boy. Lelouch decides to go over to Gino. Kallen follows him. Gino sees them and gives them a huge hug. Kallen pushes him off. Gino likes to imagine that she is playing hard to get.

"I got registered. I'm in group 3-D."

Lelouch cringes. He is sure that he is in the same group. "I think we better go."

Kallen leads them over to their room. When Rivalz sees Gino, he freaks out. Shirley comes over to greet Lelouch. Gino is overly excited to meet Shirley. They take their seats. Since school is starting in less than month, they are taking placement tests on Friday. Many of the students attending the freshman orientation have already taken placement tests. Friday is the final day to take the tests. Apart from Gino and Lelouch, Rivalz and Shirley are also taking the tests. Suzaku, Kallen and Nina are satisfied with their classes. The first hour of the orientation is dedicated to studying.

After the first hour they all head over to the gymnasium where Milly takes over. According to Kallen, they have doing these group things so they can get to know the others in their classes. Lelouch sits next to Kallen. Gino can't decide if he wants to sit next Kallen or Lelouch but Rivalz solves his problem by grabbing him and sitting him down. Nina sits next to them. They are on the row behind Lelouch and Kallen. Shirley and Suzaku sit next Lelouch and Kallen.

Milly begins as she does everyday with the singing of the Ashford Academy school song. Everybody but Gino sings along. Since it is Milly's show they bypass the pledge of allegiance to the Britannian flag and the singing of the Britannian national anthem.

"Good morning freshmen of Ashford Academy."

"Good morning madam president.

Even though Milly is not yet technically the Ashford Academy student council president. It is all but a done deal.

"It seems as we have some new faces here today."

Almost everyone is looking over at Gino and Lelouch. They aren't the only new ones. But they are sitting by the most popular freshmen at Ashford so that in itself attracts attention.

Gino is a little scared at all the staring. He slips up as he talks to Lelouch. "Hey boss why are they staring at us? Is it because we are cool looking."

Suzaku answers him, "No, it's because you are sitting next to the most popular freshmen at this school." He points at Kallen.

Most of the other students have turned back to face Milly. A few of the girls have dreamy looks on their faces as they look at Gino and Lelouch. Some of the guys look like they want to pound Lelouch into the ground because he is sitting between Kallen and Shirley. He really wants to see them try it.

Milly clears her throat to get everybody's attention. "Okay so if this is your first day here. I need you to come down here and introduce yourselves."

Lelouch hops up and is down by Milly in a flash. Gino follows him cautiously. There are three other new students as well. Milly goes over and shakes the new students' hands. Lelouch smirks at Milly. He hugs her as they shake hands. The students in the crowd look like they want to riot.

Lelouch takes the microphone from Milly and introduces himself. "Lelouch Lamperouge."

A few of the students remember him from three years ago. A few know the name Lamperouge from Euphemia and Nunnally. The other four including Gino also introduce themselves. Milly has them take their seat. As they walk back to their seats Gino can feel the other students glaring at Lelouch.

Milly continues, "Okay it is time for our first game. Since the final placement test, our games for this week will be educational in nature. So divide up into groups of seven. When you have done that my assistants will pass out our supplies."

Shirley turns around to count her friends. "Hey that's neat there are seven of us now."

Rivalz smiles, "And we have super smart Nina with us."

Some of the other students look at them with jealousy. Everybody knows that Nina is the smartest person in the grade if not the school.

Gino smiles, "Really I wonder if she is as smart as Lelouch. Nobody at West Point was as smart as Lelouch."

One of Milly's assistants come over and hands them their project. Lelouch recognizes him as one of the student council members. They boy grins when he hands them their supplies. Lelouch assumes it is because the project is supposed to be difficult. They get off the bleachers and head for the floor like everyone else. Lelouch is holding the packet with their instructions while everybody else is carrying their supplies. Lelouch hands the packet to Gino.

"Gino open this up."

Gino takes the package and opens it up slowly kind of like a woman who wants to save the wrapping paper when opening up presents. He carefully takes the papers out and hands them over to Lelouch. He carefully begins to read the papers. Making sure that there is nothing on the back or no secret hidden words. As he reads each page he hands it over to Gino who reads them much in the same manner. When they are done reading they allow everyone else to read the papers. Once everyone is done reading their papers,

Lelouch decides to start. He assigns everyone a task and a codename. Gino is used to Lelouch's manner. He remembers the time the Black Knights were assigned to clean up for a celebration. All they had to do was pick up the trash and sweep up the place. But Lelouch was thorough, he assigned everybody codenames and jobs. Not only did they finish the job in half the time as anyone else, they also decorated the location for the party.

Lelouch gives them codenames based on algebraic chess notation. Something else that Gino is used to. He isn't surprised when is assigned R2. When Kallen is assigned Q1, Gino does a double take. He knows that the queen is considered the strongest chess piece. Gino always assumed that Lelouch was the king and queen. He has always been the most important and strongest piece out there.

They finish their project with ease. Even Milly seems a little surprised when Lelouch takes the completed project up. Everybody is even more surprised when they discover that the project is actually designed for college bound students. As the teachers look over their work, Milly takes Lelouch over to a nice secluded spot. "So Lord Lamperouge is our relationship the same."

Lelouch assumes that she is talking about him paying for all her crazy festivals. It is quite expensive keeping Milly happy, but Lelouch figures that it is worth it.

"Yes Lady Ashford, our relationship is the same."

Milly giggles and hugs Lelouch. She goes to give him a peck on the cheek but he turns his head. Their lips meet for a moment. Lelouch looks around, and it appears as if no one saw what happened. He goes back over to his group. Gino is regaling them with stories from West Point. Rivalz, Nina, and Shirley have never heard any of them so they pay close attention.

Since they are done for the morning, Lelouch decides to take Gino on a tour of the school. Actually Rivalz and Shirley do most of the showing around. It is just before lunch, and the girls decide to make a bathroom trip. Suzaku and Rivalz decide to do the same. Gino and Lelouch are standing around waiting for their friends.

"Listen Gino, remember that no one at this school knows that I am a prince."

Gino nods. He doesn't agree with Lelouch's plan but decides to abide by his friend's wishes. Before Gino can say anything, he is struck in the face by someone's foot. Gino falls down. Lelouch looks around and sees several of the other freshmen boys around him.

"Is there a reason why you kicked my friend?"

One of the boys steps in front of Lelouch. "We don't like you Lamperouge."

"I don't think I like you much either."

"Well do something about it."

"I think I will."

There are six boys surrounding Lelouch. Lelouch takes off his Ashford uniform top and tosses it towards Gino. He cracks his knuckles and begins to spin his head around. He kicks the boy to his right in the face. Lelouch spins and grabs him. Lelouch flips him at the boy that kicked Gino. Lelouch then runs at the two boys that were standing behind him. He kicks one in the face. He spins around and lunges at the other boy knocking him down. The two remaining boys come over trying to stomp Lelouch. He avoids them and manages to trip them.

By this time Suzaku and Rivalz come over. They go to jump in but are stopped by Gino who is shaking his head. The first two boys that Lelouch knocked down are back up. Gino jumps at them. He kicks the boy who kicked him. The other turns to face Gino. Gino is stomping the boy he knocked down. Gino smiles as he points to the boy in front of him. Gino lunges at him knocking him over. Gino punches away at the boy.

Lelouch is on his feet. He is going back and forth stomping away at the four other boys. One of them manages to get up and pulls out a pocketknife. This causes Lelouch to smirk. He simply signals for the boy to bring it. The boy charges at Lelouch with his knife out in front. Lelouch easily dodges the knife. He grabs the boy's arm and twists it behind him. The boy drops his knife. Lelouch uses the boy's momentum to drive him to the floor. This causes the boy's shoulder to dislocate.

By now the fight has attracted a crowd. The only thing keeping Nunnally from jumping in to help her brother is Suzaku holding her back.

"Let me go. Lulu needs help."

Gino comes over to them having disposed of his two opponents. "I don't think so. Lelouch has disposed of bigger, better trained guys than these losers." Gino stomps at one of the boys that he took down.

Nunnally notices that one of the other boys has picked up the knife. "Lelouch look out."

Lelouch notices the boy picking up the knife and decides to end the fight decisively. The boy is still on his knees as he picks up the knife. He kicks the knife out of the boy's hand. It goes flying in the direction of his friends. Suzaku scoops it up. Nobody is going to mess with him. Lelouch kicks the kneeling boy in the face. Lelouch goes over to the two other boys who are attempting to stand up. Lelouch jumps at one of them and drives his knee into the boy's chest knocking him down.

The other one is up and attempts to grab Lelouch. Lelouch uppercuts him but does not allow him to fall. He grabs the boy's arm and spins him around. Lelouch is now behind him holding his arm. Lelouch drives him to the ground separating his shoulder. To add insult to injury Lelouch decides to break the boy's arm as well. They all recognize the boys as the same ones that harassed Nunnally the year before.

Rivalz pulls out his z-phone and hits record. "Definitely never ever, ever piss Lelouch off."

Even Nunnally agrees with this sentiment. Lelouch walks over to Gino and takes back his Ashford uniform top. As Lelouch puts it back on he looks over to his stunned friends. He guesses that today the learned what he spent the last three years doing. He completely ignores the medical team taking away the injured boys. Lelouch will have to talk with someone so that the boys and their parents don't get in too much trouble. If Schniezel, Cornelia, or Clovis ever get wind of this, a few people would be executed. Not to mention the fact that Ashford Academy does not have sufficient security guards.

Lelouch's stomach begins to growl. "I wonder what we are having for lunch. It had better be good. After all I am paying for it."

Gino begins to laugh as he and Lelouch walk towards the cafeteria. Lelouch notices that three girls watching the fight from afar. He noticed that they were there the entire time. In fact as the fight began they were actually closer. Two of them are blonde. One is light skinned and the other is dark skinned. They both appear to be a little younger than he is. The dark skinned one has big hazel eyes. The other has dark blue eyes and seems more reserved. The third girl has black hair and light purple eyes. She appears to be older than the others. He notices that Nunnally's friend Alice gives them a slight nod. Lelouch turns his attention back to Gino who is going on about the fight. Their friends follow them quietly.

* * *

Ruben Ashford looks down at the medical report: three dislocated shoulders, one broken arm, several broken noses and concussions. Never mind all the other bruises. Of course there was also the pocket knife that one of the boys took out. He lets out a sigh. He looks over at Lelouch's West Point transcript. As school principal he was privy to that kind of information. There were a few combat classes, but from Ruben could tell it was just the basics.

Ruben knew a few graduates from that very same program who could not defend themselves from a baby much less six boys. That means that Lelouch sought out the training himself. Ruben lets out another sigh. This was the little monster that was to marry his only granddaughter. He knew that Milly wanted to marry Lelouch. From what he could tell the feeling seemed mutual.

Ruben never saw much use in the marriage. The Ashford name would have to carried on by some distant relative. Unless if Lelouch allowed one of his sons to carry that name. The marriage would not benefit any of the older Ashfords. Ruben and his wife were too old to be worrying about the intrigues of the royal court. They were quite satisfied where they were. His son, Milly's father, did not have the right mentality for business. He certainly didn't have anything to offer the prince besides a willing daughter. Of course if Lelouch wanted Milly he was going to get Milly. There would be no stopping the prince. Ruben was sure that one day soon the prince would have Milly in every sense of the word. Ruben cringed every time Milly left Japan to visit her parents. He is certain that she actually went to see Lelouch.

When that video of the Titan, Callisto, and Europa was leaked to the media, Milly barely reacted. Even when Prince Lelouch vi Britannia was revealed to be the creator and pilot, she did not react. Ruben couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Europa and the Ganymede. Then there was these Io knightmares. They are also quite similar to the Ganymede. Apart from the fact with the exception of the Titan, they are all named after the Galilean moons.

As if all that isn't enough Ruben has to deal with Lelouch himself. The boy came in to apologize for almost killing the other boys. From the tone of his voice Ruben could tell that only having an audience stopped Lelouch from killing the other boys. He asked Ruben not to tell anyone so nobody will get in trouble. He even offered to pay the medical bill.

Ruben knows that the emperor and empress might not care too much. But Schniezel and Cornelia would have all six families on a plane to Pendragon in a heart beat. If they somehow managed to avoid execution, their noble titles would be stripped. They would probably spend the rest of their miserable lives wishing for death and not knowing why they had been punished. Lelouch reminded Ruben that his identity was to remain a secret.

After the meeting Ruben is quite shaken. Nothing he has experienced can compare to meeting with that boy. Ruben still isn't sure whether it was the fact that he almost killed six boys or the fact that he seemed so calm about it. Almost as if it never happened. Then there was the fact that his granddaughter possibly loved this boy. Ruben was glad he kept plenty of liquor in his office. At least the fight ensured that most students would leave Lelouch alone.

* * *

Li Xing-ke is tasked with the unenviable job of figuring out what went wrong with the liberation of Vietnam. General Fuo had been executed for his part in the debacle. The easiest thing to do is to blame Vietnamese and Japanese traitors. That is exactly what Xing-ke does, but he knows that there is much more to the matter. Like many around the world he has seen all those video of the mysterious knightmares. He has also heard the name behind the knightmares, Prince Lelouch. Also known as the Black Prince. Xing-ke will have to research as much as he can on this Prince Lelouch.

* * *

Author's note: The Schniezel quote above is an Abraham Lincoln quote.

So scripting a match where no one has a name is a little difficult. I also got some action figures so the physics of Lelouch's fight made sense. So Lelouch is obviously a lot tougher here than in cannon. He took his three years at West Point very seriously. The leadership and knightmare stuff he already had in his blood. He just needed some fight training. In an actual tournament setting Suzaku and probably Nunnally could beat him. However in a street fight Lelouch's killer instinct would take over.

It kind of always annoyed me that Lelouch never took getting in better shape seriously. Sure it made for some hilarious scenes. But it kind of contradicted his goals and ideals. He rejected the whole notion of royalty being better than others just because they were royalty. He also rejected the idea that a leader should just sit back. If the king does not lead his subordinates won't follow. I just think he should have gotten in some kind of shape.

I have a subtitled version of Code Geass. And in season one episode three when Lelouch is telling Kallen about what the student council does. He mentions guys and girls switching places, total silence parties, and holding class while wearing swimsuits. I figure the student council room is downstairs somewhere that way Nunnally isn't bothered. Also because in the same episode when Rivalz mentions the horseback riding club. You see one of them riding past the window. So I don't think that Britannia has magical flying horses. Although that would be awesome. A Code Geass fanfic with magic. And what the hell is up with the guts magic and why is Shirley the only one affected by it.

The next chapter is going to be about the other royal children. Mostly Schniezel and Cornelia. If anyone can guess the names of the three mystery girls who were watching Lelouch, I won't tell Mao that you have CC.


	23. The price of royalty

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

So this chapter is about other members of the royal family as they reflect upon what is going on in the world. Having said that there will be lots of names. They aren't going to be important for the most part. The focus will be on Schniezel because I promised the dark euphie it would be. Also because he is the most interesting. There is a list of the princes and princesses in this chapter/story at the bottom and their birth years. Some are cannon. Others I made up. Some will be killed off at some point during the story. A few will survive until the end. I also have a list of Britannian areas at this point in the story. Again it is not cannon. The quote below aren't necessarily spoilers. Castor and Pollux by 2025 will be tempermental teenagers so even the simplest request (order) from Lelouch can be deemed as him trying to control their loves.

* * *

It's tough being a prince. Having to get up EVERYDAY and get dressed up EVERYDAY. When do we get a day off? Maybe I should ask big brother Lulu. I mean his royal majesty Emperor Lelouch.

Castor vi Britannia

Inside Neo-Pendragon, 2025

Britannian Broadcasting Company

* * *

Sometimes being a prince has its perks. Like getting all the cute girls you want just like big brother Lulu. I mean his royal majesty Emperor Lelouch.

Pollux vi Britannia

Inside Neo-Pendragon, 2025

Britannian Broadcasting Company

**

* * *

**

August 23, 2014 ATB

Schniezel el Britannia, the second prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia, is meeting with some of his younger siblings. Since Lelouch has begun to garner praise and interest with his knightmares, many of the other royal children have become wary. They have come to Schniezel because he is close to Lelouch. Also because he is one of the few people who can check Lelouch's rise.

Little do they know that Schniezel has no interest in stopping Lelouch's rise. Schniezel would rather use Lelouch to accomplish his own goals. Just as knows Lelouch is hoping to use him. Schniezel reassures his younger siblings that things are going to be fine. He decides to end the meeting early. In a few days he is going to Area 11 and Japan. He hopes to discuss a few things with Clovis and Lelouch

* * *

Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia have never really had a good relationship with Lelouch and Nunnally despite being close in age. It really isn't their fault. Their mother never allowed them to visit the commoner's children. They always heard rumors about all the happenings at Aries Palace. It always made them jealous. What made it worse was the fact that their father rarely visited them but seemed to spend lots of time at Aries Palace.

Not only their father but some of their older siblings visited Aries Palace with great frequency. Edward and Isabelle rarely saw Schniezel, Odysseus, Clovis, Cornelia, or Euphemia. Not only that but they frequently fell behind in their studies. Their mother considered such things to be beneath them. When Edward stated he wanted to go to West Point like Lelouch, his mother pretended to faint.

So Edward and Isabelle stayed at their mother's palace waiting until they were old enough to go out on their own. Of course when that day finally came they would probably be incapable of living on their own. They will have to spend the whole lives going to parties and just collecting their royal allowances. There was always the possibility that a marriage would take them away. But knowing their mother, they knew what kind for person they would marry. Being a member of the royal family wasn't as great as it seems.

* * *

Maximus va Britannia left his meeting with Schniezel quite unhappy. In fact he didn't even want the meeting but Cassius insisted. Maximus was tired of all the games. His mother insisted that he attend West Point a few years ago. He dropped out after a few months. Nothing could convince him that it was important. After all he was no threat to take the crown. Not with Schniezel and Cornelia garnering all the praise and victories. Maximus at the most expected to be given an area to rule much like Clovis. It hasn't happened yet, but it can't be far off. Maybe something out of the way like Area 9.

* * *

Cassius ru Britannia exited the meeting with Schniezel and Maximus quite angry. Neither of them paid much attention to him. Schniezel seems overjoyed at Lelouch's success. Maximus would like nothing more than to sit around and do nothing. Cassius is quite envious of Lelouch. It seems as if Lelouch's mother lets him do as he pleases. When Cassius was at West Point, his mother visited and was disgusted at the facilities. They seemed pretty standard to Cassius. He only lasted a few weeks before she took him out of the school.

Still Cassius managed to push ahead. Now twenty-one years old he managed to get out of his mother's house. He was stationed off the coast of Ethiopia during the war with the EU under Guinevere's command. Then she went and ruined it by taking off one night to quell the rebellion in Area 10. Not only did she look foolish there but she left her command in Ethiopia in disarray. It provided Lelouch with the perfect opportunity to come in and claim all the glory. Cassius unlike Maximus is not ready to give up on gaining the throne. When the war with the EU resumed, Cassius would be at the forefront. This time he will get the glory.

**

* * *

**

Saturday, September 1, 2014

Schniezel is glad to be out of Pendragon. Apart for being away from his father's watchful eye, he was away from his sniveling siblings who were trying to find a way to combat the Lelouch problem. As Schniezel currently saw it, there is no Lelouch problem. Whether there would be one in the future is another matter. He is even happier to be out of Area 11 and on his way to Japan. He simply planned on inspecting the knightmare factory, but somehow Clovis managed to drag him to party after party.

He has Kannon call ahead to find out where Lelouch is at this moment. For some reason he is at Ashford Academy even though it is Saturday. Schniezel knows he can't have fallen behind on his schoolwork so quickly. Rather than wait for him at the house, Schniezel goes over to the school to speak to him. Kannon goes on ahead to find out where Lelouch is. Kannon finds that he is in the student council clubhouse. They make their way towards that building.

As they enter the building, Schniezel notices that it is not a regular school building. The room they are in is huge. It is certainly large enough to accommodate a banquet or dance. Schniezel hears some commotion coming from one of the rooms on the first floor. He walks over to the room Kannon follows after checking with the security team.

As Schniezel walks into the room, something runs between his legs. Then something else runs between his legs.

"Hey Schnozzle."

"It's Schnitzel."

"Ha Schnitzel. I like Schnozzle better."

Schniezel looks down at his two half brothers running around. "Castor, Pollux, what are you doing here?"

Evelyn comes in to the room. "We are staying here with brother Lulu."

Schniezel is quite shocked at this turn of events. It is one thing For Lelouch, Euphemia, and Nunnally to be here. They are attending school, but the little ones still need motherly attention. Schniezel sees the young Miss Stadtfeld working on some sort of costumes.

The red head calls out, "Castor, can you get me the red paper."

Schniezel notices one of the twins get some red paper and take over to the young lady.

She bends over and gives him a kiss. "Thanks sweetheart."

He goes back to rejoin his twin. Schniezel walks over to Kallen.

"Excuse me, Miss Stadtfeld. How can you tell the twins apart?"

Schniezel notices that she looks over towards the twins. Schniezel also notices that one of the twins wiggles around a little at the question. The red haired girl goes over and picks that boy up.

"Of course I know which one is my little Castor."

Schniezel notices the little boy squirm in her arms as she kisses him. Schniezel notices the young Miss Ashford walk into the room.

"Pollux dear, can you help me with something."

The other little boy gets up and runs after her. Miss Stadtfeld takes Castor over to the bathroom. Lelouch finally walk into the room. He is followed by a blue haired boy and an orange haired girl. They seem to be discussing some sort of festival.

Evelyn runs past Schniezel and over to Lelouch. "Lulu, look who's here."

She points up to Schniezel. Castor and Pollux running into the room.

"Look brother Lulu. It's Schnozzle."

"It's Schnitzel."

"Ha Schnitzel. I like Schnozzle better."

Lelouch corrects his little brothers. "It is Prince Schniezel, you guys."

Schniezel notices that the blue haired boy and the orange haired girl are freaking out about him being there. Lelouch manages to settle the down a bit. Schniezel begins to scan his memory for the name that Lelouch has chosen as his surname.

"Perhaps Lord Lamperouge, we could find somewhere quiet where we could converse."

Lelouch nods, "Follow me, your highness."

As they leave Schniezel notices that Miss Stadtfeld is calming the other two teenagers down. Lelouch leads them upstairs to an empty room. Once settled in Lelouch appears to be waiting for Schniezel to begin. Schniezel decides to wait a few seconds before starting.

"Well it seems as if you have settled in here, Lelouch."

"Yes, we are settled in. After all we have had a house here for over four years."

"Yes I remember."

"Are you here to conduct some sort of negotiations?"

"Yes there is that. I have also decided to visit a few important areas and people."

Lelouch sighs. Schniezel can see it in his eyes that Lelouch knows where Schniezel has been.

"How do you like your new knightmares?"

Schniezel considers the question. It is quite neutral. Perhaps it is Lelouch's way to letting Schniezel know to stay away from Area 10. At the moment Schniezel has no authority to inspect what is a private facility.

"They have yet to be tested in combat. However the practice runs have done well."

"Well is there anything else you would like to talk about."

"No that is all."

"Very well let's go downstairs and I will introduce to my friends. We also need to give them a reason for your visit."

Schniezel nods as he and Lelouch leave the room. "I do have one question for you."

Lelouch raises an eyebrow. "Yes."

"How do your friends tell the twins apart? They look identical and for some reason you dress them identical."

Lelouch laughs, "Actually only Euphie and myself can tell them apart. Let me explain. Castor likes Kallen and Pollux likes Milly."

Schniezel nods. Well that at least made a little sense. Schniezel allows Lelouch to lead back down to the room where his friends are. They seem to be working on costumes of some sort. Schniezel goes towards Miss Ashford. She seems the least bit flustered by him. Even Lelouch seems a little put off by his presence. The twins are going through their little routine.

"May I ask what you are preparing for?"

Miss Ashford answers him. "The fall cosplay show."

Schniezel looks over towards Kannon confused. "Cosplay show?"

"Why don't you participate, your highness?"

Schniezel looks around. He notices that the blue haired boy and the orange haired girl are terrified at Miss Ashford's request.

Lelouch blurts out, "No he can't do that!"

They all look over to him. Even Schniezel raises an eyebrow. But before anyone can say anything. Lelouch answers them.

"We can't have a prince parading around in costume here in Japan. After his highness Prince Schniezel comes here often to conduct business.'

Schniezel acknowledged that Lelouch is correct. He still believes that his brother is jealous of him stealing the show. Still the look on the young Miss Ashford's face tells Schniezel that he had better decline the invitation. Schniezel has faced war and of course the emperor. But not even the thought of participating in one of Clovis and Nunnally's productions scares him as much as the look on Miss Ashford's face. Schniezel mutters

something in Spanish hoping none of them understands the language. He hopes his younger brother knows what he has gotten himself in to.

After a few minutes of watching Lelouch and his friends work on their costumes, Schniezel decides to leave. Lelouch escorts him out. Schniezel notices that a few older boys are following them at a distance. Once Schniezel takes his leave, he makes sure that a few members of his security team follow Lelouch.

Once aboard his jet Schniezel is contacted and informed that Lelouch is fine. The man on the phone sounds a little disturbed. Schniezel decides to have his chief of security handle the matter. After all Lelouch and his friends are safe.

**

* * *

**

October 1, 2014

Lucius pe Britannia, sixth prince of Britannia, is currently sitting in an old Glasgow. He is stationed in Area 14 what had once been Morocco. He hopes to expand the area. In fact he hopes to carry the war into Europe. At the moment neither Schniezel nor Cornelia have been able to do it.

Unfortunately for him he was unable to convince his father to force Lelouch to send him some of those new knightmares. Nor was he able to convince Britannian manufacturers to send him some Sutherlands. So he was stuck with these old Glasgows. When the current situation is over, Lucius plans on getting involved in knightmare design and manufacturing.

Lucius almost felt disgusted that he had to sit in this old knightmare. In his mind Glasgow should be given to the police force and Sutherlands should be given to front line troops. Lucius has to do something. He has to make an impression here. If he fails here, he knows that he might even get sent off to somewhere remote location such as Area 9. Lucius decides that today is the day. The world will learn and fear the name Lucius pe Britannia. He pushes his force forward.

**

* * *

**

October 3, 2014

Schniezel is making another visit to Area 11. This time he does it with more secrecy. He does have a talk with old Bartley however. The obese general assumes that Schniezel just wants to check up on Clovis. That is part of it, but Schniezel is not so caring that he would make two visits in as many months just for that. After all the war with the EU has begun once again.

Schniezel is mostly there to check up on the latest Io knightmares. In fact he and Kannon plan on taking them to the war. Cornelia has her knightmares. Schniezel is also taking a look at the New Britannia Technology Company that Lelouch started along with Darlton. Schniezel has no doubts that they will be able to finish the Gloucester before the major official Britannian knightmare companies. Of course those are going to Cornelia.

Schniezel has begun to make his own inquiries into knightmare design. His own expert Leonard Labie is not match for the three Lelouch has put together in Area 10. A little disconcerting to Schniezel is the fact that he has been unable to locate Lord Cummins. The old man got out of the knightmare game several years ago, but Schniezel sees his hand in several of the Io weapon systems.

Lelouch must be hiding him somewhere. Perhaps Area 6 (South America) or perhaps Area 4 (Greenland). Initially Schniezel thought Area 9 (New Zealand). While on the right side of the world for Lelouch, it was just to out of the way. In fact Schniezel saw no purpose for Britannia to even have conquered the islands. Schniezel knew what to look for. New facilities popping up or an increase to the local economy.

Schniezel will have to put off the search for later. Because of Lucius's blunder, Schniezel and the Ios are needed in Africa as soon as possible. At least Lucius would not have to answer for his mistake because he was dead. The worst part of it all was that he got that fool Cassius to go along with him. Cornelia took care of that situation. Cassius was not dead, but he would soon wish that he was.

Schniezel also has come to Area 11 for another reason. He scheduled a meeting with another military man, Colonel Madd. Like Bartley the colonel is involved in medical cybernetics. More specifically he is involved in human/knightmare interface.

"Your highness pleasure to meet with you again."

"Yes colonel a pleasure to meet with you as well. Did you have any trouble getting in to the country?"

Colonel Madd waves off the prince. Just as Schniezel thought. Security is so lax that Clovis would not notice an invading army until it is in his bedroom if even then. Having a blabbering, blundering sycophant like General Bartley as an advisor only makes matters worse. To think that General Bartley was once a great man in the field of medical cybernetics. That he was once Colonel Madd's superior. Well technically he still is.

"So how is your current assignment?"

Colonel Madd tries not to glare at the prince. "It is going quite well your highness."

Schniezel laughs, "Oh come on colonel. You can be truthful with me. Is it as horrible as it looks?"

Colonel Madd shakes his head. "No it is much worse. Do you have any idea what kind of monster you have in that boy?"

Schniezel gets serious. "I see is that how it is."

"Your highness, do you know what he has done to his schoolmates?"

Schniezel knows a little. Somehow the Ashfords have managed to keep it quiet.

"What's more your highness is the fact that he has managed to persuade my girls to join him somehow."

Schniezel twists his mouth. "Didn't you go to him in an effort to complete you new knightmares?"

Schniezel can see that Colonel Madd is considering what he just said. It is true that Colonel Madd chose his specific assignment to get the funding and expertise to building his GX-01 knightmares. He sent his current team of irregulars in an effort to convince his new employer.

Schniezel asks, "What exactly is the problem?"

Colonel Madd sigh, "Like I said he is persuading the girls. They have never been around someone so charming. That boy is the very devil, I tell you."

Schniezel laughs. "I see then perhaps we could come to some sort of agreement on a few things."

* * *

Cornelia not only received her portion of Io and Sutherland knightmares from Lelouch. He also sent her something special. Darlton almost fainted when he saw it. Guilford actually blushes when he see Cornelia's grin. Lelouch sent Cornelia the Titan. If two teenagers can do all those wonderful things in this knightmare, what could she do. They were already starting to call her the Goddess of the battle field. A few were calling the little Flash.

Now she had the most powerful knightmare yet created at her disposal. She has never loved her younger brother more than she does know. The little rascal isn't even adding the Titan to her expense account. It just magically appeared there. Of course she probably has to return it when she is done. Unless he has built another one. Is there anyway for her to find out?

After Cornelia was done giving Cassius an earful and sending him back home, she begins to reorganize her army. At least Cassius did not have any Ios in his corps. If even one of those was captured by the enemy, Cassius would have been executed on the spot. A few Ios were made specifically for Guilford, Darlton and Darlton's sons. Cornelia prepares her army for the attack.

* * *

Nonnette Enngream boards her knightmare. Well it is not really her knightmares. It is a loaner from Lelouch. She believes it is called the Europa. Once more Nonnette is under the command of Cornelia. Nonnette really wishes that Lulu would have loaned her red knightmare. That right arm of it is so cool. Nonnette composes herself and prepares for battle. As a Knight of the Round, she has access to her own force, but she has declined that to take control of a portion of Cornelia's force. Nonnette has integrated a few of her own troops into Cornelia's. Nonnette receives the signal to attack. She looks up at her controls. She notices that something is written on a piece of paper.

If the king does not lead, his subordinates will not follow.

Nonnette laughs at that. It seems like something that little Lulu would say or write. Nonnette put her knightmare in motion.

"So the king has to lead, huh."

* * *

Odysseus eu Britannia is aboard the _HIMS Great Britannia _off the coast of Africa. Schniezel or Schnozzle as his son Faramond calls him. Well sometimes he calls him Schnitzel. Odysseus is going to have to ask where Faramond got those names from. Odysseus clears those thought form his head. Schniezel is supposed to be here commanding the front. However he is currently en route from Area 11with some of those Io knightmares. It would take a few days for him to get here. Things would have been easier if Lucius had gone off and attacked without orders.

What is it about glory that makes people crazy? First it was Guinevere a few months ago rushing off to Area 10. Then Lucius and Cassius went off half cocked a few days ago. The worst of it for them is that they looked like idiots and Lelouch, Schniezel, and Cornelia look like geniuses. At least Lucius is lucky to have died. Cassius got reprimanded by Cornelia and was sent home. One wonders if he would ever get a command again. At this point the only choice Cassius has is to marry someone influential.

Things for Guinevere are even worse. Not only did Lelouch make her look foolish for rushing off to Area 10. He made her look every more incompetent by recovering the situation in Africa. To top it off Guinevere was making noise in Pendragon about Lelouch being a disrespectful usurper. Nobody that matters is paying attention to her.

Still it worries Odysseus. His mother always assumed as first born that the throne would be his, but he knows better. Britannia is a country that rewards the strong, those that push forward. That has never been Odysseus's strong point. He was by no means weakling, but now in his thirties he had toned his life down a bit. Well not that there was ever much to tone down. Odysseus has always been a calm level headed person.

Odysseus decides that he and his troops have done enough sitting around. When Schniezel arrives the situation will be recovered enough for him to take advantage. Then Odysseus can return home to his son.

* * *

Charles leaves his meeting with VV a little disturbed. One of the things holding back Ragnarok is the fact that they have been unable to locate another code to ensure the success of the event. Charles decides to spend the rest of the day with Marianne. He supposes that he will have to spend some time with their children. At the moment most of his older children are out of the city. He is able to make moves without any of them noticing.

As Charles walks through Aries Palace he notices three small children running around. He stares at them. Something about them is not quite right. Charles has only seen Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux on a few occasions. Still even he knows that the three kids running around are not them.

He hears Marianne calling out. "Evelyn dear, please get your brothers ready for lunch,"

Charles notices the little girl nod. He clears his throat. Marianne looks up and notices him.

"Hello Charles dear. Are you going to join us for lunch?"

Charles raises his eyebrow. "Marianne, you do know that Evelyn has black hair? In fact she looks very much like a little girl version of Lelouch."

Charles may have been a bad father but at the very least he knew what his children looked like.

"What do you mean, dear?"

"That girl is blonde."

Marianne looks over at the three kids getting ready for lunch. "Yes, yes I know that these are not our children, but they are much more obedient."

"I am glad that you remember what your children look like. Where are the little ones?"

"They are with Lelouch."

Charles begins to sputter like a teapot. "What? Why? How? Answer me woman!"

Marianne is a little surprised at his outburst. "I needed some time off. We have a lot of planning to do. We still haven't found CC."

Charles nods violently. "Yes, yes but for the moment we need Lelouch to be unfettered. He and Schniezel have to go at each other. We cannot have one of them to become to powerful."

"Why are you worried? It isn't like he is watching them on his own. Apart from all the body guards and servants, he has Nunnally and Euphie to help him. Not to mention those two girlfriends of his."

Charles glares at her.

"Very well I will go pick them up."

Marianne goes off to play with her substitute children. Charles is too flustered to stay and leaves.

**

* * *

**

November 11, 2014

Guinevere su Britannia is meeting with a few of her younger siblings: Luther and Gwendolyn ti Britannia, Karine le Britannia, Regina ha Britannia, Octavius and Victoria ka Britannia, and Theseus ju Britannia. The princes are near Lelouch's age. The princesses are near Nunnally's age. Guinevere knows that she has chosen a group that will back her in any move that she makes. There is no way that her father can ignore her now. They will create so much havoc that the world will be forced to take notice.

* * *

Annabel pe Britannia and Selene ge Britannia are enjoying a little tea. Selene declined Guinevere's invitation for her big meeting. She mostly declined it because Annabel was not invited. If it was not for Annabel's brother, Lucius, acting stupid in Africa, Annabel would be treated better. In fact very few in the royal family even talked to poor Annabel anymore.

The only ones who even showed up at Lucius's funeral were Lelouch, Nunnally, and Euphemia. Of the others only Odysseus and Schniezel even sent regards. Poor Annabel not only was her brother dead but her mother was gravely sick. If her mother died, where would Annabel go. Selene figured that she could convince her mother to take her in. That is if her father didn't have any plans for Annabel.

Annabel was thirteen so some sort of arranged marriage could not be too far off. Selene was glad that she had a few year to go to wait for such things. In fact she may even escape it. Since she is an only child and a female, who knows her father may forget her. Annabel is not so lucky because of what her brother did. Still Selene know that she has to help her sister.

* * *

VV looks at the reports from his spies. He shakes his head at what he reads. Not only is Charles very much like a child but so are his children. How can Charles not see all the plots going on around him? Of course ending the world of lies is important. It is the most important thing out there. But does Charles not see that at this rate, his children will rebel against him. Where will that leave their plan?

No, VV must make the plan work with or without Charles. Naturally he must not be hasty. Still VV will make preparations for the future. Perhaps he could recruit someone else to help out with the plan. Someone like Charles but not like Charles. VV considers the option and believes that he has found a solution. Colonel Madd's report makes the answer obvious. Many are starting to call the boy a demon. Yes VV will use this demon to kill the gods.

* * *

Author's note: I wanted to present the other members of the royal family in an unbiased manner. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. Some of them are stupid etc.

I spent the day looking at the picture dramas/books and the sound dramas. If you have never seen then, they are on you tube. Check them out if you have the time.

And yes every time Castor and Pollux say Schniezel's name, they are doing the same routine. They think it's funny. They will probably do it for some of their other siblings and parents.

So Ashford Academy will probably do Bleach for its fall cosplay show. There is also a spring cosplay show to look forward to. They are going to have a cosplay event and a cosplay show. The show will be a play type of thing detailing certain events from Bleach. The event will be like a week-long cosplay convention so others will be dressed up. I have most of the roles for the fall cosplay show. I would consider any suggestions. Since it will be about Bleach keep that in mind. In their timeline the Bleach manga is in the part after Ichigo's final fight with Grimmjow. That is what they will use as the basis for characters.

The next few chapters will be all about Ashford Academy fun. And just for the dark euphie, Lelouch and Kallen will try to find moments to be alone only to get interrupted by all kinds of stuff. There might even be some special moments with Suzaku and a princess. Maybe even Gino and Rivalz will manage to kiss someone. XD. Who knows maybe a few members of the royal family will show up.

Ai-no-tsubasa gave me an idea for a formal masquerade ball. And some costume/dress ideas for Milly and Kallen. So I will use those for a costume dance/party.

**Known Areas**

1 United States aka mainland

2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands

3 Mexico

4 Greenland

5 Iceland

6 South America

7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll

8 Falkland Islands

9 New Zealand

10 Indochina 2009

11 Philippines 2010

12 Cambodia 2011

13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013

Odysseus eu Britannia 1st 1984

Schniezel el Britannia 2nd 1990

Clovis la Britannia 3rd 1992

Maximus va Britannia. 4th 1992

Cassius ru Britannia 5th 1993

Lucius pe Britannia 6th 1995- 2014

Octavius ka Britannia 7th 1996

Theseus ju Britannia 8th 1997

Luther ti Britannia 9th 1999

Edward vu Britannia 10th 1999

Lelouch vi Britannia 11th 1999

Guinevere su Britannia 1st 1986

Cornelia li Britannia 2nd 1991

Euphemia li Britannia 3rd 2000

Annabel pe Britannia 4th 2001

Karine le Britannia 5th 2002

Isabelle vu Britannia 6th 2002

Victoria ka Britannia 7th 2002

Gwendolyn ti Britannia 8th 2003

Regina ha Britannia 9th 2003

Selene ge Britannia 10th 2003

Nunnally vi Britannia 11th 2003


	24. The Ridiculousness of Pride

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

It is pride that causes people to act foolish. The more pride someone has the more willing they are to make fools of themselves. Pride brings out the ridiculous in people.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Deithard Reid

The Rise of the Black Prince

Neo-Pendragon Press 2020 ATB

...

Ridiculous: adjective

deserving or inviting derision or mockery; absurd:

a message whose content is at variance with reason

**

* * *

**

Saturday, September 1, 2014

Lelouch begins to walk back after seeing Schniezel off. He knows that he is being followed by some fellow students and by Schniezel's men. Of course after his fight a few weeks ago his own security has become tighter. Lelouch has very little fear. He knows that even the seniors at Ashford are no match for him in a one on one fight. He has to make the fight about pride. It is pride that causes people to act foolish. The more pride someone has the more willing they are to make fools of themselves. Lelouch leads them to a nice isolated area.

"You guys can come out now. I think we are alone."

Three boys walk in between Lelouch and the student council clubhouse. Lelouch smirks as they do this. Like it matters he will beat one at a time. Their pride won't allow them to fight any other way at least that is what he believes. He recognizes them as members of last year's student council. Milly's election as student council president was a sure thing. But who knew that her friends would become popular. Now they were in essence her slaves/minions.

The three boys were scowling. Their leader, the earl's son, steps forward.

"We don't like you, Lamperouge. I think it is time that you were taught some humility."

Lelouch laughs, "You can try if you wish."

The earl's son steps closer to Lelouch. He nods to his friends. It is a signal for them to stay out of this for now. Reginald was the guy's name, Lelouch thought. As they come closer together, Lelouch thinks that it is time to settle everything in this school. One fight and he would probably be left alone for a while. Of course whenever a new student came that could change. Reginald charges in. Unlike most of Lelouch's previous fights this time he was facing a much larger opponent.

Then there was a lot of commotion behind Reginald. His two friends are on the floor. Standing above them were Kallen and Nunnally holding field hockey sticks. Evelyn is standing behind them jumping around holding her own little stick.

Nunnally spits on one of the boys. "No cheating in this fight."

Reginald turns pale. Of course they planned on jumping Lelouch at the same time. Reginald turns and lunges at Lelouch. He manages to dodge the attack. Even though Lelouch is a better fighter, he can tell Reginald is no slouch. He certainly is no weakling. Lelouch gets a few hits in but so does Reginald. They are for the most part body shots.

Gino comes running. He goes to jump into the fight with Lelouch. Sure Lelouch has handled bigger people than himself but this is different. This fight isn't going to end easy. Lelouch is too cocky a fighter. He doesn't believe that anyone at Ashford can take him on. As Gino begins to walk towards Lelouch, Suzaku stops him shaking his head. Gino tries to shrug him off but Nunnally stands in front of Gino holding a stick. Gino wants to yell. This is no the time to be prideful.

Lelouch is not having such an easy time fighting Reginald. The guy is stronger than Lelouch figured. Lelouch kept a track of what was happening over at Ashford. Reginald's name never came up in anything but the student council. Reginald kicks towards Lelouch. Lelouch dodges the kick and decides to duck under his opponent. If he was as tall as Gino, this would never work. As Lelouch slips under his opponent he grabs his leg and trips him up.

Reginald falls down and is on all fours. To add insult Lelouch kicks him in the butt. Reginald stands up. He appears to be angry. Really Lelouch has been toying with the older boy. Reginald tries to kick Lelouch again. Lelouch dodges and goes down to make the same move again. This time Reginald is ready, and he brings his leg down at Lelouch. Lelouch dodges his attack. Reginald drops down to his knees to grab Lelouch. Lelouch was expecting this move. He quickly stands up and brings his leg back.

Lelouch knows that it is not proper but he sees no other way to end this fight without crippling the boy. Lelouch swings his leg with all his force at Reginald's private area. Lelouch then spin kicks him in the face. Reginald drops to the floor. By this time his two friends are up but are outnumbered. Of course Nunnally and Kallen are still holding their sticks, and they know how to use them.

Finally some adults come over to see what the commotion is about. Naturally they expected to find the Lamperouge kids at the center of the commotion. They also know better than to ask any questions. They quietly take the three boys away. They will probably be expelled or punished severely.

Once again Ruben Ashford has to cover up Lelouch beating up a student. Once again it is not his fault. The other students decided to attack Lelouch. There was very little he could do. Of course he could have the boy and his sisters expelled. They would most likely return to the mainland. Milly would probably go back as well. Who knows what would happen to Ashford Academy? It's only saving grace is that it is not located in Britannia. Ruben Ashford sighs as he begins to cover up the incident.

After the incident Lelouch has a talk with his security team. He really has no choice. They felt like he takes too many risks. Maybe he is. He looks them over. Obviously he is familiar with Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta. Of course at the moment Kewell and Villetta are in Area 10 watching the facility, Lelouch is also a little familiar with Alice, Nunnally's friend/bodyguard. Of course there is Miss Lohmeyer, the bitch who has to make sure that everything is proper in the house. She is really upset that Lelouch has returned.

Then there are the new additions to the team. First off is Colonel Madd. He is this medical cybernetics. Lelouch did some checking up on the man and discovered that he is working on human-knightmare interface. Also that the other new members of the security team are part of Colonel Madd's Irregulars. Well technically they work under General Bartley, but the unfortunately the obese man is working as Clovis's advisor at the moment. Lelouch has no doubt that the colonel is here to get funding and backing for a new type of knightmare. He will have to work on finessing the new girls. After all finessing girls is one of Lelouch's specialties. Well according to Gino, it is.

Lelouch looks over at the new girls. He can tell Miss Lohmeyer is even more unhappy about this turn of events. The three girls are standing near Alice. Lelouch wonders if Alice is also part of the Irregulars. The first girl and probably the field leader of the team is Sancia. She has black hair and light purple eyes. She is a sophomore so Lelouch surmises that her primary objective is to watch over Milly. The other two girls are blonde. Lucretia is light skinned and has dark blue eyes. She is in the same grade as Lelouch. She is probably keeping an eye on Kallen. Dalque is dark skinned and has big hazel eyes. She is in the same grade as Euphemia.

Lelouch presumes that Gino is here to keep an eye out on him. Gino may be a little young for it now, but Lelouch suspects that a nomination to the Knights of the Round may be in Ginos' future. After all it has happened to two the royal children's bodyguards already. The current Knights of Five and Twelve were once stationed in this very household. Lelouch sighs as he gets an earful from everyone. When they are done scolding him, he tells them to shut and go to sleep. There is only one master in this house, and he sleeps on Death Note sheets and an Orhime/Tatsuki pillowcase.

As he goes up to his room, Lelouch wonders what happened to Kewell's sister Marika but remembers that she is at Los Angeles Military Academy. He also remembers that she was kind of cute. Maybe she could come back to the house. Then Lelouch can begin forming an all female crew. He just needs to get rid of Colonel Madd, Jeremiah, Kewell, and Lloyd. Well not Lloyd because that guy is a genius. Maybe Lelouch could put a wig and a dress on him. Lelouch bets that Lloyd wouldn't even notice. Lelouch begins to laugh on the way to his room. He better keep these thoughts to himself because if Kallen finds out about his plan, she will probably use him as a punching bag.

**Friday September 21, 2014**

Today is the first day of Ashford Academy's End of Summer Bummer Festival. It will actually encompass the entire weekend. Milly has planned a weekend full of activities. One of her activities is to create a pizza two meters in diameter. There will be lots of other Milly wackiness. They are working on the finishing touches for the festival. The student council and a few friends have been excused from their classes to help out.

Lelouch is little glad that he does not have to attend his classes. He does not mind the advanced classes since most students in those classes don't know him personally. Of his friends only Lucretia, Kallen and Nina are in his advanced classes. It is the other classes such gym, home economics, homeroom. In those he has to put up with Rivalz, Shirley, Gino, and Suzaku.

The first day of the festival is calm. There are several games and booths. As members of the student council they have to attend their booths. This year they have a kissing booth, but they decide to have it operated by upperclassmen. The big events are reserved for Saturday. With all that has been going on the entire security team is at the festival. Suzaku and Nunnally have even invited their senseis and some of their dojo mates. Like all Ashford festivals it is open to everyone. The first day ends early with promises of more to come tomorrow.

Lelouch and his friends spend the night in the student council clubhouse. Milly gathers them in a large living room downstairs. She lights up the fire place and turns off the lights for effect. As she does this, Lelouch and Kallen go off to get snacks. Everybody takes a seat. Milly begins to tell her trademarked scary stories. Euphemia cuddles up next to Suzaku. Nunnally slides up next to Alice. Nina leans into Shirley. Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque get close to each other. Having no one to snuggle with Rivalz slides next to Gino.

Milly begins to tell her story. It some story that she heard from Sayoko. Well Euphemia heard it from Sayoko and she told it to Milly. She isn't really telling it correctly. Euphemia frowns as Milly begins to confuse story facts. Lelouch and Kallen come back carrying trays full of snacks. They are not being very quiet about it. Lelouch decides to sit next to Gino that way Kallen can sit on the other side and neither of his sisters can sit by him. Luckily the kids are back at the house with Jeremiah or well lucky for them not Jeremiah or Miss Lohmeyer. Lelouch sets what he is carrying down on a table. He taps Gino on the shoulder. Gino screams and runs out of the room followed by Rivalz. Lelouch shakes his head.

"Um there are snack and drinks here for everyone. I better go get those two."

Milly comes over to Lelouch. "Do you need any help? Who knows where they could have gone?"

Lelouch sighs, "No, I know where they are."

Lelouch figures that Rivalz is probably in the student council room hiding under Milly's chair. Lelouch walks into the room. Stupid Rivalz didn't even bother to lock the door. All the doors at Ashford are automatic, but that function can be turned off. There are codes to make the doors non-automatic meaning one has to slide them open or push a button to open them. Then there are codes to lock the doors. Well Rivalz did not do any of that so the door opened when Lelouch approached it.

Lelouch decides to mess with Rivalz some more. He leaves the light off and approaches his friend quietly. Rivalz is sitting there clutching the chair with his eyes closed. Lelouch kneels down behind him and whispers in his ear.

"What's going on Rivalz?"

That makes the blue haired boy jump up and run out of the room.

"Rivalz stop. It is just me, Lelouch."

Rivalz stops and turns on the light. He sees Lelouch kneeling on the floor smiling. Rivalz hangs his head.

"Rivalz just go back to the room. Everybody is eating snacks and waiting for us."

Rivalz goes back to the room where his friends are. He joins them feeling a little embarrassed. Not just because he ran out after Lelouch touched him and Gino but because he forgot to stick around and defend Milly. How was she supposed to fall for him now? Milly is not paying attention to Rivalz. She is talking to Nunnally and Suzaku about some more classic Japanese horror stories.

Outside Lelouch is looking for Gino. Gino normally does one of two things when scarred. He digs a hole to hide in or he climbs a tree. Lelouch does not see any holes but sees plenty of trees. Only a few are big enough to conceal Gino. This time Lelouch cuts right to the chase. It is chilly outside.

"Gino, stop being stupid and get down from the tree."

Lelouch gets closer to a tree but then notices movement behind him. Lelouch sighs and goes back into the clubhouse. Once inside Lelouch notices that Milly is helping Nunnally and Euphemia get ready to tell their scary story. Everybody is still sitting where they were before only now Gino is sitting next to Kallen trying to snuggle up with her. When Milly is done helping the royal sisters, she goes to sit down. Conveniently there is a space next to Rivalz. She ignores it and plops herself in between Gino and Kallen. She pushes Gino for being stupid and putting a pause in their fun. She forces Gino further to the side so that Lelouch can sit between herself and Kallen. Lelouch does as ordered by the student council president.

Euphemia and Nunnally begin their story. Sayoko told them about a mysterious video that causes whoever watches it to be killed in a week. Sayoko claims that it happened to her cousin, Kagome. Nunnally pulls out the disk.

"Okay so if you don't want to watch this you can leave the room now."

Shirley and Nina leave the room. Rivalz gulps when he notices that no one else is leaving. Nunnally plays the video. It starts with the message: "Watch until the end, you will be eaten by the lost."

It is a video of several disturbing images. The video ends with this message: "You, who watched this video, are going to die in one week from now. There's only one way to survive. And that is-" The video stops there.

After the video Gino laughs nervously. "That's a scary story guys."

Everybody else looks a little scared. They must have done this to get back at him and Rivalz for their cheap attempt at trying to sit with the girls. Gino shrugs his shoulders. He looks over at the time.

"It's still early guys. What else do you have planned?"

Milly frowns, "Well I had planned to show some horror flick, but I guess that won't work on you."

Gino shakes his head. Nunnally thinks about something else.

"Hey guys Sayoko told us about this old abandoned house."

Lelouch shrugs. "That sounds interesting. It's still early. We don't have to do anything until tomorrow afternoon. Let's go."

Not everybody else is so excited about this idea. Milly however knows what to do.

"Come on we are the student council. We have to be an example to all the students of ours school."

Rivalz whines, "Ah madam president, what are you talking about? What about the other members of the student council."

Milly shakes her head, "No, no, now is not the time to be afraid. It is time for," she pauses as she prepares to continue. Those that worked with Milly in the jr high student council know what is coming up next. "It is time for GUTS!"

The stories didn't get to Gino, but Milly's yelling sure did.

Gino questions, "What was that?"

Lelouch shrugs. "I don't know."

Kallen answers, "That is Milly's guts magic spell. She thinks that it will inspire us to work harder or do what she wants."

As Kallen explains this, Shirley comes into the room with a bag full of snacks ready to go. For some reason the guts spell always works on her. Nina follows her. She normally does whatever Milly tells her to do. Eventually everybody decides to go. The house isn't that far so they follow Nunnally to the location.

Despite being abandoned the house is in good shape. It does happen to be next to a graveyard. However the graveyard appears to be very well lit so that won't work. They decide to stay in the house. Euphemia and Nunnally begin to tell the tale of the house. They tell about how certain people died in the house which caused its abandonment. Yet the house is not closed off and everything inside appears to be in perfect order. So much for the abandoned, suicide, murder, haunted house theory.

Euphemia looks around and says very weakly, "Maybe the ghosts are neat freaks."

Gino laughs, "Ya that's probably it."

Lelouch looks around. "Alright we should divide up into teams."

Everybody nods. Milly looks at the group. "Okay since there are four guys. We should have four teams."

Rivalz counts three guys: Lelouch, Gino, and Suzaku. Then he thinks about it and gulps. He is the fourth guy. Then he smiles. Maybe this time he will be alone with Milly and can show her how brave he is.

Suzaku looks at the options. He knows that Euphemia and Nunnally have set up something with Sayoko here. Sayoko is pretty meticulous. She probably cleaned the house up. If he picks Euphie, he knows that he is going to have to select Shirley. That won't work. If he picks Nunnally, then he has to select Alice.

Lelouch raises his hand. "Why don't we make this interesting?"

Milly looks intrigued, "What do you mean?"

Lelouch grins, "Well the team with the most members inside the house in the morning wins."

"What do they win?"

"Whatever they want from the other teams for a week."

Now Rivalz is confused about what to do. Sure he can have Milly with him tonight, but if his team wins he can have Milly do whatever he wants for a week.

Gino smiles, "Alright since my name is first alphabetically, I should pick first."

Lelouch shakes his head. "Um no Weinberg is last. Cardemonde is first."

Nunnally grins at Suzaku, "Why don't you guys fight for it."

Gino's smile goes away. "Fine Lelouch goes first."

Lelouch sighs, "No, we will go alphabetically: Cardemonde, Kururugi, Lamperouge, Weinberg. So Rivalz pick someone."

Rivalz makes the obvious choice. "Milly."

Milly runs over to Rivalz high-fiving him.

Suzaku picks next. "Nunnally."

Nunnally runs over and high-fives Suzaku. She begins the trash talk. "Oh yea Team Tohdoh Dojo is going to kick ass."

Lelouch makes the obvious choice for him. "Kallen."

Gino frowns. He doesn't know any of the other girls but decides to piss Lelouch off a little.

"Euphie."

Euphie shrugs and goes over to Gino. At least Rivalz didn't pick her.

Milly selects for Rivalz. "Nina."

Suzaku makes the only choice that won't earn him an ass whooping. "Alice."

Lelouch looks at his options. He has Kallen. Euphie would have been his second choice. Kallen mouths the words, not Shirley. He goes with someone he knows decently.

"Um Lucretia."

Gino can't decide. He knows these girls even less. Well at least Shirley is cute. Maybe something can happen there.

"Shirley."

There are two extra girls so they decide to play rock, paper, scissors. Gino declines to play because he doesn't want to torture anyone with Lelouch's explanation about why a certain person picked what they picked. Rivalz also declines because he has what he wants. Lelouch decides to select Sancia. Leaving Dalque to Suzaku.

Before separating they decide that those that leave the yard are going to have to do something embarrassing in front of the entire school. They decide to make some rules and split the house. The main rule is that they are not allowed to physically incapacitate a member of another team and drag them out of the house. Also the teams with four members need to have one more person survive to win. Lelouch takes his team to the second floor. Suzaku also take his team to the second floor. He is really following Nunnally's lead. Milly takes her team to another location on the first floor.

Gino decides that his team is going to stay where they are. This way they can see everyone run out. Gino is pretty secure but now thinks that he should have selected another girl because Euphie and Shirley are already talking his ear off. So much for making out with Shirley. He knows that Rivalz isn't getting anywhere with Milly. Suzaku is with some younger girls. Of course they are tough and will be ready for anything. He wonders what Lelouch is doing.

Rivalz sits down and begins to eat his snack. Milly and Nina are sitting across the room from him. Damn Rivalz should have picked one of those other girls. Nina is so damn dependant on Milly. Rivalz looks over at the time and notices that it is close to midnight. He looks out the window and notices some figures. He wonders what they could be. One of the figures pulls out a katana ands slices through the other one. Then the figure looks up at Rivalz and points the katana at him. Rivalz freaks out and runs out of the house. He runs for the clubhouse.

After Rivals runs out, Nina goes to the window he was looking out. There is nothing out there.

"What is it Nina?'

Nina turns towards Milly. "Nothing."

"Well maybe that stupid boy is just a scaredy cat."

Milly walks over to Nina. "Well now we are alone. We can have some fun. Let's just get this stuffy clothes off."

Milly begins to undress and signals for Nina to do the same.

Outside a certain green haired girl is peeking through the window. She looks in and sees the blonde haired girl push the smaller black haired on to the ground. The blonde puts her head between the other girl's legs. After a few moments of this the blonde girl turns around so her privates are over the smaller girl's face. After a few moments of getting eaten out by the smaller girl. The blonde lies down on the floor and signals for the smaller girl to get on top. The smaller complies and both girls continue to eat each other out. The green haired girl decides to keep looking. She knows that that stupid boy is around here somewhere.

After Nunnally explains everything to Suzaku, they decide to go to sleep. Alice and Dalque stay awake to keep watch. In reality they are looking out for the second part of their mission. Their main priority is to protect the royal children, but they also have two targets they need to capture. By all indications they are in Japan at the moment. Things would be a lot easier for them if Britannian would have simply conquered the island nation, but the Irregulars are not politicians.

Lelouch and Kallen look out the window. They see a few figures out there. One of them impales the other with a katana. Then the figure points the katana towards a downstairs' window.

Kallen nods. "Must be Sayoko. I'm pretty sure that Nunna and Euphie got her to set this up."

Lelouch shrugs and looks over to Lucretia and Sancia who are standing on alert. Kallen sits down and signals for Lelouch to come down with him. Lelouch keeps looking out the window as Sayoko and whoever are cleaning up and head off for their next prank. Then something catches Lelouch's eye. A sort of familiar figure comes walking through the yard. He smiles as Kallen drags him down.

Lucretia looks at Lelouch and Kallen. "Are you guys dating?"

Before Lelouch can answer, Kallen does, "Yes, yes we are."

Lelouch shrugs as Kallen pulls him in for a kiss. Sancia and Lucretia sit down and appear to doze off.

Downstairs Gino, Shirley, and Euphemia stare after Rivalz as he runs out of the house.

Gino shrugs, "What up with that guy?"

A million thoughts begin to form in Shirley's head. Maybe it was just Rivalz's overactive imagination. The three of them head over towards the back of the house where they think that Milly and Nina are. They reach a locked door. They lean in to listen to what is going ton inside. They hear muffled sounds. Another million thoughts begin to form in Shirley's mind as to the source of the sounds.

Euphie gulps, "I wonder what is going on in there?"

"Those two girls are going at it."

"What to you mean?"

Gino feels something grab in in the butt and crotch."You know going at it."

They turn around and see a green haired girl with a funny red mark on her forehead. Gino gulps. They wonder where she came from. She is still fondling Gino's private parts.

"Hey big boy how about we join them in that room?"

Gino runs away. It is one thing to think about getting lucky with a girl. It is a whole other thing to have one proposition you like that. Especially one that appears so experienced yet appears to be so young.

The green haired girl reaches out for Shirley. "Oh well how about we make it an all girl party."

Shirley freaks and makes a run for it. As she reaches the door of the house, she sees Gino on the ground atop what appears to by Sensei Sayoko. She is wearing a funny costume. Gino gets up and continues his run. Shirley follows after him.

Back inside Euphemia is left alone with the green haired girl. "Hey I'm Euphie."

The green haired girl looks at her. "I'm CC."

"Hm, that's an interesting name. So what are you doing here?"

CC looks at Euphie. "Hey, you are the pink haired girl."

Euphie nods.

"You know Lelouch. Where is he?"

"Um Lelouch, he went upstairs."

Euphie leads CC up the stairs to look for Lelouch. They gently open one door. Inside they can see Suzaku and Nunnally huddled up on a blanket. Dalque and Alice are doing some kind of sparing. Euphie waves at CC to follow her. They go down the hallway towards another room. They open the door to another room. They see Lelouch and Kallen cuddling on one side of the room. Sancia and Lucretia are sleeping on the other side of the room. CC walks in and goes towards Lelouch.

Dalque notices that the door opens slightly and sees a flash of pink hair. It must be Euphemia checking up on them. As Dalque turns back to face Alice, she sees a flash of green. Could it be her? Why would CC choose this moment to contact Lelouch? Dalque signals for Alice to follow her.

Lelouch stands up when CC approaches him. She ignores him and goes towards Kallen. Lelouch's attention is drawn to the door. Alice and Dalque walk into the room. They go over and wake up Sancia and Lucretia. Lelouch notices the four girls staring at CC.

"Is there a problem here?"

Sancia answers for her comrades. "No problem your highness. We will handle the situation." She signals for Alice to make her move.

Kallen sees the four girls standing by the door. The green haired girl is standing in front of her looking into her eyes. The green haired girl being to talk but somehow Kallen can feel the words inside her.

"I offer you power. It is a contract. In return for the power you will grant one of my wishes. If you agree to the contract, you will live as human, but different from other humans. A different source, a different time, a different life… The power of the King will make you isolated."

As she speaks Kallen begins to see images of different worlds and lives. Are these her lives? How is this possible, she thinks?

She continues. "If you are prepared for that. You will gain the power to help Lelouch."

Kallen blinks at this. Help Lelouch. Of course that is what Kallen needs to do.

"I accept."

She sees everything slow down. She sees that at the moment that the green haired girl is touching her and giving her this power she is also touching Lelouch. Suddenly Kallen is behind Lelouch holding him. She sees Alice running towards them. Lelouch seems frozen. Kallen ponders this for a moment but decides to act. She kicks Alice in the face. Alice falls back.

Dalque sees CC and Kallen talking. She moves in behind Alice the moment that she hears Kallen accept the contract. Somehow Kallen is able to get past Alice's geass and kicks her. Dalque moves in and activates her geass. Her geass is called the Power and gives her strength. Somehow Kallen is able to overcome her.

Sancia and Lucretia look on as Alice and Dalque are defeated by Kallen. They decide to leave. Their geasses will be of no use here but Lelouch is already there in front of them. He backs them up over to where Alice and Dalque are.

"Kallen, do you know what type of geass you have?"

She timidly answers, "Geass. I don't know they just came at you and I stopped them."

CC has an answer for him. "Her desire is to help you in any way possible. I figure she has the geass of no geass."

Lelouch ponders CC's answer. "Oh I see. Her power is that she is unaffected by other's geass abilities," Lelouch shrugs his shoulders, "Well it is an interesting power to say the least. Euphie, CC can you help Kallen lift those two girls up and hold the others."

Euphie leaps at the chance to help her brother. CC sighs and decides to help as well. Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, and Alice are standing before Lelouch.

He looks at them. "Keep their eyes open and close yours just in case."

CC knows she doesn't have to close her eyes so she is able to help a little better.

"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you to obey my every command. From now on you will be my slaves."

The four girls struggle at first but them Lelouch's geass overtakes them. Lelouch signals for them to be released. The four girls stand up and then kneel before Lelouch.

Sancia speaks for all of them. "Command us your majesty."

"Take a seat in the corner. I will deal with you in while."

The girls do as they are told.

Lelouch sighs, "Well that takes care of that I will have to handle them later."

He looks over at Euphie. "Hey what happened downstairs?"

Euphie answers, "Well Rivalz, Gino, and Shirley ran off."

"I see. What about Nina and Milly?"

"I think they are still here."

Lelouch shrugs, "Well I better go check up on them. CC, do you mind coming with me. Kallen stay up here and watch Euphie."

Kallen nods as Lelouch walks over to the four girls in the corner.

He grins, "Until I return the four of you are under the command of Euphie. Is that clear?"

The four girls nod. Lelouch and CC walk down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs are two Zombie looking creatures.

Lelouch smiles and bows, "You must be Sensei Sayoko. It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you. I think you can pack up and go."

Lelouch and CC continue to walk towards the room where Milly and Nina are. Lelouch leans in to listen. He hears some muffled noises and gasps. Well he should have expected something like this. He pulls out his LL Technologies Digimax camera. He kicks the door open and begins to snap away. At first the Milly and Nina are slow to react. Well Milly does not react at all. Nina is the one that begins to cover up. CC closes the door behind them. After getting what he needs Lelouch grins.

"Well Milly my love, I guess I have what I need."

He looks over at Nina. "You better finish satisfying Milly because the consequences are not going to be good."

Lelouch leads CC back up the stairs. When they reach the room, all six girls look over at Lelouch. Five of them have dreamy looks in their eyes. One looks a little angry.

Lelouch scowls, "I should have commanded them to go to sleep."

After Lelouch and CC left to go check up on Milly and Nina, Euphie gathered all their girls together for some girl talk. It turns out that they all have something in common. They all like Lelouch. Kallen could tell that it was not the effect of Lelouch's geass. The four girls genuinely liked Lelouch. Sancia began to like him while talking to Milly about him. Lucretia began to like him because he was always nice to her in their classes. Dalque began to like him because all Euphie ever talked about was her brother, Lulu. Alice began to like him a while back when she noticed that Lelouch cared a lot about Nunnally.

Lelouch stares at them. "Wait what are you talking about?"

CC slaps him in the head. "So what you saw downstairs does not faze you bit finding out that four very cute girls like you does."

Lelouch begins to sputter.

"Well at least you can have them all because you are a prince."

Lelouch begins to cough. Before Kallen can do it, Euphemia clears her throat loudly. Lelouch finally regains his composure. It was one thing to marry Kallen and Milly, but it is something completely different to marry half a dozen more girls. Kallen is still glaring at him while the other girls look up at him still with a dreamy look.

All the noise wakes up Suzaku and Nunnally who come over. Nunnally yawns.

"Hey what's going on here?"

Euphie shrugs, "I guess the house wasn't scary enough."

Nunnally frowns, "But it looked so cool yesterday. Why does Sensei Sayoko have to be such a neat freak?"

Soon Milly and Nina join them. Nina is visibly blushing. Euphemia and Kallen want to know what was going on downstairs. Their interest is peaked even more by CC's comments.

Milly looks over and sees CC. "Who is that?"

Euphemia answers, "Her name is CC. She is here because." Euphie pauses because she has no idea why the green haired girl is here. "Why are you here?"

CC pulls out a flyer for the big pizza that will part of the festival tomorrow.

"Lelouch told me about this."

Well that gets everybody's attention. They want to know where Lelouch met this girl. Lelouch avoids the question and thinks it would be a good idea if everyone went to sleep. At this order Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, and Alice go to sleep. Lelouch is going to have to question them tomorrow. Since Lelouch is not giving any answers they decide to go to sleep. Nunnally and Euphemia go over to Lelouch and cuddle up with him. Everybody else just finds an open spot to sleep in.

Back at the student council clubhouse. Rivalz is once again hiding in the student council room. Gino and Shirley have gotten over their initial shock. They also feel a little silly for having run away from the house. They wonder what is going to happen now that they lost.

* * *

Author's note: So a month into his freshmen year of high school and Lelouch has established himself as the apha male. We will see how long that lasts. The end of this chapter turned a little different than I had planned. I want to thank Ai-no-tsubasa and slices for their scary story suggestions. I guess I kind of went in a slightly different direction but might use the ideas later. Nunnally's video is based on The Ring. The quotes are from the book. I guess I don't own the Ring either.

They might go camping later on. How about the First Annual Milly Ashford 'Discover Yourself Winter Camporee' or the First Annual Milly Ashford 'Getting to know the real you Summer Campfest'. What about these ideas Lelouch Lamperouge's Discovering your inner Vigilante Camporama, Kallen Stadtfelds's Falling in love with a megalomaniac prince/vigilante with a major sister complex Summer Jamboree, Kyoshiro Tohdoh's Making time for your inner samurai, Shirley Fennette and Rivalz Cardemonde's How to get that popular teen you are in love with to notice you Summer Seminar, CC's Pizza through the ages Eatoroma, or Suzaku Kururugi's Tutorial on how to make a best friend then betray him then join up with him only to kill him as part of some crazy plan to bring peace to the world.

Anybody else get bored and begin to Google random Code Geass characters. Did you know that Marika Soresi, Lilliana Vergamon, and Zhou Xianglin have fan clubs and pages? Where are the Dorothea Ernst and Monica Kruszewski fan sites? What about Hong Gu or Kallen's mother? Why don't they have fan sites? I mean she gave birth to Kallen. Hell even the older Ashfords deserve a fan site. They give birth to half of Milly's DNA. Whoever made Kallen and CC's Black Knight uniforms and combat suits needs their own fan site as well.

I wonder if the three girls who ran the systems on the Ikaruga have their own fansite. One of them has purple hair. I have ever mentioned that I love pink and purple hair. I have this whole theory/rant about hair color and Code Geass characters. But I will save it for later.

So I have most of the parts for the Ashford Fall cosplay show. It will based on Bleach at the end of the Hueco Mundo arc part one. Rivalz, Kewell, and Rakshata don't have parts yet. Most of the important characters are taken care of except for Yasutora 'Chad' Sado, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Ikkaku Madarame Yumichika Ayasegawa, Jūshirō Ukitake, Ganju Shiba, Kūkaku Shiba, and a lot of the Espada. Some of the roles will be filled by miscellaneous Ashford students.

Some of the parts already decided are: Ichigo-Lelouch, Orihime-Shirley, Tatsuki-Kallen, Rangiku-Milly, Karin and Yuzu-Nunnally and Alice, Aizen-Suzaku, Gin-Gino, Yoruichi Shihōin -Villetta Nu.

I have others also cast, but they are a surprise. If you have any suggestions, send me a message or review. Also did you guys know that Asahina Shogo loves manga and anime? If you are a regular reviewer and want to know the full cast list I will give to you to get your opinion.

Despite its name the next chapter or the one after that is not Milly-centric. It will however be Milly's crazy ideas-centric.


	25. Pizza, control, knightmares, and cosplay

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Who and what the Irregulars are will also be explained in case someone does not know who they are. Oh ya the Irregulars are not his slaves in the manner many of you are probably thinking because Kallen would kill him. At the moment they are his slaves in the same manner as his soldiers at the end of season 2. Think of the Irregulars sort of like Rolo. They have been separated from their families and don't know anything other than the life they have been leading. Of course all this changes the moment they met Lelouch.

_Italics mean Japanese._

* * *

Pizza is good for you.

CC

Castor and Pollux vi Britannia

The Black Prince coloring book

Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

* * *

Cosplay is the greatest thing to ever come out of Japan besides karaoke.

Clovis la Britannia

Princely Fashion for the economically and fashionably challenged

Neo-Pendragon Press 2025

**

* * *

**

Saturday September 22, 2014

In the morning they all walk back to Ashford. Milly, Kallen and Nina are in the front. Suzaku and Nunnally are walking together. She is telling him about all the stuff Sayoko had planned for last night. Euphemia is draped on Lelouch's arm. Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, and Alice are walking obediently behind Lelouch. Gino, Shirley, and Rivalz are waiting nervously for everyone in front of the clubhouse.

Nunnally goes over and pushes Rivalz. "Yeah we won sucka."

Euphemia shakes her head. Nunnally has to stop watching so many raps videos. Lelouch clears his throat loudly.

Nunnally shrugs her shoulder. "Okay big brother's team won too."

The other losers go over to join the teammates.

Lelouch looks over at the losers. "So how do we do this? Maybe we should get one team as slaves and you guys get the others."

Nunnally nods. "Good idea big brother. Let's fight for it."

Lelouch shakes his head. "No, you pick first Suzaku."

Suzaku looks over his options. On the one hand Gino can help him with his yard work. But the other team has Nina.

"Well we only need Rivalz and Nina. You can have Milly."

Lelouch considers this. "Well what if we get Milly and you can have Gino."

Suzaku nods and they shake hands on it.

Nunnally squeals, "Jackpot."

They look at her in confusion.

"Duh Nina can do our homework."

Lelouch groans, "You only get them for a week."

Suzaku's team walks away with their 'slaves' for the week. Lelouch looks over at his team's 'slaves'.

"I have things to do you guys can keep them."

Lelouch goes into the student council clubhouse. Kallen, Sancia, and Lucretia look at Euphemia, Milly, and Shirley.

Kallen grins, "I call Euphie."

Lucretia yells out, "I got Shirley."

Leaving Sancia to order Milly around as if that is going to work. Euphemia sighs. She knows what Kallen is going to order her to do or not to do. They all go into the clubhouse to rest some more. After all this afternoon is going to be busy. Milly and Shirley are allowed to run off. The others go into the clubhouse to look for Lelouch. They find him on one of the rooms upstairs. It appears to be a neatly organized bedroom. Lelouch appears to be very comfortable.

"Euphie, can you leave us alone for a little bit?"Euphemia frowns. Lately Lelouch has been spending more time with her. She realizes that he must have his reasons and will explain it all later. She kisses him on the cheek and skips away. Lelouch considers having Kallen leave but decides against it. He plops himself down on the bed.

"Ow! Why are you flopping yourself on my bed?"

Lelouch turns around and sees CC on the bed.

"It's actually my bed."

Kallen considers this. Why would Lelouch need a room here at Ashford? She can see that Lucretia and Sancia are uncomfortable with the presence of the green haired girl, CC. Kallen is not all too happy with her being on the bed with Lelouch. She is almost willing to let Sancia and Lucretia have the green haired girl. Kallen goes over to sit next to Lelouch. CC grins as the red head comes over to in essence mark her territory. Throughout her lifetime CC has managed to pick up a few things here and there, but today does not appear to be the day to mess with her new contractee. Lelouch ignores CC and Kallen. He looks at the two other girls.

"Sit down here in front of me."

Lucretia goes over immediately. She looks up at Lelouch in expectation of what he has to say. Sancia comes over grudgingly. Lelouch take mental note of it. It is the first time that he has commanded someone to obey his every command. Up to this point most of his commands have been simple one time commands. He has tested a few for duration. He feels Kallen wrap her arms around him.

"Okay, tell me why you are here in Japan. I want to know everything."

With no hesitation Sancia begins to talk. "We are members of the Britannian Special Honorary Foreign Legion. Also know as the Irregulars. Our primary mission is to protect the royal children and the two future royal consorts," she pauses, "Our secondary mission is to capture two targets. Target number one is CC also known as the immortal witch. The second target is one of her contractees, Mao."

Lelouch considers this. "Are you saying that Mao is in Japan?"

"Yes by all indications he is traveling throughout the country side at the moment."

"Tell me about your geass abilities."

"Alice has an ability called The Speed. It enables her to move a high rate in comparison to everything around her. Dalque has an ability known as The Power. It augments her physical strength. Lucretia has an ability called The Land. She can map the terrain of a given area. I have an ability called The Order. I am able to accurately identify the positions of targets within a given range and precisely calculate their probable movement trajectories based on all known variables. Our abilities can also help augment our knightmares."

Lelouch considers this. Up until now all his knowledge of geass made him believe that the power only had to do with the mind. Here were four very unusual abilities. Of course with the right knightmare design the four could form an almost unstoppable team. The other side would need to have their own geass users.

"Well that will be all for now. You may leave."

Sancia and Lucretia begin to leave the room. Lucretia seems to be considering whether to leave or stay. Lelouch sees this.

"Lucretia, come back there are a few things I need to go over with you. And Sancia do not tell anyone that you are under my control."

Sancia nods and leaves the room. Lucretia comes back and sits in front of Lelouch happily. Lelouch wants to test a few things.

"Kalli, go over in front of Lucretia. We need to do some tests on your geass."

Kallen reluctantly does as she is told. She wants to help Lelouch but things have gotten weird. She sits down in front of the blonde girl. She wishes that these girls would just go away. Milly and Euphemia, she can deal with. Then there is Lelouch's strange command to them.

"Kalli, command her to disregard my command."

Kallen sighs as she looks Lucretia in the eyes. "Disregard Lelouch's command to obey him."

Lucretia stares off for a moment. She then focuses back on Lelouch.

Lelouch considers what to do. "Lucretia do some push ups."

Lucretia twists her mouth. "Why? Are we having some kind of competition?"

Lelouch smiles. So Kallen's geass not only cancels out others geass, but it gives her the ability to cancel his geass commands on others. He also notices that Sancia has been fighting his command but for some reason she answered him almost instantly when he asked her about their mission. Kallen sits back on the bed with Lelouch. CC is still lying there. Lelouch signals for Lucretia to come towards him. She kneels down between his legs. Lelouch begins to stroke her hair. She leans into his leg and seems very relaxed. Kallen puts her arms around Lelouch again. He smiles and kisses her on the cheek. He continues to stroke Lucretia's hair and know begins to stroke her cheek.

"Are you going to be a good girl, Lucretia?" He stops stroking her and turns her head to face him. "Or do I have to command you to obey me again."

Lucretia turns away from Lelouch and leans back into his leg.

"I'll be good, brother Lulu. Sancia will be good too. I know she will."

Lelouch smiles as he resumes stroking her hair. In two months time he has managed to ensnare this girl. She may be right about Sancia. Alice was obviously attached to Nunnally. Dalque is the only one that remains. It isn't like he planned it. He was just trying to work the girls so he could get some alone time with Kallen. He also needed to get information about their true mission. For the moment the other three will remain under his control. He will have to find a way to rid himself of Colonel Madd and bring the girls under his direct control. Once their knightmares are built, his force will be near unstoppable. Assuming Kallen doesn't kill him before then. He is going to have to appease his secret girlfriend somehow.

CC looks at the boy playing with his girlfriends. The red head seems to be angry about something. The little blonde appears very content just sitting there between her 'brother's' legs. CC doesn't have time for this. She did her part. She gave the red head geass. Although Mao being somewhere out there is a concern, but the redhead's geass will be enough to combat him. CC begins to wave her flyer.

"When is the pizza?"

Lelouch has a shocked look on his face. He jumps up. As he does Kallen slips and falls on top of Lucretia.

"Holy shit the pizza. Milly is going to kill me. Let's go."

He runs off. Kallen gets up and begins to go after him. Kallen looks back at Lucretia.

"Come on we have to help Lelouch make the pizza."

Lucretia jumps and skips over to Kallen happily. The thought of helping Lelouch makes her happy. CC stares at the girls walk away. As long as she gets pizza everything will be fine.

**Friday September 28, 2014**

Today is Ashford Academy's Fall into Fun Festival. It will once again encompass the entire weekend. Unlike the previous week this festival goes almost as planned. Lelouch notes that the situation with the EU is once again becoming tense. He may have to do something about it. Lelouch has several spies in the mainland. A few are paid. Others are under the control of his special power. Even more important Lelouch has sent s few spies to the EU front. One of his spies is amongst Lucius's advisors. Lelouch decides to have his spy try and push Lucius into moving before Schniezel returns. If anybody saw the grin on Lelouch's face as he does this, they would think that he got lucky with a girl.

**Monday October 1, 2014 **

At the moment Schniezel is in Area 11 meeting secretly with General Bartley. Lelouch also knows that Colonel Madd is also meeting with Schniezel. Technically the colonel is supposed to be in Area 10 going over his knightmare specs with Lloyd and company. Lelouch knows that Colonel Madd is upset with the way that Lelouch is working the Irregulars. Lucretia is practically his. Dalque and Sancia are a little resistant. Of course Alice is wrapped around Nunnally's little finger. There is very little that Alice would not do for Nunnally. Even without his geass command over them, they are their way to being his.

Lelouch wonders when Schniezel will hear about what Lucius is about to do. Either way it will be a few days before Schniezel can even return to Africa. He is in Area 11 to have a few meetings. He is also there to personally pick up his Io knightmares. The trip is a little out of character for Schniezel. Of course it is also classic Schniezel. He is trying to get information from Bartley and Madd about his brothers while he picks up his knightmares.

This way Schniezel seems like a good brother while he tries to gauge the interest of two military and technology oriented men. He also looks good to the knightmare factory workers. Lelouch is going to have to make a visit down to Area 11 himself. It also makes Schniezel look good when he arrives at the front with the knightmares. Even though he is not the creator behind them, he is bringing them to the front.

Lelouch sighs as the looks up at his teacher. He always finds history boring. Since his fight with Reginald a month ago, most of the other students leave him alone. The Ashford cosplay show and convention is coming up so there is still plenty of planning to do. Well it is supposed to be coming up soon, but Milly is really going all out on this one. So it will probably be delayed. Of course Lelouch has bigger problems because CC has decided to stick around for a while. He explains to Kallen and his sisters who CC is. He decides to leave everyone else in the dark about it. Since she is of school age, she is allowed to attend Ashford. From the little he can discover about Mao, he decides that it would be a good idea if Mao were captured.

**Saturday October 20, 2014**

Despite the fact that the war with the EU just started up again, the EU appears to want a ceasefire. Schniezel's arrival with the Io Knightmares a few days ago proved to be the deciding factor. Regardless of Schniezel's disdain for unnecessary fighting, he will have to continue the war for at least a few more weeks. In that manner the ceasefire will benefit Britannia.

They are casting the parts for the fall cosplay show. At least Milly promises to give Lelouch a few weekends off to visit Area 10. If they don't hurry up the fall cosplay show may become the winter cosplay show. For some reason Milly decided to turn the show into a week long event. Ashford will host a cosplay convention. They just don't know when. They split up the auditions to make it easier on them.

After the twelfth very bad Yachiru audition, Suzaku sighs. "Too bad Anya isn't here. She would have made the perfect Yachiru."

Milly frowns, "Well I guess we can scrap Zaraki and Yachiru."

Suzaku looks like he wants to cry, "Oh man I had the perfect Zaraki, and I just had to get him to agree to it."

As they consider their options, Evelyn comes into the room eating a lollipop. Her hair is covered in pink glitter. She decided to Euphienize her hair in an effort to get Lelouch's attention. Her next trick would have been to cut it short, paint it red, and spike it up. Since they have been talking about Yachiru for a few minutes, she decides to act like her. Evelyn hops on the table.

"This way Ken-chan. Look its Ichi."

Evelyn hops around. They stare at her.

Suzaku has an idea. "Maybe Evelyn can do it."

Milly shakes her head. "What do you think Lelouch will say?"

"Um well we need to convince Euphie or Kallen to tell him."

"Hm maybe."

"Come on. This way can get my Zaraki."

Milly considers this. Suzaku has been quiet about who he wants to cast in that role.

"Fine but we also need to cast these other roles as well."

Suzaku grins, "Do you think it was a good idea to put Lelouch and Kallen together on writing a script?"

"Um Shirley and Lucretia are with them."

Suzaku shrugs his shoulders. To make things easier they split up the jobs. Milly, Suzaku, Euphemia, and Rivalz are in charge of casting. Lelouch, Kallen, Shirley, and Lucretia are working on the script. Gino, Nina, Dalque, Nunnally, and Alice are working on organizing the costumes. Despite the fact that it will be mostly a high school production, the jr. high and elementary sections are participating as well.

Off in another part of the clubhouse Lelouch and Kallen are taking a break from writing the script. Lucretia and Shirley are off getting snacks. Lelouch and Kallen are engaging in some light making out. Lelouch's hands keep wandering, but Kallen puts a stop to it. Shirley and Lucretia come back into the room.

"Hey guys, we're back."

Shirley freezes when she sees them kissing. "Um what are you guys doing?"

Lelouch answers brilliantly, "We are rehearsing."

Shirley shrugs. She has never been into Bleach so she has no idea what is supposed to go on. She was told that she would play Orhime Inoue and to just act like herself.

"Okay so are Ichigo and Tatsuki dating?"

"Well they have been good friends since they were children. Maybe we can change the story a little. Why don't you work on that scene Shirley?"

"Okay."

Lelouch knew that childhood friends falling in love is something that Shirley loves. He hopes that Shirley can keep it to a scene. Damn Milly for making this thing a week long event. At least the main characters and scenes were taken care of. Lelouch relaxes a bit. He looks over at Kallen who smiles at him. If only this was all there was to life. After high school, they would go off to college. Get married soon after that. Begin to work at a major corporation and then after that begin to have a family. Lelouch looks over at Shirley. He can hear Rivalz and some of the others outside. He wonders what their plans will be in four years. Lelouch sighs. If only things were so easy. He gets back to his script writing.

**Saturday November 3, 2014 **

**Area 10**

Lelouch wakes up early in the morning. He has decided to make a visit to Area 10 to check up on a few things. The Titan and Europa are still in eastern Africa. He is given the weekend off by Milly to work on a few things here. Kallen is also given the time off. Lelouch assumes that she is already off working with the Callisto. At least he gets a few days reprieve from working on the cosplay show. Part of him wishes he could be in Japan because when Suzaku told him his plan for casting Kenpachi Zaraki, Lelouch wants to see the result.

Lelouch shakes his head. He looks over the results of Cornelia and Nonette's use of the Titan and Europa. Perhaps the Titan is not quite the right knightmare for Cornelia. It is offensive in nature, but Cornelia is much too aggressive for it. She does not make use of any of the long range weapons. Nonnette used the Europa quite but better. Perhaps once the Gloucester in created, Cornelia will have a knightmare that suits her style.

Wisely Lelouch manages to get Colonel Madd to make a trip to the mainland or wherever he reports. Lelouch's spies have not been able to track down Colonel Madd's superiors, but he did return to the mainland. Lelouch takes the opportunity to bring the Irregulars with him to Area 10. He has four Io knightmares that the girls can work with them. Lelouch has done away with his Glasgows and Sutherlands. They have been scrapped for parts or sent off to the EU front. Areas 10 and 12 are protected by Ios. Somehow he has to find a way to adapt the knightmares to the girls' geass abilities.

Lelouch decides to give Cecile Croomy this assignment. Lloyd Apslund and Rakshata Chawla are working on the next part of Lelouch's plan, his Caerleon project. They have certain unique knightmares that they want to see come to life. Lelouch gives some input but decides to let them get to work. Once again the knightmare will be customized for Kallen, Milly, and himself. Maybe he can have something made for Euphemia, Anya, and Nunnally. Euphie's would be mostly for show but if the others get on then she will probably demand on as well. Anya and Nunnally can wait a few years.

Having nothing else to do Lelouch goes to the hangar and decides to take a knightmare out for a spin. Cecile is working with the girls. Lelouch told her a little about their abilities. He had to carefully command Cecile not to tell anyone. Of all the geass commands Lelouch has given, the one he gave to Cecile is the trickiest. He had to tell her a little about geass. He called it genetic manipulation. Now that he thinks about it perhaps that is what was done to the Irregulars. There geass powers are quite unlike others he has encountered or heard of. Well then again his knowledge of geass is limited.

He smiles at them as he boards a knightmare. Lloyd and Rakshata are off in another part of the complex working with their teams on designing the new knightmares. Lelouch knows that they have some ideas already. He takes the knightmare out. Now to find Kallen. Just as he thought, she was out on the obstacle course. A few months ago he came by to redesign it. Now for the real test. He hopes that Rakshata will not be too angry because Lelouch is about give the Callisto and Kallen the test of a lifetime.

The knightmare he is piloting is in reality the Titan Mk II. A few of the systems were changed to produce quicker results. He also had them add in Cecile's theory on sakuradite placement. Rather than just place it in the core luminous, Cecile decided to spread the sakuradite throughout the knightmare. They also added wrist mounted cannons. Other than that everything is similar to the Titan except for the color which was the Io purple. There is still no maser vibration sword, but Lelouch had heard good things about some of the new tests. There is also talk about developing float systems for the knightmares rather than having them transported from place to place.

Lelouch decides to meet Kallen on the ground rather than dropping in on her. A few things were also added to the Callisto. He looks over and sees her on his radar. She is still pushing through the obstacle course. Did she see him? Could she be waiting for him to say or do something? Lelouch decides to act. He jumps into the air pulling out his assault rifle and begins to fire away. Kallen turns around and with a radiation burst stops the attack.

"Hey Kalli, want to play?"

Kallen answers him with another radiation burst. He dodges it. She has learned to use her radiation burst with more caution. Lelouch rushes in to attack. He continues to use his assault rifle. He mixes in some shots from the shoulder cannons. Kallen dodges them. She goes on the offensive with her own assault rifle and chest mounted cannon.

They both fire their slash harkens hoping to catch the other one. Lelouch's more numerous slash harkens gives him and advantage. However Kallen's chest mounted cannon gives her and edge in this type of stalemate. Lelouch releases his harkens. Her own shoulder mounted harkens give the leverage to fling herself over him. Lelouch is prepared for this he rotates his shoulder cannons and begins to fire. He turns around. Tactics would dictate that he continue to use his cannon and assault rifle to wear her down, but Lelouch likes to do the unconventional. Maybe there is a little Cornelia in him. As soon as he turns around, he flings himself at her. He fires his slash harkens at the ground and uses them as leverage.

Kallen turns around and manages to avoid most of the cannon shots from Lelouch. She expects him to continue with the cannon and rifle so she fires up the radiation burst. But he surprises her by jumping towards her. He manages to push her right arm aside negating her radiation burst. He uses his right hand stun tonfa on her chest. She jumps back, but he continues to charge her. He uses his slash harkens to catch her.

Lelouch jumps at Kallen once more. This time he uses the shoulder cannons. She quickly activates her radiation burst. The resulting explosion sends them both flying back. Kallen looks over at the system to make sure that everything is still operational. As she gets up Lelouch is upon her with a stun tonfa at her head. He has also jammed her chest cannons. Kallen looks up at his knightmare and notices that it is not in good shape, but he has her.

"I surrender, Lulu."

Lelouch slumps down. He imagines himself listening to Lloyd and Rakshata screaming at them destroying their babies. Then he notices that Lloyd and Rakshata are screaming into his headset. He turns them off and notices that Kallen is sending him a private message. He clicks on it.

"Was that good enough?"

Lelouch considers her comment. He figures that she would understand his reasoning behind their little battle. He knew that Cecile and the girls would be observing the battle. His little siblings were probably awake already watching the battle with great interest. Lelouch and Kallen take their damaged knightmares back to the hangar. Thankfully neither Lloyd nor Rakshata are present. Just as he expected Cecile, the Irregulars, and the kids are waiting for them. Euphemia and Nunnally have to stay back in Japan to continue working on the cosplay show.

They are sitting down waiting for Lelouch and Kallen to disembark their knightmares. Castor and Pollux are waiting with Lucretia and Sancia. Evelyn is with Alice. As Lelouch and Kallen approach them, the kids go running over to them. Lelouch scoops up Pollux as Kallen does the same to Castor. The kids begin talking excitedly about the fight. Lelouch decides to go over and see the footage of the fight with Kallen and the kids. Cecile continues to work with the Irregulars.

Kallen is obviously not happy with the results of the battle. Kallen realizes that rather than flipping over Lelouch, she should have backed off. Despite the fact he won the little battle, Lelouch is not at all happy with the results. In the real battle Lelouch would have been defeated soon after fighting defeating Kallen. Of course Lelouch's opponent and their knightmare would have to be up to Kallen and the Callisto's level.

Despite their age, he doubted many in the world could compete with them. Mass production knightmares have only been around for six years. They were not used until 2010, and the invasions of what are now Areas 10 and 11. Before then they were experimental. Most of the Britannian army still uses Glasgows. A few elite units use Sutherlands. Schniezel and Cornelia's units use Io knightmares that Lelouch's people created. Certainly Cornelia or some of the knights of the Round could do it. Lelouch wonders if there is a way to find out.

**Tohdoh's Dojo, Tokyo Japan**

"_Please Sensei. It would mean so much."_

"_No."_

Suzaku and Tohdoh have been going at it for at least an hour. Kosetsu Urabe, Ryoga Senba, and Nagisa Chiba could only look on. They were trying to watch the two Lamperouge sisters training with Sayoko. Despite her age the younger sister is obviously the better fighter. Many consider her a fighting prodigy. As sensei and student continue their argument, Asahina Shogo walks into the room. Suzaku notices that he is reading something and tries a different strategy.

"_People won't even know it is you. You will be wearing costumes. Also I happen to know that several important Britannians will be in the show as well. We may even get a visit from several royal family members and Japanese government officials."_

Being prime minister's son and going to school with some members of Britannian royalty has its advantages.

"_Look Kururugi that may be but dressing up for this Bleach thing seems a little extreme."_

That is when Shogo dropped his drink. _"Did you say dressing up for Bleach? As in a cosplay show?"_

Suzaku nods. _"Yes costumes, makeup, etc. We are doing several scenes from the manga and anime."_

"_Are all the parts cast?"_

Tohdoh definitely does not like the way this is going. _"Shogo."_

"_Colonel, we are off duty until the end of the year."_

Tohdoh looks at the others who now appear interested in this conversation. He knows he is fighting a losing battle. An event like this with Britannian and Japanese government officials present. As well as having several important people from both sides participating. This event could have an impact on international relations. Tohdoh sees Shogo and Kururugi talking.

"_There is one problem Kururugi. I only speak Japanese. I take that several of the Britannians do not speak Japanese." _

Suzaku smiles. He knows that he has won. _"Don't worry about it. There will translators. Everybody will get an earpiece so that they can understand the language they do not understand."_

"_Wait, won't that be expensive."_

Suzaku considers how to answer that. "_Well you see the boyfriend of the student council president is a rich noble so he pays for everything. Just ask Nunna-chan and Euphie-chan. He is their brother."_

Tohdoh sighs and then grins wickedly. "_Since we are on vacation, I think we should all participate."_

The Four Holy swords with the exception of Shogo are very unhappy. Now Suzaku has to find a way to cast them. Well he does not think that Milly will object.

A few days later Lelouch and company return back to the exciting world of Ashford. The first thing that Lelouch does is look for Suzaku. The Japanese boy simply nods. Part one of their master plan is complete. Now he just has to convince Milly to hold the event on the day of his choosing. That should not be too hard when he tells her what he has planned. Lelouch was a little unsure at first, but now he is very sure about his plan. He has other plans besides the cosplay show.

**Friday, December 14, 2014 **

Naoto Kouzuki is a very lucky man. A few weeks ago the aide to General Katase was severely injured in a skiing accident. Colonel Kusakabe recommended him for the position. Of course a general could not have a sergeant as an assistant so he was promoted to lieutenant. Of course he had been in that role while the former assistant was on vacation. The same vacation that he was injured on. In four short years Naoto Kouzuki went from lowly private to lieutenant that is an assistant to the commanding general of the Japanese army. Most important they decided to give him back pay since he has been doing the job for the past month.

At the moment he is out with Colonel Kusakabe celebrating his promotion. Since he has received an unexpected raise, he is paying. For once the colonel decides to go civilian. It does make them less conspicuous. They are sitting at an outdoor café at the Omotesando Mall. They will be hitting the bars later in the evening. They are engaging in small talk when something catches Naoto's attention. Colonel Kusakabe looks over at what Naoto is staring at and smiles.

"_Kallen Stadtfeld. Daughter of Earl Joseph Stadtfeld and Kouzuki Ayana. Has one older brother."_

Naoto turns back and looks at Colonel Kusakabe with fear in his eyes. "_How did you know?"_

"_I noticed you looking in her direction during the karate tournament last year. I though she was a little young for you. I also thought that the women around her and her friends were a little old for you. So I did a little research."_

Naoto takes a sip of his tea. He wishes that they were at a bar. "_Sir it is just that."_

Colonel Kusakabe raises his hand to interrupt him. _"Kouzuki, you can't choose your family. You can only choose who you are." _Naoto nods as the colonel continues. "_My father was a drunk who spent all his money on gambling. My mother was a whore. You won't find too many soldiers in the Japanese army who have parents they are proud of," _he pauses as he grins_, "Oh sure there are a few of the silver spoon variety but not too many."_

Naoto considers this. As if he did not owe Colonel Kusakabe enough favors as it is.

* * *

Kallen has decided to leave Lelouch to his own devices. They are days away from cosplay week. They are making final preparations. The costumes are ready to go. The scripts are completed. They have been rehearsing for a few weeks now. So they decide to take the afternoon off. Lelouch and Suzaku have been talking about big surprises for a while now. Kallen wonders what they are up to. Well tonight is girls' night out. She has spent the last few months writing scripts with Lelouch so they need a little break form each other. At the moment she is helping Lucretia select a dress for the masquerade ball which will end cosplay week.

Lelouch has been left alone at the mall. He begins to wander around. The girls are off shopping. In fact they are wasting his hard earned money. Gino and Rivalz are off looking for costumes for the masquerade ball. Suzaku, Euphemia, and Nunnally are off somewhere with Tohdoh. He is making them pay for putting him in the cosplay show.

Lelouch is wondering aimlessly when he bumps into a girl knocking her over. He quickly reaches over and helps her up. A little boy, Lelouch assumes it to be her little brother, sort of stands in between them. Somehow Lelouch manages to help the girl up. He looks over at her. She has shoulder length purple hair and brown eyes. Lelouch can't remember where he has seen her before. He notices her eyes opening wide in acknowledgement. Then it hits him.

"_You are Lelouch vi."_

"_Lamperouge, Lelouch Lamperouge."_

She simply nods.

"_You are Futaba Ayame."_

She nods once more. _"Yes."_

"_I see. Then this meeting is quite fortunate. Perhaps you and your little brother would like to join me for dinner."_

Ayame is a little unsure about it. She had planned on taking her little brother to eat. Lelouch kneels down to look at the little boy in the eyes.

"_And what is your name?"_

The little boy is a little unsure and looks up at Ayame. She nods.

"_My name is Jinta."_

"_I see. Jinta, are you hungry because I am starving, but I can't decide where to go."_

Jinta's face brightens up. "_I know a good restaurant over there. It is a little expensive. Well that is what big sister says."_

Lelouch smiles as he puts out both of his hands. Ayame and Jinta slowly take them, and he leads them off. Now he has to find a way to explain this to Kallen.

* * *

Lucretia has finally decided on a costume dress to wear for the masquerade ball. She notices that Kallen is staring off somewhere else. Lucretia shrugs and goes back to her dress. She hopes that Lelouch will like it.

Kallen looks on as Lelouch is walking holding hands with a teenage girl and a little boy. Kallen feels like going over there and punching that stupid wannabe playboy prince in the face. Then the girl turns slightly so that Kallen can see her face. Suddenly memories of a horrible night from four years ago come flooding into her head. It can't be that little girl. The little girl from that night in the alley. As Kallen thinks about it, everything makes sense now. Lelouch was testing his geass that night. As long as he can look into people's eyes, he can't lose. Kallen sighs. He promised her that he never used that power on her. What other choice did she have other than to believe him? At least he can't use it on her now. Kallen notices that Lucretia is getting impatient.

That night several important figures are arriving at the Tokyo International Airport. There is security all around. In fact for several hours before and after their arrival nothing else is allowed to come into the airport.

* * *

Author's note: Kallen's geass is a geass cancellar. Meaning that she is not affected by any geass and she can cancel Lelouch's geass commands on other people. Another side effect is that Lelouch's geass commands are stronger when he is in contact with Kallen.

So I promised Slices that I would get going with the plot here in a few chapters. Because there is a plot somewhere I just have to remember where I left it. I was enjoying writing these chapters so much that I had not noticed that I was getting a little carried away with this Ashford stuff. In case anyone is interested the character list for the cosplay show is at the bottom. Not all the parts have been officially announced. If you want to be surprised, I guess don't go down to the bottom.

So basically from chapter 7 to 21 things were about Lelouch's time at West Point and his slowly increasing affections for Kallen. Those chapters were about the maturation of the Black Prince. That being said he still loves Euphemia a lot. He is also beginning to fall for Milly. He previously saw Milly as a friend and someone that he would marry out of obligation. CC was correct in saying he can have them all. I am still debating about what to do with Shirley. I had a few ideas, but I am not sure if they will work.

Starting at chapter 21 to 26, the chapters are sort of a transition. Since Lelouch is not ready for a full time military commitment, he is going back to school. At the moment his knightmare team is basking in the glory of what they have done as he prepares the next move up to seventh generation knightmares and beyond. Think After the transition the next arc will begin. It will be about the rise of the Black Prince.

These are the specs for the Titan Mk II and Callisto.

**Titan Mk II**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: purple with some camouflage abilities

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

4 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted)

1 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

2x wrist mounted cannons

**Callisto**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 4.51 meters

Weight: 7.51 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: red

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

2 x shoulder mounted slash harkens

Right hand radiation bursts

Left hand held stun Tonfa

assault rifle

Chest mounted missile launcher

This is the actual cast list for the cosplay show. The blank ones will be filled by anonymous Ashford students or some Japanese guys that tried out for the parts. If anyone thinks that someone is miscast send me a pm pr review. The next chapter is not Milly-centric just crazy Milly idea-centric. You will see what I mean. The cosplay show/week will take up half of the next chapter. The second half was inspired by the dark euphie. I got the idea after finishing the Lelouch-Kallen fight. Well that is the plan at least.

Ichigo Kurosaki-Lelouch Lamperouge

Isshin Kurosaki-Jeremiah Gottwald

Karin Kurosaki-Nunnally Lamperouge

Yuzu Kurosaki- Alice Liddell

Kisuke Urahara-Gino Weinberg

Yoruichi Shihōin -Villetta Nu

Tessai

Ururu

Jinta

Orhime Inoue-Shirley Fennette

Uryu Ishida- Asahina Shogo

Yasutora Sado

Tatsuki Arisawa-Kallen Stadtfeld

Keigo

Mizuro

Chizuru-Kaguya Sumeragi

Michiru

Ryo

Mahana

Don Kanoji

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto- Bismarck Waldstein

Chōjirō Sasakibe

Soi Fon-Sayoko Shinozi

Izuru Kira-Kaname Ohgi

Retsu Unohana-Cecile Croomy

Isane Kotetsu-Nina Einstein

Yasochika Lemura

Hanatarō Yamada

Momo Hinamori-Lucretia Liddell

Byakuya Kuchiki-Schniezel el Britannia

Renji Abari-Kannon Maldini

Sajin Komamura- Odysseus eu Britannia

Tetsuzaemon Iba- Shinichiro Tamaki

Shunsui Kyōraku-Kosetsu Urabe

Nanao Ise-Nagisa Chiba

Shūhei Hisagi-

Tōshirō Hitsugaya-Rivalz Cardemonde

Rangiku Matsumoto-Milly Ashford

Kenpachi Zaraki-Kyoshiro Tohdoh

Yachiru Kusajishi-Evelyn Lamperouge

Ikkaku Madarame-Kewell Soresi

Yumichika Ayasegawa-Clovis la Britannia

Mayuri Kurotsuchi-Lloyd Apslund

Nemu Kurotsuchi-Sancia Liddell

Jūshirō Ukitake

Kiyone Kotetsu-Dalque Liddell

Sentarō Kotsubaki

Rukia Kuchiki-Euphemia Lamperouge

Ganju Shiba-Andreas Darton

Kūkaku Shiba Nonnette Enngream

Sosuke Aizen-Suzaku Kururugi

Gin Ichimaru

Kaname Tosen-Ryoga Senba

Coyote Starrk

Baraggan Luisenbarn-

Tia Harribel-Cornelia li Britannia,

Ulquiorra Cifer-Gilbert G.P. Guilford

Nnoitra Jiruga

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez-Luciano Bradley

Zommari Leroux

Szayel Aporro Granz

Aaroniero Arruruerie

Yammy Riyalgo

Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck-CC

Luppi Antenor

Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio

Cirucci Sanderwicci

Gantenbainne Mosqueda

Pesche Guatiche

Dondochakka Bilstin


	26. Insanity, pride, and the cosplay show

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

You know I forgot to cast the Vizards but their parts will be filled by anonymous Ashford students. _Italics mean Japanese._

_

* * *

_

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

_Kyoshiro Tohdoh_

_Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits _

_Day 2, preparation_

_Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

...

And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.

Exodus 7:13

...

He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathers not with me scatters.

Luke 11:23

**

* * *

**

Friday, December 14, 2014

Shinichiro Tamaki is helping make final preparations for the Ashford Academy Cosplay Show. When he saw the flyer for help wanted, he took it and made the call. He was a little surprised when they actually hired him. He was even more surprised when they cast him in a role. It is not an important role, but at least he is getting paid. He hears that several important Britannian and Japanese government officials will be there. Maybe he will catch the eye of someone.

Ayame and Jinta finally go home. Lelouch took them to eat and to several stores. He also introduced them to his girlfriend and a friend. One of his servants/bodyguards brought along three smaller children who turned out to be his little sister and brothers. They spend the rest of the night hanging out. Eventually they are taken home and everything is explained to their older sister.

Lelouch and company head over to Ashford. They are spending the night at the clubhouse because tomorrow they were making the final preparations for the cosplay week. The event is to start on Sunday with the show that night. Lelouch is making his own preparations for the event. Lelouch and Kallen put the twins to sleep. They go over to the living room to wait for the rest of their friends. When nobody shows up, they decide to call it a night. They head over to the room that Lelouch has in the clubhouse. Lelouch puts his arms around Kallen and begins kissing the back of her neck.

Kallen sighs. Since his fifteenth birthday, Lelouch has been more aggressive when they are alone.

"Lulu, I'm not ready."

Lelouch sighs and decides to get ready for bed. He decides to follow Kallen's pace in their relationship. He knows if he presses too hard, she will want them to be official. He isn't sure why he isn't ready for that.

**

* * *

**

Saturday, December 15, 2014

Naoto wakes up with the worst hangover of his life. Last night should have been the best of his young life and career. Then his sister shows up at the mall with that little Britannian bastard. If that was not enough, Colonel Kusakabe let him know that his first assignment was to accompany General Katase this weekend to Ashford Academy for some special show. Naoto sighs as he prepares his uniform. He heads for the shower. Now the meeting he has been avoiding for four years is going to be forced upon him. As the general's aide, he has to go ahead to make sure that everything is secure.

* * *

In the morning Lelouch and Kallen discover that all their friends including Milly were caught by Ashford security and sent back to their dorms. Lelouch has his security team making the final preparations for the special guests. He also has Kallen and Suzaku running final tests on the translation earpieces. Everything has to be perfect. While everything may have been Milly's idea, Lelouch is now in control since he is the best organizer. Lelouch gets a message letting him know that the first of the special guests has arrived.

"Well well what is all of this?"

Lelouch smiles, "Your highness Prince Clovis, it is such a pleasure to see you again."

Lelouch bows formally towards Clovis. Milly comes over and sees Clovis and Lelouch talking.

"Your highness Prince Clovis, it is a pleasure to see you here."

Clovis takes Milly's hand and kisses it. "It is a pleasure to meet you again as well Miss Ashford."

"Are you here for the show?"

"Yes," he looks over towards Lelouch, "It is such a pleasure to see Lelouch take an interesting in a theatre production."

Clovis notices Kallen and Suzaku talking with Nunnally and Euphemia. His sisters wave at him.

Milly smiles, "Well much of what you see here was actually planned by Lelouch."

Clovis looks around to make sure that there are no innocent ears.

"I remember one day about four years ago, Nunnally and I had this great play day planned out. Do you know what the little rascal did?" Clovis didn't wait for anyone to respond, "He tricked us by saying that he was going to participate. Then he ran off with Schniezel in the morning."

Lelouch grunts form across the room. "Get over it that was four years ago."

Clovis pouts, "You just don't get it, do you?" He looks over at Kallen again. "Wait a moment. You are the daughter of Lord Stadtfeld."

Kallen weakly nods. She remembers that day. It was her third meeting with Lelouch.

"You are the reason that he forsook Nunnally and me that day."

Nunnally growls, "Big brother, you ditched us because of a girl."

Lelouch sighs and yells out, "Get over it! It was four years ago."

Milly decides to put a stop to this by taking Clovis over to the costume room.

"Your highness, follow me. I would like you opinion on the costumes."

Milly flashes Lelouch a smile. He acts as if nothing is going on. He let Milly in on the plan a few days ago. She made the necessary changes. Rivalz and Shirley come in just as Clovis and Milly go out the back. Rivalz does not seem too happy about Milly walking out with some guy.

"Lelouch, who is that guy with Milly?"

"Why that is out new Yumichika Ayasegawa."

Everybody stares at Lelouch in amazement. Just then the second special guest makes his appearance.

"Well everything appears to be secure here."

Lelouch smiles as Schniezel walks over to greet Rivalz and Shirley. Rivalz stand there in shock with his mouth open. When he kisses Shirley's hand, she faints. Luckily Lelouch is standing nearby and catches her. As Lelouch holds Shirley up, he notices that everybody is staring. In fact Kaguya appears to be taking notes.

Schniezel grins, "My, my Lelouch, you certainly look to be very familiar with the situation you are in. "

Lelouch looks down and notices that he has his hands around Shirley's breasts. Lelouch almost drops her but manages to hold on to her.

"Suzaku, help me take her to a chair."

Suzaku comes over to help. They take the orange haired girl over to a chair. Lelouch walks back over to Schnizel. Rivalz is still standing there with his mouth open. Lelouch closes it.

"Rivalz, maybe you should go over and help with the stage."

The blue haired boy mumbles something and runs off. Lelouch turns his attention back to Schniezel and Kannon.

"Lord Maldini, did you receive the package?"

Schniezel looks over at his assistant a little surprised. What are Kannon and Lelouch planning?

"Yes Lord Lamperouge, I believe that it can be done."

"Very well Milly and Clovis are waiting in the costume room."

Lelouch points to the costume room as Kannon takes his prince there. Lelouch goes over to make sure that Shirley is okay. She appears to be awake. Kallen does not appear to be too happy about what happened. He knows that explaining things won't do any good. If Schniezel doesn't show up, then Shirley does not faint. Suzaku helps Shirley out of the room over to the costume room. She wants to apologize to Schniezel. Kallen wonders what other surprises Lelouch has.

"What else do you have planned, Lelouch?"

Lelouch shrugs, "Nothing much."

Then the door opens Lelouch expects it to be another of his special guests. Kallen begins to leave not wanting to get involved in the situation. It is still too early in the morning for all this nonsense, but the person at the door makes her stop. A sharply dresses Japanese soldier enters the room. By his rankings Lelouch notices that he is a lieutenant. Lelouch smirks when he recognizes the face.

"_You must be the aide of General Katase. We were informed you would be by this morning."_

Lelouch puts at his hand. Naoto smiles as he takes it. "Yes I am here on behalf of the general to inspect the facilities."

"_Very since I know exactly what you need perhaps I should give you a tour."_

Kallen stops him. _"_Lelouch, I believe you are needed here. Maybe I should give the tour. Remember we spent last night talking about this."

Lelouch nods, "Very well Kallen dear. You can give our guest the tour."

Lelouch goes over to check up on his two new stars. Once word gets out Lelouch knows that it will create quiet a commotion. He watches Kallen and her brother walk away. He hopes that she will be all right. He signals for Jeremiah to follow them.

Kallen and Naoto quietly walk along as she points out the special seat reserved for the general. It is near the seats for the other Japanese government officials. Naoto just nods as Kallen guides through the entrance. He notices that there are several Britannian security guards throughout the school grounds. They ignore the two of them walking around. Well Naoto notices that they are ignoring Kallen. They are all watching him.

He sighs. She actually looks more out of place then he does. She is not exactly dressed as though she belongs in a school like this. She looks like she just threw something on. Naoto knows it can't be because he is Japanese. There are several Japanese students that attend this school. Kallen stops and look at her brother.

"_They are staring at you because you look Britannian but are wearing the uniform of a Japanese soldier."_

Naoto bristles at that comment. _"I wear this because I am Japanese. So are you in case you have forgotten."_

Kallen waves off his comment as if it has little meaning. Naoto reaches out and grabs his sister and guides her to a secluded corner.

"_You don remember that you are Japanese, don't you?"_

"_Half-Japanese."_

Naoto shakes his head. _"A man I admire very much told me that it does not matter who your parents are only what you choose to be."_

Kallen smiles, _"Then I choose to be neither Britannia nor Japanese. Because I belong to Lelouch."_

Naoto slaps her. _"Have you already given your body to that little asshole?"_

"_What business is it of yours?"_

Naoto raises his had to slap her again only to find her fist in his gut. He backs up a few steps. He is going to have to teach his little sister about loyalty and humility. Kallen prepares to fight back. Naoto smiles and moves forward. Then a little Britannian girl that Naoto remembers from the tournament steps between them. The little girl bows towards Naoto and get in a fighting stance.

Naoto can't help but laugh. _"Are you going to fight me little girl?"_

The little girl answers him back. "_Big brother Lelouch says that it is not proper for siblings to fight. So I have decided to fight for Kallen." _The little girl stops and looks thoughtful. "_Although when she marries Lelouch, will that make you and me relatives?"_

Naoto as heard enough of this. "_My little sister will never marry that little asshole."_

The little girl laughs at Naoto. _"Why don't you ask her how she feels about it?"_

"_What is your name little girl? I always like to know the names of the people that I defeat."_

The little girl looks around. _"Well around here I am known as Nunnally Lamperouge, but I was born Nunnally vi Britannia. You must be Naoto Stadtfeld."_

Naoto gets incensed at that comment. _"My name is Kouzuki Naoto."_

Nunnally smiles and raises her hand as if waiting to be called upon in a classroom.

"_Let me ask you a question. If you hate your mother so much for marrying a Britannian, why do you take her name?"_

Naoto bristles at the comment. He decides that he has heard enough and charges at Nunnally. She gets in a fighting stance. Suddenly Naoto feels a foot striking him across the face. When Naoto recovers, he sees that damn Kururugi boy standing there in front of the two girls. This could be trouble for Naoto. Kururugi looks over at Naoto.

"_Why don't you fight someone your own size?"_

There is no easy way for Naoto to resolve this family dispute. _"I am here to talk to my sister. If the rest of you would be so kind as to leave us alone."_

"_That will be enough Lieutenant."_

They all look over and notice Tohdoh and the Four Holy swords. Lelouch glides through them with Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta behind them. Lelouch walks over to Naoto. His three bodyguards stand behind him but at a distance. Lelouch stands near Naoto so that no one else can hear what he is saying.

"_I hope you don't believe that Colonel Kusakabe is the only reason why you are a lieutenant. When General Katase heard that your promotion would please Britannia, he had no choice."_

Naoto clenched his fist as Lelouch continued.

"_Remember my future brother-in-law; you owe me your life. Don't think I have forgotten your presence and role during the attempted rebellion in Area 10 a few months ago."_

Lelouch walks away and signals for everyone to follow him. Kallen turns away and follows Lelouch. Nunnally is complaining to Suzaku that she had everything under control. For a moment Colonel Tohdoh glares at Naoto.

Lelouch stops. _"Lieutenant Kouzuki, are you coming? General Katase said we could use you in our show if we needed extras."_

With that Lelouch walks away. Kallen hangs onto Lelouch's arm as they walk inside. That stops when they get inside. More of Lelouch's special guests have appeared, and Milly has them all in costume. Kallen begins to yell and chase Lelouch around.

Tohdoh looks at Suzaku. _"Does your friend need help with that girl?"_

Suzaku looks over at Kallen smacking Lelouch on the head with her shoe. "_No sensei, he has it handled. Let's go sit down."_

Eventually Kallen lets Lelouch up so that they can go over the script. Naoto walks into the room. As he does Kallen leans into Lelouch who sighs.

As much as Cornelia enjoyed watching the red head knock some sense into her brother she wants to know what all this is about. Despite enjoying that she is not at all happy with the reason she was invited to come to this school. The problem was that Euphemia and Miss Ashford were so convincing. Odysseus would have his head covered; Cornelia would have half her face covered. It was just the rest of the outfit that bothered her. To make matters worse Guilford and Darlton seem to be enjoying this a little too much.

Then all hell breaks loose because the doors open up and in walk several of the Knights of the Round. They don't appear too happy. Almost as if scripted the Knight of One walks over to Suzaku and hands him a note. Suzaku looks over the note and takes it to Lelouch. Lelouch calmly reads over the note and hands it to Milly who begins to giggle as soon as she reads the note. The giggle turns into a cackle that frightens everyone but Lelouch and Suzaku. Milly gives Lelouch a quick peck on the cheek.

She begins to read the note aloud.

Dear Lord Lamperouge and Miss Ashford,

As you know we are attending several of your shows and events during the upcoming week as part of our visit to Japan. It has come to our attention that you need a few actors for your production. -

At this point in the reading the Knights of the Round attempt to make their exit only to be stopped by Britannian soldiers. Lelouch signals for them to take a seat. Milly continues reading.

-I have spoken to his majesty the emperor and he has decided to lend a hand. A few of the royal children should be in town and have been asked to also lend a hand. The emperor has also sent a few of his most prized knights. I look forward to seeing your production once it is completed.

Sincerely,

Empress Marianne vi Britannia

* * *

At that moment Cornelia was so angry that she almost spilled the beans on Lelouch's secret. But seeing the reaction of the other students to the appearance of the royal children and the Knights of the Round, she stops herself. How would those same students react when they discover that they have been treating a prince as one of them? The Knights of the Round don't look too happy about this turn of events except for Nonnette who seems to have been informed beforehand. Milly cackles once more and sits down.

"Lelouch, do you want to get started."

"Very well Euphie, Nunnally please help us hand out the scripts."

His sisters help him, Suzaku, and Kallen hand out the scripts. Which remarkably already have the names of the new actors printed on them. The royal children and the Knights of the Round notice that their parts are actually quite small. Only Schniezel, Kannon, Guilford and Luciano Bradley appear in several scenes. From what Cornelia can tell she just sits around with a few other scantily clad girls watching as others battle. As they look over the script they can't help notice all the Ichigo/Tatsuki scenes.

Euphemia doesn't look too happy. "Hey, how come there aren't any Ichigo/Rukia romantic moments?"

Cornelia looks down at the cast list. She notices that Euphemia is playing this Rukia and Lelouch is playing Ichigo. She lets out a yell. They all look over to her. She slightly blushes.

"You can't have romantic moments. Aren't you two siblings?"

Milly ponders this. "You know the princess is correct. Why is Euphemia playing Rukia?"

Suzaku answers for her. "Don't you remember the thirty Rukia auditions we had to go through before Euphie decided to try out for the part. Kallen didn't fight the body type, and Nina is too shy."

Milly has another question. "Why are there so many Ichigo/Tatsuki scenes?"

They all look towards Lelouch and Kallen. Lelouch calmly answers. "Kallen and I did the fighting scenes. Shirley and Lucretia did the rest."

Milly looks down at the script again. "I guess that explains some of these other scenes."

Shirley finally recovered from the shock of seeing so much royalty in the room asks a question.

"Is that not how the story goes? I only followed what Lelouch told me to do."

This gets Lelouch stares from everyone else. He brushes them off.

"Let's practice the fighting scenes.'

This excites Bismarck and Cornelia. "Yes let's do that."

Lelouch glares at them. "Sit down; you aren't fighting anyone just yet."

Shirley feels faint from the way Lelouch is treating the royal children and the Knights of the Round. Luckily for her Kaguya is standing by getting ready to practice her Chizuru. She catches Shirley only to get hit in the face by Kallen.

Lelouch sighs, "Well it seems as if some of us are already in character" Lelouch pauses and looks down at his script. "I need Prince Schniezel, Earl Maldini, Colonel Tohdoh, Luciano Bradley, and Gilbert, G.P. Guilford in the next room. We have to rehearse our fights. Kallen coordinate the other fights."

Lelouch and Kallen spend most of the day going over the fight sequences with the participants. Shirley and Lucretia are working with the rest of the cast on non-fighting sequences. Milly and Suzaku spend some time reworking and rewriting some of those parts. As the day winds down Gino comes over to have a little fight with Lelouch.

Naoto watches the two young Britannians go at it. He picks one of the kendo stick being used for the battle scenes. He has to be cautious as to how to approach this situation. One false move and not only will he be court-maritaled but it is possible he can be executed. He slides over towards where the boys are fighting. The blonde one, Gino, seems to be getting the worst of it. Gino looks over and notices that the Japanese soldier guy is standing watching their fight.

"Hey man, do you want to fight the boss?"

Naoto nods, and Gino leaves the two of them alone. Lelouch turns on his geass and smiles. This will be the first real test of his second geass. This is also the first time he has had to use it in a fight.

Kallen is working on a few script rewrites because a lot of what Shirley and Lucretia wrote is too mushy. How many Tatsuki/Ichigo scenes does this story need? Not to mention the completely insane Ichigo/Momo scene during the attack on the Soul Society. She sees Gino walking out of the training room.

"Gino is Lelouch done practicing because we still have a lot of work to do."

"Ya we finished a little while ago. He is fighting with that Japanese soldier guy."

Kallen puts down her papers. Lelouch had already practiced with Colonel Tohdoh earlier. There is no way even someone as densely carefree as Gino would refer to Colonel Tohdoh as that Japanese soldier guy.

"Do you mean Colonel Tohdoh? I thought they were done?"

Gino shakes his head. "No that moody lieutenant guy."

Kallen freezes. Oh no Lelouch and Naoto were fighting. Kallen begins to run into the training room. Suzaku sees the anxiety on her face and follows after her. Much to their surprise Lelouch is winning. He does not appear to have been hit while they can see that Naoto has been hit several times. Suzaku makes move to stop the fight, but Gino waves him off.

Suzaku growls, "Gino this can't end well. Didn't you want to get involved in Lelouch's last fight?"

Gino shrugs his shoulders. "I just didn't want Lelouch to cripple another guy."

If Suzaku talking about Lelouch's last fight didn't attract the other royal children, then Gino talking about him crippling another guy sure did. By this time Tohdoh and the Holy Swords are also watching the fight.

"_Kururugi, we must put a stop to this."_

Suzaku nods and reaches for a kendo stick. He points for his sensei to stop Naoto as he goes for Lelouch. Colonel Tohdoh successfully blocks Naoto's next swing. An exhausted Naoto slumps his shoulders. Suzaku is not so successful, Not only does Lelouch dodge Suzaku's block attempt, but he also avoids Tohdoh's. Lelouch takes a swing for Naoto's head. He stops nanometers from his temple. Lelouch glares at Naoto. Naoto understands what it means. If it was not for all these people, you would be dead. Lelouch drops the kendo stick and walks away silently.

Everybody stands there shocked at what Lelouch has done. Milly is glad that Rivalz, Shirley, and the other Ashford students are gone because this would be so hard to explain. Cornelia storms after Lelouch who happens to be sitting down where Kallen previously was working on the script.

"Lelouch, we need to talk."

"I am quite busy at the moment, you highness. If you would like, we can talk tomorrow morning."

Suzaku walks into the room and nods towards Cornelia letting her know that all innocent ears are gone. Cornelia reaches for Lelouch, but he blocks her hands. Cornelia is quite taken aback by Lelouch's strength, but he will listen even if she has to beat him humility into him.

As if reading her mind Lelouch answers her. "Others have tried what you are about to do. They all ended up in the hospital."

Before Cornelia can answer, a voice comes from the door. "Well it seems as if my little boy is all grown up."

Marianne enters the room. She is followed by the emperor and the remaining Knights of the Round.

Marianne continues, "He puts people in the hospital. He builds knightmares and wins battles. He has his own little harem."

As she says this last part she looks over to the crowd of girls behind Lelouch. (Milly, Kallen, his sisters, and the Irregulars)

Lelouch ignores them all and goes back to his script writing. He finally answers as sarcastic as he can. "Is there a reason why their imperial majesties are gracing us with their presences?"

Cornelia, her knights, and Clovis are shocked at Lelouch's impertinence. The Knights of the Round stand there stoically, but it is palpable that most of them want to smack Lelouch on the head. Schniezel and Odysseus try their best to stifle their chuckle. It doesn't help that Evelyn is behind them mumbling about the stupid Quaker oats guy.

Castor and Pollux come into the room rubbing their eyes. They are already dressed in the pajamas. They look up at their parents.

"Who's those people?"

Lelouch blinks at the question "It is our parents, guys. You know mom and dad."

The twins twist their face. "I thoughts that you was our dad, brother Lulu."

"Ya sister Kallen's my mom."

"I likes Millys better."

Before the twins can continue their argument, Lelouch silences them and sends them off to bed. He does it without saying anything. He signals for Evelyn to follow them.

"So are you going to answer my question or are you going to stand there like idiots."

This time The Knight of Two, Merlin Suzerain, makes a move to slap Lelouch. Lelouch blocks it

"Don't try that again or my father will be looking for a new Knight of Two."

"Enough!" Everybody looks up at the emperor. "Bismarck."

The Knight of One goes over to Lelouch and whispers in his ear. Lelouch stands up and leads Bismarck and the emperor out of the room. A few moments much to the surprise of everyone Lelouch returns to the room.

"Milly dear, which were the scenes that you wanted us to rewrite?"

Eventually Milly and Kallen recover from what just happened and go over to Lelouch.

"Nunnally, Euphie would show mother were the kids are."

He looks up at everyone else and grins that evil Lelouch grin. "If you guys are not doing anything, I'm sure Milly can find something for you to do."

With that everyone leaves. Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly work on rewriting some of the script. They decide to call it a day after a while because tomorrow is the start of a long week. Lelouch's siblings decide to wait to confront him. Lelouch notices that his parents have left. The kids are still there. That Kallen night sleeps with Lelouch once more. They get three little visitors in the middle of the night.

* * *

The emperor and the Knight of One are meeting alone.

"It was like nothing I have ever seen your majesty. The prince knew every move that the soldier was going to take. I believe that the prince has a geass similar to my own."

The emperor signals for his knight to leave. VV walks into the room.

"Well brother, what have you discovered?"

"It seems as if Bismarck is correct, Charles."

The two of them stand there wondering. They were both certain that Lelouch's geass involved him being able to control other people. VV wonders if perhaps the boy has multiple geass abilities.

* * *

Official cast list for the cosplay show is at the bottom.

**Sunday, December 16, 2014 Day 1 Agent of the Shinigami**

Having taken care of everything the day before they get to spend the day wandering around. The cosplay event starts during the morning. Milly and Suzaku welcome cosplayers from all over the world. Milly has forbidden them to dress up as their characters from the Bleach show so they have to dress as something else.

Some of them decide to dress up like characters from Ouran High School Host Club. Gino is Tamaki Suoh. Rivalz is Kyoya Ootori. Suzaku is Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka. Nunnally is Mitsukuni "Honey" Haninozuka. Sancia and Lucretia are Hikaru and Kaoru Hitchiin. Alice is Harihi Fujioka. Milly ai Renge Houshakuji. Dalque and Nina dress as random customers. They spend the morning performing little scenes from the anime. This pleases fan boys and fan girls alike. Lelouch, Kallen, and CC dress up as Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Soryu, and Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

They were making the final preparations for the show because it is that night. Milly makes sure that everybody is ready. Since neither she nor Suzaku are participating tonight, they are organizing the backstage area. There is a lot of commotion as several important Britannian and Japanese officials enter the crowd. Having the amount of money that he does, Lelouch is able to secure the rights to play the official music. To not hurt their feelings in the end they did not make many changes to Shirley and Lucretia's scenes. They did add some Ichigo/Orhime scenes.

The room gets dark. Euphie/Rukia is seen standing on top of a pole. She says something and goes floating down. The stage is large enough that they are able to fit several scenes at the same time. The next is a familiar one to many of the Ashford students. As Lelouch/Ichigo beats down several guys for knocking down a vase that was put in memory of a girl that recently died. Lelouch has to remember to turn his geass off for the show. The next scene has Jeremiah/Isshin kick him in the gut and face.

The play follows the plot of the anime much the way through only with more romantic scenes between Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Orihime. Kaguya really gets into her role as Chizuru. The crowd goes wild when Schniezel and Kannon make their appearance as Byakuya and Renji. His fan girls go even wilder when Gino makes his appearance as Urahara. The day ends with Urahara opening the Senkaimon.

Meanwhile late that day in Pendragon Guinevere and her little group are plotting on how to make a name for themselves. They are watching Karine's favorite tabloid show when something pops up about the royal family's visit to Japan. They hope it is news about Schniezel and Kannon caught kissing in a closet or Cornelia in S&M gear ready to go wild on Guilford and Darlton. It could also be Odysseus being caught with an extremely underage boy or girl. Maybe Clovis getting caught with a goat. However it was not to be.

"Today in Japan several members of the royal family made an appearance at Ashford Academy's Cosplay Event. Not only were they present to watch the show but a few participated. Event organizer Milly Ashford says that these surprises will not be the last. The event will last the entire week and will culminate on Saturday with a formal masquerade ball.

There are several pictures of the emperor and empress as well as of Schniezel in the show. When the report is over Guinevere lets out a scream.

**Day 2 Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc**

Today they are allowed to dress as their character from the Bleach show as they walk around during the day. Very few of them do to avoid getting mobbed by fans.

Despite the added Tatsuki/Ichigo romance, she does not go to the Soul Society. She stays in Karakura to defend the town. Nonnette and Darlton play their Kūkaku and Ganju perfectly. Clovis gets the biggest reaction of the night when he appears as Yumichika. Once again the fans girls go crazy for Kannon's appearance. They begin to cry when Ichigo/Lelouch defeats him. The Japanese soldiers in the crowd cheer wildly when Tohdoh makes his appearance as Kenpachi Zaraki. Everybody laughs at Evelyn's dead-on Yachiru. Lelouch and Tohdoh take their fight a little too seriously. Once again fan girls go crazy for Schniezel's appearance. Villetta's appearance as Yoruichi gets lots of whistling from the crowd and causes Gino to faint. Milly decided to spice up Youichi's costumes.

**Day 3 Soul Society: The Rescue arc**

Rather then go out into the festival, they decide to practice some more.

The whistling gets even louder when Villetta and Lelouch are in the hot springs bathing. The battle between Shogo/Uryu and Lloyd/Mayuri Kurotsuchi is the weirdest thing ever. Not even Sancia's awesome Nemu can save it. Not wanting to hurt Lucretia's feelings, they leave in the weird Momo/Ichigo romance scenes. The biggest cheer is given to the twins for their appearance as Kon. The handling of Suzaku/Aizen's death and return shows Milly's brilliance in putting Lelouch charge of everything. Rivalz is unable to handle being Toshiro because of all the contact with Milly/Rangiku. He faints several times. Despite the sort of depressing ending, they receive a standing ovation.

**Day 4 The Arrancar arc**

The Arrancar attack Karakura town. It is the first appearance of Cornelia/Tia Harribel, Gilbert G.P. Guilford/Ulquiorra Cifer, and Luciano Bradley/Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Cornelia's costume draws many gasps from the audience despite the fact that Lelouch had them tone it down a bit. The Lelouch-Luciano battle gets out of hand. Luckily the combination of Guilford and Gino steps in to end it. Again the production and scenery are praised. The local and national news do a report on the show for its efforts to unite Britannia and Japan.

**Day 5 The Hueco Mundo arc **

To spice up the story Lelouch and Kallen added some Aizen/Orihime romantic stuff. Evelyn plays little Nel. The Guilford/Ulquiorra-Lelouch/Ichigo battle brings those in the crowd to tears. They cheer when Luciano shows up with Shirley. This time the Lelouch/Ichigo-Luciano/Grimmjow fight is a little more controlled. After the battle Ichigo and Orihime kiss. Well that's how Lelouch puts it to keep Kallen from killing him that night.

**Day 6 Final Fight**

Since the ending is not known at the moment, they decide to finish it off with a huge battle between all the characters. CC also makes her first appearance as adult Nel. There is a little romantic scene between her and Lelouch/Ichigo. This time Lelouch/Ichigo beats Guilford/Ulquiorra. The bad guys begin to go down. Lelouch/Ichigo and Suzaku/Aizen are left standing there.

Lelouch looks over at Suzaku and whispers, "Hey Suzaku want to go full speed."

Suzaku smiles and attacks Lelouch. They battle around the stage knocking over several of their cast mates. They also accidentally hit people on their side. As the Lelouch and Suzaku battle begins to take over the stage and part of the audience area, Kallen becomes upset.

"Those two fool are taking over the show."

Shirley comes over. "I thought they were the stars."

"Yes but this is just foolishness. Look at them."

Cornelia and Euphemia come over. "Hey let's stop them."

The other girls agree. Kallen looks over at the situation.

"Okay. I'll stop Suzaku. Euphie and Shirley get in front of Lelouch. Princess Cornelia can knock him out."

They all nod in agreement. When Lelouch and Suzaku get close, Kallen/Tatsuki jumps in and spin kicks Suzaku/Aizen down. Euphie and Shirley run in front of Lelouch. Cornelia comes in and knocks him out. The four girls walk in front of the crowd hands raised. This gets the biggest cheer of the week. Lucretia/Momo is in the background trying to comfort Lelouch and Suzaku. Milly joins the four girls in the front in celebration. The rest of the cast comes out to the applause of the crowd.

After the show the royal children and company go back to their hotel. The Ashford gang stays at the student council clubhouse. Cosplay week ends with a formal masquerade ball. Rivalz and Gino do some investigating and discover what Milly and Kallen are wearing for the ball.

* * *

Author's note: I guess I have established that Lelouch is pretty much a snarky badass. Obviously he would get his ass handed to him by Naoto, Cornelia, and Merlin without his geass. He is a strong for his age. The masquerade ball will take up the first part of the next chapter. I have some ideas for costumes but if anyone has one send me a pm or review. The second part was inspired by the dark euphie. It will be the awesomest knightmare battle in the history of Code Geass. You'll see what I mean.

While writing this chapter I started watching Ouran High school Host club. Honestly I didn't think I would like. But holy crap it is so funny, that I fell in love with it especially the little guy. He is so awesome and cute.

This is the actual cast list for the cosplay show. The blank ones will be filled by anonymous Ashford students or some Japanese guys that tried out for the parts. I tried to make a bigger deal of the cosplay event. But whenever I got around to it, something more important came up. Then when I went to write it, I didn't want to take up too much time on it. Maybe later I'll go back and make it more detailed. It isn't all that important to the plot.

I guess I don't own Bleach or its characters either.

Ichigo Kurosaki-Lelouch Lamperouge

Isshin Kurosaki-Jeremiah Gottwald

Karin Kurosaki-Nunnally Lamperouge

Yuzu Kurosaki- Alice Liddell

Kisuke Urahara

Yoruichi Shihōin -Villetta Nu

Tessai

Ururu

Jinta

Orhime Inoue-Shirley Fennette

Uryu Ishida- Asahina Shogo

Yasutora Sado

Tatsuki Arisawa-Kallen Stadtfeld

Keigo

Mizuro

Chizuru-Kaguya Sumeragi

Michiru

Ryo

Mahana

Don Kanoji

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto- Bismarck Waldstein

Chōjirō Sasakibe

Soi Fon-Sayoko Shinozi

Izuru Kira-Kaname Ohgi

Retsu Unohana-Cecile Croomy

Isane Kotetsu-Nina Einstein

Yasochika Lemura

Hanatarō Yamada

Momo Hinamori-Lucretia Liddell

Byakuya Kuchiki-Schniezel el Britannia

Renji Abari-Kannon Maldini

Sajin Komamura- Odysseus eu Britannia

Tetsuzaemon Iba- Shinichiro Tamaki

Shunsui Kyōraku-Kosetsu Urabe

Nanao Ise-Nagisa Chiba

Shūhei Hisagi-

Tōshirō Hitsugaya-Rivalz Cardemonde

Rangiku Matsumoto-Milly Ashford

Kenpachi Zaraki-Kyoshiro Tohdoh

Yachiru Kusajishi-Evelyn Lamperouge

Ikkaku Madarame-Kewell Soresi

Yumichika Ayasegawa-Clovis la Britannia

Mayuri Kurotsuchi-Lloyd Apslund

Nemu Kurotsuchi-Sancia Liddell

Jūshirō Ukitake

Kiyone Kotetsu-Dalque Liddell

Sentarō Kotsubaki

Rukia Kuchiki-Euphemia Lamperouge

Ganju Shiba-Andreas Darton

Kūkaku Shiba Nonnette Enngream

Sosuke Aizen-Suzaku Kururugi

Gin Ichimaru Gino Weinberg

Kaname Tosen-Ryoga Senba

Coyote Starrk

Baraggan Luisenbarn-

Tia Harribel-Cornelia li Britannia,

Ulquiorra Cifer-Gilbert G.P. Guilford

Nnoitra Jiruga

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez-Luciano Bradley

Zommari Leroux

Szayel Aporro Granz

Aaroniero Arruruerie

Yammy Riyalgo

Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck-CC

Luppi Antenor

Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio

Cirucci Sanderwicci

Gantenbainne Mosqueda

Pesche Guatiche

Dondochakka Bilstin


	27. Hide and seek pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Matthew 16:21-23 King James Version

...

There are times one must fight and there are time one must run away. The difficult thing is knowing the difference.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Deithard Reid

The Rise of the Black Prince

Neo-Pendragon Press 2020 ATB

**

* * *

**

Saturday, December 22, 2014

Gino is getting ready for the masquerade ball. He found out that Kallen is going to dress up in a full body bunny suit. Gino does not question the ladies. For some reason Milly recommended that he dress up in a full body cat suit because Kallen loves cats. Again Gino did not question the ladies. Tonight is going to be Gino's nights to get lucky.

Rivalz is making the final preparations for the masquerade ball. Rivalz found out through certain sources (Kallen) that Milly is going to dress up as a cat tonight. For some reason Kallen suggested that Rivalz dress up in a full body bunny suit. Rivalz is pretty certain that the masquerade ball is supposed to be a formal affair. Either way Rivalz didn't care. He is certain that tonight is going to be his night.

Kallen is waiting for Milly to bring in her costume. Kallen was going to go with something simple like a bunny suit but Milly wanted to go all out. The masquerade ball is the final part of cosplay week. A few are keeping the cosplay theme, but others are going with the masquerade theme. Shirley is wearing a very elegant green dress that matches her eyes. Nina is wearing a nice little pink dress. The other girls are still getting dressed. Milly comes into the room holding two outfits. Shirley gasps when she sees them.

"Madam President."

Milly smiles, "So Kallen, which one do you want?"

Kallen is unsure. Shirley points to one. "I think that one fits Milly's personality better. Plus it contrasts with your hair."

Kallen smiles and grabs the one that Shirley thought fit her. Kallen looks down at the outfit. It is a little less than what she usually wears.

Shirley smiles, "So who are you two getting dressed up for."

Kallen blushes. "Well nobody really."

Shirley smiles, "Is it Lelouch? He is so cute. You know if he was a prince, he could have multiple wives, and he could marry us all."

Kallen begins to cough as she notices that Shirley is in imagination land. Damn that girl and her runaway imagination. Shirley continues to mumble on about something, but Kallen is not paying attention.

"What was that Shirley?"

"I said I wonder if he is a great kisser."

Kallen blushes, "I don't know."

Shirley continues, "Do you guys have some kind of arranged marriage thing? I heard that high ranking noble families arrange for their children to get married. You parents deal with the royal family. His parents deal with the royal family. Oh no Milly's parents also deal with the royal family. Is that what the costumes are about? Are you two going to fight over Lelouch?"

Shirley continues her insane ramblings. Kallen wonders if the orange haired girl is ever going to run out of breath. Finally she settles down when Milly enters the room. Kallen goes into the room Milly just vacated to get dressed. Kallen comes out, and Shirley makes them pose for a few pictures.

"Oh you guys look so cute together."

* * *

Euphemia and Nunnally decide not to wait for Lelouch. They go off to the masquerade ball without him. They are dressed like fairy princesses with wings and silver tiaras. The Irregulars trail behind. They are dressed as fairies but not princesses. Lelouch is putting the finishing touches on his costume. For a spoiled prince who is mostly concerned with knightmares and girls, he sews surprising well. He grabs his special made helmet as he exits the room.

Gino is walking around in his cat suit. He feels a little like an idiot because very few people are actually in costumes. The girls are mostly wearing skimpy costumes with masks while the guys are wearing tuxedo type outfits. It doesn't matter much because Gino finds what he is looking for. Someone in a full body bunny suit.

Rivalz is so excited when he sees the cat costume person approach him. As they dance Rivalz doesn't mind letting 'her' lead. There is some commotion by the entrance. Rivalz look over and sees Euphemia and Nunnally walking in. Rivalz is glad that he is wearing this giant bunny head because if Lelouch saw him staring at his sister, Rivalz knew he would be dead. Rivalz notices that his dance partner is also looking at the Lamperouge sisters.

Then all hell breaks loose by the entrance. The entrance is elevated so that everyone can see who is walking in. First Rivalz notices that Shirley and Nina walk in. Shirley in particular looks hot in her green dress. Rivalz wonders why Milly didn't make an entrance like that. Rivalz has been waiting here since before the party began. Maybe she plans on leaving and making her own grand entrance later in a sexier costume. However the commotion by the entrance has not subsided.

At the entrance are Milly and Kallen. Milly's costume is a red silky layered dress that stops just above her knees. She is wearing a red tiara that has spikes and little devil horns. She also has red wings. Kallen's costume is the same only white and her tiara looks almost like a halo. Their dresses appear to be almost see through. They look more like lingerie than dresses. Despite the fact that most of them have dates the majority of the guys can't help but stare. The two girls do certain poses: back to back, front to front, holding hands, etc. Finally they stop and stand side by side. With their outside hands they hold up their masks and their inside hands are stretched out fingers touching.

Suddenly they lower their arms and turn to face each other. Stepping between them is someone wearing a purple suit with gold trim, a cape that is black in the outside and red on the inside, a black helmet that has a purple face plate, and black gloves. When the person stands, he kind of looks like the king chess piece. This leaves little doubt who it is, but to dispel any doubt he takes off the helmet. Rivalz and Gino stop dancing. They decide not to make a scene and sneak off quietly.

Lelouch puts his helmet back on. He puts out his arms and the girls take them. He leads them down the steps. Waiting for them at the bottom are their friends minus Rivalz and Gino. Lelouch begins to look around for them.

"I wonder where Gino and Rivalz are."

Milly smiles, "We took care of them."

Lelouch shrugs. He was hoping that Rivalz and Gino would him a little with all the girls that now ant to dance with him. Suzaku is obviously occupied with his sisters, Alice, Dalque. Leaving Lelouch to handle Milly, Kallen, Sancia, Lucretia, Shirley, and Nina. Lelouch decides to start well actually Milly decides to start. She takes Lelouch out to the dance floor. He spends the night taking turns dancing with each girl. Eventually his sisters and their friends also come to dance with him. Lelouch does wonder what happened to Rivalz and Gino.

**

* * *

**

Monday December 24, 2014

Unlike his friends Lelouch is not getting excited about presents and the like. For some reason Christmas has really caught here in Japan, the event not the purpose behind the event. Lelouch's parents have never been the religious type well at least not where he could see them. In fact in most of his speeches the emperor always seems very un-Christian based on Lelouch's research of the religion. In fact very few religions from around the world seemed to appeal to the Britannian royal family. Sometimes patriotism seemed like a religion on its own. There is many times when Lelouch considers the religion of Britannia to be Britannia. The people worshipped the nation itself. His father and his Social Darwinist ideals only helped this matter. Also helping the matter is Britannia's rise to power.

Around two hundred years ago Britannia was chased away from its ancestral home. The ruling house of Britannia and those that could escaped to the American continent. An area that just recently had been in rebellion. It started there. The former rebellious colonies were called Area One. Soon the colony formerly known as Canada was brought under direct control and was renamed Area 2. Once the areas was consolidated and the French driven out of the continent. The renamed Holy Empire of Britannia began its conquest of the western hemisphere. Unfortunately the important colony of India began to experience revolts. Due to the increasing native and secession issues Britannia was forced to recognize the colonies independence. Britannia continued its expansion southward. What was formerly known as New Spain or Mexico was now Area 3. This only increased discontent amongst certain Britannian factions.

The Euro Universe began to consolidate and expand. The Age of Revolution had changed everybody but Britannia. The EU took the Middle East and Africa under its wing. They created several federations and unions in those areas. The EU expanded to include North Africa. The Middle East Federation and the Turkic Federation were created in Western Asia.

These actions forced Britannia to continue to expand. Greenland and Iceland became Area 4 and 5. After a period of civil war the Britannia emperor was stronger than ever. Britannia entered another expansionist period. Taking advantage of unrest throughout South America Britannia added the whole continent as Area 6. The Falkland Islands and the Hawaii-Midway Atoll were added as Areas 7 and 8. Several decades later New Zealand was added as Area 9. Lelouch still did not understand the conquest of New Zealand even though it provided him with a nice location for one of his factories.

Lelouch sighs, "This is what Britannia has become, a nation that enforces its ways on others."

"And you wish to change that don't you."

Lelouch turns around and sees someone that looks like a child but has long blonde hair that almost reaches the floor. One quick glance at this person may lead you to dismiss him all together, but a longer look gave much more. Lelouch can see in his eyes decades of life. Not as much as CC or even MM but still more than you would imagine.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am."

"VV."

VV looks over at Lelouch and smiles. "I see you are well informed, nephew of mine."

That does not startle Lelouch. VV is very impressed by the boy. Charles seems to be spending his time playing around. VV would end this world of lies with his brother or with someone else.

"What is it that you want," Lelouch pauses and grins, "uncle?"

"I wish to end this world of lies by killing the gods."

This gets a slight reaction out of Lelouch. "Killing the gods? World of lies?"

VV smiles, "Yes. Are you not tired of this dreadful existence? Would you not care for something more peaceful? A world in which all can live as one."

Lelouch considers this. "Of course that is why I am choosing to fight. I will change Britannia form within."

What he meant is that he will destroy Britannia from within, but he is pretty sure that VV is an ally of his father.

VV smirks, "I see so you plan on destroying this nation your father has built."

Lelouch tries not to show emotion. "Why would you say that?"

VV continues to smirk. "Just a feeling. Would you like assistance with your goal? In exchange I would like you to help me with my wish."

This sounds all too familiar to Lelouch. He begins to consider VV's offer. Refusing could lead to problems later on. It could lead to problems now. Kallen enters the room. Lelouch looks over at her and smiles.

"I will accept your offer on the condition that Kallen will also be a part of it."

VV looks over at the red head. Just what he needs another woman to get in the way of the plan. As if Marianne is not enough. VV notices that the red head is now standing between the prince and him. He smiles at that. It seems as if the girl is more than she seems.

"Very well that seems reasonable."

VV directs them to hold hands and to come near him. A few seconds later a familiar sensation comes over Lelouch and Kallen. Once he is done, VV begins to walk away.

"Well that was odd. I don't think any of my contracts has ever been so unusual."

VV walks away in amazement. He knows that Lelouch received a geass from CC, but it seems as if the girl also received one as well. That is not all. VV is almost certain that Lelouch now has three geass abilities. VV has never heard of something like that. He almost certain that the girl now as two geass powers. To top it off their geass powers seem to be amplified by the other's.

VV is just glad that the boy did not take his code. It seems as if his geass powers have not reached that level yet. If that happened who knows what the results would be. Just in case he had Rolo waiting in the other room. He wonders if Rolo would have the desired effect. VV prepares for the trip to Area 10. Like everyone else he is interested in what the young prince as planned.

**

* * *

**

Tuesday, December 25, 2014

Lelouch and friends are getting ready for a trip to Area 10. He has set everything up for another mock battle. Since negotiations have been completed the emperor, empress, royal children, Knights of the Round, and company tag along. On separate jets of course except for Cornelia and Nonnette who decide to tag along with Lelouch. Before they do Luciano and Gino warn them to not bother Lelouch about what happened during the week. They know better than to get Lelouch upset about something.

As Lelouch and friends are boarding they get a surprise. Anya shows up to join them. Tagging along with her is Marika Soresi, Kewell's sister, and her friend, Liliana Vergamon. Anya they all know and like but these other girls will probably just get in the way. Only Kewell seems excited about his sister's appearance. Lelouch has a slight smirk on his face. Kallen is not sure what to think of it. It is not the perverted kind of smirk. It is more like the kind of smirk that show he has a plan. The kind of plan that ends up with knightmares needing to be repaired. She likes those kinds of plans.

Once in Area 10 they all settle into their rooms for the night. The old people are put on the opposite side of the building. Neither Marianne nor Cornelia like this setup. Charles does not mind. He needs separation from the children to accomplish to what he wants to do. Of course everybody goes down to the knightmare hangar. The three scientists are back at work after a week off. They are all introduces to the Titan, Callisto, Europa, and Io. For most of them it is their first up close look at the first three knightmares. The majority have seen Ios in action.

Marianne looks at Lelouch. "Dear, it is late. Perhaps you can give us a demonstration tomorrow."

Lelouch smiles, "That seems reasonable. Not everyone is here at the moment."

As he walks away they all wonder what he means. Everybody decides to get some rest. Cornelia is sure to give a stern warning to the teenagers about the consequences of their actions. Lelouch asks if she knows from experience or is she just being a typical adult. This earns him a growl from Guilford. Lelouch offers to settle it out on the knightmare range. Marianne settles them down. Lelouch remarks that the adults should consider the consequences of their actions. After all the emperor and empress already have five children and Cornelia can't be lost from the battlefield. This earns a laugh from the emperor.

As they prepare to sleep Marianne decides to confront Charles about her concerns.

"I don't like this red haired girl that is around my little boy."

Charles sighs, "He is not a little boy anymore. I was under the impression that you were coming to terms with Lord Stadtfeld's daughter. Perhaps you are angry because he is not closer to the Ashford girl."

Marianne frowns, "I am not all that happy with Ruben's granddaughter either."

"Were you able to discover what he has been doing in Japan?"

Marianne nods, "He has crippled a few boys. Almost killed one or two. Not to mention the fact that he got into a fight with a Japanese soldier."

Charles nods, "It seems as if he has gained a geass. Too bad we were not able to capture or convince CC in Japan."

There seems to be more on Marianne's mind, but she keeps it to herself. Charles and VV's plan involved using the Irregulars to both keep watch over Lelouch and to capture CC. Marianne has a feeling that those girls are under the control of her son. She wonders where Lelouch was able to keep up this skill with girls. He certainly did not get it from any of his brothers or sisters. Like Charles their only charm is power, but Lelouch seems to have something else.

"I'm going for a walk."

Marianne leaves. VV comes out of the shadows.

"I thought that woman would never leave."

"Brother, what are you doing here?"

VV smiles, "You know what Lelouch has planned for tomorrow."

Charles nods. He knew exactly what his son wanted to do tomorrow. "Yes."

"Well I have brought you Rolo. Just in case he was needed. After all Lelouch has geass users on his side. While you only have Bismarck."

"Do you really think we will need him? After all the Knights of the Round and Cornelia's forces are so experienced."

VV cannot help but laugh. Yes he was wise to ally himself with Lelouch. Charles thought too much like a child.

"It will be experience against technology and intelligence. Do not doubt the difference between the Titan, Callisto, and Europa to the Io. Those knightmares were constructed with the pilot in mind. Lelouch in the Titan would destroy just about anybody in anything including the Flash."

VV exits. He does not tell Charles about Lelouch's other surprise. There are two Titans. There are possibly also two Callistos and Europas. Unlike his brother VV is very well versed in technology. He understands that even though the Io is a mass production model based on the other three knightmares, they are not the same. The specs and the weaponry would lead you to believe otherwise. VV is not certain that Lelouch could actually defeat his mother or Bismarck Waldstein, but VV is almost certain that Lelouch's side will win. Lelouch's desire and intelligence will make it so.

Lelouch is making sure the final shipments are in. He has seventeen Ios transferred to the hangar on the other side. They will be the knightmares for the other side of this equation. He begins to go over the specs of the remodeled Titan, Callisto, and Europa. After the action the experienced over the last few months, they needed a few repairs. Kallen comes over to join him. The twins were used to getting a bed time story from her every night so she had to take care of that before coming over to talk to Lelouch.

"What exactly do you have planned for tomorrow?"

"Well nothing much for tomorrow. Everybody won't be ready."

"You should get some sleep," she smiles, "You know we are on vacation."

He nods as she walks away. He decides that she is correct and joins her in bed. Well actually she comes over through the secret tunnel later.

* * *

In the morning everybody is eating breakfast in little groups. Lelouch is eating with his little siblings. Gino is sitting alone. He is still upset about the masquerade ball. The rest of them are together. Marika and Lilliana are sitting with Kewell. Jeremiah and Villetta are sitting together. Schniezel, Odysseus, and Clovis are sitting together. The other old people are sitting in little groups. Obviously it is very uncomfortable in the room. Before Schniezel or Cornelia can say anything in an attempt to ease the situation, five young men walk into the room. Darlton stands up excitedly as his adopted sons, the Glaston Knights, walk into the room.

"What are you doing here?"

Lelouch answers for them. "They have been invited to participate in a knightmare demonstration."

The Glaston Knights are excited about the prospects of showing off there skills. They assume that their opponents will be the Knights of the Round, but Lelouch has other plans. Cornelia wonders what Lelouch has planned.

"What exactly do you have planned, Lelouch?"

"Like I said a knightmare demonstration. A knightmare demonstration like no other."

"Who exactly is going to participate?"

He waves his arms around to indicate that everyone in the room. Of course the emperor and probably Clovis are probably exempt.

Marianne smiles, "That's cute dear. You want to show that your friends can fight. I assume that you will be selecting one side and perhaps Cornelia the other."

Lelouch shakes his head. "I have already selected both sides."

He hands his mother and Cornelia a piece of paper detailing every bit of his plan.

"This is insane you can't possibly mean this."

Lelouch smiles. "Why are you afraid?"

Cornelia frowns, "Lelouch, you can't be serious about this."

Bismarck Waldstein comes over and looks at Lelouch's list and smiles.

Marianne vi Britannia, Bismarck Waldstein, Rolo Halliburton, Cornelia li Britannia, Gilbert G.P. Guilford, Andreas Darlton, Merlin Suzerain, Dorothea Ernst, Salacia Ravenguard, Nonnette Enngream, Luciano Bradley, Monica Kruszewski, Alfred Darlton, Bart Darlton, Claudio Darlton, David Darlton, and Edgar Darlton on one side.

Lelouch vi Britannia, Kallen Stadtfeld, Anya Alstriem, Euphemia li Britannia, Jeremiah Gottwald, Kewell Soresi, Gino Weinberg, Nunnally vi Britannia, Marika Soresi, Villetta Nu, Suzaku Kururugi, Liliana Vergamon, Milly Ashford, Sancia, Lucretia, Alice, and Dalque on the other side.

Bismarck nods his head. The emperor clears his throat.

"Very well it seems as if everyone is in agreement."

He walks away leaving Cornelia and Marianne astonished. Then everyone comes forward to look at what Lelouch has planned. Lloyd comes over to guide the old people towards their hangar.

"Is Friday suitable or would Saturday give you more time?"

Bismarck smirks. "Yes we shall give you until Saturday to plan your little schemes."

Lelouch nods. It is Wednesday. Schniezel walk over with the old people. He turns back and smiles at Lelouch. Clovis decides to go find something to paint before they tear up the landscape. Odysseus and Faramond go over with Lelouch and his friends. Faramond wants to get a better look at the knightmares.

For the first time since Saturday Gino decides to talk to Lelouch. Lelouch still has no idea why Gino is mad. To get Gino to come to Area 10 Lelouch had to have Euphemia ask him.

"Lelouch, are you crazy? We can't win that kind battle."

"Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me. Ye of little faith." Lelouch smirks, "Who says we have to win to win?"

Everybody is stunned by Lelouch's comments. They all know how competitive he is. In three years at West Point he never lost a single match. Every team led by Lelouch was undefeated. He races Kallen and Gino everyday to class. Hell he hates losing at rock, paper, scissors.

He understands their concern. "Considering the fact that they have the best knights of the realm, the Knight of the Round, the best battlefield commander Britannia has, as well as her best knights, and let us not forget the first and best knightmare pilot, Marianne the Flash."

The mention of Lelouch's mother made most of them fell uneasy. Gino and Milly didn't always agree with their mothers but they would never think of fighting them like this. The Irregulars barely knew their mothers, but somehow the thought of fighting them is not appealing. Euphie becomes teary eyed thinking of her mother. Really only Nunnally and Anya have no ill feeling about fighting their mothers.

Lelouch grimaces a little when he sees their reactions. "Let's go see the knightmares before you guys get emotional on me."

Of course they have all seen them but only Kallen and Villetta know about the new Titan and Europa. Odysseus, Faramond, and the kids are looking at them. They are joined by Schniezel.

Lelouch smiles. "So they did not want your help brother."

Schniezel shakes his head. This is his first close up look at the Titan, Callisto, and Europa. Schniezel had another reason for wanting to go with the other group. He wanted to have a word with Lloyd about a few future projects.

"These are quite impressive, Lelouch."

Lelouch shrugs, "They are a start. Perhaps it would be better if Odysseus and you were impartial observers."

Schniezel smiles, "I take it that that is your method of asking us to leave."

Schniezel and Odysseus leave. Faramond and the kids hang around for a while. Once they are gone Lelouch unveils the Titan Mk II and the Europa Attack. Rather than make a newer version of the Callisto, Rakshata decided to work on the original. The radiation burst was improved. As were a few of the other systems.

"We are going to divide up into several groups. I don't believe that they will have a unified plan."

Lelouch shows them his plan of attack.

"I will pilot the Titan Mk II. Gino will get the Europa Attack. Suzaku will get the Titan. Everybody else gets their regular knightmares."

They all look at their opponents. Lelouch continues to explain his strategy.

"Okay now we are going to divide up our opponents. I think that the Knights of the Round will fight as a unit. As will the Glaston Knights. This leaves the empress, Cornelia, Darlton, and Guilford. I think Bismarck will stick to the empress so Kallen and I will take them. The Glaston Knights are probably going to be their weak spot so Sancia your team will take them. To make it even Milly will be with you."

The Irregulars nod. Everybody here knows that those girls are not normal girls.

"Okay so for Cornelia, Darlton, and Guilford we will use Jeremiah, Kewell, and."

Euphemia exclaims, "I'll fight my sister!"

Lelouch tries not to smirk. He was expecting this. "Are you sure Euphie?"

"Yes."

"Very well Euphemia will get Cornelia. That leaves the Knights of the Round. The important ones are Merlin, Nonnette, and Luciano. Gino should get Merlin. The new Europa will give you an advantage. Villetta should get Nonnette. Suzaku is probably the only person that can handle Luciano. That leaves Dorothea, Salacia, and Monica. Dorothea is probably the weak link so Nunnally you get her. Marika and Liliana get the other two. Finally that leaves Rolo, Anya you get him. "

They all nod.

"Let's split up into our groups and go over strategy. I think that this is our advantage. We are willing to work together."

They spend the day looking at their opponents since most of them are comfortable in their knightmares. The old guys spend most of the day getting used to their knightmares. By the emperor's orders the sides are not allowed to mingle. However Odysseus, Faramond, Schniezel, and the kids spend the two days going between both sides spreading trash talk. Well in the case of Nunnally's trash talk, they tone it down a bit.

* * *

Lelouch's plan is pretty simple. The Irregulars will use their geass abilities and enhanced Ios to overwhelm the Glaston Knights. They will then go and help the group that is fighting the Knights of the Round. He only hopes that that group can hold up against the Rounds. He also hopes that he and Kallen can match up against his mother and Bismarck. He is not worried about Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta. He is also not worried about Euphemia. He is certain that Cornelia will also choose to fight her sister and won't harm her until the end.

Just as he thought the other side divides up into groups. In case the number do the groups didn't give them away, they announce which knightmares they are in. Not that Lelouch didn't know anyways.

"Sancia, take your group over to point five. Make sure that you draw the Glaston Knights."

"Yes sir."

Gino grits his teeth as he heads straight for the Knight of Two. Suzaku tentatively takes his knightmare towards Luciano. Gino contacts him.

"Suzaku, don't fuck around with Luciano. If you can't handle him back off."

Nunnally, Marika, Liliana, and Villetta rush in. Guilford and Darlton approach Jeremiah and Kewell.

"Well Gottwald we shall see which of us serves our lord with more passion."

Jeremiah smiles at Guilford's comment. Cornelia approaches Euphemia.

"Euphie, stay close to me and you'll be safe."

Euphemia nods and smiles, "Sure big sister."

Anya approaches Rolo. "I will make a memory of you."

Rolo grimaces. He has been told to keep his geass use to a minimum. After all Schniezel, Odysseus, and Clovis are watching the battle form several camera angles. Rolo has piloted a knightmare before, but much more secure on the ground with a knife.

Bismarck and Marianne approach Lelouch and Kallen. Kallen moves over to take on Marianne.

"Those are some pretty knightmares you have, dear. Do you really want to ruin them?"

Lelouch smirks, "Any time you are ready to stop talking and start fighting we are ready."

Bismarck rushes at Lelouch who activates his second geass and dodges Bismarck's attack. Lelouch rushes Bismarck. At first his able to get close to the Knight of One and then notices that Bismarck keeps dodging his attacks. Lelouch notices that Kallen and his mother are at a standstill. Lelouch remembers something from his meeting with VV. At first when Lelouch wanted Kallen involved, VV seemed apprehensive but in an instant something changed.

Lelouch smiles, "Kalli, let's switch. I want to fight my mom."

* * *

Author's note: I was kind of afraid of this chapter. It more or less signals that the story is going to change in nature. I do want to say one thing here. This story would be a lot different if it was an original work. Meaning if everything (characters etc.) was mine. Then I would not have to explain things. I could just start the story anywhere, and everything would be a given. I would probably have started the story here and flashback to the events in the previous twenty six chapters. That is not to say that any who has read this from the beginning has wasted their time. In fact most everything will come to play as the story progresses. Obviously this story is completely different from Code Geass. I am not attempting to fix or change Code Geass. I have already done so four times. This is an attempt to tell a story using Code Geass characters and concepts. Well just wanted to say that.

Writing for VV is a little easier than writing for CC. With VV you just have to remember his goal is to end the world of lies and kill the gods. In the end he decides that nothing will get in the way of his goal. I think that absolute power corrupted him. I'm not trying to say that VV was a nice guy but having almost unlimited power probably changed him.

I never understood his reasoning for killing Marianne. The death of their mother is what drove him and Charles to make their pact to kill the gods. Why did he not believe that Lelouch and Nunnally would have the same drive? Also honestly we do not actually know if VV killed Marianne. Charles and Marianne claim he did, but VV was not there to defend himself. He was certainly capable of it. It was also pretty evident that he disliked Marianne. It just seems a little weird to kill one of the two people that have agreed to your insane killing the gods scheme.

I do appreciate reviews and pms. They sometimes remind me to get the story going. In fact this whole chapter is the result of two reviewers giving me ideas. The next one as well.

Here is the knightmare stuff.

**Titan Mk II**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: purple with some camouflage abilities

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

Cockpit ejection system

**Armament:**

6 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted, two shoulder mounted)

2 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

2x wrist mounted cannons

**Titan**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: black

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

Cockpit ejection system

**Armament:**

4 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted)

2 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

Multiplex chaos mines

**Callisto upgraded**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 4.51 meters

Weight: 7.51 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: red

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

4 x shoulder mounted slash harkens

2x hip mounted slash harkens

Right hand radiation bursts

Left hand held stun Tonfa

assault rifle

Chest mounted missile launcher

Multiplex chaos mines

**Europa **

Height: 6.32 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: white

**Armament:**

4 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

1 x assault rifle

1 x Stun Tonfa

2 x chest mounted cannons

**Europa Attack**

Height: 6.32 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: blue

**Armament:**

2 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

2x hip mounted slash harkens

2 x assault rifle

1 x Stun Tonfa

2 x chest mounted cannons

2x shoulder mounted cannons

Multiplex chaos mines

**Io series**

**General characteristics **

Height**:** 6.02 meters

Weigh**t:** 7.05 metric tones

Power Source**:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Color: purple with camouflage capabilities

**Design Features**

Cockpit ejection system

Factshpere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament**

4x Slash Harken (2 shoulder mounted, 2 hip mounted)

2x chest mounted Missile Launcher

1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun

2 x Stun Tonfa

**Optional Armaments**

2x Assault Rifle

1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle

Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)


	28. Taking candy from a baby

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_

* * *

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Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?

_Kyoshiro Tohdoh. _

_Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits _

_Day 4, enemies_

_Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

_

* * *

_

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

_Kyoshiro Tohdoh. _

_Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits _

_Day 3 character_

_Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

* * *

"Kalli, let's switch. I want to fight my mom."

Marianne is impressed sort of. "Oh does my little boy want to fight momma now."

Lelouch moves his knightmare towards his mother. He contacts Kallen.

"Kalli, watch out. I think Bismarck has a geass."

Kallen nods and wonders why Lelouch wants to change opponents. She was really hoping to shut his mom up for good. Now she has to fight the Knight of One. He rushes at her. So much for hoping he would go easy on a girl.

Cornelia looks over at her and Lelouch's knights/advisors fighting. Then she hears Lelouch's voice over an open channel. She hears him decide to fight his mother. Cornelia turns her knightmare towards where Lelouch is fighting Marianne. She can't believe he would do such a thing. This battle is about to get interesting.

Euphemia notices that her sister is distracted and smiles. As soon as Cornelia is facing away from her, Euphemia fires her four slash harkens and propels her knightmare towards her sister. She pulls out her assault rifles and fires away. Cornelia feels something tugging behind her.

"Euphie."

But it is too late; Euphemia has managed to completely disable Cornelia. The purple haired princess is ejected from her knightmare. Darlton pauses from fighting Kewell when he sees the eject pod. He thought that Princess Cornelia would let Princess Euphemia have a few more moments on the battle field. However this is no place for someone like Euphemia. Darlton notices that a knightmare is heading towards him. Guilford calls out to Darlton.

"Darlton, look out."

It is too late. Euphemia launches one of her chaos mines at Darlton and launches her knightmare towards Guilford. She activates the other chaos mines still inside her knightmare. She calls Jeremiah.

"Lord Gottwald, move out of the way."

Jeremiah does as the princess advises. Euphemia launches her slash harkens at Guilford. She catches him and fires away with her assault rifle. She ejects just before she hits him and her chaos mines explode. The shrapnel also catches what is left of Darlton's knightmare.

Jeremiah smiles as he checks on Kewell. He seems to be fine.

"Kewell, let's go. We have work to do."

Part one of the prince's worked. Jeremiah figured that either he or Kewell would also have to go. In fact he wondered if Princess Euphemia even had to go. Either way they now had the advantage. They head over to where the Knights of the Round are.

Milly and the Irregulars have led the Glaston Knights a good distance from the battle. To make it look right they engage them in light sparing. Sancia and Lucretia activate their geass abilities and transfer the information to the knightmare. Milly has no idea how these girls are able to bring up all this information on the screen. Apart from a three dimensional map of their part of the battle, there is also probable projections for their opponents.

As Milly engages one of the Glaston Knights, she hears Lelouch declare that he wants to fight his mother. This surprises her. She is certain that he would be adamant about Kallen fighting her. A little after this announcement she notices a series of explosions coming from the area where everybody started. She notices that Euphie's knightmare is gone from her scanners, but more importantly she notices that Cornelia and her knights are gone.

This piece of information is most disconcerting to Glaston Knights. Somehow their superior officers have been eliminated. Alice and Dalque take the opportunity to take out the Glaston Knights. Alice activates her geass and in seconds the enemy is defeated. Milly uses the Europa's excessive firepower to finish the job. She and the Irregulars prepare to move.

Odysseus, Schniezel, and Clovis are watching the battle on various screens. Despite the fact that they know that the battle between the Glaston Knights and the Irregulars will be the best battle. It is not the most interesting. There is the battle featuring Lelouch and Miss Stadtfeld versus Empress Marianne and Bismarck Waldstein. The battle of the Knights of the Round versus lots of kids. The battle between Cornelia and her knights versus Euphemia and Lelouch's advisors. Then of course there is the battle between Anya and Rolo. They don't pay much attention to this one either.

Faramond and the kids are watching behind them. They are also watching the battles that contain the royal children. However Evelyn is keeping an eye on the battle between the Irregulars and the Glaston Knights. Most of all she is watching for what Schniezel is watching. Their eyes keep moving between the battles with their siblings involved. The early going is slow.

It appears as everyone is trying to get a feel for their enemies. Only the battle of between Cornelia and Lelouch's knights/advisors seems to be getting aggressive. Cornelia is content to let Euphemia survive for now. The Knights of the Round seem to be toying with their opponents. The battle between Lelouch and his girlfriend versus his mother and Bismarck also seems to be getting interesting. Schniezel casually looks up at the other battles. It appears to be an even affair. Then Lelouch challenges his mother.

This earns a yell from Evelyn. "Kick her butt, brother Lulu."

Evelyn begins to jump around. Faramond has to calm her down. Schienzel notices all hell is breaking loose in Cornelia's battle so he put that battle on the big screen. Odysseus is more interested in watching Lelouch fight his mother. Clovis doesn't really care but states that he wants to watch the Knights of the Round battle. As the three of them argue, Evelyn realizes that now is her chance. She pushes a button on a device her big brother gave her. She doesn't know what it does, but Lelouch told her to push it when the three older princes are distracted.

Alice gets the signal she has been waiting for. She activates her geass and tears through the Glaston Knights. They don't even know what hit them. Dalque uses her geass to crush two of the Glaston Knights while Milly finishes the job. Sancia and Lucretia are already getting ready to move.

"Alice, Dalque lets move to our next target. Lady Ashford, you are to assist Anya in finishing off Rolo."

Schniezel can't believe what happened. One second everything was even. Then suddenly Lelouch gained an insurmountable advantage. No matter how you looked at it. Lelouch now has seven more knightmares on the field. His pilots knew their knightmares inside and out while his opponents had only been in them for a few days. Schniezel would have to go back and review the footage because something doesn't add up.

Gino was trying to hold his own against the Knight of Two. What keeps him going is that he feels as if Merlin is holding back. He looks over and notices that Suzaku isn't faring any better against Luciano. The newly minted Knight of Ten is also toying with the Japanese boy. The only one of them that seems to be having any luck against a Knight of the Round is Nunnally. Gino wonders why.

As soon as the battle begins Nunnally charges ahead. She doesn't care who Dorothea Ernst thinks she is. Nunnally is going to show her who she is. Nunnally knows how to use every weapon in the Io's arsenal. Too bad she didn't get the Europa Attack because Gino isn't putting it to any use. After Lelouch announces his intention to fight their mother, Nunnally knows that things can only get better. Nunnally gets a message from Euphemia that signals that her older sister did her part. Then the signal they have all been waiting for. Nunnally smiles because she knows help is on the way. She decides to play a little with the so called best knights of the realm. She jumps away from Dorothea and hits Nonnette from behind.

"Hey Noni, I thought I would give Villetta a break."

Nonnette laughs. Villetta sighs and catches her breath. She never would have expected the playful Nonnette to be this aggressive. She knows that it is a test of her worthiness.

"I'm sorry Princess Nunnally, but I must do this on my own."

Dorothea is not thrilled that an eleven year old girl considers her to be such an easy opponent.

"Get back here you little brat."

Gino can't believe that Nunnally would intentionally piss off a Knight of the Round. Gino is pretty much on his last legs here. Even though Merlin has been toying with him, Gino can't do much. In his despair he missed Lelouch's announcement and Evelyn's signal. Gino decides to make on final attack with everything he has when Merlin's knightmare starts to go down. Then he notices that Luciano's knightmare also goes down. Much to his surprise he sees six friendly knightmares approaching them.

He is receiving a message from Milly. "Hey Gino I thought you might need some help."

Gino moves in and finishes off the Knight of Two. Suzaku does the same with Luciano.

As Milly and the Irregulars move over to their next battle, they notice that Jeremiah and Kewell are doing the same. They are all heading for the Knights of the Round. Milly has faith that Lelouch and Kallen can hold there own against the two greatest knightmare pilots in history. They do have the advantage of having two of the best knightmares ever created. Milly notices Sancia and Lucretia putting together the anti-knightmare sniper rifle. At first she wondered why they bothered with the bulky thing. Now it makes sense.

"Sancia, Lucretia leave that to me. Go down and finish them off."

They do as Milly orders. Milly prepares her shot. As the daughter of nobility there are certain things she is expected to know and do. She is expected to learn etiquette and the proper manner in which to address people. She is also expected to learn horseback riding and archery. Most nobles also learn how to fire a rifle for game hunting. Milly is one of those. She is particularly meticulous when it came to that. Very few take care of their weapons the way Milly's does. Her targets never stood chance. She aims for the most dangerous enemies first. She makes all the calculations for both shots. She will probably only be able to get two or three shots at this distance. She takes aim and fires her shots. Once she is done she moves on to help Anya with Rolo.

When the Knights of Two and Ten go down, Nunnally is surprised to say the least. She was expecting Jeremiah, Kewell, and the Irregulars to come in and help them out. She wasn't expecting Milly to sniper them down. Nunnally gains a new respect for her future sister-in-law. Alice comes up and helps Nunnally finish off Dorothea. Once the rest of them came sweeping in Nunnally decides to go off and help Lelouch.

"I'm coming brother."

Rolo is having a difficult time with Anya. They knew each other from their time serving the Lamperouge children. Rolo was only there a year while Anya is still technically there. Anya smiles as Lelouch makes his announcement and Evelyn gives the signal. It would only be a matter of time before Milly came over to help. Anya had been ignoring most of the other parts of the battle. Every time she is ready to deliver the finishing blow, Rolo finds a way to escape. It is almost like he has some kind of unnatural power. Anya keeps attacking. Suddenly Anya notices Rolo's knightmare go down.

"Hey there Anya, need any help with this brat?"

Anya looks up and sees the Europa. "Milly."

Lelouch's plan worked down to the last detail. The only thing that is needed is to finish it off. Lelouch didn't think that his mother would be this good. Sure he expected her to be good but not like this. Nothing he does gets to her. He is far too proud to activate any of his geass abilities. It would be too dangerous. He knows that Schniezel and everyone else are watching this part of the battle with great interest. Evelyn's signal lets him know that they are not watching the Irregulars battle. He was hoping for that. He decides to go all out against his mom. Even so he is not having any success.

At first Bismarck was having trouble fighting the young Miss Stadtfeld. His geass was activated. He should have been able to see her movements. He did not want to resort to using his geass but during his battle with the prince, it was very evident that the prince was using his. When they switched opponents Bismarck knows there is a reason for this. Unlike the others he is used to looking at what is going on in the complete battlefield. He notices that as soon as the prince makes his announcement. Things begin to happen. He decides that the only way to win this battle is to use his geass. Then for some reason it has no effect on the girl. However this does not detour Bismarck. He is after all the better pilot.

Lelouch keeps his attacks up. He isn't able to get any closer to hitting her. She keeps moving and hitting him. If this goes on any longer Lelouch will lose. Lelouch knows that in minutes everyone else will show up and this battle will be for naught. Sure Lelouch's team will have won, but the important battle will be lost. Lelouch decides there is only one way to defeat his mother

Schniezel decides that the battle is over. Only Bismarck and Marianne are left on their side. He notices that the others are heading in that direction. Their knightmares have slight damage. Lelouch was able to predict the flow of the battle. He knew that the Knights of the Round would toy with their enemies. He knew that Cornelia would ignore Euphemia. He also knew that his announcement to fight his mother would distract everyone else. How he got Euphemia to pull of those moves Schniezel will never know? Of course Euphemia could have thought of it herself. Schniezel notices Lelouch make a move towards Marianne. Schniezel blinks at what Lelouch is doing.

Lelouch decides to really go all out against his mother. The Titan Mk II's superior specs match up really well against the Flash. It's just that he does not match up against her at the moment. He also notices that Kallen isn't faring very well against Bismarck. Lelouch is standing in front of his mother. He launches all his slash harkens at her and flings his knightmare in her direction. Marianne has seen Lelouch pull this move before in those videos. She prepares her assault rifle for his leap over her, but he is coming in too fast to be able to make the leap.

"No he can't be thinking of that."

But he was thinking of that. Lelouch crashes his knightmare in his mother's forcing her to ground. The collision damages Marianne's knightmare. Most of her systems are inoperable. In fact in this position she can't even eject. In a real battle she would be dead. Lelouch wouldn't be much better off but still. As he flips his knightmare up he fires his shoulder cannons to finish her off.

"That was a good move young prince but now I have you."

Lelouch laughs at Bismarck's comment. "You are correct Knight of One. But the second you take me down, you will be downed yourself."

Bismarck turns around and his geass goes haywire as he sees all the future movements of those around him. The rest of Lelouch's team is now here and ready to go. Bismarck closes his geass affected eye and turns back towards Lelouch. Lelouch decides to take the opportunity to attack Bismarck. The Knight of One cuts him down with his assault rifle.

"It is a shame to ruin such a great knightmare. But Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One, will not go down so easy."

As Bismarck moves forward to finish off Lelouch, his knightmare begins to crumple.

"What happened?"

He is ejected.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kallen Stadtfeld and I also do not go down that easily.

Lelouch looks over to Kallen. Her knightmare is still in the ground and is now completely devoid of energy.

"Was that good enough, Lulu?"

Lelouch smiles, "Yes Kalli that was good enough."

Kallen yawns, "I feel like taking a nap."

Evelyn gets on the communicator. "Yay go big brother Lulu and sister Kallen."

Lelouch and the Titan slump. He knows it wasn't a fair fight, but they won. Kallen defeated the Knight of One. He defeated the empress, Marianne the Flash. Well he disabled Marianne the Flash. He notices movement over by her knightmare. Nunnally is over there in seconds.

"Don't move mom."

Marianne lets her knightmare drop once more.

"Well at least get me out of here."

* * *

Schniezel is staring at the screen intensely. How did that girl manage to fire that radiation burst. Was she saving it up for that moment?

"Odysseus, am I seeing things or are there two Titans out there."

Odysseus shakes his head. "I was about to ask you the same thing about the Europa."

Schniezel stares at the screen. He does not see another Callisto. "It seems as if Lelouch is more interesting then we believed."

Clovis is already off. He is probably planning some sort of celebration. Schniezel wants to get a better look; however, he is interrupted by the emperor.

"I am surprised to see you still here. I imagined that you would be down at the hangar congratulating the victors."

Schniezel licks his lips. "I was on my way, your majesty. Interesting demonstration."

The emperor smiles, "Yes very interesting." As they walk away, the kids come over to them."

"It was cool, huh grandfather, the knightmare battle. Uncle Lelouch showed them who's boss."

Charles smiles at his grandson's comment. "Yes the battle was interesting Faramond."

Evelyn grabs the twins by the hand and takes them to the front of the group. Schniezel does not know what to make of his father. He seems so cold to his children but is very open with his grandson. That doesn't make him treat Odysseus any better. They arrive at the victor's hangar. The losers are already there. Cornelia seems to be ignoring Euphemia who at the moment is talking to Dr. Cecile Croomy.

As soon as they are gone VV comes out. "I thought those fools would never leave. Now to make some changes to this video."

VV began to modify the video of the fight between the Glaston Knights and the Irregulars. His new contractee is a little careless. Although VV did like seeing his strategy. He distracted them with more interesting battles. Once VV is done with his mission, he goes back to his room to wait for Rolo.

* * *

Lelouch is the last to return. As he returns he thinks about how the battle could have gone differently. The obvious thing is that the old people could have taken the battle seriously. That would have made the battle closer. Perhaps Lelouch would have had to break out his geass abilities. He notices that everyone is waiting for him. They are standing in a semicircle around the emperor.

Lelouch disembarks his knightmare. He notices that Cornelia is standing away from Euphemia. For the most part the two sides are standing apart. This is the first they have all actually been together. The emperor dismisses everyone and is left alone with Marianne and their children. Schniezel is more than happy to take everyone to the viewing room. He is anxious to look at the footage of the battle between the Glaston Knights and those Irregulars.

Lelouch is certain that this is the first time they have been together as a family. The kids are not sure how to react. They are used to being with their mother or being with Lelouch and Nunnally. Marianne goes over and hugs them all. Nunnally and Evelyn struggle a little. Lelouch just allows it to happen. The twins follow his example. After the hug Marianne takes the kids away. Nunnally runs off to hang out with her friends leaving Lelouch and the emperor alone.

"That was very interesting my son."

"Yes father."

There is an awkward pause. It is difficult to explain. It is as if they both know that the other knows that they know what they know.

"I see you are cultivating your relationships with those two girls."

"Is there a problem with that your majesty?"

"No, no problem at all. As a male of the imperial bloodline it is your duty to marry and have children."

"Yes your majesty."

"I take it that you have considered this."

Lelouch pauses before he continues. He feels as if the emperor is preparing to back him into a corner.

"Yes you majesty. Both unions would be of great benefit to the Empire."

"Very well then so be it. You will marry those girls by the end of the next year or I will find someone who will."

Lelouch grinds his teeth. He can't seem too happy about the prospect of marrying Kallen and Milly.

"If that is his majesty's will, then I as a loyal subject and prince will see that it is accomplished. I will ensure the continuation and growth of the Empire"

The emperor takes his leave. He can't help but notice Lelouch's final comment.

"Do not forget the other part of our agreement. You have but a few days to give those girls what the have earned."

Lelouch nods as the emperor leaves.

Lelouch sighs, "You two can come out now."

Milly and Kallen come out if their hiding spot. They look nervous. Lelouch staring at them doesn't help make them feel any better. Kallen wants a few answers. She has gone along with Lelouch's plans and schemes, but she feels that she is entitled to some answers.

"Lelouch, what did your father mean by giving us what we earned."

Lelouch hands them each a folder. The information in the folders details the two girls receiving a peerage. Kallen blinks at the date on the papers, April 2, 2014 Accession Throne Britannia. It is now December 29. Kallen flips through the papers again. The papers detail all of Kallen's accomplishments such as piloting experimental knightmares and protecting the Empire during a time of emergency. Kallen sighs. She didn't plan on any of this. All she wanted to do is be by Lelouch. The reason she took control of the situation that day was to help Lelouch. In fact she now has a higher court ranking then her father. The papers say that she is now Duchess of Hue. She wonders what Milly received.

Milly has an idea of what Lelouch is handing her. They have talked about it in the past. He is handing her freedom from her parents. Of course after the conversation he just had with the emperor, it seems as if she is not completely free. Well that depends on Lelouch. Milly would be thrilled to marry Lelouch. She won't marry anyone else. She knows that for the time being she will be safe in Japan with her grandparents, but when she graduates thing might be different. Still Milly wants to tell her parents that she is no longer under their control. She is now Margravine of Vinh.

Lelouch sighs, "Did you hear the conversation between the emperor and me?"

The girls nod. Lelouch is unsure about how to continue. This isn't quite how he imagined proposing to Kallen or Milly. In fact he hadn't expected to do it for at least a few years. He wonders how they feel about getting married at the age of fifteen or sixteen.

Kallen sighs. If she had known that meeting this prince over four years ago would have been so much trouble, she wonders if she still would do the same thing. Not that she would mind marrying Lelouch. It is all just happening too fast. She can tell by Milly's expression that she would marry Lelouch right now. Kallen feels something tugging at her leg. She looks down and sees Evelyn and the twins.

Evelyn asks, "What's going on here?"

Lelouch picks up his little sister. "Nothing munchkins. We are just talking about some business."

Castor squeals as Kallen pick him up. "We's not munchkins, big brother."

Pollux adds as Milly picks him up. "Ya we big boys, brother Lulu."

Lelouch laughs, "Are you guys ready to go back with mom?"

The kids shake their heads.

"Let's go everybody is probably waiting for us."

* * *

Later that day the emperor and the Knights of Round leave without saying a world. With one exception Bismarck does have a word with Lelouch about getting some knightmares. Cornelia, her knights, and the Glaston Knights also take their leave. It is done awkwardly because she is still not talking to Euphemia but has to find way to sternly warn her about keeping her clothes on or something.

Schniezel and Clovis decide to leave as well. They both have pressing matters elsewhere. Much to Faramond's chagrin Odysseus decides to leave as well. Lelouch decides to step in and save his nephew.

"It's fine if you want to leave him. We still have week left in our vacation."

Odysseus decides to leave his son. Lelouch turns to everyone.

"So what do we do know?"

Evelyn has an idea. "Let's go to the beach."

Normally everybody would be thrilled at such a suggestion but the nearest beach is the place where most of them experienced their first battle. Of course it is also winter. Lelouch has an idea. He will take them to a great beach. It will also allow him to get some work done. The next day they are off to Area 9. (New Zealand).

* * *

On his way back to Pendragon Schniezel is pensive. Kannon notices this.

"Is something wrong, your highness?

Schniezel looks up as his assistant. "No Kannon, I was just thinking about the events of the past two weeks."

Kannon nods and goes back to his reports.

* * *

Lelouch and company arrive in Area 9. Gino and Suzaku decide to head back to Japan. Gino remembers that he is mad at Lelouch who still doesn't know why. So he is basically alone with the girls because even Jeremiah and Kewell abandoned him. Lelouch vows to get back at them all. They get settled in and decide to explore a little. Lelouch wanders around the palace grounds. Area 9 has just received a new viceroy. As everybody is off exploring, Lelouch decides to meet the new viceroy.

"Hello Maximus, how are you enjoying Area 9?"

Maximus va Britannia turns and faces his younger half-brother.

"You were right, Lelouch. Area 9 is much more interesting than it appears."

Lelouch smiles as the two princes walk through the palace.

* * *

Author's note: I hoped people enjoyed the battle. I tried to make it as long as some of my other battles. I might go back and add some details to it. Nothing important just details to some of the individual battles. Lelouch also chose to go to Area 9 for another reason. It might be easy to forget since he is not a cannon character but Lord Cummins who is also working on knightmares for Lelouch is in Area 9. He is currently working on the maser vibration sword. He also worked on the Ios.

Next chapter has the Mao-Lelouch confrontation that I have been avoiding, then forgetting, and then couldn't find a place for. Well it happens next chapter as does something else that will change the Kallen-Lelouch relationship.

The Tohdoh quotes are Abraham Lincoln quotes. I should make a calendar called Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits.

I just finished Ouran High school Host Club. I really liked it. I don't know why but I have begun watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I have seen the first two episodes. If you know what is going on the first one is freaking hilarious. Seriously I must have watched the opening credits to their movie like thirty times. I think I memorized it in Japanese.

Here are the battle groupings.

Marianne-Kallen, Bismarck-Lelouch, Rolo-Anya

Cornelia-Euphemia, Guilford-Jeremiah, Darlton-Kewell

Merlin-Gino, Dorothea-Nunnally, Salacia-Marika, Nonnette-Villetta, Luciano-Suzaku, Monica-Liliana

Alfred-Milly, Bart-Sancia, Claudio-Lucretia, David-Alice, Edgar-Dalque

Here are the knightmare specs.

**Titan Mk II**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: purple with some camouflage abilities

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

Cockpit ejection system

**Armament:**

6 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted, two shoulder mounted)

2 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

2x wrist mounted cannons

**Titan**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 5.86 meters

Weight: 7.02 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: black

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

Cockpit ejection system

**Armament:**

4 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted)

2 x assault rifle

2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm

2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons

Multiplex chaos mines

**Callisto upgraded**

**General characteristics:**

Height: 4.51 meters

Weight: 7.51 metric tons

Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler

Color: red

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament:**

4 x shoulder mounted slash harkens

2x hip mounted slash harkens

Right hand radiation bursts

Left hand held stun Tonfa

assault rifle

Chest mounted missile launcher

Multiplex chaos mines

**Europa **

Height: 6.32 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: white

**Armament:**

4 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

1 x assault rifle

1 x Stun Tonfa

2 x chest mounted cannons

**Europa Attack**

Height: 6.32 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: blue

**Armament:**

2 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

2x hip mounted Slash harkens

2 x assault rifle

1 x Stun Tonfa

2 x chest mounted cannons

2x shoulder mounted cannons

Multiplex chaos mines

**Io series**

**General characteristics **

Height**:** 6.02 meters

Weigh**t:** 7.05 metric tones

Power Source**:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Color: purple with camouflage capabilities

**Design Features**

Cockpit ejection system

Factshpere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament**

4x Slash Harken (2 shoulder mounted, 2 hip mounted)

2x chest mounted Missile Launcher

1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun

2 x Stun Tonfa

**Optional Armaments**

2x Assault Rifle

1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle

Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)


	29. More than you know

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

Franklin P. Jones

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.

Robert Frost

True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.

Erich Segal

**

* * *

**

January 5, 2015

Mao has been in Japan for several months. He mostly stays away from big cities. He finds traces of a green haired girl in people's minds, but nothing concrete. Finally he picks something up. In fact he was ready to give up on Japan. Then he found what he is looking for. Mao's search method is simple. He searched for thoughts of a beautiful green haired girl. What he found was sexy green haired girl. In fact Mao almost felt like killing the vulgar man. How dare he think of his CC in that manner?

But Mao is able to get the name Ashford Academy out of the man. He is also able to get a few names. Mao isn't so confident about those. They seem a little made up. One quick peek at Ashford Academy tells Mao that he is not going like it. The only saving grace for Mao is that the school is on break so there only a few hundred students there. From what Mao can tell Ashford Academy is the elite school for Britannian brats here in Japan. It is also the school where rich Japanese go if they want to learn about Britannia. Mao has never cared much about politics. He only cares about CC.

Mao finds nothing at Ashford Academy. It seems as if the stupid Japanese guy mistook some floozy in a play for Mao's precious CC. Mao has previously picked up traces of CC in Japan around the countryside but all those clues went dry a few weeks ago. His only clues were people named Dedouche and Karen. He was also able to get a Milly out of that vulgar Japanese man's head, but the images were not things Mao wanted to think of. Mao likes to keep his thoughts about women pure. He knows that CC would not approve of dirty thoughts.

While at Ashford he was able to get information on this Milly, but she was not there. He found several Karens. None has any information about CC. He couldn't find a Dedouche. In fact the only connection Mao found to that name was a video game character. Mao did find out about a Lelouch and a Kallen. He wonders if that is who he should be looking for.

Apart from looking for a beautiful green haired girl in people's minds, he tries to look for people whose minds he can't read. It is possible that CC could have dyed her hair or is wearing a disguise. That is how he found them. The boy named Lelouch and his red headed companion, Kallen. Well he found traces of Lelouch. He did not find Kallen. At least he could not find her thoughts. Mao wonders if CC is going by an alias to hide from others because she would not hide from him. Mao was not hasty. He takes his time.

* * *

After discussing a few matters with Maximus, Lelouch enjoys the rest of his vacation. He makes sure that his family and friends don't know about Maximus. He along with others is part of Lelouch's plan. His Pendragon spies have spoken of this little group that Guinevere has started. Lelouch decides to start his own little group. He put those thoughts aside and enjoys the rest of his vacation. Those with him know him well enough to notice if he is distracted. Eventually they return home. The kids go back to Pendragon with their mother. On the way back to Japan Lelouch remembers Mao. From the little CC told him about Mao, Lelouch knows that Mao is going to be a dangerous adversary. Lelouch does wonder where CC has gone. Lelouch makes sure to tell everyone about Mao. Euphemia and Milly wonder what he is talking about. The others understand.

On this day Lelouch is out shopping with Kallen. He makes sure that she has her geass activated. From the little MM and CC told him, Mao is looking for CC. The only problem is that Mao can't read CC's mind so he has to search for her in other people's minds. Lelouch knows that he has to confront Mao no matter what. With Kallen and the Irregulars, Mao doesn't stand a chance. So Lelouch does the smart thing, he thinks of CC and implies in his thoughts that Kallen is CC. He does wonder if Mao will be able to pick up on that. Lelouch's phone rings. It shows an unfamiliar number.

"This is Lelouch."

"Yes well this is Mao and you have her. Giver her back."

"I see so you want her."

Lelouch focuses his thoughts on thinking of Kallen as CC.

"Yes and what have you done to her beautiful hair"

Lelouch begins to walk in the direction of his house. He hears a slightly audible scowl on the other side. He wonders if Mao is unable to read his mind. He relaxes at bit to test the theory. Mao says nothing.

"Well Mao, why don't we meet by Yamamoto Park? It is near my house. I should be there in a few minutes."

"Yes that is acceptable. If you don't bring her, you will face the consequences."

Lelouch nods to no one in particular and hangs up the phone. Kallen is looking at him.

"We have a meeting with a special guest. Let's go."

Kallen sighs. She knows that stuff like this is what her future will be all about. Lelouch makes two small pit stops. He stops in a novelty store to purchase a small chess set and a green wig for Kallen. He also makes a stop in a bathroom. He tells Kallen that once he comes out he will begin to call her CC. Kallen only nods and puts on the wig. When he comes out he hands her a note and smiles.

Mao is waiting at Yamamoto Park. Just as he thought Lelouch lied about it being near his house. In fact this park is in a completely middle class Japanese section of town. There is no way that a Britannian noble would live here. Mao makes sure to pick a secluded corner of the park. Then Mao senses it. Thoughts of CC begin to flood into his mind. Someone is thinking of CC. Mao grimaces at the thoughts. His CC would not engage in those activities. Mao calms himself down as a raven haired, amethyst eyed boy sits down in front of him. Beside him is a red haired, cerulean eyed girl wearing a very bad green wig.

"Where is CC?"

Lelouch frowns, "Right here beside me."

Mao scowls and thinks. "I see what you did, you little brat. Very well what is it that you want to do."

"Play a little game of chess. If you win, you get CC. If I win, I get to keep her."

Mao knows this but allows Lelouch to explain exactly what he wants. They set up the game. Mao has never played chess so he does a quick check into Lelouch's mind for some pointers. Mao finds a gold mine of information. It is a little frightening. Mao thinks that just glancing into Lelouch's mind for chess information is enough to allow Mao to win several chess tournaments. The even more frightening part is that there is someone that Lelouch has never beaten. Mao grins and now there will be another person that Lelouch can't beat.

They begin to play. It takes Mao a few moves to figure out Lelouch's strategy. For each move Lelouch has a multitude of methods and strategies. Mao turns his attention to the girl. For some reason her mind is closed to him Is she perhaps someone like CC? Then Mao is hit with a flood of information.

"Your turn Mao."

Mao looks down he doesn't even know what piece Lelouch moved last. A glance at Lelouch is not help because he is already five moves ahead. Mao digs deeper into Lelouch's mind.

"There is a time limit Mao."

"Would you stop doing thinking that way. That girl is not CC."

Lelouch raises his eyebrows and gives Kallen kiss on the cheek.

Mao scowls and moves his knight only to have Lelouch take it. They play a few more turns and Mao is able to recover. He glances at the girl once more and it happens again. Lelouch is once again able to take the advantage. Mao has no idea what is going on. He can't seem to read this girl's thoughts. Then suddenly all her thoughts flood into his mind. Mao looks down and notices that they are down to a few pieces each. The girl turns to Lelouch and looks into his eyes.

"Lulu, I think it is time you remember."

Mao smiles and focuses his attention on Lelouch's mind. Lelouch turns and stares at Mao. Mao realizes the mistake he has made. Suddenly not only do all Lelouch's thoughts flood into Mao's mind. All his fifteen different strategies for the game but also all of Mao's future movements and the way that Lelouch reacts to Mao's moves. For some reason he can't explain Mao keeps playing throughout this.

"Your turn Mao."

If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow. This is running over and over through Mao's mind. Mao moves his king.

Lelouch smiles as he moves his rook, "Check…mate."

Mao lunges at Lelouch only to find him not there. Mao is on the floor. Lelouch kicks Mao. Mao is on his back and Lelouch is sitting on his chest holding his arms down.

"Don't move Mao. Take a look and realize what I have done to people tougher than you."

Mao gasps and turns to face Kallen. "He wanted to kill your brother."

Lelouch punches Mao in the face. Kallen comes up behind Lelouch and hugs him.

"She knows all about that you fool. There are no secrets between us."

Mao knows that there is no way out. "Where is CC?"

"I don't know. If you would stop crying and look, you would realize this."

Mao begins to whimper. "Why didn't you say this from the beginning?"

Lelouch laughs, "To teach you a lesson. You can't win against us, Mao."

Both Kallen and Mao notice that us. Lelouch and Kallen activate the geass the gained from VV. Mao begins to see images. He knows that they are not real, but he can't do anything about it. In his anger and confidence Mao missed the fact that Lelouch had multiple geass abilities. Mao is wondering through a forest. The he sees CC and runs towards her. CC morphs into Lelouch. Mao screams and notices that Lelouch is staring at him. Mao gasps and reaches for his glasses only they are not there.

"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you to leave Japan and never come back."

Mao wants to scream. This brat is the only link to CC he has found in years and now he has lost it. When Mao comes to, he is on a boat. He senses very few people on it. He is thankful for that. Someone comes into Mao's … cabin.

"Oh you're awake. If you are hungry there is food. I can bring it to you."

Mao only nods. After eating for a bit, Mao decides to ask a few questions.

"Where are we? Where are we going?"

"Well sir this is the fishing boat Mary Sue. We are heading to China. We are fishing in the area off the coast of Southern China. Here near Area 10."

The fisherman/sailor points to a map on the wall.

Mao asks another question. "How or why did I get here."

The fisherman shrugs. "Mister, you are going to have to ask the captain. I figure he got paid good money to take you aboard. If you want to make a little money, maybe you can help."

Mao sighs and the fisherman leaves. The captain comes and talks to Mao. It seems as if Lelouch had someone bring Mao to a fishing boat. Then paid the captain lots of money to take Mao on. From what Mao can get from the captain's mind, the amount of money is more than they would have gained from this trip. They also left some money for Mao to have once he leaves the boat. Mao decides to stay on the boat for a little while. There are only ten crew members. It is the least amount of people Mao has been with in a long time. Their simple thoughts are quite reassuring. At least Mao will pick up a useful skill. He decides to get let off in China rather than Area 10. He has had enough of Britannia and its people to last him a lifetime. Now he needs to find another method to search for CC.

After the meeting with Mao, Lelouch and Kallen take a little break. They do nothing for the next two days after all they have a semester full of Milly craziness coming up. The semester is full of festivals and shows. Kallen is glad for the relief of spring break. She is also excited because her birthday is coming up. She will spend it with Lelouch. They are going on a little vacation of sorts.

**Thursday, March 27, 2015 ATB**

Kallen is traveling to the location of her little vacation with Lelouch. She doesn't even remember the name of the city. It isn't that far away. For some reason Lelouch has developed this big back story for their presence. Kallen's reason for going is to vacation with her family. Since her birthday is on Saturday, her dad is treating her to a week-long vacation. Of course her family won't show up. Kallen finally remembers where she is going, Bali in Indonesia. Kallen settles into her room. She is informed by the hotel staff that her parents won't be becoming. She decides to stay and enjoy herself anyways.

**Friday, March 28, 2015 ATB**

Lelouch is leaving Area 10 and heading towards Bali. The rest of his team is also heading towards their destinations. Jeremiah is heading to Bangkok. Kewell, Marika, and Liliana are heading to Kuala Lumpur. The Irregulars and Villetta are heading to Jakarta. Lelouch has several more subordinates traveling throughout southeast Asia. The emperor has deemed this as Lelouch's first mission. He has until the end of June to accomplish the mission. Lelouch has a few choices: attack while in school and running the invasion from there, leave school and lead the invasion himself, or he can wait until school is over and then invade. The last option only gives him a month to complete the conquest. Lelouch smiles as he thinks of the mission. While the emperor has instructed him to conquer Indonesia. Lelouch has decided to up the ante and invade Thailand and Malaysia as well.

Lelouch arrives in Bali. He originally plans on bringing Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta with him, but he changes the plan a little. In effort to maximize the knightmares the science team has also been sent out. Lloyd is with Jeremiah. Rakshata is with Villetta. Cecile is accompanying Lelouch. Lelouch doesn't know or care what the others are doing. As long they are inconspicuous and get some good information. Lelouch chooses to come in as an affluent young noble with many servants. This also allows him to bring as many soldiers as possible. He tells Kallen to do the same thing. He figures that the others are doing something similar. Cecile is of course his governess/mistress. A role that allows her to speak for him and stay hidden in their room.

One of his many servants checks them into the hotel while Cecile is attending to him in the lobby. The other servants serve as a shield to keep people away from Lelouch and Cecile. The servant returns after checking Lelouch in. He comes over with the hotel manager. The man, of course, speaks perfect English. He probably speaks half a dozen other languages as well.

"It is a pleasure to have you here, Lord Lamperouge."

Lelouch leans over and whispers something into Cecile's ear.

Cecile answers for Lelouch. "It is a pleasure to be here. If it continues to be a pleasure is up to you and your staff."

The man smiles, "Yes our staff is the best on the whole island. In fact we were rated the best hotel in the whole country. You are not the only member of the Britannian nobility here. A young noblewoman arrived yesterday with a large number of servants as well."

Lelouch whispers something to Cecile.

"Do you know the name of the young woman?"

"Yes, let me see. Kallen Stadtfeld, yes that was it. Do you know her?"

"Is it possible to find out what room this Lady Stadtfeld is in?"

"Of course let me see. She is actually in the room next to yours."

Cecile waves the man off. One of the servants comes over to inform Lelouch that his room is ready. Cecile leads Lelouch off and over to his suite. It is in a secluded part of the resort . There are only a few buildings around, and they have their own private beach. Wisely Lelouch and Kallen have rented out all the rooms in the area. The servants/soldiers are off to do their thing. A few stick around to make things look legitimate. Lelouch gives Cecile peck on the cheek as he runs off to Kallen's room.

Lelouch knocks on the door. He is holding a dozen roses and Kallen's gift behind his back. She opens the door and smiles.

Lelouch smiles back, "You look beautiful."

Kallen blushes, "Oh this. It is just something I just through on."

Lelouch hands her the roses and walks into the room. He flops on the bed. She flops beside him.

"What's in the box?"

"It's your birthday present, but you can't open it until tomorrow."

Kallen frowns. She hears a woman giggling from the room next door. He glares at Lelouch.

"Who came with you?"

Lelouch glances over at her. "Just some soldiers and Cecile. I wanted them to get a look at the terrain themselves so they can make adjustments to the knightmares. Lloyd is with Jeremiah. Villetta is with the Irregulars. Cecile came with me. It fit my profile."

Kallen slightly nods. "Well then that means you are sleeping here with me."

"Wasn't that the plan?"

Kallen smiles, "Yes and now you are taking me to dinner. So go get ready and remember to bring some clothes."

Lelouch nods and goes back to his room. He picks out some clothes to take wear tonight. He will have one the men take his bags over to Kallen's room. He should have thought of that before. As he gets in the shower he notices that Cecile is in the hot tub. He decides to hurry. He hopes that she doesn't notice him there. Lelouch takes a quick shower, something he get accustomed to during his West Point Days. He begins to fix up his hair, but he can't stop himself from glancing over at Cecile. She really is a spectacular woman. Lelouch wonders what he would do if Kallen hadn't come on this trip. He puts those thoughts out of his head. He has a date with Kallen after all.

He takes the towel off. He smacks his head. He forgot to bring his clothes into the bathroom. He turns around at the same time Cecile chooses to get out of the hot tub. She freezes as they stare at each other. Lelouch shrugs and continues out to the room. Of course he does manage to sneak on at last peek at Cecile. He notices that she is also looking at him. Lelouch smiles and begins to dress himself for his date with Kallen. He knows that Kallen is going to take longer to get ready so he decides to do some research. He pulls out his laptop and begins to look information on Indonesia. One of his people is already hard at work at hacking into government systems. Most of the servants Kallen and he brought are already combing the area for key military sites.

As Lelouch continues his research, Cecile finally comes out of the bathroom. She is visibly blushing.

"Cecile."

"Ye your highness."

"You can sleep in this room for the week. I will be staying with Kallen."

"Yes your highness."

Cecile lies down on the bed. Lelouch continues his research, but his eyes keep wondering over towards Cecile. Lelouch shakes his head. This is what happens when you hang out with Milly too much. You get a one track mind. He gets a message from Kallen telling him that she is ready. Lelouch decides to mess with Cecile before leaving. She is on the bed taking a nap. Lelouch slowly crawls over the bed towards her.

He whispers, "Cecile, Cecile."

She finally wakes up and notices that Lelouch is over her. She sort of stops herself from freaking out.

Lelouch smiles, "I am going out to dinner with Kallen. You should probably order something to eat because I don't want you going out where other men can see you."

Cecile only nods. Lelouch gives a quick peck on the cheek and jumps off the bed.

"How do I look?"

Cecile smiles. "Very handsome.

Lelouch is out the door. Cecile sighs. She has never been with a man. Well the prince isn't exactly a man, but he certainly exudes a more manly aura than Lloyd or any of the man she has worked with. She isn't quite sure if it is his wealth and power or his intelligence. What ever it is it turns Cecile on.

Lelouch knocks on Kallen's door.

"Come in Lulu, I'm almost ready."

Lelouch sighs. According to her message she was ready to go. She is putting her locket.

"Okay now I'm ready. What do you think?"

Lelouch smiles, "You look perfect let's go."

After dinner they go back to Kallen's room. Lelouch's bags are already there. They kiss for a few moments, but Kallen stops it before it leads to anything else.

"Maybe later Lulu. Tonight was so perfect lets not ruin it."

"Whatever you want, my Kalli."

They get ready for bed. In the middle of the night Kallen slips out of the bed and goes over to Lelouch's present. She opens the box up. When she is done, she stares at the gift. She is not sure whether to be flattered or upset.

"I am pretty sure I said not to open it until your birthday."

"It is my birthday."

Lelouch looks over at the clock 1:00 a.m.

"So it is. Happy birthday Kalli."

Kallen grins and jumps back onto the bed. She is sort of straddling Lelouch.

"Lulu, I think I'm ready."

Lelouch's eyes open wide. "Right now."

"Well if you aren't ready."

Kallen gets off and turns around. Lelouch grabs her by the wrist and lift her back on top of him.

"For you I'm always ready."

Kallen smiles as she begins to take of her pajamas. Maybe this night she would wear Lelouch's present. Perhaps she could start wearing more risqué sleepwear. Lelouch is also undressing. Once done he begins to kiss Kallen everywhere. His lips feel amazing to her.

"Are you ready Kalli?"

She nods as their lips meet on final time before he enters her. It hurts at first, but Kallen ignores the pain and begins to enjoy herself.

* * *

In the morning Kallen is wakes up satisfied with herself. There is a knock at the door, and Kallen gets up to answer it. Lelouch beats her to it. He brings in their breakfast tray.

"Go back to the bed. It's your birthday. I ordered you, your favorite breakfast."

They spend the morning eating breakfast and kissing.

"Um Lulu, do you want to make love again?"

Lelouch blushes, "Well I was hoping that it you wanted to."

"Mm, maybe tonight okay. So are we going out again?"

"Sure."

They spend the rest of the day cuddling in bed. They go out to dinner once more. After dinner they make love once again. Kallen smiles. This is something she can get very used to. In the morning Kallen is up before Lelouch. Even though she has enjoyed their day together, she wants to go out and see some of the island. She is pretty sure that Lelouch wants to do the same. After her shower she goes out to the room and starts to get dressed. Suddenly Lelouch's phone buzzes and his laptop beeps. Kallen picks up the phone he notices it. It is a message from Milly. She is on her way there. Kallen frowns. Well at least they got a few days together. Kallen goes over to his laptop and checks Lelouch's messages. She doesn't like what she sees. Lelouch comes over to see what Kallen is looking at. His eyes open wide when he sees the message from Milly. Kallen appears to be crying.

"Lelouch, what is this?"

He doesn't know how to explain the fact that Milly sent very provocative pictures of herself. With a not very ambiguous message of what he could do to her when she arrives.

"Where you planning to have the two of us?"

Lelouch is frozen.

"Have you ever? Have you ever had sex with Milly?"

Lelouch shakes his head. Kallen appears to believe him. He sighs, but she is not happy with him.

"I think that you better go, Lulu."

Lelouch nods. Before leaving he goes and showers. As he does he silently curses Milly. He had been hoping to use her to keep Kallen company while he and Cecile went out to scout the Island. He figures that Milly's plan is to get Kallen mad at him so that he will have no other choice but to go to Milly. Lelouch sighs. Milly will probably get her wish. Even though Lelouch knows that he loves Kallen above other girls, she has to learn that she is not going to be his only one just his favorite. Lelouch curses himself. He never planned on this. He does not want to be like his father. Two consorts is certainly not one-hundred eight but still it appears to be more than he can handle. He will allow Kallen to cool down for a few days. After all it is only Sunday. They will be here for few more days.

Lelouch goes back to his room. Cecile is ready to go. He plans on going around the island today. Several servants are ready to go with them. They spend most of the day driving around the island. People around the island are more than happy to show things to a rich Britannian noble. Milly lets him know when she gets to the resort. She also sends him a message that she is with Kallen on the beach. She says nothing about the pictures she sent him. Lelouch has someone bring them dinner to the room. They spend some time looking over the information they gathered. Lelouch is too embarrassed to tell Cecile about his fight with Kallen so he leaves the room. He isn't sure where to go. Milly comes out of Kallen's room. Lelouch can see Kallen peeking through a slit on the door.

Milly smiles, "She decided that it would only be fair if I had you for the next two nights."

Lelouch sighs as Milly semi-drags him to her room. That night Lelouch takes Milly's virginity. Obviously her body is different than Kallen's as are her reactions. Lelouch and Milly have had make out sessions, but they have always stopped before going to far. The three of them spend the next day at their private beach. Cecile comes out to join them. When the hotel staff comes with lunch, Lelouch makes sure that his servants take the food so that the staff does not get near his women. Milly pouts saying that Lelouch is no fun. Lelouch spends the night with Milly again. This time she just wants to cuddle.

* * *

It is now Tuesday. Lelouch is not sure how much more of this he can take. He decides to go exploring the island once more. This time he wants to visit nearby islands. Some of his men have traveled as far as Timor. Lelouch wants to see the eastern shore of Java. There is no need to see the western shore since Villetta and her team are there. Lelouch spends the night out there. The men procured a yacht. Lelouch doesn't ask or want to know how they got it. Lelouch spends most of Wednesday out there. He heads back to the resort at night. Once there he realizes that he should have just stayed on the yacht.

Lelouch goes over to his room. He decides to crash out on the couch. Since he hasn't spoken to the girls all day, he doesn't know how they feel. When he enters the room, he tries to be as quiet as possible, but he hears noise coming from the bed. He is mesmerized by the sound. He sees Cecile on the bed masturbating. Cecile sees him standing there. For some reason Lelouch feels a little embarrassed and decides to leave.

Cecile whimpers. "Your highness, I'm sorry. I should leave."

Lelouch shakes his head. "No stay. I will find somewhere else to stay."

Cecile begins shyly. "There is nothing wrong with you staying here."

She pats the bed. Lelouch nods and goes towards the bed. Cecile adjusts her clothes. Now that she thinks about it, she has never been in bed with a man before. Lelouch's eyes travel up and down Cecile's body. After what he has experienced these last few nights, he begins to feel a certain urge. His hormones win out, he begins to kiss Cecile. Cecile is quite taken aback by the prince's advances. She allows him to kiss her and fondle her body. He takes her hands on places them on his now hardened member. Lelouch nods. Cecile sighs. They spend the night pleasuring each other, but not having intercourse.

In the morning Lelouch begins putting together everything they have gathered over the past few days. For the sake of security Jeremiah and the others are keeping their information to themselves. Once Lelouch returns he will gather all the information and begin to piece everything together. Cecile is up and heads for the bathroom

Once Cecile comes out of the bathroom, she orders some breakfast for them. She goes over to the bed. She seems to have gotten over her shyness around Lelouch. Lelouch never imagined that something like last night would ever happen. Even though he has always realized that Cecile Croomy is a woman, there is nothing like experiencing it. He wonders what Villetta or Rakshata would be like. He never thought that someone like Cecile would be starving for attention.

"Your highness about last night."

"Nobody needs to know what happened between us."

Cecile smiles, " Did something happened between you and your girlfriends."

"I suppose you cold say that."

"I see but you love them and they love you. Of course you do. The blonde one looks like she would jump you at any moment. You adore the little red head. I would be surprised if you haven't asked her to marry you already."

Lelouch smiles. "Don't worry about it."

Milly comes over with some pictures of places they went. Milly goes back out of the room. Lelouch uploads the pictures. It seems as if in their fun they did some work. One of the pictures is of Kallen wearing his birthday present. She looks sad. Milly is almost dragging Kallen into the room. Kallen walks over with some more pictures. When breakfast comes Lelouch goes to get it. Cecile lies on the bed eating and working. Lelouch, Milly, and Kallen are sitting the couch looking at the pictures they have taken. Kallen lays her head down on Lelouch's lap. He begins to stroke her hair. Milly does most of the talking about the pictures. They all know better than to talk about the real reason for their little vacation. After spending most of the morning going over the pictures the girls leave the room. Kallen smiles at Lelouch and kisses him on the cheek before leaving.

Lelouch sighs as they leave. He hopes that this is a good sign. Cecile comes over to the couch. Lelouch ignores her for a bit.

"See your highness things seem to be working themselves out."

Lelouch sighs once again. "I guess so."

Lelouch wonders if he should go after Kallen. Cecile comes over and sits down beside him. She is smiling.

"Well what are we going to do today."

Her eyes wander down to Lelouch's crotch. Having Kallen and Milly so close to him has gotten him very excited. He knows it is wrong to approach Kallen about this. She would certainly end their relationship. Going to Milly would do no good. If Kallen happened to walk in on the two of them, she would probably end it. Lelouch notices that Cecile is staring at him. He wonder if Cecile would mind taking care of him again. It will probably be his last time for while.

Lelouch takes Cecile by the hand and leads her to the bed. Cecile appears to be nervous. Lelouch begins to undress and continues what he was doing last night. He decides to take it further than last night. Much to his surprise Cecile is a virgin. He takes a nap when he is done. He wakes up in the early evening. After eating dinner with Cecile, he decides to talk with Kallen. He paces in front of her door for several minutes thinking about what he is going to say. Lelouch knocks on Kallen's door nervously. She answers it in his birthday present.

Lelouch sighs and smiles. "You look beautiful."

She takes him by the hand and leads him to the bed.

"Lulu, I'm sorry I got so jealous."

"It's okay Kalli."

Kallen is playing with the fabric of the lingerie. "No, I should have realized this when I fell in love with a prince. I have always known that you would marry others. I knew Milly would be one of them. Sometimes I am even jealous of your sisters. Of Cecile and Villetta. When Anya went to West Point to be with you, I felt like going myself."

Lelouch puts his arms around her. "Don't worry, okay. You are my favorite and you will always be."

"Lulu, do you love me?"

It is quiet for a moment.

"Yes Kalli, I love you."

"How much?"

"More than you know."

"Are we dating for real now, Lulu?"

"Yes we are."

Kallen feels satisfied with his answer. She lies down on the bed and signals for him to do the same. The next day they leave Bali for Area 10. It is Friday. Everybody else is on their way there as well. Lelouch spends the next two days putting everything together before leaving for Tokyo.

* * *

Milly is the last one to board the jet. She sits down beside Lelouch and kisses him on the cheek. She looks over at Kallen reading something.

"What are you reading Kalli?"

Kallen looks up. "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya."

Milly's face lights up, "Oh I love that. Oh we could make that our."

"No."

"Oh come on Lulu. It is perfect for our Spring Cosplay show."

Lelouch sighs, "Milly, I don't have time."

"Of course I would be Haruhi. Shirley would be a perfect Mikuru. Nina would be Yuki. Let me see who can be Itsuki Koizumi."

Both Kallen and Milly agree. "Rivalz."

"I said no."

"Of course Lelouch would have to play Kyon and he has a cute little sister. We just need to get a cat."

"Are you even listening to what I am saying? I said no."

"Euphie would be a great Tsuruya. Kallen, you can be Ryoko Asakura. Oh this going to be so much fun."

"Did you listen to anything I said?"

Milly laughs, "Kyon, as chief of the S.O.S. brigade I give out the orders."

Lelouch sighs. He knows that there is no getting out of this. Kallen doesn't appear to be of any help. He wonders if they set this up.

"And no running off to play soldier."

**May 27, 2015 ATB**

Lelouch manages to survive the almost two months of school after spring break. He participates in the Spring Cosplay Show. While not as time consuming as the fall/winter one, it was still lots of work. He laughs at the thought of Shirley yelling out Mikuru beam and Milly's harassment of everyone. Which reminded everyone of their actual school lives. Lelouch is getting ready for a different kind of work. After assuring that the twins' presents reached Pendragon, he prepares for his mission. Everything has been planned for several weeks. The only thing missing is Lelouch.

"Q1, R2 let's go. B1 prepare your team to attack to attack point 3."

It began that day the rise of the Black Prince.

* * *

Author's note: So finished watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It is so awesome. The opening song has been running through my head for the past two days. So has the song from their movie.

Before I begin I do want to say that I do not advocate underage sex or polygamy. The Lelouch/Kallen stuff was going to happen here no matter what. I had that planned for quite some time. The Milly thing was added a little before I started writing this chapter. The Cecile thing was added as I wrote this chapter. I actually made quite a few changes to the scene. I believe I kept Cecile more or less in character. With the exception of Lelouch, Suzaku, Kallen, and Nunnally I think I have kept most everyone in character.

In certain societies it is not uncommon for a rich young man/noble to have an older woman as a lover. Britannia certainly appears to be such a society. Lelouch's demeanor and their interaction strips away most of Cecile's shyness around those that are socially higher than her. Cecile is seven years older than Lelouch which also helps. Cecile may develop a Lloyd like attitude around Lelouch eventually. Also Cecile will eventually gain a peerage so that will help.

I always dislike when Mao is made out to be invincible. Obviously over the course of ten years he has learned not only to read people's minds, but he has learned how to use that information. While this is his strength, it is also his weakness. To him what he reads from someone's mind has to be true. But Lelouch obviously defeated it by geassing himself into forgetting. Here he did the same. He geassed himself to forget his and Kallen's other geass powers and into believing that Kallen is CC.

What Kallen did to Mao is pretty simple. Imagine you have headphones on and the volume is off then suddenly someone turns it up all the way. Then they turn it down and then back up. Imagine this happens several times in a few minutes. The flood of information from Kallen was too much and sudden for Mao to make sense of it. When Kallen took Lelouch's geass command of himself, Mao was flooded with Lelouch's second geass. Lelouch focuses this geass on Mao and sees his future movements. These future movements change each time Mao decides to make a change in his move which changes each time Lelouch thinks of a new strategy. Not to mention the fact that Kallen is still turning her geass canceller on and off. All this is too much for Mao who keeps moving pieces. Sure Lelouch could have had Kallen come in and kick Mao's ass. But then Mao doesn't learn the lesson that he can't outsmart Lelouch.

People might not like this next point but Kallen's geass is better than Lelouch's. She has a geass canceller. Meaning that if she knows about it, she is immune to any geass. However unlike Jeremiah she can't activate the canceller after a geass is cast, but her canceller is instantaneous when used. As that ability grow, she will become like a code immune to any geass whether she knows about it or not. She can also cancel any of Lelouch's geass commands which is helpful for both of them. The geass they gained from VV allows them to make their victim see images that are not real. As this geass grow stronger it is possible for them to control their victims senses.


	30. Fools rush in

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the Holy Empire of Britannia last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

Lelouch vi Britannia

The Adventures of the Black Prince

Tokyo Towers Press 2020 ATB

...

When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty.

Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede,

**

* * *

**

May 27, 2015

Jeremiah Gottwald prepares his force for their attack. He is leading the force that will attack Bangkok and bring Thailand into the empire. Kewell, Marika, and Lilliana will be leading the force that will attack Kuala Lumpur and bring the Malay Peninsula into the empire. Villetta is leading the attack on Sumatra. The Irregulars would be attacking Borneo, and Prince Lelouch is leading the force that will bring the rest of Indonesia into the empire. There are other players in this attack, but Jeremiah isn't worried about them. They are the prince's concern. Jeremiah has his own force and objective to consider. He signals for the attack to commence.

Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia are preparing their part of the attack. Their uncle, William Thurgood, Duke of Oregon, is nominally in charge of their troops. Although surprised by the invitation the Duke of Oregon is more than glad to participate in the attack that will consolidate the empire's hold on Southeast Asia.

Edward thinks about their arrival in Area 11 two weeks ago. When Lelouch asked him to come, he was apprehensive at first. But once he heard that his uncle would be involved, he changed his mind. Being his mother's brother, the Duke of Oregon naturally told her of the attack. Edward and Isabelle had to do their best to keep Clovis from finding out. According to Lelouch, Clovis had not idea the attack was imminent. They constantly had Clovis throw parties for mostly inane reasons.

The only knightmare that Isabelle vu Britannia has ever been near is the old Ganymede. That was only because Euphemia wanted to get a closer look at it. Now she is sitting in an Io. The Io is the newest knightmare out there. Her brother is also sitting in an Io a few yards away. Their force is gathered and is on its way to the island of New Guinea. They are to conquer the island and bring it into the empire. Isabella and Edward are given the task of ordering the attack. The signal is the same for all the forces attacking that day.

"All Hail Britannia!"

Cassius ru Britannia lets out the yell that signals the attack. He has been a pariah amongst members of the royal family. His savior is one of the people he least expected. Lelouch offered him the opportunity to lead a portion of his force with the promise that Cassius might be named viceroy after the conquest. His force has an easy objective. He is to protect the border between China and Thailand.

Cassius didn't think that the Chinese would be foolish enough to attack. Especially after getting their noses bloodied last year in their attempted invasion of Area 10. Once again they were calling it a humanitarian effort. Cassius wonders if it is the same general leading the attack. Since they are on the defensive, Cassius's forces have the advantage. His Ios are loaded with weapons. It makes them a little heavier. But for this kind of defensive battle, they work. Cassius no longer wants to make a run for the throne. He will leave that to the ones that deserve. He will however not be forgotten.

Annabel pe Britannia and Selene ge Britannia are in Area 12. Annabel has just been named viceroy. Her mother is on the way here from Pendragon. Lelouch and Nunnally visited them a few days ago to make sure that they are settled. Annabel wonders how she will handle the task. Lelouch is nominally the viceroy of Area 10 to the north. So she has someone that she can ask for advice.

This morning however there is other matters to worry about. Area 12 is the base for part of Lelouch's invasion force. The two princesses spent the morning watching knightmares and soldiers leaving for the attack. Annabel hopes that it ends by the time her mother arrives. She also hopes that being away from the madness of Pendragon will do her mother some good.

* * *

Lelouch watches as his force is leaving for the attack. The western portion of his force left Area 12 earlier today. Their objective is Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra. The eastern part of his force is in Area 11. Lelouch almost laughs at how easy it was to keep it a secret from Clovis. Lelouch even has a plan to keep General Bartley distracted. The Irregulars have already arrived in Borneo. The Duke of Oregon has already landed on New Guinea. Lelouch is heading towards Sulawesi. Already his plan is working to perfection. On Timor and New Guinea rebels have risen up. Lelouch hopes that in a few days the Duke of Oregon will be ready to head to Java. Although to keep Australia at bay that force may remain there. Lelouch only needs Edward and Isabel to come to Java.

By the time Lelouch's force reaches their objective, the enemy is ready. However he sweeps through the island in a matter of days. He leaves a small garrison behind. He encounters a little resistance. However at Makassar there is a large force. Their knightmares give them an advantage. The Indonesians to this point have only shown conventional weapons, but ahead Lelouch can see knightmares. They appear to be slightly better than the one they faced a year ago in Area 10. They seem familiar.

"Burais."

The Burai is a Japanese model based on the Glasgow. He knows that Japan has been spending the last five years working on the Burai. It is a low priority project since Britannia has sold Japan Glasgows. Still a few enterprising Japanese have created the Burai and sold it off to other nations. Lelouch recognizes a few Chinese Gun Rus. There are even a few EU Panzer Hummels. In the rear Lelouch recognizes a few Bamides.

Lelouch smiles at the hodgepodge of knightmares before him. He knew it was a good idea to let the information on his location leak out. The Indonesians are hoping that stopping or capturing him will provide them with time. He received a call from Cassius earlier that the Chinese were already moving in form the north. Lelouch is confident in his plan. Annabel is control of Area 12. Euphemia and Nunnally are in control of Area 10. So Cassius has all the backup he will need.

Jeremiah has taken over Bangkok and has captured most of the Thai government officials. Jeremiah is using the first Titan. Perhaps in a few days he will divide his force and join Cassius in the north in fighting off the Chinese. Kewell and his force are nearing Kuala Lumpur. Rather than using a seaborne attack, Kewell attacked over land. Kewell and Villetta both traveled over land assisting Jeremiah in his attack on Thailand. They did send a small force by sea as a decoy. Villetta's force is still with Kewell. They are simply overwhelming their enemies. Soon Villetta's force will head over to Sumatra.

That will help spring the final part of Lelouch's plan. Singapore surrendered to Lelouch a few weeks ago. A large portion of Kewell's force was transferred there. They will begin their attack when Villetta's force leaves. Brunei also surrendered a few weeks ago so the Irregulars and their force was shipped there. They broke out as soon as Lelouch landed on Sulawesi.

"Q2 get some transportation and prepare your force to attack the rear. We need to take the Bamides and Panzer Hummels out."

Lelouch cringes a little at Milly's codename. Kallen reasoned since she was Q1, Milly should be Q2. Lelouch was smart enough not to point out that there is no Q2. Milly is in the new Europa Attack. Nunnally asked for Lelouch to keep the old Europa back in Area 10. He had wanted to give it to Villetta, but decided to do as his sister asked. To draw attention away from Milly's rear attack Lelouch decides to attack himself.

Lelouch grins, "Q1, it is time to play."

The Burai is only a slight improvement on the Glasgow. Newer ones are more capable from the look of them these are at least two years old while Lelouch's Titan is not even a year old. The Callisto is almost two years old, but its new improvements make it far superior to the Burai.

"Let's see what these guys got."

Lelouch charges right into a swarm of Burai. Unlike his fight with his mother, this time his geass is on. He won't risk using his third geass since it cold affect his own men. The only enemy knightmare capable of in close fighting is the Burai. Lelouch is surrounded by five. They yell something in their native tongue over an open channel. They point their assault rifles at him Lelouch launches his slash harkens at them taking away the rifles.

They charge at him. Lelouch decides to try something new. He spin his knightmare around with the slash harkens still out. The slash harkens create a shield around Lelouch. He damages two of the enemy knightmares. As soon as he stops spinning, he lunges at on the Burais. He fires at it with his wrist cannons. As he spins his knightmare around, he pulls out his assault rifles. The enemy is not ready to fight someone as quick as Lelouch.

"Pathetic."

He notices Kallen has just finished off the opponents. Lelouch notices another dozen or so Burais coming at them. He hopes that they are better then what he just faced. Lelouch gets another idea. He turns on the camouflage feature of his knightmare and pulls back into some trees. Kallen does the same. The enemy Burais go right past them towards their fallen comrades.

"Q1, toast these guys,"

Kallen activates her radiation burst as Lelouch comes out and fires his cannons. The enemy has no idea what hit them. Lelouch moves in and finishes off the few survivors. Lelouch decides to make an open challenge to the enemy.

"This is Lelouch vi Britannia eleventh prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia, son of Emperor Charles zi Britannia and Marianne the Flash. Is there anyone that willing to give me a fight?"

Kallen shakes her head. How did she ever fall in love with this hammy goofball windbag? But he got the job done because dozens of enemy knightmares came out of the base. They were heading straight for their location.

"Q1, let's go. Looks like they want to play."

* * *

"Lieutenant Kouzuki, I would like to thank you once again for providing us with these Burais and their pilots."

Naoto nods. For the past three months he has been part of a diplomatic mission here in Indonesia. He was surprised at first, but he realized that it was probably Colonel Kusakabe who suggested it. He remembers their final conversation before Naoto left.

...

"_Well Kouzuki if you survive this they will probably make you a captain. At this pace in a few years you will pass me by."_

This comment makes Naoto blush. _"Colonel that won't happen."_

Kusakabe grins, _"No, no don't be ashamed. Here in Japan we reward our skilled soldiers. We don't hand out ranks to foolish nobles or princes."_

He knew that comment would get Naoto riled up. _"I will do my best sir."_

_..._

Naoto looks back at his liaison for this operation. Until a few weeks ago this man was retired and working as a hotel manager on Bali. In fact back in early April Naoto stayed at the man's hotel. Much to his chagrin he found out that he has just missed out on seeing Kallen there. What angered him more was that that Britannia brat was there as well. Naoto wonders why they were there. Sure they could have been on vacation. But according to the hotel man, Kallen had a lot of servants with her. Naoto knew that his father did not have that many servants. They also came on different days, and Kallen was expecting their parents to show up. If Kallen and the Britannian brat were together, why did they come separately? The hotel man said that the brat even brought some mistress with him.

Naoto spent a few weeks thinking about what it all meant. Then they were ordered to pull out. The official shipments of Burais were ceased. Somehow Kusakabe managed to pull the strings to get a few more shipments of Burai sent. Naoto and his men were to head over to Area 11 to be transported back to Japan. This let them know that the invasion was imminent. Naoto did his best to help the Indonesians set up defenses. They also discovered that the Britannian commander would be coming to Sulawesi. This particular Britannian commander was insane. He planned on invading Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Naoto got word that the Chinese would be unofficially involved in the north.

Naoto looks over at his liaison. The funny thing is the only language the have in common is the language of the enemy.

"What was the name of the Britannian commander?"

Before the man can answer, there are several confusing messages coming in. It seems as if a few dozen or so Burai were defeated by the enemy. The men are babbling about a phantom attacking them. Naoto hears a few screaming that it was over in a flash. Naoto grimaces. The Britannian forces are certainly better and more prepared than Naoto hoped. Then this message is heard.

"This is Lelouch vi Britannia eleventh prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia, son of Emperor Charles zi Britannia and Marianne the Flash. Is there anyone that willing to give me a fight?"

Naoto growls. "Send out everything we have. _Send out everything we have. _"

His liaison looks at Naoto. "What happened?"

"The little brat is here. He is out there."

"You can't mean the boy. He is what sixteen."

Naoto growls, "Fifteen."

"Why would he be in command?"

Instead of answering Naoto goes out to the knightmare hangar. He begins to set up a Burai. He has one set up or himself incase there is a need for him to fight his way out. One of the Japanese technicians sees him.

"_Lieutenant, what are you doing?"_

"_I am heading out there."_

"_Sir, you can't. If you are captured, then everything will be ruined."_

Naoto wants to punch the man but realizes that he is right. If Naoto goes out there and is captured, Japan would have lots of explaining to do. In fact at this point there is only one thing that Naoto can do.

"You plan on betraying us. Don't you lieutenant."

Naoto looks up and sees his liaison and the base commander. Then all the technicians begin to gasp. They are yelling in their native tongues.

Naoto goes over to the nearest one. "What is it? _What is going on?_"

"_It's them. Those knightmares_"

Naoto looks at the screen. He has seen them. He is pretty sure the whole world has seen those videos of Britannian knightmare demonstrations. The men in the Burais keep screaming.

The base commander yells out. "What are they saying?"

Naoto grimaces, "They are calling the black one _fantomu_, phantom. A few are calling it _furasshu_, flash, since he declared himself to be the son of the flash. The red one is being called the red demon. The white one that has attacked us in the rear is being called the white witch. Apparently it is being piloted by a woman."

The base commander grimaces and shakes his head. "We were foolish to trust you Japanese. But I will rectify that mistake and bring victory to my nation."

He points a pistol at Naoto. There are a series of explosions outside.

* * *

Lelouch is slicing through another Burai.

"Pathetic."

He notices that Milly and her force have landed in the rear. She is having a little trouble with the Panzer Hummels and Bamides. Lelouch notices that his own force has made short work of the Gun Rus. While he and Kallen have finished off the Burais. Obviously none of those knightmares are of good quality. He wonders if there are any European or Chinese pilots or observers back there. He has heard a few Japanese voices. He smiles at the nicknames they have given Kallen, Milly, and himself. He wonders if Kallen and Milly mind being called red demon and white witch. He has heard a variety of names for the Titan and himself. Phantom and flash seem the most common.

Lelouch approaches the base. He flings a few chaos mines in and signals for Kallen to let out a few radiation bursts. They manage to destroy what appears to be the last ditch defense effort. Lelouch bursts into knightmare hangar. He notices several technicians making a run for it. Standing near a Burai is a familiar Japanese lieutenant. Before he can order Kallen to stay outside she bursts in herself. Several men begin to fire their pistols and rifles at Lelouch. He laughs a little. It is possible to hurt a knightmare with small arms fire, but the shooter has to be exceptionally skilled and has to know where to fire. These mean are just firing away.

Lelouch notices that hotel guy from Bali on the ground. He also notices that the man has a rocket launcher. That makes him Lelouch's first target. Lelouch has to be very careful in here. He doesn't want to hurt his future brother-in-law with Kallen standing behind him. Rather than using the assault rifle Lelouch uses the slash harkens. Lelouch has spent some time practicing aiming those things. He nails his first two targets. After that the others flee. Several Ios appear behind the Titan and Callisto.

"Q1, take some knightmares and scout out the area."

"Yes your highness."

Naoto raises his hands. Time to play the game he thinks.

"I am Lieutenant Naoto Kouzuki of the United Japanese Armed Forces. My men and I have been held against our will here for several weeks. You saw it yourself. That man over there is the base commandant."

Lelouch grimaces. He knows what Naoto's purpose is here. He also knows that they should have been pulled out several weeks ago. Lelouch smiles. If Naoto knew the truth behind the Burais his men were piloting, who knows how he would react. Lelouch looks around. He opens his hatch and comes of the knightmare. He makes sure to bring a rifle with him.

Lelouch smirks, "I see and you expect me to believe that."

Naoto keeps his face straight. "Believe what you will, your highness. It is the truth."

Lelouch keeps smiling. "Would you like to finish our fight from before?"

Before Naoto can answer the red knightmare comes back.

Lelouch looks visibly upset. "Yes Q1. Very well I am on my way."

Lelouch points at a surviving Burai. "Maybe you should come along lieutenant."

Naoto does as Lelouch asks. He trails the black and red knightmares. He owes that red knightmare, but he can't attack here. Not with the Indonesian side losing so badly.

* * *

Lelouch's force is wrapping things up. There are a few stragglers. Just as Lelouch expected there are a few Chinese and European observers. Lelouch knows that they are more than just observers. Lelouch is on the ground walking with Naoto behind him. There are several other soldiers on the ground as well.

A colonel comes over to Lelouch. "Your highness, these men claim that they were here as advisors. When our attack commenced they were held at gunpoint by the Indonesians."

Lelouch looks over at the men in question. He notices that they are standing there very smugly. Lelouch smiles.

"Colonel, did I ever tell you about the time I helped my sister Cornelia beat back an EU force."

"No your highness."

"Remind and maybe I'll tell you all about it."

The Chinese and Europeans do not react to Lelouch's comments. Lelouch begins to walk away. The men all sigh in relief.

Lelouch stops. "Colonel, kill them all and put their bodies in the base. I plan on having a large bonfire tonight."

Naoto's face goes white. For the second time in less than a year Lelouch sends him a clear message. If it was not for all these people you would be dead.

Lelouch begins to walk away. "Are you coming Lieutenant Kouzuki? We still need to find the rest of your party."

Naoto nods and follows the prince. All the living Japanese are rounded up. A few are very injured. They are boarded on a boat and are on the way back to Japan. Naoto once again vows that he will take out that red knightmare and the damned prince.

Kallen and Milly are leading their forces in finishing odd what is left of the enemy. They are ordered to return to the enemy base. Kallen notices that several enemy knightmares are being piled there. A few are being taken to their transport ships.

"Q1, Q2 prepare to fire upon the base."

Kallen nods. She doesn't understand the purpose but does as ordered. The base begins to burn. A few Ios stick around to make sure the fire does not spread. Kallen and Milly head over to the base camp that Lelouch has set for the night. After ensuring that their knightmares are put away, the two girls go over to Lelouch's tent.

"Is he safe Lulu?"

Lelouch smiles, "Safer than we are."

Kallen nods at the comment. She wonders why she keeps finding her brother in these unusual places. Even though she never let on, she saw him last year in Area 10. Lelouch comes over to her.

"Come one Kalli. Get ready to sleep. We still have a lot of work."

Kallen nods and gets ready for bed. Milly is already down to her lingerie. Kallen blushes a little as she undresses. The two girls went shopping before coming here, and Milly selected a few risqué items for Kallen. Lelouch blinks a little when he sees her.

"Do you like it, Lulu?"

"You look beautiful."

A pillow flies at Lelouch. "What about me?"

Lelouch smirks, "You know that you're hot."

Milly grins, "Yes, yes I am. Speaking of which can you turn the AC up."

Lelouch nods and does as ordered.

Milly smirks "Good job…Kyon. Now come to bed."

Lelouch grimaces, "Stop calling me that already. School is over."

He jumps on the bed and begins to tickle them.

"Okay let's go to sleep."

They eventually go to sleep.

**June 3, 2015**

The attack began a week ago. Nunnally and Euphemia are sipping teas with Miss Lohmeyer and some stuffy colonel who is babysitting them. Nunnally isn't going to sit around and do nothing. The Europa is sitting out there in the hangar collecting dust. Miss Lohmeyer she can handle, but the colonel is another matter all together. To make the best out of a bad situation Euphemia invited them all for some tea. Since she is host, she serves them.

A little bit after they have their tea, Nunnally notices that her babysitters are sleeping on a couch. It is a very unusual sight. She wants to wake them up and tell Miss Lohmeyer that the situation looks very improper. Euphemia comes over and giggles.

"Oh it worked."

Nunnally is puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Euphemia stands there with a smug look on her face.

"I put something in their teas. Now hurry up. They should be out for a few hours. At least that is what Milly told me."

Nunnally shakes her head. Leave it to Milly to give Euphie what basically amounts to a date rape drug. Nunnally runs out to the knightmare hangar. She has secretly been planning this for a few days and has even gotten a few of the soldiers there to agree with her. Unbeknownst to her or anyone else, the soldiers left by Lelouch at the Area 10 base are some of the best he has. Nunnally gets on the communicator.

"This is Nunnally vi Britannia. I am ordering Plan Delta to commence. I repeat I am ordering Plan Delta to commence."

Nunnally ran over to get her knightmare suit when a familiar small pink haired girl walks in. Nunnally runs over and hugs her.

"Anya, you're here."

Anya smiles, "Yes I am."

"Is Gino here with you? He isn't with big brother."

Anya shakes her head. "Gino is with his parents."

* * *

Back over at Gino's parents' house in Virginia he is getting ready for another day of dealing with snobby nobility. His parents have set up another date for him tonight. One with a Lady Elizabeth Chapman. She is the daughter of Earl James Monroe. Gino wonders what his friends from Ashford are up to. He hopes that Lelouch isn't in on some kind of military assignment. Not that Gino could go anyways. His parents ordered him to come home this summer.

Rivalz is visiting his father in California. Since his parents' divorce, Rivalz hasn't seen much of either one. He lives with his mother in Japan. They are there because of her work. Lately her work has been taking her around the word. Rivalz wonders if that is the reason his parents got divorced.

Shirley is spending the summer with her family. Finally her father's work has slowed down allowing him to return to Japan. Since most of his work is in Asia, Japan seemed like the perfect place to live. Now his work is taking him all over the world. But Shirley is happy for the little time they get to spend together.

Nina is at a summer science camp in Pendragon. She doesn't even mind the heat. Thanks to Lelouch and Milly's recommendation, Nina got one of the few coveted spots at this camp. She will not let them down. She will also not let her grandfather down. Nina continues his work with elements in particular uranium.

Suzaku is stuck with Colonel Tohdoh and General Katase for the summer. Initially he was to go out and spend some time with Japanese soldiers in the field, but Britannia invaded Indonesia and those plans changed. Now Suzaku is spending his summer as a glorified clerk. He hopes to convince these old people that he can pilot a knightmare. He is probably the best Japanese knightmare pilot there is.

* * *

Nunnally and Anya are being transported with their force. They are heading to the northeast. They will back up Cassius in his fight with the Chinese. This will allow Jeremiah to continue to push south and help Villetta and Kewell. Euphemia invites Annabel and Selene up to Area 10. She needs to have some allies when the colonel and Miss Lohmeyer wake up and realize that Nunnally is gone.

* * *

Once more Li Xing-ke is facing forces under the command of Lelouch vi Britannia. He is certain that the prince is elsewhere, but his knightmares are here. Ios, he believes they are called. The Chinese Federation has created the Gun Ru to compete with Britannia. Unfortunately they are constructed in a shoddy fashion. There only saving grace is that there are so many of them. Xing-ke knows that once again China will have withdraw from their humanitarian efforts with a bloody nose.

The Eunuch Generals know nothing of these matters. This attack although large is but a pinprick when it comes to Britannia. Britannia can attack China directly. The Chinese Federation can do no such thing. They can attack several Britannia areas. In a few months Britannia will have conquered all of Southeast Asia. Who is to say that parts of the Chinese Federation will not be next? What is to stop Britannia from attacking Burma or Korea? The fall of Taiwan is almost a given. With Japan under Britannian influence the Korean peninsula is also in danger. Xing-ke sighs. He has just received notice that a large Britannian convoy has left Area 10 and is heading in his direction. It seems as if Britannian soldiers and knightmares grow on trees.

* * *

Author's note: Lelouch's quote at the beginning is actually a Winston Churchill quote. I just changed it around to fit Lelouch and Code Geass.


	31. Something wicked this way comes

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

...

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell

...

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

Jeannette Rankin, women's rights activist

...

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

Sun Tzu

****

June 8, 2015 ATB

Lelouch's force has spent the last few days taking care of the remnants of the Indonesian force. Lelouch decides to leave two garrisons on the Sulawesi. He begins to plan the next part of his attack. His forces are gathering for their invasion of Java. He looks over his messages from his other forces. For the most part they have managed to reach their goals.

Jeremiah has managed to finish off all Thai resistance. Nunnally's force came up at the right moment to finish off the Chinese invasion. She is assisting Cassius in keeping the border with China secure. Jeremiah can now turn his attention southward to assist Kewell in front of Kuala Lumpur. The Malays have managed to hold him off for several days. Villetta has met little resistance in Sumatra. The Irregulars have carved through Borneo. In New Guinea there is also little resistance. It seems as if Indonesia is turning the island of Java into a fortress.

* * *

The Irregulars like to work alone. So Sancia makes sure to send the majority of her force in another direction. Now alone the Irregulars activate their geass powers. Sancia and Lucretia plot the land and find the enemy. Alice and Dalque take them out. They make short work of the enemy forces. It helps that Malaysia and Indonesia are not united. In fact there was several times when their forces attacked each other. Making it that much easier for them. Either way in about a week the Irregulars and their force has conquered Borneo. They now await their commander's orders. They were very glad that Prince Lelouch was in command of this attack and that Colonel Madd was back In Area 11.

* * *

Villetta's force is finishing the conquest of Sumatra. She has two choices. Return to the Malay Peninsula and assist Kewell or continue towards Java. The eastern portion of Prince Lelouch' force has already accomplished their objectives. The New Guinea task force is having the most problems dealing with what amounts to local infighting. The Sulawesi force met some resistance. But with the prince's personal knightmares there, the enemy was defeated. The Borneo task force had very little problems. Villetta wonders about the so called Irregulars. They seem to more than appear to be. Villetta decides to continue with the prince's plan and prepares her force the invasion of Java.

* * *

Lelouch steps out of his tent. The men are relaxing. They have been going at it for about ten days. He notices that several of the men are checking up on the anti-aircraft weaponry. Initially Lelouch wanted to set up camp near the southernmost beach. He changed his mind. They were still on the beach just further north. Lelouch's breathes in the air. At first it smells there is a clean beach smell. Then the smell of pure evil hits his nostrils.

"I thought I smelled your evil stench around here."

Lelouch turns around and sees Nonette Enngream standing there.

"Ah that isn't nice, Mr. Phantom Flash."

Lelouch scowls a little at the name. "What are you doing here, Nonnette?"

"That is Lady Enngream to you, your highness."

"Very well. Why have you graced us with your presence Lady Enngream?"

Nonnette grins, "I have a feeling that when you become emperor, I will be even more bored by your speeches then your father's."

Lelouch smirks, "Lady Enngream, you know better than anyone else that it is considered treason to speak about anyone else being emperor other than his imperial majesty the 98th Emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia Charles zi Britannia."

Nonnette yawns, "I guess I was right."

Lelouch laughs, "Nonnette, I have been up quite late these past few days."

Almost as if one cue Milly exits Lelouch's tent. She yawns and stretches out. Nonnette raises an eyebrow. But before she can say anything to this, Kallen comes out. She also yawns. Kallen jumps towards Lelouch. Nonette raises her other eyebrow.

"Hey Lulu, we are going over to work with the knightmares. We need to make some final adjustments before the big attack."

Kallen and Milly scamper off.

Nonnette grins, "Late nights, huh."

Lelouch sighs. They have mostly been spending nights talking about their families. Odd as it may sound the three of them know very little about each other's parents. Then Cecile and Rakshata step out of Lelouch's tent. Actually calling it a tent is a bit of a misnomer. It was more like a little cloth house. Nonnette recognizes the two scientists. She assumes that the four females were in there discussing knightmare things with Lelouch. She looks at the tent and assumes that it is large enough to house the five of them amongst other things. Nonnette decides to keep quiet. That is until Cecile comes over and wraps her arms around Lelouch's right arm. Nonette coughs since she has not more eyebrows to raise.

"We are going over to make a few adjustments to the knightmare, your highness."

"Thank you Cecile. I will be there in a few minutes. "

The two scientists walk away. Nonnette smiles at Lelouch.

"Well well Lulu, what do we have here?"

Lelouch sighs, "We have been staying up late working on new knightmare adjustments and on the next step of this attack."

Nonnette smiles, "So you discuss your battle plans with you girlfriends."

"Fiancés. They are me fiancés. I thought you would have been informed of that. Drs. Croomy and Chawla are here to make adjustments to their knightmares and to see if anything can be down with the enemy knightmares."

Nonnette waves him off. Even though she would like to continue teasing him, she has more pressing matters.

"Do you have a method of contacting Pendragon in that little cloth palace of yours?"

Lelouch nods, "There is a little a small communications room in the tent. Do you need me to set it up for you?"

Nonette grunts, "I can do it myself. I am not that old, your highness."

Lelouch smiles as he skips away. "Just making sure. If you don't hurry, his majesty will be upset that you missed the secret conference. Tell Bismarck that Kallen is looking forward to another knightmare battle."

Nonnette walks into the tent and finds the small communications room. Not surprisingly it is ready to go. As soon as she turns the machine on, she sees the other Knights of the Round and notices that the emperor is late. Well except that the emperor is never late, the others are just early. She joins them mid-conversation. She notices that the Knights of One and Two are arguing.

"Well Bismarck at least I didn't lose to a little girl."

This earns a groan from the others. Nonette almost points out that Merlin did lose to a girl but that is only a technicality since Milly shot him from far away. Before Nonette can continue thinking about it, the emperor makes his appearance.

In unison the knights exclaim. "Greetings your majesty."

He simply nods signaling for them to begin. They give their reports in order. Nonette pays very little attention to the others. Most of them are stationed in the western hemisphere taking care of little rebellions. It is finally Nonette's turn.

"I have just arrived here. It appears as if his highness Prince Lelouch is preparing to invade the final island. From what I have been able to gather, the prince is a few weeks away from finishing the job."

The emperor nods, but says nothing. The others continue to give their reports. Once they are done, the emperor signs off. The Knights of the Round do the same seconds later. A few continue their banter from before as they sign off. Nonette shakes her head. She is wasting valuable time. She gets up and goes to look for Lelouch and the girls. They are aboard a ship that is being used as a knightmare hangar. She notices that the two scientists are directing a few workers around the three knightmares.

Nonette is a little confused. "Your highness, I thought your new Titan was purple so why is it black. Did you paint it?"

Lelouch pulls out a control of sorts and pushes a button. The Titan Mk. 2 turns purple. It then turns a series of different colors. Then the Callisto and Europa do the same. Nonette wonders if the other knightmares in the area or around the world are doing the same thing. She laughs at the thought of some knightmares in Africa changing color freaking out some poor technician.

"Do you have one of those things for me? What about the other Europa? Remember I used it in Africa last year."

"No the other Europa is back in Thailand or Area 10."

He did not mention that fact that Nunnally is probably piloting it at the moment.

"Well I guess I'll just take one of the Ios."

Nonette notices some unusual looking knightmares at the far end of the ship.

"What are those?"

Lelouch looks up. "Some captured enemy knightmares."

"What are you going to do with them?"

Lelouch smirks, "That is for me to know and for you to find out."

Kallen frowns. Nonette is not the only one wondering about those knightmares. As if he planned it all, an elderly man and a pink haired teenage girl walk into the makeshift knightmare hangar.

"Well there you are your highness. This is a pretty good setup. I imagine this is one of the reasons why you want knightmares that fly on their own. Take one of these giant ships near any city and you have all you need. I suppose flying ships could work as well."

Nonette froze as the elderly man spoke. Lelouch was already been planning flying knightmares and ships. She wonders how many others throughout the empire have contemplated such things. She wonders how many of those have already been in contact with people who can develop such things. Lelouch, the elderly man, and the pink haired girl walk towards the captured enemy knightmares.

"Well Lord Cummins here they are. There are others outside."

"I see your highness. These men know what you are planning."

"Yes they have been working to the specifications you sent."

"Yes I believe that this will do. My little Sora has been wanting to get out there, but I feel she is too young. However this will do."

Lelouch led the two of them to another room in the ship. The room is filled with monitors and a set of controls. Sora Cummin's eyes open wide.

"Does this appear satisfactory?"

Sora answers, "Yes, this is so cool."

Lelouch nods, "Very well. I will allow you to get to work. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask."

Nonette is allowed to attend a meeting of Lelouch's war council. For the purpose of security only those that can physically attend are allowed to listen in on the meeting. There are messengers from Lelouch's other forces. Edward and Isabelle arrived a little after Nonette. Lelouch begins to go over the situation.

"It seems as if things have been settled along the Chinese border. Cassius and Nunnally will remain there to guard the northern border. Jeremiah has already divided up his force and is heading south with most of it to assist Kewell. Just as we expected the heaviest resistance is around Kuala Lumpur. We have the advantage of controlling the region. We are prepared for a lengthy siege if necessary."

He pauses to catch his breath and sips some of his tea. He continues.

"At the moment Villetta is preparing her force for the assault on Java. Sancia says that the Borneo task force is gathering to join us. We should be ready to go in a few days. Even though it gives them a few more days to prepare their defenses. It lets us gather all our forces to prepare the assault. Our number of quality knightmares should give us an advantage."

He makes another pause and appears to contemplate what to do next.

"Edward, can you inform of us about what is happening with the New Guinea task force?"

Edwards looks at his sister before beginning. She nods in affirmation. He sighs and begins.

"According to uncle William, New Guinea should be wrapped up in a week or two. There is just lots of infighting. He has already dispatched troops to the Lesser Sunda Islands. They have encountered light fighting but have sent messengers that Bali is being heavily fortified. They have received some help in Timor. We have followed the same policies that were put in place in Brunei and Singapore."

Lelouch nod sand twists his mouth. He is not at all anxious to face heavy fighting in Bali.

"Thank you Edward. The two of you will stay with this force until the end. Villetta will make her landing in Merak. It is about a hundred or so miles from Jakarta. We will sail west and pick up members of the Borneo task force. Part of our force will land here at Semarang in Central Java. The majority of our force will land at Surabaya in eastern Java."

Lelouch pauses, "Hopefully we will be able to draw some of the enemy forces from Bali. If not once we are done with Java, we will turn to attack Bali. If there is a need the island will be bombarded heavily."

Kallen asks the question everybody wants to ask.

"And what are you doing with the captured knightmares?"

"Ah those. A few years ago we were in Africa with Cornelia's force. We discovered that some of the enemy knightmares were automated."

"Automated?"

"They were empty and were being controlled from somewhere else."

Milly gets it. "That's what you are doing with Sora Cummins. You are having her control those knightmares."

"Yes that will be the first wave."

There was a little more to the plan then that. A few soldiers were being tasked with controlling specific captured knightmares to get behind enemy lines, but that would not be possible until the invasion began.

"If there is nothing else, then we will break for today. As soon as the repairs and improvements are made to the Titan, Callisto, and Europa they will be loaded onto their transport ship. This ship will carry the captured knightmares for the first wave of the attack. "

Their knightmares needed minor repairs mostly to the slash harkens. Obviously they are rearmed with all their usual weaponry. They are also given plenty of chaos mines. Lelouch spends most of the day going over with the plan with the division commanders. Eventually he has to speak to Nonette. He knows that it is no good hoping that she will go away.

"Did you think I would not catch the part about Nunnally assisting Cassius in securing the northern border?"

Lelouch shrugs, "Nunnally and Euphemia can do as they please. I left them as temporary viceroys of Area 10. If either of them saw the need to head north, then so be it. Excuse me Nonette I still have lots of work to do. If you want to get a knightmare, Colonel Gorman can help you with that."

Lelouch walks away. He will spend the next few days planning the exact details of his next move. He finishes the day as he has finished the past few day talking with Kallen and Milly. Only this time Edward and Isabelle also participate. The two girls immediately take to the young prince and princess. They stay up talking late into the night.

* * *

Nunnally is sitting in the Europa watching as the line of Chinese prisoners walks towards the temporary prison. In a few days they will be conducting a prisoner exchange. This is a bit misleading since the Chinese have very few prisoners. Cassius was actually holding the enemy back quite well when Nunnally and her force arrived. The arrival of the Europa turns the tide of the battle. They are all a little surprised at the skill of those in Nunnally's force. After the prisoners reach their destination, Nunnally heads of to Cassius's headquarters. Cassius appears to be in a bit of a sour mood. It is a little odd considering the results of the battle.

"What's up, Cassius?"

Cassius is initially taken aback by Nunnally's casualness. He wonders if it is an effect of her attending school with commoners.

"This damn Chinese think they can dictate terms. Not only did they provide assistance to rebels but they have also invaded out territory twice in the last two years. Not to mention  
the constant border raids."

"So what is the problem?"

"They want to us to return all their prisoners even if they don't want to return."

Nunnally smiles, "I have an idea."

**

* * *

**

Friday, June 13, 2015 ATB

It is the appointed day to chosen for the prisoner exchange. From the information Nunnally is able to gather it is also the big day down south. The Chinese prisoners are walking casually along the road. They have spent the last few days eating well. In fact they ate so much a few got sick on the first day. Following that the prison kitchen began to make lighter meals. Nunnally can see the few dozen Britannian prisoners walking in the distance.

At the front of the Chinese prisoner column are those that want to return back to their country. Those lagging behind are those that would rather stay. Nunnally and Cassius had a conversation earlier that day with Euphemia and Annabel. Nunnally did not consider the fact that some of those that want to stay behind only want to spy. They have begun to make arrangements to transport the Chinese prisoners to another location in the empire. Nunnally did not want to think of what would become of them. Even so she knew that they will be used as slaves in some other part of the Empire. She hopes that Lelouch will do what he can to prevent this.

Once the majority of the Britannian prisoners were safely across. Nunnally gets ready to make her move. The Ios in her force are also ready to strike. Nunnally has changed the color of the Europa from white to purple so she can seem like just another Io. Then they begin to hear some sort of siren. Nunnally wonders where it is coming from. As she looks over at her force, she notices that the Ios are turning black. Even the Europa turns black; however, Nunnally is still able to control her knightmare. She signals for the operation to begin. One more chance to embarrass the Chinese. She hopes this will teach them to mind their own business. She wonders why their knightmares suddenly began to change color. She looks towards the south and wonder what her brother is up to.

* * *

Kewell Soresi was a mere major in the Britannian military. However being one of Prince Lelouch's advisors/handlers gives him importance beyond his rank. Militarily speaking the prince himself is only a colonel. If this mission is successful Kewell hopes to attain that rank himself. It would be a huge deal for his family. Kewell was only 26 years old. Kewell has two uncles who are barons. It was through their slight influence that he was able to attend the Los Angeles Military Academy at the age of fifteen. He graduated four years later with the rank of first lieutenant. He spent the next three years going from post to post trying to find his calling. He chose knightmares and spent a few months working with the Glasgow. Kewell participated in the invasion of Area 10. There he met fellow lieutenants Villetta Nu and Jeremiah Gottwald.

Villetta was considered a prodigy. Even though a commoner, she manages to get an appointment to West Point at the age of sixteen. She graduated with honors and was sent to the emerging knightmare corps. Jeremiah was slightly more privileged then either of them. As the son of a margrave he attended the exact same West Point program as Prince Lelouch. But much like Kewell, Jeremiah was a lieutenant in a huge army with very little opportunities for advancement. Jeremiah had been assigned a post at Aries Palace as a guard before being sent to participate in the Area 10 invasion.

After Area 10 was pacified, Jeremiah came to Kewell and Villetta with an offer that would provide quick military advancement. So in August of 2010 Kewell is assigned to the 'Lamperouge' household. After a few years serving Prince Lelouch, the three of them made it up to captain. For this mission Villetta and Kewell were made temporary majors. Being of noble birth Jeremiah was made colonel. Very few know or care what the rank of the prince is. Kewell is certain that everybody is here as much for the prince as for Britannia.

"Come on commander, we have been here for a week."

Kewell looks over at Luciano Bradley. The Knight of Ten volunteered to join this attack. Since he couldn't join the prince, he decided to come here.

"We will commence in a few minutes Lord Bradley."

The violence loving knight scowls. He could have been with the prince or fighting his way down Sumatra with Villetta instead he is here with the dour Kewell.

"Don't worry Bradley; you will get to do all the killing you want."

It was Kewell's turn to scowl. He really wished that the prince would have taken his blood thirsty friend with him. Either way as soon as that Rolo kid and his task force is done disabling a few of the defenses system, they were going to attack. At this point the defenders of the city had to be getting a little desperate. Kewell's force has been here for over ten days. The southern portion that came up from Singapore has been here for over two weeks. Then a siren began to ring out. It reminds Kewell of an air raid siren.

Luciano Bradley begins to cackle.

"Damn that Lulu knows how to throw a party."

Kewell looks at Luciano. But before he can say anything, he notices that the Ios are all turning black. He knows about the camouflage abilities, but he wonders what made them all turn black. Luciano points up to the sky.

"We better move Soresi. We don't want that damn blue blood Gottwald to get all the glory."

Kewell looks up to the sky. He sees Jeremiah's force being transported through the air. Kewell smiles at the size of the air flotilla. Bradley is right the prince knows how to throw a party. Kewell then sees Rolo's signal.

Luciano laughs, "Damn, this is just like a movie, isn't it?"

Kewell is puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Come on. This is all too perfect. Jeremiah arrives just as that Rolo kid signals us. I bet you at this moment the first part of the prince's forces is landing."

Kewell gives the signal for his force to move forward. Luciano grins as he moves forward. This is going to be his kind of day, a black Friday.

* * *

Villetta looks over at the Java coast. Today is the day for the invasion. She is sitting in her knightmare waiting for the signal. Now that she thinks about it, she has not idea what the signal is. Then it happens the other knightmares being to turn black. She supposes that her knightmare is also black. Then a siren begins to sound. Out in the distance Villetta can make out shapes flying through the air. All this must be the prince's signal. Villetta signals for her own force to move forward.

* * *

Lelouch is sitting in the command deck of his ship. He is glad that he spent some time out at sea because the conditions the past few days have been difficult. Kallen and Milly have been locked in their rooms for most of the trip. It has been a few days since they departed Sulawesi. They picked up the Borneo task force minus the garrisons being left behind. They are now miles off the coast of Java. The force has been divided up and almost as if on cue the sky clears up. Sure it helps Lelouch's force, but it also helps the defenders. He makes his way over to the Titan.

"Q1, Q2 prepare for the attack. Sora, whenever you are ready."

Nonette responds. "Hey what about me P.F. Kyon?"

Lelouch audibly scowls. Since he really didn't have a code name, Milly suggested Kyon. Okay well his codename is K1. But they all pointed out that the king does not move very much in chess so they wanted something else. Then they explain to Nonette why they keep calling him Kyon. Of course Nonette is adamant about calling him the Phantom Flash.

"You are AW1."

"AW1"

"Annoying woman."

"That's not very nice P.F. Kyon."

Lelouch sighs. Sora signals him that she is ready. Lelouch nods and brings out his secret master controls. He pushes a series of buttons. A few seconds later throughout Southeast Asia a siren is heard ringing. Every knightmare in Lelouch's force minus the Callisto and Europa Attack turns black. Lelouch smiles as he is lifted into the air by his transport. It has begun the battle that will determine his future.

* * *

Author's note: I love writing Nonette. She is one of those people that we know so little about, but we know enough about her to still make her interesting. We know that Cornelia considers her a senior officer and is afraid of her. Since she is close to Cornelia and is a Knight of the Round, we can assume that she is close to Marianne. This means that she knows Lelouch, Euphemia, and Nunnally quite well. I think most writers that bring Nonette in use these assumptions. It is kind of annoying that they threw her in there and gave her this background but did nothing with her.

Nonette and Luciano volunteered to join Lelouch on his mission. VV volunteered Rolo. I think we all know what Rolo does.


	32. The only ones who should kill

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

…

Britannia will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Deithard Reid

The Rise of the Black Prince

Neo-Pendragon Press 2020 ATB

…

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

Henry Louis Mencken

…

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. Sun Tzu

**June 12, 2015 ATB**

Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly are in the air being transported. He notices that Sora's knightmares have landed and are causing lots of damage in the ground. As he continues to look down he also notices that many of the knightmares on the beach are Burais. He laughs at this. Behind them are plenty of Panzer Hummels. Throughout the Javanese shoreline there are makeshift defenses. The invasion began 17 days ago. Probably since before that the Indonesians have been working on the island's defenses.

"Q1 prepare for Operation Tidal Wave."

Kallen's air transport takes her near the ocean. She diverts all the power to and fires up the radiation burst. The explosion sends a small tidal wave towards the shore. As soon as her power runs low, Milly comes up from behind and changes out her energy filler. It is a very tricky operation, but one that they have practiced numerous times during their trip here. This is done a few more times.

On the beach the Burais see the wave coming in and turn to leave. Lelouch sees this. He pushes a few buttons on his keyboard and several of the enemy knightmares stop. Lelouch laughs loudly onto an open channel.

"Captain Cunningham, it is done. You will have a few minutes to do you damage."

"Yes your highness. All hail Britannia,"

Lelouch tells his transport pilot to take him up and over to his landing site. Lelouch remembers asking for the craziest pilot on the force. One look at the girl, and Lelouch knows he has the right person.

"You know Major Hillis if we pull this off we will either get court martialed, or we get a promotion."

She laughs, "Your highness after these last few weeks a court martial sounds nice. Good luck you highness."

Lelouch releases the hatch, and the Titan plummets towards the ground. In the air below him are several chaos mines and regular bombs. Lelouch lands in the middle of the explosion. He is surrounded by destroyed Panzer Hummels. With all the commotion down by the shore, nobody notices him fly in. Milly lands besides him. Kallen follows suit. Lelouch has his assault rifles ready to go.

"Too bad Luciano isn't here. He would love what is about to happen. Let's go."

* * *

Luciano is destroying another Gun Ru. He has destroyed so many. He stopped keeping count.

"Damn Chinese pieces of junk. The only problem is that there is so many of them."

Kewell agrees with him. He wonders how the enemy would fair with less but better knightmares. It seems as if every knightmare here is being piloted by a person. Kewell remembers what the prince told them about his experience in Africa. Kewell knows that a few days ago a few captured Panzer Hummels and Burais were transported to Singapore and sent north. These were automated and being controlled by someone a few miles south of Kuala Lumpur. They did not perform as well as human piloted knightmares, but they have caused quite a commotion in the south of the city.

Kewell has not had a moment to talk with Jeremiah. The city is in ruins. There is very little organized defense. They are mostly fighting guerillas or newly conscripted soldiers. The fact that they came by land caught the Malaysians off guard. By the time they were able to shift the majority of their forces, it was too late. To add insult to injuring a small amphibious force did land and was able to delay the retreat to Kuala Lumpur. Of course there was also the force coming up from Singapore to consider. They moved towards Kuala Lumpur unimpeded. This also took away the last hope for the Malaysian government. They had nowhere to run to.

Even though it is only a little past midday, Kewell makes sure that no one in his force travels alone. He is stuck with the Knight of Ten. There are a few others traveling with them. They reach what used to be the government buildings. Kewell looks around at the destruction and wonders if some of it was caused by the locals. Kewell just notices a missile heading towards his group. Luciano takes it out with a slash harken.

"Damn monkeys cost me a slash harken. They are going to pay."

Before Kewell can stop him, Luciano is off in the direction where the missile came from. Kewell signals for his group to follow after Luciano. They are too late because the Knight of Ten has disposed of the enemy. They get there just as he blasts one of the enemies.

"Damn these guys are pathetic. So what's next, commander? Are we going to hang out in this broken city?"

Kewell grimaces a little. That is indeed the million pound question.

* * *

Even though Villetta has the shortest distant to travel, she has the hardest road. There are miles of trenches and defenses between her and Jakarta. She decides to be bold and screw convention. She sends part of her force and fleet to attack Jakarta from the north and east. She also has air transport take the majority of her force over the initial enemy lines. In the air Villetta can see the air force attacking. Britannia has the world's largest air force. Lately they have been mostly used as transports for knightmares. She doesn't remember having any air force units attached to her force. She wonders where they came from. Villetta continues moving her force through the air. Something tells her it is what the prince would want.

* * *

The Irregulars are at it again. They begin landing their force as planned. It is a real ingenious plan on the prince's part. They used the captured enemy knightmares to attack as the first wave. Since the knightmares were automated, they could be put in dangerous situations. Lucretia thought that it is probably like a video game. She wonders if there are some kids somewhere thinking they are playing some new game, but are really controlling this knightmares in the attack. Once they land the Irregulars do their thing. They separate from the main force and begin to attack the enemy. It only takes them an hour or so to break the enemy line at Semarang. The prince's instructions were clear. They were to utterly and completely defeat the enemy.

* * *

Captain Nagisa Chiba is aboard the HMIS Portsmouth. Over a week ago Lieutenant Kouzuki gave his report on the situation. Immediately Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords are mobilized. Colonel Tohdoh is in charge of the interviews and interrogations. There are a lot of oddities about this situation. The other four were assigned to different theatres of the attack. They are instructed only to observe but with it came the implication that they were allowed to participate.

Chiba sighs. She looks down at her captain's insignia. She has only been a captain for a few months. Asahina Shogo, Kosetsu Urabe, and she became captains for testing out the Burai. Ryoga Senba became a major. Kyoshiro became a full colonel. They were each given their own custom Burai. They were each assigned their assignments. Shogo is assigned to the Sumatra task force led by Major Villetta Nu. Urabe is assigned to the Kuala Lumpur task force led by Major Kewell Soresi. Senba is assigned to the Northern protection force led by Prince Cassius. Chiba is assigned to Prince Lelouch's force.

Chiba arrives a little before they sent off from Sulawesi. Shogo made a bad joke about her meeting the prince and him falling in love with her. Taking her off to his castle somewhere. This earned a snicker from Senba and Urabe. Tohdoh's only comment is that the prince is only a teenager. They also made a bet. They were to try to get near the Titan, Callisto, and Europa. Much to her surprise all three are on the same ship as her. Not only is she allowed to get near them, she takes several pictures in them and besides them. Their pilots are elsewhere, but she gets pictures with their creators.

Chiba has yet to meet Prince Lelouch. She does meet a Prince Edward and Princess Isabelle. They inform her that if she wants to be a part of the attack force, she will have to wait until the secondary landings take place. Chiba spends a few days getting used to the controls of the Io. The machine has a very simplistic system. It is almost as if they were built with children in mind.

Chiba is standing on the deck with Edward and Isabelle. They can see the attack of in the distance. Chiba swears that she sees non-Britannian knightmares in the first wave of the attack. She is sure that there are several Burai out there. She looks up and sees that the Titan, Callisto, and Europa are heading out there as part of the second wave. She heads back towards the hangar and her Io. She will sit in the back and observe the battle from the rear.

* * *

Lelouch makes sure that Kallen and Milly are facing in different directions. He activates his geass. The enemy pilots begin to fire erratically. He makes them think that their allies are the Titan. He moves in and finishes them off. Once he is done with that he goes over to help Milly. Since she doesn't have geass, she is having a little more trouble. In a few minutes the battle is over, and the majority of Lelouch's force begins to land.

Lelouch sighs and looks up. "Damn I thought it would be more difficult."

He looks and notices that the enemy is bringing in more knightmares. He looks at his own force spreading out to take them on. He looks at his monitor to see where Sora's knightmares are. Most of them are pushing towards the interior. Lelouch smiles. He pulls back. He signals for Kallen and Milly to do the same. He wants to make sure that at the end of the day the beachhead is secure. He notices that Japanese captain is out in her Io. Lelouch wonders if she will get involved.

Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly get refilled. At the moment it is not very prudent for them to get back into the fight. Lelouch decides to move forward.

"You two should stay back here and begin looking for a place to setup camp. A few knightmares should start coming back for refills. I have also instructed them to keep bringing in captured knightmares."

Kallen and Milly nod even though he can't see them. Lelouch moves forward. The battle has moved almost a mile from the beach. Lelouch looks at several crews pulling back the destroyed enemy knightmares. Even if the knightmares themselves aren't salvageable, they can still provide parts. Lelouch notices that the Japanese captain is moving forward. Nagisa Chiba is her name, he remembers.

Lelouch notices that the enemy is using mostly Burais now. This makes him smile. Japan began its Burai project about three years ago. About the time Lelouch started his own knightmare project. Lelouch not only began his knightmare project he also began a few other technological and business ventures. A few of them involved foreign investments. He never expected his small Japanese technological company to amount to much.

Then the Japanese government made inquiries amongst several smaller companies about developing different pieces for an all Japanese knightmare. Lelouch simply used systems from the Glasgow. He credited Gorō Ōkouchi and Ichirō Taniguchi. Actually Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata do the work. So Lelouch's company won the Burai competition. The humorous thing is that very few of the company's workers even knew what happened. Lelouch then did the smart thing. He sells his idea and design. In fact he makes more money selling Burai parts than he does selling complete knightmares. His company mostly makes the computer systems for the Burai.

This brings us to the current situation. All the Burais in the Indonesian force were built by Lelouch's company. Meaning he can hack their systems whenever he wants. While not a computers genius by any means. Lelouch is intelligent enough to hack the systems. After all he knows the primary codes to each one. This has been something he has been working on for weeks. He knows where each one is. He has programmed one of the monitors in his cockpit show him the position of the Burais. He notices that Lieutenant Chiba is away from the main attack force. Lelouch decides to try something.

Nagisa Chiba is out with the attack force. She decides to stay behind the force. This way she is not forced to attack. She watches the attack for a few minutes. She moves up for a closer look. She looks at her monitors to see the flow of the battle. She notes that many of the enemy knightmares are actually Burais. She closes her eyes and sighs. It seems as if the Burai is not match against a Britannian knightmare. Then about fives Burais are heading straight at her. She has very little time to react. She finds it ironic that she will die to a Japanese knightmare.

"_Did you need any help Captain Chiba?"_

Lelouch times it perfectly. He comes jumping in with his slash harkens flying out. In seconds Lelouch takes down the five Burais. Lelouch smiles.

"_You should head back to the ship, Captain Chiba."_

Lelouch makes sure she does as she is told. He heads forward to continue leading the attack. By day's end Lelouch's force has established a decent beachhead and perimeter. The individual division commanders set up a defense perimeter. The prisoners are transferred by ship to Borneo. The captured knightmares are sent to Lord Cummins, Cecile, and Rakshata. They begin to work on repair them or salvaging their parts.

After clearing a large area in the city, Kewell and his force set up camp. Jeremiah's force is surrounding the city keeping watch out for enemy soldiers trying to get out to the countryside. They are trying to keep the Malaysians from forming guerilla groups outside the cities. Being a loss compact country than Thailand, it is a little more difficult. Jeremiah's force is stretched out. He notes that his Japanese observer is observing from the front. He wonders if it is a good idea to allow these Japanese observers in the Io. At least this one is no slouch.

Colonel Tohdoh is finished with his interrogations. He is unsatisfied with the results. But this Captain Kouzuki is saved by Colonel Kusakabe and General Katase. Colonel Tohdoh is put on a plane and is heading towards Indonesia. He feels safer on ship but that would take to long. He is on his way to join the task force of Prince Lelouch. He isn't even sure which of his subordinates is stationed with the prince.

**June 13, 2015 ATB**

In the morning Lelouch is informed that the Duke of Oregon sent a task force to take Bali during the night. The island is almost under their control. Lelouch sent his own force in that direction to keep Javanese forces from assisting Bali. Lelouch continues to look over his morning reports. Villetta makes daring strike at Jakarta. She has the navy and the air force helping her out. The situation in Kuala Lumpur is a bit if a mess, but Lelouch trusts in Jeremiah and Kewell. Up in the north Cassius has already dealt with the Chinese and Thais. He is beginning to extend his control over the parts of the Malay Peninsula that has been conquered. Depending on which falls first Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur, Thailand and the Malay Peninsula will either become Area 16 or 17. The islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi, New Guinea and all those in-between will become the other area. Edward and Isabelle will get this area.

He has received scattered reports from the Irregulars mostly from Lucretia. They have landed successfully are on their way to Jakarta. Lelouch sighs. The conquest is easy. It will be the peace that follows that will be difficult. He is pleased that Bali will most likely be left intact. One of the many things he did during his week in Bali during spring break was geass people around the island. He gave them different commands. Seeing the former hotel manager in Sulawesi leads Lelouch to believe that many of the islanders may be elsewhere.

Lelouch decides to make the final push in conquering the island of Java. He wonders what the emperor is thinking about this attack. Geass certainly has helped. After Lelouch is done with his reports, he heads over to the Titan. He knows that Milly and Kallen are already out there preparing for the next wave of the attack. Lelouch has also been informed that Colonel Tohdoh will arrive sometime today. He decides to go out. He is in no mood to reveal himself to Suzaku's sensei.

Once the main islands fall they will begin to extend control over the numerous smaller islands. However the enemy appears to be preparing to fight for every inch of Java. The biggest problem facing Lelouch is that Java's size and shape make it perfect for defense. Of course Lelouch has a few advantages. Lelouch decides to make his first attack of the day. It appears as if the enemy if looking to drive Lelouch's force back into the sea. Lelouch makes sure that he is at the front of his force. Kallen and Milly are flanking him.

"Q1, Q2 let's begin."

Lelouch and Kallen activate their geass. Lelouch was able to cast his geass on several captured soldiers and refugees. At the moment they are in strategic places. Lelouch slices through the enemy knightmares. Lelouch is quite certain that Villetta's direct strike at Jakarta has forced the enemy to send troops there rather than here. The Irregulars and their force manage to cut the island in half. With Villetta and the Irregulars acting as an anvil, Lelouch decides to be the hammer. He pushes his troops forward.

**June 16, 2015 ATB**

Kewell and Jeremiah have been living hell for the past few days. Cassius and Nunnally have moved troops as far south as George Town. They have even sent a few over to Sumatra to assist the garrison Villetta has left behind. Neither Kewell nor Jeremiah want to know how they managed to stop the Chinese from going with a full blown invasion. The navy is doing its part from keeping the enemy on the Malay Peninsula. It is a little bit easier since neither Malaysia nor Indonesia have much of a navy now. The battle for Kuala Lumpur has become a bar room brawl.

Neither man knows what to do. Then it happens early that morning. Both sides blame each other, but no one really knows who started it. An immense fire broke out destroying the majority of the city. That signaled the end of the battle. In the early evening whatever is left of the Malaysian government surrenders to Prince Cassius. That day Thailand and the Malay Peninsula become Area 16. Cassius returns to Bangkok where he is establishing his seat of government. For the moment Jeremiah and Kewell are left to settle the situation in Kuala Lumpur. They send a small portion of their force towards Jakarta. Lelouch is days away from reaching the city by land.

* * *

Nonette has been at this for a few days now. She did not want to come ashore until the beachhead and surrounding territory was completely secure. It only took a day and half to accomplish that. She was hoping for some more time off. Now that she thinks about it, she probably should have gone out with Lelouch and his girlfriends. Because whatever they did, it worked. The enemy is reeling. There is no stopping the Britannian attack now. Somehow the prince keeps getting around what appear to be difficult defenses. Nonette leads her group in their part of the attack. At the rate they are going, it should be over in a few days.

* * *

Schniezel is enjoying his breakfast reading Lelouch and his subordinate's reports concerning the invasion. Schniezel expects Lelouch to succeed, but this is a little too fast. Two nations and the majority of a third have fallen in twenty days. There are still plenty of smaller islands to comb over. That won't necessarily be Lelouch's's problem. Once the conquest of the area is complete and a viceroy is sent out, settlements will be established. Soon Britannians will flood into the area.

One thing does worry Schniezel. He has not yet heard from his father who will be appointed viceroys of Area 16 and 17. Schniezel has no idea who will be in charge of those crucial areas south of China. Kannon comes in to interrupt his meal.

"You highness, you have a call."

Schniezel is only mildly annoyed. Kannon knows better than to interrupt a meal. Schniezel signals for Kannon to bring the call up on the screen. Much to Schniezel's surprise his younger brother, Cassius ru Britannia, appears before him. Schnizel frowns a little towards Kannon. His assistant knows better than to interrupt him with such silly matters.

Cassius begins to speak. "Oh I'm sorry Schniezel. I had no idea that you were in the middle of a meal"

Schniezel tries his best to keep the scowl off his face. Very few of his siblings forget Schniezel's meal times. It is the one of the few times that he does not like being disturbed.

"Just wanted to let you know that I am having an amazing time over here in Area 16. Well see you later."

Schniezel is quite befuddled by that whole sequence.

"Kannon, contact the emperor. I need to speak with him urgently."

Kannon goes off to make the necessary arrangements. Schniezel is left alone with his thoughts. As he sits there thinking, he receives another call. Without thinking Schniezel answers it. Schniezel regrets it immediately. On his screen is Clovis. Schniezel has been avoiding him since Lelouch's invasion began. For some reason Lelouch kept the fact that he used Area 11 as a launching point for his invasion from Clovis. Now Schniezel is going to have to deal with Clovis.

**June 20, 2015 ATB**

It has been eight days since the invasion of Java began. Villetta's force made an audacious air and sea strike at Jakarta. Now her force is just about surrounded on all sides. Their only outlet is from the sea. She receives word that the other two forces on Java have begun to make their way towards Jakarta. They should be arriving shortly. Despite their near defeat the defenders of Java have not given up. It seems as if they have decided to at least destroy Villetta's force. She decides that if there is a need her force will be evacuated. It not something she wants to do. She would rather keep fighting. That way the other two forces can hit the enemy from behind.

Despite being well supplied Villetta can feel that her troops are growing restless. While not strong or well coordinated, the enemy is still making attacks on a daily basis. It is probably close to an hourly basis. One of Villetta's division commanders likened to the death by one thousand cuts. It actually isn't that bad. But the fact that the enemy is attacking them and they are not striking back, is wearing on the morale of the troops.

They prepare for their daily routine. Word has gotten around to the men that the prince is on his way. It seems to have excited them. Villetta and her staff are in their morning meeting. She looks around at her subordinates. Strictly speaking most of the people in the room outrank her. Her position is given to her because of her closeness to the prince. In fact she has heard a few people in the room make jokes about her being the prince's mistress. Just as she is about to begin the meeting a very tired corporal comes running into the room. It is a good thing he has a note because he is out of breath.

Villetta takes the note and reads silently.

"The prince is here. He is ordering us to begin an all out assault."

Villetta ends the meeting. Her force prepares for its attack. The note contained no details about what to do. It simply orders an all attack with everything Villetta has at her disposal.

* * *

Lelouch is in front of his forces. Before them lies the city of Jakarta, but in front of the city s the last ditch effort by the Indonesians. They have gathered everything and everyone possible to defend the city. At the rear Lelouch sees Panzer Hummels and Gun Rus. In the front Lelouch sees Burais. It is the enemy formation that he has grown accustomed to seeing.

He has ordered Villetta to attack with her force. The small force that Jeremiah and Kewell sent from the Malay Peninsula should land soon and back up Villetta. The forces that were pinning Villetta to the shore have begun to move to confront the threat of Lelouch. Lelouch is joined up front by Nonette, Kallen, Milly, and the Irregulars.

"AW1 and Q2, go back. You will lead the second attack."

"Very well your highness.

Nonette scowls at her codename. She wonders why each time they attack, the prince and whichever of the girls is Q1 attack first. In fact Nonette is not so much as worried as she is befuddled by the whole thing. It makes no sense. She has given up asking why he leads the attack. He always answers with, 'If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow.' Once Nonette and Milly are safely back, Lelouch contacts his strike force.

"Sancia keep your team back until we are done."

Lelouch begins to hack into the enemy Burais. At this point he is unable to get into all of them. Some of the computer systems have been replaced because of damage. Nevertheless Lelouch is able to control the majority of them.

He smiles, "Let's go Q1. They are waiting for us."

Lelouch and Kallen charge at the enemy. They activate their geass. Lelouch takes control of the Burais forcing them to attack the Panzer Hummels and Gun Rus at the rear. This combined with their geass causes much confusion in the enemy.

Lelouch mutters more to himself then anyone around him.

"The only ones who should kill…"

* * *

Author's note: One final chapter of this invasion. It is Lelouch's first so he is figuring it all out. It took as long as it did because Indonesia is slightly more spread out then Japan. In cannon the conquest of Japan took only a month. By this time knightmares are more advanced. Also Lelouch has an edge over his opponents because of geass, and he can hack into their Burais. There are also a few more subtle things that I wanted to get in there.

**Known Areas**

1 United States aka mainland

2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands

3 Mexico

4 Greenland

5 Iceland

6 South America

7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll

8 Falkland Islands

9 New Zealand

10 Indochina 2009

11 Philippines 2010

12 Cambodia 2011

13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013

14 Morocco 2014

15 Ethiopia 2014

16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015

17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015

Odysseus eu Britannia 1st 1984

Schniezel el Britannia 2nd 1990

Clovis la Britannia 3rd 1992

Maximus va Britannia. 4th 1992

Cassius ru Britannia 5th 1993

Lucius pe Britannia 6th 1995- 2014

Octavius ka Britannia 7th 1996

Theseus ju Britannia 8th 1997

Luther ti Britannia 9th 1999

Edward vu Britannia 10th 1999

Lelouch vi Britannia 11th 1999

Guinevere su Britannia 1st 1986

Cornelia li Britannia 2nd 1991

Euphemia li Britannia 3rd 2000

Annabel pe Britannia 4th 2001

Karine le Britannia 5th 2002

Isabelle vu Britannia 6th 2002

Victoria ka Britannia 7th 2002

Gwendolyn ti Britannia 8th 2003

Regina ha Britannia 9th 2003

Selene ge Britannia 10th 2003

Nunnally vi Britannia 11th 2003


	33. are those who are prepared to be killed

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

…

Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?

Sun Tzu

…

Regret is merely a feeling people conjure up to try and make themselves seem more human.

The green haired witch

Deithard Reid

The Rise of the Black Prince

Neo-Pendragon Press 2020 ATB

* * *

"The only ones, who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed."

"What is that K1?"

Kallen momentarily forgets to call Lelouch, P.F. Kyon.

"Nothing Q1. Pull back and allow the Irregulars to do their job."

Kallen does as Lelouch orders her. The Britannian Special Honorary Foreign Legion or the Irregulars begin to attack what is left of the enemy knightmares. Kallen notices that Nonette does not wait for Lelouch's orders. She charges right in. Milly comes over to stand by Lelouch and Kallen.

"Q1, Q2 go back and bring Edward and Isabelle. They will be the ones that receive the surrender of the enemy."

Lelouch contacts a few more subordinates to make certain that the city is sealed up tight. It will end today. If need be the city will be destroyed. Lelouch has already chosen another site to be the capital of Area 17.

Anya left Nunnally over a week ago. She travels down the Malay Peninsula with Cassius. When the prince returns to Bangkok, Anya stays with Jeremiah and Kewell. She then boards a ship heading south for Jakarta. Technically Colonel Figgen is in command. But everybody here knows that Anya attended West Point with the prince and that she is here because he wants her here. This gives her the ability to move on her own.

Anya is able to be one of the first ones off the ship. Her Io has a special Lelouch/Titan tracker. She has no idea how Nunnally is able to put it in there, but there it was. Anya is behind Villetta's force. They seem to be taking care of the enemy. Anya supposes that they have lots of pent up aggression after waiting a week to attack. The only problem she has is her insane tag along.

Luciano is final free from those two dour guys. Now he is free to do as he pleases. He wisely follows the little pink haired girl. Luciano knows that she is infatuated with Lelouch and will most likely be heading in his direction. Luciano goes over a small ridge. Once on the other side he can see the battle is going on. He sees different kinds of knightmares that he did not see back in Malaysia.

Of course there are the Gun Rus, but there are also a few other kinds. Luciano looks them up on his monitors. He finds that they are called Bamides, Panzer Hummels, and Burais. He does remember seeing them as part of Lelouch's Singapore strike force. He wonders how his old comrade got a hold of them. Well Luciano decides to put those questions aside because he has reached the enemy.

He contacts Anya, "Hey Alstriem, how about we have a competition?"

Anya smiles as she takes down to Gun Rus. "You are already down two."

Luciano scowls, "Hey those pieces of junk should only count for half or a third of one."

Anya takes down a few more Gun Rus. "Are you going to fight or whine?"

Luciano grins, "Well let's get to it. We're coming Prince Lulu. At least he left some for us to take out."

Luciano and Anya begin to carve their way through the enemy knightmares. Villetta sits back and watches them go off.

"Commander Nu, should we stop them?"

Villetta grimaces a little. "No, that is the Knight of Ten and the other is a personal friend of the prince. They know what they are doing."

Still Villetta wonders if it is okay to let them wander off, but she has her own worries.

"Don't worry about them. We have our own objectives," Villetta grins, "I want to see the prince's face when he discover that we have accepted the surrender."

Villetta's subordinates smile as they push forward.

* * *

Lelouch is slicing through a few enemy knightmares. As they near the city Lelouch grimaces at the sheer number of them. Since this a purely defensive battle, the enemy has lined up Panzer Hummels and Bamides near the city center. Added to that are conventional artillery and anti-aircraft. Lelouch swears that he even sees tanks and other older conventional weaponry.

Lelouch notice that Kallen, Milly, and Nonette are not leaving him alone for a second. One of those three is constantly by him at all times. Lelouch keeps pushing forward.

"Your highness, I am not sure what you are trying to do, but you are moving too far forward."

"AW1, there is a reason why we have codenames, AW1. Don't worry about me. After all I defeated Marianne the Flash."

Nonette grimaces, "That is besides the point P.F. Kyon."

Nonette goes with her nickname for Lelouch. After all K1 is just as big of give away as your highness. Nonette sees Lelouch go over a small hill. She hurries after him. Milly and Kallen are right behind her. When they finally crest the hill, they notice that Lelouch is surrounded by Burais and Panzer Hummels.

Kallen screams, "LULU!"

She activates her geass and radiation burst as she charges forward. Lelouch manages to get out a command before Kallen's geass overtakes him.

"Q1, stop!"

Kallen stops and notices that the enemy knightmares are lining up behind Lelouch.

"What? What is going on?"

"Sorry Kalli, I didn't mean to worry you."

Nonette grunts. What about me, she thinks.

Lelouch smiles, "Looks like the final two pieces of are party are here. Sora, prepare the knightmares for the attack."

Nonette smacks her head. Over the past week she has forgotten all about captured enemy knightmares that have been programmed to be remote controlled. Now there are even more than before. Nonette can see two Ios battling their way over towards them. The Irregulars are also approaching their position. This little group that Lelouch has formed is south of Jakarta. His main attack force is to the east of the city while Villetta's force is to the north and west of the city.

Lelouch grins, "Hey Luciano you dirty fucker, what took you so long to get here?"

Nonette does a double take at Lelouch's language.

Luciano sneers, "I would have gotten here faster, but Alstriem was holding me back."

"Bullshit, this moron wanted to stop and attack every pitiful knightmare on the way," Anya pauses, "By the way I still won."

"Whatever looks like there is still plenty for everyone out there."

Both Luciano and Anya notice the group of Burais and Panzer Hummels near the Titan.

Anya asks, "What are those?"

Lelouch smirks, "Those are my new toys. Are you ready?"

Luciano fires his assault rifle into the air.

"Let's go your highness."

Lelouch sighs, "Very well then, let's go. Lady Cummins, whenever you are ready."

Sora puts her knightmares in the front and begins to charge the enemy lines.

Luciano smiles, "So what is the signal for the attack, All Hail Britannia."

Lelouch grimaces, "Got anything better."

Nonette jumps in, "Of course we have something better P.F, Kyon. Lady Ashford, would you do the honors?"

Milly clears her throat before yelling out over an open channel.

"All hail The Phantom Flash! All hail Lelouch!"

With that the final attack begins. Lelouch trails behind the remote controlled knightmares. Luciano and Anya continue their competition. Milly and Kallen start one of their own. Nonette and the Irregulars follow them.

* * *

Meanwhile on a ship heading from Area 11 to Area 10, Evelyn and the twins are playing video game.

Evelyn yells, "Hey look that one looks like brother Lulu's knightmares."

Castor adds, "Look that one is Kalli. Hey Kalli."

Pollux yells, "Looks its Millys."

The kids laugh as they continue playing their game. Schniezel is aboard the same ship. He has been instructed by the emperor to bring Lelouch to Pendragon for his reward. Clovis is pouting in his palace, and General Bartley is unable to console him. Guinevere and her group are having lunch oblivious to what is occurring on the other side of the world.

* * *

Lelouch's attack is finished. The only things between them and where the Indonesian government is hiding out are a few tanks and artillery pieces. There is no hope for the defenders. Lelouch moves the Titan in to finish what is left. They fire everything they have at Lelouch. He dodges and fires his assault rifle. He manages to take out the infantry and the artillery. The tanks are still up, but Milly and Kallen come in and finish them off.

With the last defense defeated there is nothing stopping them from capturing the government leaders. To accept the surrender of the Indonesian government, Edward and Isabelle come out. Lelouch looks around and is glad that the city is mostly intact.

**June 26, 2015 ATB**

It is a few days after the surrender of the Indonesian government. There are still a few guerilla forces on some of the smaller islands. Sumatra, Borneo, and Java are mostly left alone outside of a few garrisons in the larger cities. Jeremiah and Kewell have done the same with the Malay Peninsula because Cassius has established his capital in the north at Bangkok.

Edward and Isabelle have established their capital in Bali. They are already beginning to rebuild the island. Britannians will soon begin to swarm to the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Moluccas, the islands in the eastern part of Indonesia. Sulawesi is the only large island that will be settled. New Guinea will mostly be left to its own devices. There will be a few garrisons on the island. For the moment only Britannian companies will be involved of the reconstruction. Their uncle, the Duke of Oregon, will also spend a few months in the area as military commander.

Lelouch and company are on a ship heading towards Area 10. They set sail that morning after a few days rest. They have been on the move and living out of tents for a month now. Rakshata, Cecile, and Lord Cummins are working with the captured enemy knightmares. Villetta is probably enjoying her first free time all year by sleeping. Lelouch is enjoying a nap at the moment as well. Kallen is lying on his left sort of on top of him, and Milly is on his right. Since neither girl wants to give the other a chance to be alone with Lelouch, they both decide to stay with him.

Lelouch sighs. Hew knows better than to think any dirty thoughts at this moment. The two girls can probably read his mind. Lelouch wonders if he should return to Japan. He can stay in Area 10 and bring all his siblings to live with him. While Schniezel and Cornelia fight the E.U., Lelouch can begin his own plan to gain glory and honor. China is sitting to the north of Lelouch's territories. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Lelouch will be in control of the areas just conquered as well as Areas 10 and 12. The only hindrance is Clovis and Area 11. Lelouch will take care of that in due time. Another problem may eventually be Japan. Lelouch has no idea what to do about that.

Milly is running her hand down Lelouch's chest.

"So are we going to stay in Area 10 now, Lulu?"

Lelouch considers the question.

"No, I was thinking of returning to Japan."

Both girls sigh. Milly loves her grandparents. But if the emperor or is forcing Lelouch and her to get married, she would rather stay in Area 10 and be the viceroy's wife. She knows that Kallen feels the same. Kallen's parents have been traveling the world. They have been gone all summer. Since Kallen normally spends her summers with members of the royal family, her parents decided to travel the world. Kallen has no idea whether or not they know about the emperor's ultimatum to Lelouch. She knows that her father doesn't care about the trappings of the royal court. Kallen sighs and puts those thoughts out of her head. Lelouch will figure it all out.

Lelouch is looking around. "I wonder where Anya is?"

Lelouch goes off to look for the little pink haired girl. He finds her sitting with Cecile and Rakshata running some tests. Anya will graduate from West Point in December. She will then return to Japan and Ashford most likely to replace Gino as Lelouch's observer. There are other plans for Gino. Good thing too because Lelouch is tired of Gino hitting on Kallen. Stupid goofball doesn't get the hint. At the moment Rakshata and Cecile are working on customizing an Io to fit Anya. Perhaps Lelouch can get them to work on a personal knightmare for Anya. Milly and Kallen come over to join him. They spend the rest of the trip having simulated knightmares battles.

Waiting for them at the dock are Schniezel, Nunnally, Euphemia, Annabel, and the kids. Cassius is still in Bangkok. Edward and Isabelle are in Bali. They are attempting to organize their areas. They are aided by the fact that Lelouch has given them a plan. At the moment rebuilding is their major concern. Evelyn and the twins run at Lelouch. He tries to lift them all, but they are too much for him.

Lelouch sighs, "You guys are so big."

Lelouch hands the twins off to Milly and Kallen and lifts a squirming Evelyn. He begins to kiss her.

"Here's my favorite princess."

Nunnally and Euphemia visibly pout. The others laugh at this. They go inside to rest for the night. Tomorrow they are all heading to Pendragon. Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell are waiting for Lelouch inside. Luciano and Nonette have already arrived in Pendragon. Schniezel decides to give Lelouch a chance to rest before questioning him about certain things.

Once aboard the plane Lelouch begins to go over his reports. Euphemia and Anya are helping him organize. The kids are asleep with Milly, Kallen, and Nunnally. Schniezel and his assistant Kannon are discussing the campaign with Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta. The Irregulars are discussing the campaign amongst themselves. Cecile is also with them. There is something Lelouch wants her to see. Rakshata and Lloyd are staying in Area 10 to go over the knightmare data and to begin their new projects. Lelouch has been considering separating his knightmare people. He has received good news regarding the maser vibration sword. With any luck it will be finished by year's end.

Most of the reports are boring. Lelouch skips the ones about the campaign. He reads the ones on the Japanese observers and Rolo. It seems as if they all participated. With Ryoga Senba doing the least. In particular he reads Luciano's reports on Rolo and Kosetsu Urabe. Despite his one track mind Luciano gives good insights. Speaking of one track minds Lelouch reads Nonette's reports on Nagisa Chiba and Kyoshiro Tohdoh. He finds the report to be very much like Nonette. The word sexually repressed shows up various times. Lelouch is ready to dismiss it as Nonette being Nonette when he finds the same words in Rakshata's report on them. Cecil uses similar language. Lelouch begins to wonder how he can use something like that to his advantage.

A report from Schniezel informs Lelouch that the Glasgow is being replaced by the Sutherland as Britannia's main unit. While the Io is becoming Britannia's elite unit. Lelouch has no choice now but to sell his Io and its plans to Britannian manufacturers. Either way Lelouch has already moved on from that and is beginning his Caerleon project. At the moment his is planning on three knightmares, however, depending on what happens with Gino and Anya that could change. Those three knightmares will be the core of Lelouch's new force.

He also takes time to look at what is going on with the New Britannia Technological Company. The company he started with Andreas Darlton. They are nearing completion of the Gloucester. He hopes that it will be constructed by the end of the year. His spies tell him that the main Britannian manufacturers won't finish the Gloucester until some time next year. Once the emperor is done with him, Lelouch will have to make a stop to the factory. This is way Cecile is with them. Also because neither Rakshata nor Lloyd want to deal with anybody in Britannia. Lelouch falls asleep and enjoys the first long rest he has enjoyed in a few years.

* * *

When they arrive in Pendragon it is in the early evening. Schniezel and Kannon go home. He reminds Lelouch of his appointment with the emperor in the morning. At Aries Palace Marianne and Cornelia are waiting for them. They settle in to their rooms before dinner. Everybody heads over to Lelouch's room to hang out. Once settled in Milly decides to call Nina who is at a summer camp nearby. As Milly is talking to Nina, Lelouch wonders where Gino is at the moment.

"I wonder if Gino can come over?"

Euphemia and Nunnally smile, "Well if Gino is coming over, then can Rivalz come too."

Lelouch frowns, "You know that Rivalz can't come because he doesn't know our secret. Anyways Gino is probably busy with his dates."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Gino's parents have had him going out on dates all summer long. Plus Gino has his military commitments to finish."

The girls sit there pensive about what Lelouch just said.

Lelouch sighs, "Let's go. Mom is probably waiting for us in the dining room."

Dinner is pretty quiet. Marianne just asks them questions about school. That night the kids decide to sleep with Lelouch. Euphemia and Nunnally join them during the night. Evelyn remembers something during the night.

"Hey brother Lulu, brother Clovis says that you are not invited to his Christmas or New Years parties."

Lelouch begins to laugh loudly. "I wasn't planning on going anyways."

Stupid Clovis thinking that something that simple would affect Lelouch. Lelouch decides to pull everything out of Area 11. Clovis is going to learn the hard way who has real power. Around the world Clovis begins to feel sad but has no idea why. General Bartley cannot console him.

* * *

Lelouch is up early in the morning to get ready for his meeting with the emperor. Evelyn gets up with him. He helps her get ready. He notices that the twins are not there. They mist have gone off to find Milly and Kallen. Nunnally and Euphemia are sound asleep. Lelouch and Evelyn exit the room quietly. Lelouch smiles. He is with the sister he would rather have in a meeting with the emperor. As they sit down for breakfast they are joined by a half asleep Milly and Kallen. The twins dragged them out of bed. Marianne and Cornelia join them.

"Oh Lelouch, I should have told you last night, but your father will meet with you in the afternoon."

Lelouch sighs, "Anything else."

"Yes well Schniezel is having a welcome home/congratulations party for you in the evening."

Lelouch nods, "Very well."

Marianne frowns, "I thought you would be more excited, dear."

Lelouch raises his left eyebrow and twists his mouth. He sighs and orders breakfast for himself, his siblings, and his girls.

Cornelia shakes her head. "I had no idea you were such a control freak Lelouch. Ordering breakfast for your girlfriends like that."

Lelouch smiles and signals for a servant, "Nunnally and Euphemia should be down in about fifteen minutes. Bring Nunnally scrambled eggs, two pieces of lightly toasted bread, four pieces of bacon slightly fried, a few pieces of sausage, two Britannian muffins, and some orange juice with no pulp," Lelouch pauses, "For Euphemia bring two and a half blueberry pancakes, half a piece of well done bacon, one and half sausage logs, and one and half glasses of fat free milk. That will be all."

Marianne and Cornelia stare as Lelouch pours Evelyn one third of a glass of orange juice.

"Mother, Cornelia you should not stare. It is rude."

The twins agree, "Ya wude."

Just as Lelouch predicted Euphemia and Nunnally came in about fifteen minutes later. They appear satisfied with their breakfast. After breakfast Lelouch continues to look over his reports. He also seeks out Cecile and Anya to make certain arrangements. Right after lunch they all head over to Britannia Palace for Lelouch's audience with the emperor. Upon arriving Lelouch notices that Schniezel is standing there nervously. Well he looks normal, but Lelouch can tell that he is nervous. Before Lelouch can ask him what is wrong, they are interrupted by Kannon.

"You highness Prince Schniezel, it is about to begin."

Both of them have a good luck look on their faces. Lelouch sighs. He wonders what is going to happen. He sees several more of his brothers and sister walking in the distance. He sighs once again. Evelyn and the twins come over to him. He suspects that Euphemia and Nunnally are inside. He wonders if Clovis made the trip. His suspicions are confirmed by General Bartley in the distance. He supposes that Cassius, Annabel, Edward, and Isabelle are probably here as well. More to the point he sees Milly's parents talking to his mother in the distance. Just what her feared the emperor is going to turn this into a circus. He feels a little hand sliding into his own.

Evelyn smiles, "It is time to go brother Lulu."

The twins are with Kallen and Milly who are entering with his mother. Lelouch and Evelyn walk into the throne room holding hands.

"Now presenting his royal highness eleventh prince and twelfth successor Lelouch vi Britannia."

Evelyn ignores the fact that she is not introduced and walks in front of her big brother. She glares at those that are giving her brother dirty looks. Lelouch just ignores everyone as he takes his time walking down the aisle towards the emperor. Once in front of the emperor Lelouch and Evelyn kneel.

"We have returned your majesty from the mission you assigned to us."

The we and us are noticeable to everyone in the room. The emperor frowns.

"Arise my son; you have proven yourself worthy of the blood that runs through your veins."

Lelouch tries not to show his distaste for that statement. He stands in the posture of attention. As the emperor continues, Lelouch remembers his conversation with Schniezel. He knows that his subordinates including Milly, Kallen, Anya, and Nunnally are getting rewarded with higher military ranks. Lelouch would like to know how the emperor will justify giving them any sort of military honors. Then Lelouch realizes how the emperor will do it.

"For your work you will be granted the rank of brigadier general. Once again WE would like to acknowledge you as Duke of Wellington. May you not dishonor the name and your bloodline."

Lelouch bows as he internally grimaces. Who has ever heard of a fifteen year old brigadier general? Of course the promotions for his subordinates will be released later on perhaps at Schniezel's party. Even though he has his back to everyone, he can feel their eyes staring at him. His is practically forcing Evelyn not to turn around to glare at everyone. The emperor is smirking. It is almost like he is enjoying alienating Lelouch from his siblings particularly Guinevere and her little group. The emperor gives them leave.

Lelouch does a smart about face. Evelyn imitates him. Lelouch decides to remind them that he earned his rank. That unlike any of them he attended a military academy and graduated. He practically marches out in the same manner that he did when he graduated at West Point. He does pay attention to those that snub him as he exits. He notices a slight smirk on the face of Schniezel. Evelyn is not so subtle. Clovis looks like he saw a ghost when Evelyn glares at him.

The ride home is quiet. Finally Lelouch breaks the silence just as the reach Aries Palace.

"What was the purpose of all that?"

The kids nod in agreement. They don't like dressing up. Before either his mother or Cornelia can respond, Lelouch exits the vehicle and heads for his room. Just as he reaches his room, his phone rings. Lelouch answers it without looking to see who it is.

"Did Nunnally lend you her Lelouch tracker or did you place some kind of bug on me?"

Schniezel chuckles. "I bet you didn't even check to see who was calling you."

"Well I was hoping for Clovis. I really want to see if he will re-invite me to his New Year's Party."

That earns another chuckle. "See you tonight little brother."

Lelouch hangs up and flops on the bed. If he was a little boy, his mother and Cornelia would admonish him for wrinkling his clothes. Well this time it isn't his mother or sister but Milly. That's what he gets for allowing her to do all his fancy clothes shopping. Schniezel's party is starts in about an hour so Milly begins to select Lelouch's clothes. The party is a pretty standard affair for Lelouch. He has to dance with Milly, Kallen, Euphemia, Nunnally, Evelyn, and even his mother. He is glad that Cecile, Villetta, and the Irregulars are not there because he is danced out by the end of the evening.

Lelouch spends next two days hanging around Aries Palace doing nothing special. Lelouch does plan on visiting the New Britannia Technological Company before he heads back to Japan. He also hopes to meet with Gino as well. There is something about his friend he must find out.

He notices that Nina is doing quite well at her summer camp. Lelouch wonders if it would be all right if she found out the truth about him and his siblings. She is extremely attached to Milly perhaps she will keep their secret. What draws Lelouch's attention is Nina's subject matter. Lelouch will get this information to Cecile since she is here. It is more likely to interest her than Lloyd or Rakshata since Cecile also worked on energy manipulation while in school. Lelouch also wonders if he should talk to Schniezel about it. Well that can all wait a few days. Nina still has a few more weeks of summer camp. Perhaps Milly can visit her.

**July 1, 2015 ATB**

Gino considers himself a good friend. Not always a good son but a good friend. But above all he considers himself a good Britannian. So when his emperor called him in for an audience, how could Gino refuse? Of course his parents are excited about it. That was about a week ago. Gino is unsure about what to do after the meeting. Gino was certain that Lelouch was just exaggerating about the way his father acted. Now Gino knows the truth. Gino knows that the emperor has ordered Lelouch to marry Kallen and Milly by year's end. Gino is unsure about how to think about that. Still can Gino deny a mission from is emperor.

Gino spent the previous year watching over Lelouch. There was no real purpose to the mission. He was just instructed to watch what Lelouch did and report it. Now his mission has greater clarity. He is instructed to follow Lelouch from afar. The emperor is concerned about some of Lelouch's actions. Gino wants to point out that the emperor should probably worry about Schniezel as well, but Gino is sure that the emperor knows that.

There were no specific instructions. Just follow Lelouch's actions. Gino is to use whatever methods at his disposal. For the moment Gino decides to contact Lelouch to see if he is still in Pendragon. Gino is quite certain that he is. More importantly Gino is to find out about Lelouch's projects. Gino decides to do the wise thing. He calls Lelouch. If that doesn't work, Gino plans on calling Euphie or Nunnally. Maybe they would divulge some information about Lelouch's whereabouts.

* * *

Author's note: So I got addicted to facebook games. I'll try to stay off them for a few days so I can write. I need a knightmare name for Nunnally. Kallen is getting the Guren basically but I think that it needs a new name. Lelouch's new knightmare project is called Caerleon which is the first home of Arthur so the knightmares will have Arthurian legend or perhaps Celtic names. I mostly have names for everybody else's knightmares for the next few generations of advancement.

Lelouch is now twelfth successor rather than seventeenth because he now only has nine older brothers and two older sisters. Those are the only people between him and the throne. One older brother Lucius died back in chapter 23. Despite this Lelouch is still eleventh prince. Even if all those before him die, he will still be the eleventh prince. This number is based on order of birth. Well that is the way it works in this story.

Since they are going to become quite important in the next few chapters I wanted to talk about Lelouch and Kallen's geass powers. Lelouch's first geass works the same as it did in the anime. At the moment it is near its maximum. His second geass is similar to Bismarck's. He can see someone's future movements through their thoughts. As it increases in power if he focuses on one person he can see far into their future and thoughts on the future. He can factor his own decisions into someone's future. How they will react to one of Lelouch's actions or words. His third geass enables him to cause others to see visions. At first he controls what they see. As his power progresses others begin to see images from their own minds, their fears amongst other things. He can still control what they see but usually it is better if he allows them to see whatever pops up. Of course his third geass is most powerful if he combines it with his second geass. Both of these making using his first geass more powerful because he knows exactly what to command people to do.

Kallen's first geass makes her immune to any geass that she is aware of and can be used to cancel one of Lelouch's geass commands. As it grows in power, she will become immune to any geass regardless of whether she knows about it or not. Her second geass is exactly like Lelouch's third geass. The multiple geasses will come into play in the next few chapters as well as the reason for them having multiple geasses.

Next chapter will partly Ashford stuff and partly Lelouch doing stuff. Well first I'll finish off the summer.


	34. Hide and seek pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy, who is not, will be victorious.

Sun Tzu

**

* * *

**

July 1, 2015 ATB

Lelouch is making a trip to the New Britannia Technological Company. This will not be a short trip. He wisely sent Cecile and Anya there a few days ago. He contacts Gino on his way there. He decides to meet with his friend before making his trip. He wants to confirm something that Faramond told him. It seems as if Gino has met with the emperor. Faramond is a good source of information about what goes on in Pendragon. The best part is that nobody suspects that he spies for Lelouch. Even better that is the fact that the emperor completely trusts his grandson. Well on most matters. There is still this situation with VV that nobody seems to know about. Lelouch wonders if his mother knows about it. Lelouch is sure that he has seen CC with his mother.

Lelouch decides to call Gino. "Hey Gino, are you in Pendragon? I thought that we could perhaps meet."

* * *

VV is sitting at the Geass Order. They are beginning to spread out their facilities and people. Charles has become paranoid since the Sword of Akasha was damaged. Even more to the point VV feels as if though Charles is trying to take control of the Order from him. Why else would Charles saddle VV with Colonel Madd? The man apart from being insane is quite upset that Lelouch is able to take his subordinates away. VV is going to have to handle this situation while clearing Lelouch's path. The boy seems to have the willpower to accomplish his dream.

Nina is quite excited about Milly's visit. She spends the morning showing Milly around the camp. After lunch Milly leaves but promises to visit again before heading back to Japan. Milly boards her vehicle. She is now part of Lelouch's elaborate scheme. For some reason he doesn't want Gino, of all people, to know where he is going. Well since Milly isn't needed for what Lelouch is doing and since he promised her a shopping spree, Milly goes along with the plan. At least she isn't alone. Pollux is traveling with her.

Kallen is traveling with Castor. They are to meet Milly and Pollux at a shopping center. Kallen doesn't understand why they couldn't have just gone with Milly to visit Nina. She figures it has something to do with Lelouch's meeting with Gino. Kallen has always had a weird feeling about that guy. He seems too playful, too carefree, and he is always hitting on her. Why can't that guy take a hint? Well at least Kallen gets a shopping spree out of it.

Cornelia and Euphemia leave Aries Palace early in the morning and head towards the New Britannia Technological Company (NBTC) main office. Once there Cornelia runs through her standard test, but somehow they are different. Lelouch did mention something about that. Euphemia also takes some turns on the simulator. Cornelia wonders where Guilford and Darlton are this day. She will usually runs into them while she is here. Since they have no duties at the moment, her knight and advisor have been spending their time here. Cornelia continues with her simulations until Lelouch calls her.

* * *

Gino watches as Lelouch walks away from their meeting. Now more than ever Gino knows that he has to follow Lelouch. Gino smiles as the car comes to pock Lelouch back up. He instructs his driver to follow it slowly. Right on cue two more cars of the same make and model show up in an effort to confuse Gino. They even have the same license plate which identifies the car as working for the Britannian government. The three cars enter a parking garage. Gino sends one of his field agents inside.

They don't wait long because minutes later the three cars exit the parking garage. Gino wonders which one of them to follow himself. He did prepare for this contingency. He has four other cars on waiting nearby.

Gino smiles, "If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow. Follow the first car."

The driver does as he is told. Being a member of the Office of Secret Intelligence, the man is used unusual orders from the emperor. After all they often have to follow VV's orders. Gino grimaces a little as the car they are following stops near the Pendragon Mall, the largest mall in the world. Gino has the driver park nearby so that he can see who exits the car. Kallen and Milly step out of opposite ends of the car. Gino is not surprised. The twins come out after the girls. Again Gino is not surprised. He expects Evelyn or Nunnally to be next, but then the twins close the door. Milly and Kallen make sure that the door is closed. Milly goes over to the driver and appears to be giving him instructions.

Gino waits for Lelouch to exit the car, but he never does. This causes Gin to scowl. Gino looks out his window. It is a terribly hot day to be following someone around. Eventually Kallen and Milly's driver exits the car and heads towards the mall. Gino wonders if Lelouch is in one of the other cars. He contacts the people following those cars. Gino is informed that the other cars have returned to Aries Palace. Gino decides to wait a few minutes before exiting the car. Luckily for him one of his field agents is already following the girls. Gino grimaces as he walks around the mall.

This is one of the few occasions that he has been so completely surrounded by commoners. He follows them around for some time before they slip into an electronics store. Gino sits down near the store and waits for them to come out. They never do. Just as Gino gets up to check out the store, someone hands him a note. Gino signals for one of his men to ask the person a few questions. Gino reads the note.

Let's do this again sometime.

LL

Gino crumples the note. It seems as if the man who handed him the note didn't remember anything that occurred. He doesn't even know how or why he is here. Gino slumps back into the bench. Now what is he to do? He has failed in his first mission from the emperor. Once back in the car Gino wonders where Lelouch is now.

* * *

Lelouch sets out that day for his meeting with Gino. Since he found out about Gino's meeting with the emperor, Lelouch is beginning to question his friend's loyalty. With the others even Cornelia and Schniezel, Lelouch knows that he can trust them, but Lelouch is having serious doubts about Gino. His friend is proving to be more loyal to Britannia and the emperor rather than his friend. Lelouch has a nice elaborate scheme to get past Gino today. Gino is waiting for him at the café they agreed to meet at.

Lelouch feels funny about the whole matter. A few months ago they considered each other best friends. Now who knows? In reality they should have been meeting at one or the other's home. Instead they were meeting at what amounts to a neutral site. Lelouch looks around as he recognizes what are obviously men listening in on the conversation. He wonders what agency they are from. There is a variety to choose from. He sees someone familiar. The men are OSI. His father lent Gino his personal group of spies and agents for this. Lelouch smiles at this. Too bad they are being led by Gino.

"Hey Gino, I see you arrived early."

Gino smiles, "Well I had nothing better to do. And I am home alone for now."

Lelouch takes his seat. A waiter comes over a few seconds later and takes their order.

"So are you enjoying your parent's attempts at fixing you up?"

Gino laughs, "Not as much as you."

Lelouch smirks. So the emperor told Gino about that.

"I am just doing as I have been ordered."

"I see. Well at least you are enjoying yourself."

Lelouch takes that as an opening.

"I take it you are not returning to Japan."

"No, my parents want me to stay here and make friends."

Lelouch grins, "Well it seems as if your parents have forgotten about your military commitments."

Gino looks confused.

Lelouch continues, "I assume that you know that I have been made a brigadier general."

Gino nods.

"Well I am forming a brigade under Cornelia's command in Africa. Just in case there is another war with the EU. Of course there is also my force that is still in Southeast Asia. At the moment the Duke of Oregon is commanding them," Lelouch pauses, "but as soon as we return Jeremiah will take command of them. So as you can see, I have plenty of things for you to do."

Gino sits there pensive as their food arrives. They each ordered a light breakfast. Gino has a long day ahead of him trailing after Lelouch. Once they are done eating, Lelouch makes his offer to Gino.

"If you decide not to do what your parents want you to do, you know how to get in contact with me."

Lelouch walks away after leaving a hundred pound bill. He gets in the car that brought him there. Nunnally and Evelyn are sitting in it watching television. Lelouch waits for Gino to get into his car before he signals for the driver to move. They enter a parking garage. Lelouch, Evelyn, and Nunnally exit the car. Lelouch directs them towards a decrepit looking car at the end of the parking lot. Lelouch makes a phone call to one of his accomplices. This part of the plan is based on certain contingencies. Depending on what Gino does. Lelouch has prepared a few scenarios no matter which car Gino follows.

Lelouch twists his mouth. This will be the real test. He sees Kallen and Castor go over to Milly's car. That car is to exit the parking garage first and head straight towards the Pendragon Mall. The other two are to go home. Lelouch enters the same decrepit looking car that Nunnally and Evelyn are in. The interior of the car is quite the opposite of the exterior. Inside the car there is a television and small refrigerator. The seats are made from the finest leather, and there is an excellent system of temperature control. Evelyn looks confused.

"Why does this car look so crappy on the outside?"

Lelouch smiles, "Subterfuge."

Evelyn nods as if she understands what Lelouch just said. Nunnally is a little confused. She begins to look the word up using the dictionary function on her laptop. Lelouch contently smiles. He remembers the first time that he used the knightmare simulator. The first time he was allowed to pilot a knightmare. Milly, Kallen, Gino, Suzaku, and Anya came with him. The base they used looked old and abandoned from the outside, but inside it was probably the most advanced base Britannia had at the moment. This is not the only undercover car that Lelouch has. When they reach their destination, Lelouch exits the car first and helps his sisters out. He goes over to the driver.

"Thanks Sancia put the car in the back. You and Lucretia can run the opposing simulators."

Nunnally freezes and looks over at the driver. Sancia waves at Nunnally and drives away. Nunnally wonders if Alice is also in town.

"Hurrys up Nunnally, Brother Lulu is leaving us."

Nunnally runs ahead to catch up to Lelouch and Evelyn. Once they reach their destination Lelouch calls Cornelia and tells to come over. Well rather that someone is picking her and Euphie up. Nunnally begins to look around. Lelouch notices this.

"Alice and Anya are in the room at the end of hall."

Nunnally nods and runs down the hall. Evelyn sits down next to Lelouch. They have to wait for the others to arrive. Cornelia and Euphemia should be there within the hour. Kallen, Milly, and the twins still have to finish their shopping. Lelouch is going over the information on his version of the Gloucester in comparison to the one being built by the Ford Company and other Britannian companies. Different companies are building different parts.

**Lelouch's Gloucester**

**General characteristics **

**Height:** 5.52 meters

**Weight:** 7.83 metric tones

**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

**Design Features**

Cockpit ejection system

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

Optional Sand Panels

**Armament**

2x shoulder Slash Harkens

2x hip slash harkens

1x Assault Rifle

1x Jousting Lance

2x Missile Launcher

2x Maser Vibration Sword

**Optional Armament**

1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle

1x Giant Cannon

Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)

**Britannian Gloucester**

**General characteristics **

**Height:** 4.29 meters

**Weight:** 7.75 metric tones

**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

**Design Features**

Cockpit ejection system

Factsphere sensor

Landspinner propulsion system

Optional Sand Panels

**Armament**

2x Slash Harkens

**Optional Armaments**

1x Assault Rifle

1x Jousting Lance

2x Missile Launcher

1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle

1x Giant Cannon

Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)

Apart from being taller and heavier his knightmares have more slash harkens and will hopefully also have the maser vibration sword. Of Lelouch will also bring out his Gloucester months earlier. Eventually everybody shows up, and they run through some knightmare simulations. Cornelia manages to beat them all. The twins are especially upset that their oldest sister beat them at a video game. After the day's action, Lelouch is glad to get home.

**

* * *

**

July 5, 2015

They are leaving Aries Palace today. They tell their mother that they are heading for the beach, but are in reality going to the Gloucester factory. NBTC and the Gloucester project are divided amongst a series of buildings and warehouses. Apart from the real ones there are several decoy ones. The majority of the decoys are in Pendragon. The main factory is along the California coast. Despite having been in Britannian hands for over a hundred years, many Californian cities and features maintained their Spanish names. A few also have English/Britannian names.

They are traveling up the coastal highway also known as the Camino Real or the King's Highway. In an effort to make the state's length less of any issue California is divided in to three administrative areas. The south is ruled from Ensenada or Saints Cove. The central is ruled from Los Angeles. The north is ruled from San Francisco. Once upon a time it was all ruled from Monterey or as it is know in English King's Mountain. That is were Lelouch and company are heading. Jeremiah and Kewell have been there for a few days probably enjoying some Pebble Beach golf. The game never attracted Lelouch.

The Galiban Mountains are to the north and the Santa Lucia Mountains are to the south. It is this southern range that is used by Lelouch. It was actually recommended by Schniezel. There are two nearby forts, Hunter Liggett and Ord. Fort Hunter Liggett is used mostly for training while Fort Ord defends the central California coast. There are also ports for Lelouch to use at Monterey and Big Sur. Despite its closeness to Pendragon the west coast was pretty much ignored since the EU is always a bigger problem. This allows Schniezel and now Lelouch to buy large tracts of land and control the local government.

They enjoy the rest of the day at the beach. In morning Lelouch and Evelyn set out for the Gloucester factory in the mountains. Everybody else hangs out at the beach or goes golfing with Jeremiah and Kewell. Lelouch takes one of his undercover cars. This way it looks like they are just for ride through the mountains. At the site Cecile and Sora are working with the Gloucester people.

"Your highness, I thought you were not coming until tomorrow."

Lelouch smiles, "Well my dear Cecile, Evelyn wanted to check out the Gloucester."

Cecile smiles at Evelyn. "Well they don't really have anything but two test models completed. However we have begun to equip it with all the weapons."

Sora adds, "And daddy says the M.V.S. will be finished in a few months."

Lelouch nods, "Okay Evie, do you want to go up?"

The little princess nods. Lelouch goes over to the Gloucester with to Evelyn. The controls are a little more complicated because they need to match Cornelia's needs.

"Can we take it out, brother Lulu?'

"I'm sorry Evie not today. Maybe some other day. Here I'll put you on a simulator and you can battle Sora. I need to speak with Dr. Croomy."

Evelyn runs off to play with the pink haired girl. Lelouch and Cecile go to another room to discuss several important matters. When Lelouch and Evelyn return to Monterey, they find everyone dressed up in golf clothes. Lelouch can't keep himself from laughing. This upsets Milly.

"I think we look very stylish."

Lelouch nods, "Yes YOU do."

He glances over at Kallen and Cornelia who look a little ridiculous in the clothes. Nunnally and Euphemia just look goofy. Anya and Milly look pretty good. Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell also look decent.

Lelouch shakes his head, "You're going to kill me aren't you?"

Both Cornelia and Kallen respond. "Yes."

Euphie is confused. "I think we look cute."

Nunnally agrees. "Too bad Alice isn't here. She would look cute too."

Lelouch nods once more. "So how did the game go? Who won?"

Jeremiah coughs, "Well you highness, of course, we are all novices at the game. Some just pick it up better than others."

Lelouch raises his eyebrow. "So you are saying that Nunnally and Anya won because they didn't whack the crap out of the ball every time they went to hit it."

The twins nod in agreement. Pollux states, "Ya sister Nunnally kicked butts."

Castor is a little sad. "Sister Kallen didn't do so good, but at least she didn'ts leave in the middle of the games."

They all glance at Cornelia who clears her throat.

"Enough of that. Are they prepared for us Lelouch?"

"Yes, we will go tomorrow."

The twins begin to tell Evelyn and Lelouch everything that occurred while they were out on the golf course with Anya filling in details. Anya shows them the pictures she took during the golf game. These cause Lelouch to laugh hysterically. Kallen attacks him with a pillow. Thinking they are having a pillow fight the kids join in as well. Eventually they leave a beaten Lelouch alone.

* * *

In the morning they all head over to Fort Hunter Liggett, and then through the mountains to the Gloucester factory. This is the first any of them have seen Gloucester up close. Lelouch looks on as Cornelia goes over to her Gloucester.

"I think we can run a few a few tests with it."

Cornelia nods, "I see you have another one."

"I though you might want to have a sparing partner. Well have fun I have several matters to attend to."

Lelouch signals for the girls and the kids to follow him to another room where Cecile and Sora are waiting. Also on conference call are Lloyd, Rakshata, and Lord Cummins. They will be discussing the construction of the Caerleon series of knightmares. For the most part they will be using data from the Moons series, but there are still a few things to account for such as the increased weight and height of the pilots. Rakshata will still be making Kallen's knightmare. Despite the fact that Lloyd created the Titan, he will work on Milly's knightmare next. Cecile will be working on creating Lelouch's new knightmare. Lord Cummins will work on creating a custom knightmare for Jeremiah.

With all the money that Lelouch is making from his various companies and his knightmares, his research team is continually growing. They are able to work on several projects at one time. As they continue to discuss certain matters, Lelouch continues his research on young scientists to join his team. Only none of them seem to make an impression on Lelouch. For no reason in particular Lelouch decides to look at the participants of Nina's summer camp. Some of them seem slightly interesting including Nina. Lelouch wonders who Schniezel is attempting to recruit at the moment. Lelouch excuses himself because he wants to see Cornelia battle someone in the Gloucester. Lelouch smiles as he walks over to the Gloucester hangar.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up."

The Knight of One walks towards Lelouch.

"The emperor wanted to be informed of how the project was going."

"It is coming along. Would you like to test one out?"

Lelouch takes Bismarck out to the hangar where Jeremiah and Kewell seem to be trying to decide who should face Cornelia in the other Gloucester test model. Lelouch interrupts them.

"I have your solution right here," Lelouch points to Bismarck. "I think he should be a reasonable test for both Cornelia and the Gloucester."

Lelouch walks away smiling as his phone begins to ring. Before answering it Lelouch adds a little piece of technology that Cecile and Lloyd created for him to his phone.

"Hello Gino what's up?"

"Hey Lelouch just wondering where you were?"

"We are just enjoying a few days at the beach before heading back."

"Oh I see. Well just wanted to see what you guys were up to."

"Gino, I have to go Kallen is calling me. Bye."

"Bye."

Gino looks over at this team. They shake their heads.

"Damn, what does it say?"

Gino looks over. According to their equipment Lelouch is in the room. Gino has failed again. Gino wonders if Lelouch knows what is going on. Gino knows that the emperor didn't warn Lelouch that Gino would be following him. Gino wonders of the emperor will allow him to join Lelouch's brigade in Africa or Asia.

Kallen comes out of the room looking for Lelouch just as he hangs up on Gino.

"Hey Kalli, what's up?"

She smiles, "Nothing just wondering if you were coming back in."

"I was planning on going over to check out the Gloucester battle. A surprise guest showed up."

"Okay I'll go get the others."

They all come out to watch Cornelia and Bismarck battle. Lelouch sets it up so that it can be watched in Area 10 as well. Bismarck defeats Cornelia after a few minutes. Bismarck points out that now he and Euphie have something in common, that they both have defeated Cornelia in knightmare combat. Everybody but Cornelia laugh at this. They spend about a week in the area before heading back to Japan. Milly and Lelouch stop by to visit Nina at camp. Lelouch also talks with a few of the other campers.

**

* * *

**

July 15, 2015

Naoto drops off the package with Colonel Kusakabe. Since his time in Indonesia, Naoto has stressed the need for Japan to get better knightmares. For the past three years Japan has been working on the Burai. Naoto has informed the colonel that the Burai is no match for what Britannia is now using. The EU and Chinese knightmares were not any better either.

"_What do you recommend, Captain Kouzuki?"_

Naoto is still getting used to his new rank. He has been blessed for the most part with tremendous luck, decent missions, and more importantly incredible superiors. He has moved up the ranks like very few. If his knightmare idea works, he knows that he will continue to rise. Colonel Kusakabe once joked that one day Naoto would be his superior. It seemed to be a possibility now. However if his knightmare idea failed, he would be a captain even if he stayed in the military for a hundred years. There was even the chance that he could be demoted.

"_Well Colonel, I think first we need consolidate our operations. The new Britannian knightmare, the Io, has been successful because it is the brainchild of one person."_

While true in reality the Io was constructed by four very brilliant people, but Naoto didn't know that.

He continues, _"Rather than having several small companies build the parts. Why not have a few or one larger one? Perhaps even a division of the army. This way we can control its construction."_

Colonel Kusakabe nods, _"That seems reasonable. Of course I will have to speak with General Katase and Colonel Tohdoh. Perhaps even a few government officials. But for now let's get some lunch."_

As they walk away Naoto talks about some of his knightmare ideas.

* * *

Author's note: After I wrote that last sequence I realized that Naoto is one of the few non-Britannians alive that has seen both Titans, both Europas, both versions of the Callisto, several Ios, Sutherlands, and, of course, Glasgows in combat. Rakshata and some of her staff are the only non-Britannians that have even seen all these knightmares in any kind of action. The Irregulars, Tohdoh, and the Four Holy Swords have seen some of them in combat. So Naoto's opinion about knightmares matters a lot. I guess Kallen also counts, but she is technically a Britannian citizen at this point.

Britannian Gloucesters are more or less remodeled Sutherlands. Lelouch's Gloucester is slightly better. They are sixth generation knightmares rather than fifth. One of the things that a lot of people tend to forget is that while Lloyd, Cecile and Rakshata are geniuses that created the world's greatest knightmares. Someone else built the Gawain, Galahad, Percival, Mordred, and Tristan. As well as the fact that Rakshata had a team of people helping her build the Guren and Shen Hu. They also didn't build the Gareth or Vincent. So I will take that into account. I also need some names for Japanese, Indian, European, or Chinese knightmare makers. So if anybody has any ideas, let me now.

Who knew that it would be so difficult to look up Celtic deities to use for knightmare names? Of course it could be that I'm not all that familiar with Celtic names. Man the stupid ATB calendar system makes things so complicated. They should have made Code Geass take place in 2060 ATB that way it takes place in modern times. Oh well. By the way Fort Ord has been closed since 1994 and Fort Hunter Liggett belongs to the Army Reserves now. But since Britannia is much more militaristic, both forts are still open and are run by the Britannian army or in this case Schniezel and Lelouch.

* * *

Someone asked for the military rankings for this story so here they are. Is it weird that I know army rankings off the top of my head? There are various ranks of sergeants such as staff, master, or sergeant major.

grand marshal, field marshal, general, lieutenant general, major general, brigadier general, colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, captain, first lieutenant, second lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, private first class, private

I had to look up naval ranks. They will kind of be important. From what I have read chief petty officers are kind of like army sergeants. There are also various ranks of petty and chief petty officers.

Fleet admiral, admiral, vice admiral, rear admiral, captain, commander, lieutenant commander, lieutenant, lieutenant junior grade, chief warrant officer, chief petty officer, petty officer, seaman.

Here are the court rankings in this story. The rank of knight is not hereditary. In the event that a noble dies without an immediate heir, the title is returned to the crown for later use.

Emperor, prince, Archduke, Duke, margrave, earl, viscount, baron, knight Empress, princess, Archduchess, duchess, margravine, countess, viscountess, baroness, knight

Someone also asked for the ages of the characters. Here are the ages of the main characters at the end of 2015 ATB which should be in a few chapters. Some of the ages like those of the Knights of the Round, Irregular, and Four Holy Swords I estimated based on appearance and history. Nonette is consider senior by Cornelia but went to military academy with her so she must be a few years older. Ryoga Senba is said to be older than Tohdoh, etc. Since Code Geass takes place in the middle of the year, some of the characters ages here won't match up. They sort of are in order of importance so far in the story.

Lelouch vi Britannia 16, Jeremiah Gottwald 27, Kewell Soresi 25, Schniezel el Britannia 26, Gino Weinberg 15, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia 3, Suzaku Kururugi 15, Lloyd Asplund 28, Naoto Kouzuki 25, Luciano Bradley 20, Kyoshiro Tohdoh 36, Bismarck Waldstein 38, Colonel Kusakabe 38, Merlin Suzerain 34, Clovis la Britannia 22, Odysseus eu Britannia 31, Gilbert GP Guilford 26, Kannon Maldini 27, Ryoga Senba 39, Kosetsu Urabe 29, Asahina Shogo 28, Kaname Ohgi 25, Shinichiro Tamaki 23, Li Xingke 21, Deithard Reid 30

Marianne vi Britannia 36, Kallen Stadtfeld 15, Milly Ashford 17, Nunnally vi Britannia 12, Evelyn vi Britannia 5, Euphemia li Britannia 15, Anya Alstriem 13,Villetta Nu 25, Cecile Croomy 23, Rakshata Chawla 27,Cornelia li Britannia 26, Nonette Enngream 28, Lucretia Liddell 16, Sancia Liddell 17, Alice Liddell 12, Dalque Liddell 15, Ayame Futaba 16, Sora Cummins 14, Nina Einstein 16, Shirley Fennette 16, Nagisa Chiba 28, Marika Soresi 16, Sayoko Shinozaki 23, Mariel Labie 18, Dorothea Ernst 30, Salacia Ravenguard 19, Monica Kruszewski 20, Liliana Vergamon 16, Kaguya Sumeragi 12, Zhou Xianglin 18, Tianzi (Jiang Lihua) 10

I guess I should update the ages every ten or so chapters.


	35. Return to normalcy, well sort of

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

In case anyone is wondering Charles knows where Lelouch's Gloucester stuff is at. He just wanted to test Gino. _Italics mean Japanese. _

* * *

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.

Study the past if you would like to define the future.

Confucius

* * *

Love is a friendship set to music.

E. Joseph Cossman

**

* * *

**

Sunday, August 1, 2015 ATB

Before leaving for Japan, Lelouch met with the emperor who reminded him of his ultimatum regarding Kallen and Milly. Even though school doesn't begin for a week, the student council is already hard at work planning festivals. Milly decides to add an opening ceremony festival. Gino decides to stay in Britannia. Anya is visiting them for a few more days and decides to help out. Of course the kids are helping out. They are staying to go to school because Ashford has an excellent preschool program. Evelyn is entering kindergarten a year early since she knows most of her letters and numbers. Milly jokes that the little girl is smarter than most of the high school students. At the moment Evelyn is handing Rivalz his ass in a game of chess.

Lelouch smiles, "Hey Nibbles, can you come and help me with this?"

Suzaku corrects, "Not its Dribbles. I mean I like Dribbles better."

Milly and Shirley stifle a laugh. Evelyn taps the board impatiently waiting for Rivalz to make his next move.

Lelouch grimaces, "Sorry Nibbles, I mean Rivalz. It's just that I had to take care of the twins this morning. You know that you are their favorite."

It is true since returning to Japan. The twins have taken a liking to Rivalz.

Evelyn smiles, "I think that is checkmate."

Rivalz groans as he loses another game to Evelyn.

Lelouch sighs, "Hurry up and get over here or your new permanent name will be Nibbles."

Suzaku retorts, "I like Dribbles better."

Rivalz stomps over to where Lelouch is at when he reaches them he is smiling. The smile frightens Lelouch a little.

"Here I am Kyon, ready to help."

This earns a chuckle from the others in the room. Lelouch glares at Milly who ignores him. Lelouch decides to play along. He walks over to Milly and grabs her by the shoulders.

"You know we never did that scene where Kyon kisses Haruhi."

Rivalz looks like he wants to faint as Lelouch stands Milly up and looks into her eyes. Shirley has a dreamy look in her eyes. Suzaku chuckles as he keeps working. Evelyn sets the chess board up for another game. Just then Kallen, Euphemia, and Nina walk into the room. Rivalz lets out a sigh of relief. But Lelouch doesn't look like he is going to stop just because his girlfriend walks into the room

Rivalz let's out a yell. "Kallen, look Lelouch is going to kiss Milly."

Kallen looks over and notices that Lelouch is holding Milly in a ridiculous pose. Most likely to get back at Rivalz for something. Much like Gino, Rivalz just doesn't get it. Kallen shrugs her shoulders.

"Well just tell them that I am not going to baby-sit any of their kids."

Kallen goes about her business. Rivalz slumps to the floor in defeat. Lelouch releases an unsatisfied Milly and begins to laugh.

"Rivalz, you are so melodramatic."

"I told you before it's Dribbles."

Rivalz glares at Suzaku. "By the way, where are the twins?"

Lelouch answers, "They are having a play date or something like that. Nunnally set it up. Which reminds me," Lelouch goes over to get Evelyn, "Come one Evie. You have your own appointment to keep."

Lelouch leaves to take Evelyn to her own play date. Once they are gone everybody gets back to work. Kallen looks around at the student council. Milly is of course president. Lelouch is vice president. Kallen is auxiliary vice president just in case Lelouch needs to attend to business elsewhere. Shirley is secretary because she is a good listener. Nina is treasurer because she is good with numbers. Rivalz, Suzaku, Euphemia, Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque are just regular members. Lelouch calls them the grunt squad since they inevitably do all the work. She does wonder who Evelyn's play date is. Lelouch has been very secretive about it.

Lelouch and Evelyn are riding the elevator in one of the many apartment buildings that Lelouch own in Tokyo. They have been here twice before. Evelyn runs over to ring the bell on the apartment. Lelouch notices that his little sister is adjusting her clothes as the wait. She is about to fix up Lelouch's clothes when the door opens. Standing there is a purple haired teenage Japanese girl. Evelyn steps forward, bows, and greets her.

"_Kon'nichiwa, Ayame-chan."_

"_Kon'nichiwa, Evelyn-chan. Would you like to come in? I am sure that Jinta is waiting for you in his room."_

Evelyn takes the invitation and comes into the apartment. She takes her shoes off before running to her friend's room. Lelouch comes in after his little sister.

"_Would you like some tea, Lelouch-sama?"_

"_Yes. Ayame and please try to remember that it is just Lelouch."_

She nods and goes to prepare the tea. Lelouch goes over to help her.

"_You don't have to help. You are my guest. By the way I could have picked up Evelyn since I was at school this morning."_

Lelouch smiles, "_Well yes that would have been nice, but I wanted to escape from Milly's clutches. She has us working on the opening ceremony festival."_

"_That sounds like fun."_

_Does it. You know I was commenting to Milly that we need more Japanese members in our student council. Since there are a significant number of Japanese students that attend our school."_

"_Well I don't know."_

"_It is a lot of fun really. Just sometimes Milly goes overboard. Plus you need to join a club, and Jinta could hang out with us. My kids help in all out activities."_

Ayame giggles at that. She finds it funny that Lelouch refers to his little siblings as his kids. She is unsure about joining the student council. Lelouch's girlfriend doesn't look like someone you want to mess with. Lelouch sips his tea.

"_So how does your sister like her new job?"_

Ayame smiles. _"She is still getting used to it, but I think she is enjoying it."_

"_That's good. And how does your brother like his new posting."_

"_I think he likes it," _she answers nervously. She has no idea how Lelouch was able to convince the Japanese military to give her brother an office job right here in Tokyo. Her brother works for a Colonel Kusakabe and reports directly to a Captain Kouzuki.

"_That's good. Maybe we should check on the kids."_

Ayame smiles, "_That's a good idea."_

They go over to check up on Evelyn and Jinta. Evelyn has been teaching him how to play chess since she retuned to Japan.

"_Do you guys want some snacks?"_

Evelyn nods, "_Yes Ayame-chan that would be nice. Have oniisama help you with it. He gets lazy sometimes."_

Lelouch begins to grumble. "Ya I'm the lazy one."

The others laugh at him. Lelouch and Evelyn spend a few more hours there on their play date. They return to Ashford where everybody is still hard at work. Both Evelyn and Lelouch are quiet about where they were at.

"I see that Milly still has you guys slaving away. "

Kallen groans, "Yes we can't all use our little sisters as excuses to get away."

"I don't use my kids as an excuse to get away. I take parenting very seriously."

Milly smirks, "Oh ya so where are the twins?"

Lelouch snaps his fingers as Nunnally and the twins walk into the room.

"Here you are guys. Now go over there and play with Rivalz."

The twins do their Nibbles/Dribbles routine as they run over to assist the blue haired boy.

"Well I have to go back and make sure those guys keep working. You'll see our opening day ceremony festival will be better than yours."

Nunnally scampers off to rejoin the jr high student council. She is president of the jr high student council. Alice is vice president. Kaguya is treasurer. They work their student council as hard as Milly works hers. Lelouch and Evelyn get to work. After a few more hours of work Milly finally releases them. On the way home after dropping off Kallen and Milly, Lelouch receives a phone call.

"_This is Lelouch."_

…

"_Ah Corporal Futaba, it's good to hear from you. How can I help you tonight?"_

…

"_I see. Are you absolutely sure about this?"_

…

"_No, I will take care of it. Thank you for the information."_

Lelouch hangs up the phone. His sisters know better than to ask him any questions.

**

* * *

**

Monday, August 9, 2015

It took a few weeks, but the first part of Naoto's knightmare plan is moving along. He is part of a team inspecting Japanese knightmare factories. The main hold up is of course is the fact that Japan is a democracy albeit one with a militaristic history. There is lots of red tape to through before they were actually allowed to visit the factories. A few were easier to get into than others. Naoto along with Captains Chiba and Shogo just finished inspecting the Shinkirō Electronics Company. The company that created the majority of the systems for the Burai.

"_Shinkirō."_

Naoto then switched languages.

"Mirage."

"_Practicing your English, Captain Kouzuki."_

Naoto looks up at Colonel Kusakabe.

"_No sir. It is just the name of this company we finally got to visit today. In English Shinkirō means _mirage. _According to the New Oxford Dictionary _mirage _means _

_an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions, especially the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air. But it can also mean something that appears real or possible but is not in fact so."_

Colonel Kusakabe licks his lips, _"What are you trying to imply, Captain?"_

"_It just seems odd, Colonel. The day after we get permission to inspect, the process of selling it to Kyoto begins."_

Kusakabe considers this. He knows that Kyoto has been trying to get in on the knightmare game for while. Although they have created their own companies, none near as successful as the Shinkirō Company. It did seem odd for the transaction to occur now. As soon as the process began, the company became almost untouchable. They were lucky to even get the inspection to occur. The few interviews that Kouzuki, Chiba, and Shogo conducted make very little sense. It seems as if the entire factory has no idea what they are doing. It seems very strange to Kusakabe.

"_Very well Captain Kouzuki. When the time comes, we will work on those knightmare plans."_

Naoto salutes and exits the room.

"_Corporal Futaba, take these reports over to the general's office."_

Naoto walks over to his office where he continues his work on the Burai Kai. It is his vision of what the next evolution of the Japanese knightmare should be. After that will come the Gekka.

**

* * *

**

Sunday, August 14, 2015

Tomorrow is the beginning of their second week of school. The first week was nothing more than one big festival. Despite Nunnally's boasting the high school part of the festival was still the best. Mostly due to Milly's insane ideas, and Lelouch's money. Of course Milly does not mind the friendly competition. They are spending the afternoon shopping. After having spent the week doing festival stuff and Saturday cleaning up, Milly gives them the day off. Just about everybody but Rivalz wants the day off from Milly, but they still permit her to come with them.

They are all there including the jr high student council. They split off into little groups. The jr high kids are together. Nunnally, Alice, and Kaguya go off on their own looking for clothes. Euphemia, Shirley Nina, Dalque, and Suzaku are together. The girls are going to purchase some swimsuits and other intimate items. Not wanting to hang out with Lelouch and his kids, Rivalz follows them. Sancia and Lucretia don't stray to far from Lelouch. Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly are with the kids. Joining them are the newest student council member, Ayame Futaba, and her little brother, Jinta who attends kindergarten at Ashford.

The kids are hungry so they all go towards the food court. Kallen and Milly don't take their eyes off Ayame. They have gotten used to each other. They have even learned to deal with the other women in Lelouch's life: the Irregulars, Cecile, Rakshata, and his sisters. However here is someone that Lelouch has frequently been visiting and kept hidden from them. The twins are looking at Jinta in similar fashion. They wonder who this boy that has their sister's attention is.

Lelouch grins, "I'm going to get the kids some food. Everybody remember to behave or else."

He emphasizes that everyone. The twins nod. They know what or else means. Kallen knows a little about who this girl is so she decides to break the silence.

"_So how do you like Ashford so far?"_

Ayame answers. She has been taking English classes for three years so she believes she has improved.

"It is a nice school. I am making a lot of friends."

"That's good."

Milly decides to practice your Japanese.

"_I was surprised when Lelouch said you were taking classes in English rather than Japanese."_

Very few students took classes in Japanese at Ashford. Of course all Britannian students took classes in English with a few taking Japanese or another foreign language as a class. The vast majority of the Japanese students were from wealthy or affluent families like Suzaku and Kaguya so they took their classes in English. A small number of Japanese students were on scholarship. These took classes in English because they hope to make an impression. Then there is one high school girl and kindergarten boy who were neither wealthy nor on scholarship but were there because of the grace of a Britannian prince.

"I have been taking English classes for a few years"

Lelouch comes back with the food. Ayame gets up to help him, and Evelyn gets the food for the twins. Lelouch sets bags in front of Kallen and Milly.

Kallen blinks, "I thought you were just getting food for the twins, Lulu."

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders. "Well Lucretia and Sancia were over there so they helped me get food for everyone."

The two aforementioned girls come over and join them. Rivalz looks over at them filled with jealousy at the fact that Lelouch is sitting with so many girls. As if dating Kallen isn't enough, Lelouch seems to have this weird relationship with Milly. Then there is his even weirder relationship with Sancia and Lucretia. Now there is this Japanese girl, Ayame. This isn't taking into account Shirley, Nina, Anya, or any of the other dozens of girls that he flirts with at school. Sometimes Rivalz wonders if Lelouch even realizes that all these girls are infatuated with him.

"Rivalz. Rivalz. Yo Dribbles, are you coming?"

Rivalz turns to see Suzaku, Euphemia, and Shirley waiting him. Nina appears to have scampered off to Milly's side. That's another thing that Rivalz wonders about. He goes over to join Suzaku and the two girls.

Having chosen to bring the kids, Lelouch now has to watch over them. Kallen, Milly, Nina, Sancia, and Lucretia go off to do some shopping. They try to convince Ayame to come, but she stays with Lelouch to help him watch over the kids. Lelouch notices that Kallen tries not to look back.

Lelouch turns to face the kids. "So what do you guys want to do now?"

The twins begin to shout out places they want to go. Evelyn waves them quiet.

"I think we should go clothes shopping."

"I took you guys clothes shopping when we came back."

"I know back Jinta and Ayame-chan weren't with us."

Evelyn begins to drag Lelouch off to the nearest clothes store. Lelouch remembers the horror of taking the kids clothes shopping a few weeks ago. The twins behave themselves by their standards.

**

* * *

**

Friday August 19, 2015

Naoto is finished with his interviews for the day. He has spent the last week or so interviewing people for his knightmare project since nobody at the Shinkirō Electronics Company seems to know anything. Naoto wants to do a full investigation on the matter, but that is impossible since the company is now owned by the Sumeragi family. The company is going through a complete overhaul. He will be able to get very little out of them now. Apart from Japanese inventors, scientists, etc., Naoto is also interviewing a few foreigners mostly disenfranchised people from southeast and southern Asia. Naoto keeps hearing the name, Rakshata Chawla, from the people he interviews, but she appears to be occupied at the moment with some big project.

Naoto sighs as he goes over his paperwork for the day. He can think of various reasons why he got stuck with this part of the knightmare project. The whole thing is his idea. He is half Britannian. So to some of them, he was born piloting a knightmare. Never mind the fact that the Ganymede wasn't even constructed until Naoto was eight or nine. In fact his sister was born the year after the initial test of the Ganymede. Naoto tries to work his brain for the name of the pilot. He knows he has it written down somewhere. Being his father's son did have a few advantages. Naoto did manage to get a few things from the Britannian military. They would never suspect that someone named Captain Stadtfeld actually worked for Japan. Naoto was able to get access to a few files and manuals for the Glasgow.

Naoto is extremely glad that his assistant is competent. He wonders if the corporal is willing to take the chances that Naoto took to get to his position. Of course Naoto has no one to worry about but himself while the corporal has two younger sisters and brother. Well if the corporal keeps working like he does, Naoto has no doubt that he will advance and have a comfortable life in the military. Naoto, however, can't live such a calm life. He didn't join the military because he had no other prospects. If Naoto had chosen to stay with his parents, he would be done with college. Depending on the route he chose, he would wither be working alongside his father or perhaps in medical school.

Naoto sighs, "_Corporal Futaba, can you get me the file on the Ganymede. I want to see something."_

"_Yes sir."_

Naoto hasn't tried to get anything more from Britannia. He doesn't want to cause some sort of incident. The corporal brings the file and hands it to Naoto.

"_Thank you corporal. Let me see. Initial test pilot. Here we are. A perfect score. The pilot is."_

Naoto pauses and drops the file on the desk. His face looks almost like he saw a ghost. The corporal sees this.

"_Is something wrong captain?"_

"_No corporal. Why don't we call it a day?"_

The corporal shrugs his shoulder. He finishes what he is working on and leaves. Naoto stares at the name on the paper. He does not want to say it for some superstitious reason. But he thinks about it over and over, Marianne vi Britannia. She piloted the first knightmare. Her son led an invasion with new knightmares that were far ahead of what is being made by everyone else. Naoto looks at the file.

Marianne vi Britannia

Birth name: Marianne Ashford

Birth date: January 20, 1979 A.T.B.

Naoto scans through the information. She was born a commoner and rose up through the ranks eventually becoming the Knight of Six. This made her a member of the nobility, and ultimately she married the emperor. Naoto wonders if that is why the prince has such drive and determination. His mother was born a commoner. Still how could someone his sister's age do and think all those things. Naoto begins to think about his sister. Could she possibly be mixed up in all of this? Naoto seems to remember something about Kallen being interested in knightmares. But that was several years ago, the last time Naoto spoke with her. Naoto wonders if he can get any information out of his parents. He hasn't spoken much to his mother over the years; however, his father refuses to let Naoto go. Naoto decides to meet with his father, tonight if possible.

"_Well this is unexpected. My prodigal son returning home. Where's your uniform, captain?"_

Naoto smirks, "Sorry father but this is not a business meeting."

James Stadtfeld goes over and hugs his son.

"Well either way it is good to see you."

'Are mother and Kallen here?"

"No, your mother is off visiting family so Kallen has decided to stay with some friends."

"I see. Which friend?"

James Stadtfeld frowns at his son. "I am not that bad of a father. I am not going to let my little girl stay at the home of some hormonal boy. They have dorms at her school. Lord Ashford assured me that they are very strict about the arrangements."

Naoto think about it. Lord Ashford. He wonders if there is any relation.

"Son, is there something you wanted to talk about? Something about Kallen?"

Naoto sighs, "I was just worried about some of the people she could meet at her school"

"Is that it? There are also a few Japanese people there as well."

"No, that's not it. Where does Kallen spend her vacations?"

"Well let me see. A few times she has stayed here or gone with some school friends, James pauses slightly as if thinking of what to say next, "There are a few members of the royal family that Kallen has become attached to."

Naoto grimaces and sighs, "I see. Do you know what she does?"

James shrugs, "They're all kids. I don't know. They probably go to the beach or shopping. They probably spend lots of time just lounging around."

Naoto nods, "That's probably it."

"Why don't you talk to her? You know, she has been waiting for you to call or write all these years. It is never too late."

Naoto nods once more.

"Well I'll see what I can do. I have to run. Bye dad."

"Bye son."

They hug once more before Naoto leaves.

* * *

"Okay everybody. It is now time to begin Milly Ashford's First Annual Pajama and Lingerie Sleepover," Milly states as she models her new lingerie.

All the girls including Evelyn are there. They are having the sleepover in the student council clubhouse. On the other side of the clubhouse are the guys. Rivalz wanted to camp out that way they wouldn't be tempted to sneak a peek at the girls. Lelouch waves him stating that he doesn't need to sneak a peek. For about the hundredth time since they started doing school stuff, Rivalz wishes Gino was here. Since the guys are inside, Lelouch turns on the fireplace.

"See it is sort of like a campfire."

The other guys nod. The jr high student council guys are also there. As are a few of Rivalz and Suzkau's friends and the twins and Jinta. Everybody except for Suzaku is just as afraid of Lelouch as they are of Milly or Nunnally. He has earned a reputation for not taking crap from people. One of the twins, nobody knows for sure which one, well Lelouch knows, comes over to Lelouch to ask him something.

"Hey brother Lulu, can we make snores?"

Lelouch smirks, "Castor, you mean smores."

The unknown twin possibly Castor shrugs his shoulders.

"Okay let me see what everybody brought. Then we will begin making smores."

Lelouch begins to go through their supplies and assigns everybody jobs. In a few minutes there not only smores but several other types of snacks and food. The aroma fills the clubhouse attracting something very attractive.

"Um that smells delicious. I knew it was a bad idea to let the boys in the clubhouse."

Milly comes over wearing something lacy, white, and skimpy. Rivalz along with the jr high kids faint. Over in the hallway Milly just vacated, Euphemia, Kallen, and Shirley are visibly hiding. Lelouch hears the other girls behind them.

"Come on girls. Lulu won't mind if we take some of their snacks."

Pollux comes over covered in chocolate and marshmallows and hands Milly a smore.

"Here sister Milly, haves some of my smores."

Milly takes the smore and bites into it. She begins to moan. The remaining guys except for Suzaku lose their willpower and faint. Suzaku turns away and begins to play with Jinta. Lelouch shakes his head.

"I was about to take some over to your room."

Milly grins, "Where is the fun in that? Come on girls get some snacks."

The other girls come out hurriedly before any of the guys wake up. Lelouch glances over at them but maintain his eyes on Milly. He doesn't want to get into trouble for staring at something he shouldn't. Looking at Milly eat the smore is turn him on. The girls make off with their booty. Suzaku comes over and stands besides Lelouch eating a smore.

"I don't think I will ever be able to eat one of these without thinking of that."

Lelouch sighs, "Let's wake up these weaklings."

The twins question Lelouch.

"Big brother, why Nibbles/Dribbles fall down. Did Milly use a magic spell?"

"Yes guys Milly used a magic spell to knock everybody out, but me and Suzaku have better magic. Don't eat too much or your stomachs will hurt."

Eventually all the guys recover after missing out on the other girls coming in. They all pig out. Lelouch has to take the twins and Jinta to get cleaned up.

"Hey Lulu."

Lelouch looks up and sees Kallen.

"Hey Kalli, what's up?"

"We thought you might need some help."

Ayame comes in behind Kallen. They are both wearing skimpy little outfits similar to Milly's only matching their hair colors.

"Here just help my towel them off so you don't get too wet."

They do as Lelouch instructs, and the boys are cleaned up in no time.

"Okay everybody let's go to sleep because Milly probably has something crazy planned for tomorrow."

The next day Lelouch manages to escape Milly's crazy antics for a little while. His phone rings, and he answers it because it is Cecile. He sent for the information on possible candidates to help with his knightmare and weapons projects.

"Yes Cecile, how can I help you?"

"Yes your highness, I reviewed the list you sent me. A few of them are promising. I will be careful as you asked. There is certain to be spies amongst them."

Cecile didn't see the reason why they should hide from other Britannians. Lelouch had to convince her otherwise. Besides it is possible for someone to be a foreign spy. With the way most Britannians treat conquered areas, anything is possible.

"Yes well I expected as much from you. Is there anything else?"

"Yes your highness one of them caught my attention because you stated that you knew her personally, one Nina Einstein."

"Oh Nina. Yes she is a classmate of mine."

"I see. Is there a possibility of meeting her?"

"Well yes. In two weeks we have a long weekend and were planning on heading to the beach. Perhaps you could come in."

"Hm, well I was kind of hoping for her to come here."

"Well that could happen at a later time, but I can't cancel this trip without raising suspicions. Plus nobody would think it odd if Nina stays in her room while we enjoy the beach."

"Very well your highness. I will do as you say."

As Lelouch hangs up his phone, the twins come over and grab a hold of him.

"We founds him. We found brother Lulu."

The twins drag Lelouch back. He sighs. Now he is going to have to participate in one of Milly's crazy schemes to make up for hiding.

**

* * *

**

Friday September 2, 2015

Unlike most others Naoto is not taking the weekend off. He is inspecting one of the new factories of the New Japan Technological Company. It is the former Shinkiro Company. Naoto isn't going to be alone. General Katase and a few others will be with him. Amongst them is Suzaku Kururugi, the prime ministers son. Naoto touches his jaw. The very same jaw that Suzaku kicked this past December protecting that little Britannian brat. The little punk only spends a few hours with them and then runs off to join his friends at the beach.

* * *

They are getting ready for a weekend at the beach. Most of them spend very little time paying attention in class. After a few periods most of the instructors just give up. They are waiting for their charter bus to show up. Most of them are just sitting or lying there. Lelouch and Kallen are kind of leaning into each other. Around them are the kids and Lelouch's sisters. Milly is doing something unusual. She is sitting in front of a laptop apparently doing some work. Lelouch hopes that Milly isn't going high tech in her scheming. Whatever she is doing, she appears to be very frustrated.

Lelouch asks, "Is something wrong, Milly?"

Millys frowns, "Yes you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you are a year behind me in school. So why do you all of sudden have so many credits?"

Lelouch smiles, "I take my school seriously."

"I know but still. How did you get so far ahead? Kallen too, she is even with me."

"Well I have been taking extra courses since my time at West Point. I looked at the Ashford curriculum and took the necessary courses to get ahead. I have also taken a few college online courses from various universities: Osaka University, Tokyo University, University of California, Pendragon University, etc. I also took a few of the Ashford online courses."

"We don't offer online courses here."

"Yes you do. I paid to have online courses instituted two years ago. I don't plan on staying here for four years. I have lots of things to do."

Lelouch points to his ring finger in a way so that only Milly can see what he is doing. Rivalz sighs in relief that Lelouch will graduate early.

"But that doesn't mean that I won't be back to visit."

Their charter bus pulls up. As they board it Lelouch wonders if it was a good idea to come back here. One look at Milly's mischievous smile tells him that he is better off here than in Area 10. There Milly would be the viceroy's wife, and who knows what trouble she would cause. At least he will get to enjoy the weekend. There is of course Cecile's meeting with Nina tomorrow. Kallen sits down next to him because Evelyn is sitting with Jinta. It took a little more than a month but Lelouch feels like things are back to normal well sort of. He wonders how long it will last. He hopes at least until winter break.

* * *

Author's note: Just wanted to say that there is no way that Marianne's maiden name is Lamperouge. I find it annoying when people say that. By the time Lelouch had to choose a surname for himself and Nunnally, he would have been smart enough not to choose his mother's maiden name. More to the point I don't think it would even to relevant for the ten year old prince to even know his mother's maiden name. I'm pretty sure they chose the name Lamperouge for the purpose of alliteration because the name kind of roles off the tongue even in Japanese. Someone once mentioned to me that Marianne's father was an Ashford and her mother was a Lamperouge. This seems even more insane to me. Why the heck would Lelouch inquire about his maternal grandmother's maiden name? Where the heck would he even get that kind of information? I doubt that even Milly's grandfather would remember that kind of information. Well either way I guess it doesn't matter much.

I have seen lots of names for Kallen's parents. James just seems like the kind of name that her father would have. I don't believe I have called him anything else in any previous chapter. Her mother's name is Ayana.

I hate it when people leave a review, complain, and I have way to respond to them directly. In case anyone didn't know all the main characters in this are OOC. That's kind of the point of the story. If you change the background of the story enough, leaving everybody in character just seems retarded.

I still need names for non Britannian knightmare makers.


	36. Rebellion and embarassment

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Leap, fellow soldiers, unless you wish to betray your eagle to the enemy. I, for my part, will perform my duty to the republic and to my general

standard bearer of the 10th legion of Julius Caesar

...

He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.

Sun Tzu

**

* * *

**

Friday, September 2, 2015

They are spending the weekend at a little resort in southern Japan. They hope to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. Lelouch rented out a few cottages for them to stay in. Lelouch and the kids get one. Kallen, Milly, Nina, Ayame, Sancia, and Lucretia get the next one over. Euphemia, Shirley, Nunnally, Dalque, Alice, and Kaguya get the one after that. Suzaku, Rivalz, and a few others guys get the last cottage. Only it is kind of separated from the others.

Rivalz groans, "Man, we aren't even going to see them when they come out in the morning or even when they come out just to get some air."

One of the other guys shakes his head. "Just give up on her, dude. It's obvious that she is into something else. I'm just hoping to get a peek at Shirley."

A few of the other guys agree. Some wouldn't mind getting a peek at Euphie, but she and Suzaku have this burgeoning relationship. Rivalz groans again. He wonders what these guys mean about Milly being into something else. Sometimes Milly and Nina make these long trips to get supplies. Of course Milly and Lelouch work late nights on student council stuff, but Lelouch has Kallen. Rivalz shakes his head trying to get all these thoughts out of his head.

The other guys stare at Rivalz as the gears in his head go into overdrive. Suzaku has an idea. He hands the other guys pillows, and they beat Rivalz down. They finally let Rivalz up.

Suzaku laughs, "Come on let's go to the beach and see if there is anything there. Maybe we can find a girl that Rivalz can actually get."

The other guys cheer and get ready to go out to the beach. It is early in the evening, and the sun is still up. The girls are already outside getting ready to play volleyball. All the guys except for Rivalz and Suzaku decide to check out the rest of the beach. Lelouch and Nina are sitting playing chess on the veranda of his room. Ayame is watching the kids to give Lelouch a break. Nunnally and Kallen are choosing teams.

"Heck ya, I choose Suzaku."

Suzaku walks over and high fives Nunnally who begins the trash talk.

Kallen twists her mouth. "Let me see, Milly."

"Alice." N

"Sancia." K

"Shirley." N

"Dalque." K

"Euphie." N

"Lucretia." K

The last two choices left are Rivalz and Kaguya. Rivalz looks like he wants to cry. Nunnally twists her mouth.

"Well we already got Suzaku so you can have Rivalz. We get Kaguya."

Kallen has look that says she would rather have the energetic young Japanese girl. She gathers her team.

"Alright as long as Cardemonde doesn't screw it up, I think we can win."

Milly adds, "Okay just set Kallen and me up for spikes, I think we have them."

Rivalz gulps. He figured this would just be a nice friendly game of volleyball. Lelouch and Nina are sitting there playing chess, however; the game is just a clever disguise. In reality Lelouch is explaining to Nina about her meeting with Cecile tomorrow. He looks over at the game that has broken down. It seems as if they can't agree on certain rules. Nobody wants to be an arbitrator mostly because they don't want to upset or piss off the girls. Lelouch sighs and decides to get involved. At least Kallen and Milly are on the same side so his plans for the weekend won't be ruined by this stupid little game.

* * *

After the inspection, Colonel Kusakabe comes for Naoto and won't take no for an answer. However Colonel Kusakabe is very upset because the cottages at the end of the resort are not available. Every year he rents one of those cottages out, but this year someone paid the resort ridiculous amount of money for them. Now Naoto has to go over to try to convince the people in one of the cottages to switch rooms so that the colonel can get a cottage by the beach. Naoto hears laughter.

"_Damn, a bunch of teenagers."_

Naoto see who they are and walks away dejectedly. He knows the colonel will not be happy about this. As he turns the corner he bumps into someone. Naoto gathers himself to apologize. Maybe this person will need some sort of assistance because Naoto is not ready to face the colonel with the bad news. Naoto is surprised at who he sees.

"Corporal Futaba, I certainly wouldn't expect to see you here. This resort is a little, how should I put it, expensive."

The corporal twists his mouth at bit. "You see sir. My sister won a contest at work. She decided to bring the family instead of some friends."

"Oh I see, you wouldn't happen to be in one of the cottages at the end, would you" Naoto pauses and shakes his head, "You know what never mind. But if you see the colonel around, don't tell him where you are staying."

Naoto goes back to face Colonel Kusakabe.

**

* * *

**

Sunday, November 20, 2015

The semester has passed quickly. Lelouch has just returned to Japan from Area 10. For the past two months Nina has been traveling there to talk about her theories with Cecile. She even has her own workstation now. This time Lelouch went with her because he wanted to look at his new knightmares. The security around these is tighter than ever as the next generation of knightmares is nearing completion. In fact the facilities have been expanded over to Area 12 and 16. He has sent some of the new people over to Area 17. Lelouch has completely abandoned Area 11 and Clovis. With the resources and manpower of his newly conquered area Lelouch is moving forward with several projects.

Before going home he goes to pick up Kallen. Her parents are off on another vacation and she is going to stay at the student council clubhouse. Lelouch decides to spend the night with her.

"Don't wakes them brother Lulu is going to get mad."

…

"Pollux don't"

"But sister Milly says to wake them up."

Lelouch looks over and sees the twins standing at the side of the bed.

Lelouch sighs, "What's going on guys?"

Pollux answers, "Sister Milly says it is time to get up."

Lelouch looks over at the clock. It is barely 7:30.

"Okay guys we are getting up. By the way where is Evelyn?"

The twins look upset. Castor answers, "She is with Jinta in the council room."

When the twins leave, Lelouch gets up and heads for the shower. The only reason Milly has to wake them up is for a student council meeting or because she wants to be a bitch. After his shower Lelouch wakes Kallen up. Then he checks his phone and heads over to his computer. Then again perhaps Milly doesn't want them to get caught in the clubhouse by some random maid. Lelouch checks up on the status of his online classes. It looks like the investment is paying off. Now most of his classes are online. His West Point stint has liberated him from P.E. classes for which he is thankful. The only time he has to go into a classroom is for science labs unless he does the experiments with someone that the teacher knows or trusts. Luckily for Lelouch, Cecile, Lloyd, and Rakshata are well known in the scientific community.

After a few minutes of sitting there Kallen goes over to take a shower. Since neither Milly nor the kids come in to get him, Lelouch assumes that Milly just wants them awake. He notices that he is just about finished with his online classes, and he knows that he is done with his lab work for the semester. There is still a month to go. Despite spending three years waking up before seven, Lelouch is still not a morning person. He notices that he has a message from Cassius. He clicks on it and waits it to play. Instead of a message Cassius show up, and he looks very tired.

"Oh Lelouch, you're awake."

"Is something wrong, Cassius?"

"Yes there is a rebellion."

"Already I was hoping that some of our new laws would change things. I think the Duke of Oregon would be of greater help since he is closer."

Cassius shakes his head, "No not here in Area 15, brigadier general. You have a brigade there. Apart from the fact that you are the highest ranking noble near the area."

Lelouch freezes for a moment. Was it possible that this rebellion was planned? His Japanese sources tell that a few Burai Kais have been completed and sent somewhere. He wonders if they were sent to Area 15. The Sumeragi owned Blood of the Samurai Company formed the New Japan Technological Company from Lelouch's former Shinkiro Company. The have been working on the Burai Kai since August. A few have been created and shipped off to wherever Japan is sending its mercenary forces. At the moment the company is working on customizing a few Burai Kais for Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords. Mitsubishi, SunTech, and the Sakura Technological Conglomerate are also working on Burai Kai. The Japanese government cancelled its other contracts and gave to these four companies.

Lelouch sighs, "I take it that Jeremiah is preparing for our departure."

Cassius smiles, "As soon as the order was given. A jet will pick you up in a few hours."

"Very well I'm on my way."

Kallen comes out of the shower. "On your way where?"

"Get dressed and I'll explain everything on the way to the student council room."

Lelouch explains things to Kallen on the way down the stairs.

"I'm going with you, Lelouch."

Lelouch sighs. He knew that she would be like this. Like him, she took advantage of the online classes.

"Going with him where."

Milly is sitting down with the kids.

Lelouch answers her, "There is a revolt in Area 15, and I have been ordered to head over there."

Milly's eyes narrow, "And Kallen is going with you."

"Well only I have been ordered to go. The two of you can stay here."

"Hm that doesn't nice. Now does it guys."

The kids don't say anything. They don't like the idea of any of them leaving particularly Lelouch. Lelouch knew that Milly would be like this as well.

"Well we all can't leave at the same time. I've covered my classes for the semester. Plus I am officially in the military as Lelouch Lamperouge as well. If you two want to come then you have to come up with your own excuses."

Kallen smiles, "I have taken care of that. I have finished all my online classes for the semester, and my parents are off on vacation."

That took care of Kallen. Milly is another thing, but she is smiling.

"I have also have signed up for a few online classes. Plus I have been training Nunnally to replace me just in case something like this happened. I am going back to Britannia because my parents want me to meet a few people. We are nobles after all."

Lelouch can't believe that the girls have also been planning for this. He wonders if they have also been trying to ease any concerns the twins may have about them leaving.

Lelouch sighs, "Okay if you guys feel secure in your stories. I will have a jet for you guys this afternoon. I'm sure that one is waiting for me as we speak."

Lelouch leaves and several hours later is in Area 10 observing the knightmares being loaded onto several planes. A carrier full of knightmares left by sea as soon as the order was given. Kallen and Milly left a few hours after him. Lelouch has been ready to leave as soon as his sources told him about the Burai Kais being sold off to foreign interests. They just didn't know where. It is pretty obvious that the girls were also ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Lelouch is waiting aboard the cargo plane. His command staff is with him. Jeremiah and Kewell have gone ahead to take command of the situation. Lelouch will only be in command until Cornelia or someone else arrives. Lelouch knows that that will take quite some time. Since they will have one of two choices: fly from the west coast of Britannia which would take over a day of non stop travel or fly down through Area 6 and then east south of Africa. Neither option is appealing, and the latter leaves the possibility of flying near hostile territory.

Both girls arrive a little after Lelouch boards the plane. They take their seats next to him. Lelouch looks around at those with him. Villetta has been made a major as have Milly and Kallen. The latter almost seems an insult to those that have worked there asses off in the military. Jeremiah is now a colonel and Kewell is also a major. Lelouch wonders how Kewell and Villetta feel about the situation. Not only are Kallen and Milly of higher military rank, but they are also of higher noble rank. After their successful conquest of what are now Areas 16 and 17 Villetta and Kewell gained their new military ranks and also were awarded with baronies. Now both were of the hereditary noble class rather than just knights of honor.

Piloting the plane are Major Hillis and Captain Cunningham. Both were part of Lelouch's invasion group. They have been assigned to his brigade. After the plane is up in the air Lieutenants Sanderson and Goodley begin to sort out the situation. They were part of Lelouch's first squad at West Point. They both later on joined the Black Knights. They were part of the support staff during his invasion.

"We should probably all get some sleep. Once we land it is going to be nonstop."

They decide to take his advice.

**

* * *

**

Tuesday, November 22, 2015

After getting very little sleep, Lelouch is up early in the morning. Lelouch knows he should have taken his own advice. He spent most of the night looking over at the situation. The area has been quiet since Cornelia's conquest was completed early in 2014. It was the same conflict that saw Lelouch, Gino, and Anya in action but on the other side of the African continent. Since that time the EU has lost control of the African continent. There are now several unions throughout the continent. The EU also lost the opportunity to enlarge itself in western Asia. The Middle East Federation and the Turkic Union have managed to remain independent be playing off the EU and the Chinese Federation against each other. Lelouch wonders if Britannia will get involved

Lelouch landed in Djibouti. The main revolt is taking place in the south around Mogadishu. A smaller revolt is taking place in the north around Asmara. The central and western part of the area is under control. Since it borders the North African Union and Central African Confederation, there were plenty soldiers in the area. Despite the fact that the eastern part of the area is near the Middle East Federation, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and fear of reprisal keeps them at bay. That doesn't mean that they don't provide assistance to the rebels.

Lelouch has already sent Villetta and Kewell out with to test the enemy defenses. Jeremiah is sent to Addis Ababa to secure the western border. Lelouch's knightmares and a few test Gloucesters are being unloaded from the transport plane. He notices that there are many ships just sitting at the dock. He turns to the nearest naval officer who happens to be the fleet admiral of the Britannian Indian Ocean fleet.

"Admiral, is there a reason why those ships are just sitting there?"

"Pirates, your highness."

"Pirates."

"Yes. Even though the pirates do not have anything that can match those ships in fair combat, they are still in danger out in the open ocean. We have lost a few ships to suicide attacks. The HIMS Yorktown was lost in that manner. It is sitting over there receiving repairs."

"I see. Do you have any idea where the pirates are coming from?"

The admiral clears his throat at the clear accusation from Lelouch.

"A few are coming from the south while others are coming from the Middle East Federation."

Lelouch grins at that.

"Well why don't we go do something about that. Admiral, prepare a few transport ships."

"Yes your highness."

This is one instance where Lelouch uses his social rank to get something from someone. In less than an hour Lelouch has several transport ships out at sea. The Titan Mk II, Callisto, and Europa are heading out with him. Villetta and Kewell have the Titan and Europa Attack. Jeremiah has a Gloucester. A package about the half the size of a knightmare is also being put in the ship as well. The admiral comes over to Lelouch.

"Well your highness, where are we going?"

Lelouch looks at a map.

"We will attack along the western Arabian peninsula at these four ports Aden, Mocha, Al Hudaydah, and Jizan. The forces that attack the three northern towns can then turn and attack Asmara. We will land in Aden and destroy a few facilities."

The admiral looks incredulous.

"Your highness you can't be serious. That would put us at war with the Middle East Federation."

"You can stay here if you want admiral," Lelouch pauses, "But when I return I will have you court martialed or executed for insubordination," Lelouch looks over at Kallen, "Major Stadtfeld did you inform Colonel Gottwald of our intent."

Kallen answers, "Yes general sir."

Using their military ranks reminds the admiral that he is actually ranked higher than Lelouch. Lelouch decides to remind him of his social rank.

"Thank you Lady Stadtfeld."

"My pleasure, your highness."

"We should be going now."

Lelouch and Kallen board the ship leaving a distraught admiral behind.

* * *

Captain Naoto Kouzuki and Corporal Ichiro Futaba are sitting in a warehouse in Aden. They just managed escaping Area 15 before Britannian reinforcements arrived. Officially they are supposed to be in the northern part of the Middle East Federation instructing them on how to use the Burai Kai. In reality the Middle East Federation is quite pleased with the Bamides and has no use for the Burai Kai. They are simply the mediator between Japan and the rebels in Area 15. In fact Naoto and Ichiro are not even in uniform. They are both having slight problems calling each other by their name rather than rank. Naoto begins to hear a loud buzzing noise coming from down the coast.

"_I wonder what that noise it."_

Ichiro looks up from his breakfast.

"_It could be pirates coming back from a successful attack."_

"_Yes but it seems a little noisy. I thought that they were trying to be secretive about it. Well I will go check it out. _"

Naoto looks out the window of the apartment and is quite surprised at what he sees.

"_Corporal, let's move."_

The use of military rank causes Ichiro to jump up immediately and head for the door. There is nothing in the room worth saving except for their computers, and those would probably have to be destroyed. Once outside Ichiro sees what got Naoto so excited. Along the shoreline are several Britannian battleships annihilating the dock. They are even in the secret pirate dock. If wasn't enough fighters and bombers were all over the sky. Several Britannia carriers have landed and were unloading tanks, mechanical infantry carriers, and artillery. It made Jinta and Naoto wonder if Britannia is invading the Middle East Federation. The Aden garrison sent out its Bamides and Panzer Hummels to dispatch the conventional weapons. Naoto noticed a few Burai Kais coming out of a hangar. The same hangar they were making a run for. Then it happens. The devil himself lands a few feet from where they are standing. It all makes sense now. Naoto looks over and sees the White Witch and Red Demon attacking the Aden Garrison.

* * *

A few Burai Kais rush Lelouch. He waits for them to get closer. He wonders if any of these pilots were involved in the revolt in Area 10 last year or perhaps defending Indonesia this summer. Either way this will be their last mission. The difference between the Burai and Burai Kai is negligible. The biggest difference will be the addition of the revolving blade sword, but it is not completed. Lelouch decides to show them the advancement of Britannia technology or rather his version of Britannian technology. As two Burai Kais fire their slash harkens at him, Lelouch pulls out his new secret weapon, the maser vibration sword.

"Let's see how this guys hold up to this."

Lelouch slices down the slash harkens. He pounces on the two Burai Kais. He notices Naoto and Ichiro on the ground running for the hangar. He allows them to enter, and a few minutes later several more Burai Kais come out. He gets a signal from Ichiro letting him know that his Japanese spy is still in the hangar. Lelouch smirks and decides to go full speed. Five Burai Kais begin to spin around him. He reminds him of the first time he tested the Titan; Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta did the same thing. Now he is piloting a better knightmare with better weapons.

As the enemy pulls out their assault rifles to attack, Lelouch fires his slash harkens disabling the rifles. Lelouch then lunges at the nearest Burai Kai slicing it in half with his M.V.S. The other four Burai Kais pull back. Lelouch picks another target and makes short work of the smaller and heavier knightmare. He blasts one more with his shoulder cannons. He fires all six of his slash harkens at another, then disables it with his wrist cannons. The final Burai Kai comes flying at Lelouch assault rifle firing away. Lelouch manages to dodge the first attack, but the enemy is relentless having picked up several more assault rifles.

Lelouch dodges the attack biding his time. Most knightmares are built with the idea of being infantry and armor support. But not Lelouch's knightmares, they were built with the idea of fighting other knightmares as well as against traditional weaponry. In other words Lelouch built his knightmares to by the end all be all of fighting. Tiring of running Lelouch fires his slash harkens and takes away the Burai Kai's assault rifles. He begins to fire his cannons to guide the enemy to where he wants him. Once there Lelouch pulls out his M.V.S. and slices into the Burai Kai. He makes sure to block the ejection system.

"Well here we are once again with your life in my hands. I suppose my wedding gift to Kallen should to let you live once more, eh."

Lelouch releases the ejection system allowing Naoto to get out just as the knightmare explodes.

"Q1, Q2 have you reached your objective,"

Kallen answers, "Yes sir."

"Very well let's get back to the ships. This should make those bastards think twice about providing aid to rebel forces."

Ichiro pulls Naoto back towards the hangar where their jet is hiding. While the battle was going on Ichiro was preparing their escape. He notices a few fellow Japanese slowly coming over. He tells them to hurry. Ichiro is in no mood to be there when government officials arrive. The jet manages to fly out of there with minimal problem. Now comes the difficult part getting through either Britannian or Chinese controlled territory.

They arrive back in Djibouti that evening to discover that one of Lelouch's older sisters has arrived, and it is not the one that they expected. In the north thanks to the fleet going out, Kewell and the Titan Mk I have managed to get things settled. There is still some light fighting, but it should be finished in a few days. However in the south Villetta is having a few problems. This is now augmented by the fact that Guinevere has gone in that direction to take over.

Guinevere is a major investor in both the Ford Knightmare Company and Philips Magnavox. Two of the companies heavily involved in the making of Britannian knightmares particularly the Gloucester. They are also the two companies that bought the rights to make mass production models of Lelouch's Io for the Britannian armed forces.

Lelouch begins to ask around for information. He receives very little until he threatens to kill everyone in the dock and government office. Guinevere has landed with several unusual looking knightmares. Lelouch surmises that they are most likely Gloucesters and Ios. The Ford Company has designed both a little different than Lelouch. He also discovers that the admiral went south with Guinevere. Lelouch grins at that. Stupid admiral has signed his death warrant and given Guinevere an out.

Lelouch is having a conference call with Jeremiah and Schniezel. They are going over the day's events. Lelouch is very tired. Jeremiah notices this.

"Perhaps we should end this and your highness can get some rest."

Schniezel agrees, "Yes Lelouch get some rest. Tomorrow you can head north."

Lelouch shakes his head. "No, I'm going south,"

This surprises Schniezel. "Surely even an incompetent like Guinevere can handle that situation."

Lelouch nods, "Yes well that remains to be seen, but she has Gloucesters."

"Impossible! I would have gotten word of their completion. Yours were only just finished a few days ago."

Schniezel is correct on several accounts. He would have received word as both an investor and prime minister.

"Let me explain, brother. They simply stole my ideas and plans. Well at least they thought they did."

Schniezel first looks shocked and then smiles. "Very well Lelouch handle the situation as you see fit. I will deal with the Middle East Federation. I will also leave the Japanese involvement in your hands. "

Schniezel signs off and signals for Kannon to make the necessary calls. Schniezel smiles. He was right to back Lelouch. In no time at all his little brother would rise to the top, and then the world would have no choice to be pay attention.

Lelouch sighs as he lies down on his bed. Kallen and Milly are already asleep beside him. The ground transport isn't the quietest and smoothest ride, but it is the safest. A train would invite guerillas. With the majority of the navy in the north a ship would be almost unprotected. The safest route takes them through Addis Ababa where they pick up Jeremiah. They continue the trip to Mogadishu.

**

* * *

**

Thursday, November 24, 2015

Villetta has been sitting in the back watching Princess Guinevere screw everything up. The prince's plan was simple. He takes out the pirate hiding spots while she and Kewell advance on the main areas in rebellion. Once the prince is done dealing with the pirates, the navy would sweep in both directions. Then Jeremiah and the prince would head north or south to help out. In one powerful and masterful stroke the pirate and rebel problem would be dealt with. However the interference by Princess Guinevere appears to be screwing that up. Villetta wonders how the princess got a hold of Gloucesters. Then something begins to happen for some reason the princess's knightmares begin to experience failures. Villetta is unsure whether to laugh at the princess's misfortune or cry at the loss of lives. The princess orders a full scale retreat. Villetta has neither the rank nor title to stop it. Suddenly the familiar voice of an aqua haired margrave comes over an open channel.

"Now is the winter of our discontent  
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;  
And all the clouds, that lour'd upon our house,  
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.  
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;  
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;  
Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings,  
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.  
Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;"

Jeremiah pauses for effect before letting out a yell.

"All hail Lelouch!"

Villetta looks up and sees Lelouch's forces behind the rebels atop a small hill. A Gloucester is standing in the front spinning its lance around. Behind it are the Titan, Europa, and Callisto. The four knightmares come down upon the enemy. The Titan hangs back allowing the Europa and Callisto to unload on the rebels before attacking. The Titan slides down besides the Gloucester and pulls out a sword like weapon. Villetta has never seen it before. She notices the Gloucester pull one out as well.

Lelouch looks down at the rebels in their motley assortment of vehicles. They have several outdated tanks, mobile artillery units, a few newer tanks, six Burais, two Burai Kais, and about three dozen Glasgows. Kallen and Milly have disabled or destroyed most of the tanks. The forty or so knightmares should be no problem. He feels like telling everybody to stand back while he takes care of it himself. He notices Guinevere's force retreating even as Villetta moves her forces forward. Lelouch signals for Jeremiah to lead his forces in the destruction of the rebels.

Before their attack they received word that Cornelia arrived and headed north to assist Kewell. Lelouch smiles at what has occurred. In less then a week Britannia moved several forces other large portions of the world and completely annihilated a rebellion. Not to be forgotten was the attack on various cities of the Middle East Federation. If ordered to Lelouch has no doubt those citied can be held. In fact at the moment they are still in Britannian hands.

* * *

After Jeremiah leads the defeat of the rebels, Lelouch and company head over to what used to be Villetta's headquarters. Troops from the area are beginning to flood into Mogadishu to retake control of the city. After putting their knightmares away, they head over to the command center. Guinevere is standing there with her staff. The fleet admiral is standing behind her looking like he wants to defecate in his pants.

Lelouch smiles, "Lord Gottwald, please take this sorry excuse for an admiral and execute him out back somewhere."

They all stare at Lelouch. Guinevere looks like she wants to stay something.

"Is there a problem with the order?"

Jeremiah looks over at Lelouch.

"No your highness but."

Lelouch stares at Guinevere.

"Is there a problem sister? It is my understanding that the admiral convinced you to come here an area where you have no authority of any sort. Once you arrived he convinced you once again to move in an area where you have no authority. You were lied to by the highest ranking military officer in the area to move in a method that you were told would be beneficial to Britannia. If I am mistaken, please correct me."

They all knew it was a lie. Guinevere came here of her own accord. Rather than waiting for Cornelia or Lelouch to arrive, she moved south of her own accord. Here Lelouch is giving her an out at the cost of the life of one man. A man that Lelouch is planning on ridding himself of anyways, but nobody knows that but the two of them. If she takes the blame, she can save the life of this admiral or so she believes, but at a great cost to her own prestige. She will never be allowed to lead a force ever again. Se most likely will be sent to be Viceroy of Area 4 or 5.

"Yes brother it is as you say."

Lelouch smiles, "Colonel Gottwald, see that the matter is taken care of. Major Stadtfeld, please contact Commander li Britannia. She will want to know of our progress here."

Lelouch walks back outside. The smell of the battlefield is disturbing.

"The only thing worse than a battlefield lost is a battlefield won."

Milly comes and stands besides Lelouch.

"Are you going to stay out here?"

"I have to make sure certain things get done. Why don't you find some place for us to sleep?"

Milly nods and scampers off. The transport they used to get here is miles away on the other side of the battlefield.

* * *

Guinevere walks away from the whole situation. She leaves it all behind. None of her advisors can comfort her. Despite the fact that she is now blameless for this event, the embarrassment of it will haunt her for years. If she would have taken the blame her actions perhaps, she would have gained an ally in that admiral. No that isn't possible. It is as her advisors told her that man was going to die no matter what she did. Her advisors secure her a flight out of the area. It is going to be a long trip back to Britannia. On the way she wonders what happened to her Gloucesters. She was certain that she had won a great victory over Lelouch and Cornelia. Now she is embarrassed beyond belief.

* * *

Somehow Corporal Futaba is able to get through Britannian territory with little effort. Naoto and the others are too glad to ask how. They are going to have to come up with better methods of testing out the Burai Kai. Naoto also has to find a way to avoid meeting the Titan in battle.

* * *

Author's note: Lelouch getting involved in the knightmare technology race has made a few big changes. The biggest being that there is actually sixth generation of knightmares. Also that the fourth and fifth are being left behind sooner. The next logical step is to build the Lancelot and Guren only they get different names. Kallen still gets what would be the Guren Mk II. Milly gets a combination of the Europa and Lancelot. Lelouch gets a combination of the Titan and Lancelot. There will still be a Lancelot built but a little later on.

So people have been waiting for the weddings and the reactions the girls' families particularly Kallen's father. I think I have said this before or I at least I have said it to people that have specifically asked about it, there will be two wedding for each girl. The first will be a civil wedding because he has to marry them by the end of the year. The second ones will be the big white dress, decorations, everybody dresses up kind of things. These will happen a little later on. As for the reaction of Kallen's father, some people might not like it. Actually at this moment you don't even know why you might not like it.

Maybe I should label this story a Lelouch/Naoto story since they are getting most of the screen time. How about that for a yaoi couple? Lelouch can be engaged to Kallen or Naoto to Cornelia but somehow they fall for each other.

I thought it would be neat if Lelouch still hated P.E. Just because he can, does not mean he wants to.

Well thanks to everyone who gave me company names for Japanese and EU knightmare makers. I was kind of hoping for person names especially Japanese ones, but I guess I can make those up myself.

Okay about Marianne being an Ashford and a commoner. It is pretty simple if you think about it. I will explain it this way. If everything was more or less normal in the Code Geass universe (no geass), VV would have been in line for the throne. When Charles took the throne, VV's kids would still be in line. His grandchildren however would not unless they married someone that was. His great grandchildren would be even further from the throne. At this point some of them might no longer be noble because of marriage and circumstance. Quite a few would stop using the surname zi Britannia. In less than a hundred years a line of that started with someone in line for the throne now probably has commoners in it.

On a personal note I have met people with the same surname that I am not related to. In fact I have met people who have the same name as my brothers and I. I also have several nieces and nephews that I have not seen in many years that I will probably never see again. They could be having kids. Maybe some Ashford had an illegitimate child or remarried. It is not that hard if you think about it, but Marianne was related to the Ashfords somehow. The family rose and fell with her.

On the subject of the Ashfords and nobility. Is it ever stated out right that they are no longer noble? I know Milly has the marriage interviews, but those could have just been to raise the family prestige. In season 2 after Lelouch becomes emperor, Milly is going to a meeting, and she tells Nina, "By the way I am no longer noble." This means that she was previously noble but is no longer because Lelouch did away with the nobility. Of course it could just be a mistake by the writers.

Does anyone else find it funny that only Shirley was affected by Jeremiah's geass canceller at the end of the Love Attack episode? I know that other people also got affected but nobody important. It seemed as if Jeremiah was doing a systematic geass cancelling of the city. It seems like bad planning or some crazy coincidence that neither Milly nor Rivalz were affected by it. I guess I'm just throwing random questions out there.

**Known Areas**

1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands  
9 New Zealand  
10 Indochina 2009  
11 Philippines 2010|  
12 Cambodia 2011  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014  
15 Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia/Djibouti 2014  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015

**Burai Kai  
****characteristics  
****Height:** 4.37 meters  
**Weight:** 7.48 metric tones  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system  
**Armament  
**2x Chest-mounted Slash Harkens  
2x Hand-mounted Protectors (Shield-like bracers)  
1x Torso-mounted Antipersonnel Machine Gun  
1x Assault Rifle

**Titan Mk II  
****General characteristics:  
**Height: 5.86 meters  
Weight: 7.02 metric tons  
Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler  
Color: purple with some camouflage abilities

**Design features:  
**Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system  
Cockpit ejection system

**Armament:  
**6 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two chest mounted, two shoulder mounted)  
2 x assault rifle  
2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm  
2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons\  
2x wrist mounted cannons  
Multiplex chaos mines  
Maser vibration sword


	37. Marriage and tragedy

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

I guess I should say that there will be no yaoi in this story because I don't like yaoi. It was just an idea for others to use. You know I tried to make Suzaku to be a jerk but somehow Naoto is the one that comes out that way. I always read reviews in other stories where people are like please let Naoto live, but here everybody wants him dead. Sucks for you guys because Naoto is like a cockroach. You have to really smash him to kill him or blast him with the radiant wave surger.

The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.  
Josef Stalin, Russian politician

...

The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.

Confucius

...

The only thing faster than the speed of light is rumor. The tongue is the deadliest of all human weapons, and the only one that no man can control.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Evelyn vi Britannia  
The Adventures of the Black Prince  
Neo-Pendragon Press 2034 ATB

**

* * *

**

Friday, December 3, 2015

Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly have left Area 15. Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta have stayed to assist Cornelia in finishing off the remaining resistance. Lelouch sighs as he gets into the school routine for a little bit. He has a few assignments to complete before he is allowed to escape for the semester. He heads for the student council room to get come peace and quiet.

Lelouch sighs, "I gave up being viceroy for chemistry and physics."

Well he is still technically viceroy of Area 10. He sits down at the table in the student council room. Much like Kallen, Nina has taken advantage of the online courses and is finished. At the moment Nina is working with Cecile in Area 10. Since Lelouch's new knightmares near completion, his old ones are being transferred to the mainland. They will most likely be given to the Knights of the Round. Lelouch begins his work. He has to take a few tests.

"Oh hey Lelouch, I didn't know you were back too."

Lelouch smirks at Rivalz's comment.

"Well you see after our meetings in the mainland, Milly and I decided to come back together."

Rivalz slightly moans at the comment and sits down to eat his lunch. Since Gino left Rivalz has found it difficult to be around his fellow student council members. Even being around Shirley and Nina is difficult. Shirley has given up on going out with Lelouch now that he is with Kallen. For some reason Milly and Lelouch have closeness that Rivalz can't explain. Rivalz finishes his lunch and leaves.

Lelouch finishes his work and begins to look over his new knightmares. After finishing his work he has to go for the twins. The three of them spend the afternoon watching silly movies and eating junk food. Kallen and Milly join them later. When school ends for everyone else, the twins take a nap while the student council meeting takes place. There is nothing much left for them to plan except for the Winter Formal. This year it will take place earlier than most years, December 10. They are just putting the finishing touches on it since it takes place next Friday.

The day after Lelouch will travel to Britannia to begin preparations for his weddings. He hopes his parents don't have anything planned because he is hoping to just make them something small. Lelouch spends most of the meeting staring at the ceiling. Milly leaves him alone since he did his part. He is paying for the whole thing after all. Lelouch notices that Rivalz is taking advantage of the fact that he is just sitting there. On a few occasions he notices that Kallen and Shirley have to get Rivalz to do something else. Lelouch decides to be a jerk and ruin the blue haired boy's day.

"So Milly I'll pick you up around seven for dinner. So we can discuss that family matter in detail"

Lelouch walks away leaving a confused student council. Later that night Lelouch is having dinner with his siblings, Milly, and Kallen. Neither girl says much since they are a little upset at Lelouch for being a jerk to Rivalz. It isn't his fault that the blue haired boy is so lame. Lelouch misses the buffer that Gino provided.

* * *

George Stadtfeld has been a patient and forgiving man. When his son, James, wanted to open up factories and warehouses in some of the new Areas, George allowed it. He did nothing when his son fell in love with a Japanese woman and married her. He again did nothing when his son purchased a home in Japan. After all the company has been doing tremendously well. George felt satisfied enough to leave it all in his son's hands. It didn't matter either way by this point George was only a figurehead but a powerful one.

Now there are many problems popping up, nothing to do with business or money but rather status. George provided all his children with the best education money could buy befitting their status as nobles. It had been George's grandfather who took the House of Stadtfeld from a barony to an earldom. George had hoped that his son or grandchildren would continue to raise the family profile. However George's friends amongst the Purist Faction are stating that a possible marriage between his granddaughter, Kallen, and Prince Lelouch vi Britannia appears to falling apart. George must act now before his son lets it all slip away.

* * *

Naoto feels like a damn bouncing ball. Less than two weeks ago he was in the Middle East Federation, now he is in the Chinese Federation. He is here to make certain secret pacts. Foreign Minister Atsushi Sawasaki, Taizo Kirihara, General Katase, and Colonel Kusakabe are here on an official visit. There has been lots of tension over the fact that Britannia has a base just outside of Tokyo, and the fact that there are lots of Britannian nationals in Japan. The Chinese hope that Japan will end Britannia's preferential status.

So here he is meeting with some Chinese official about allowing Japan to test their new knightmares in China. Naoto is about to ask Corporal Futaba when the meeting is going to take place when he believes he sees his contact coming towards him. Since Naoto knows very little Chinese, he decides to allow his contact to begin which he does in surprisingly good English.

"I was informed that you could speak this language."

Naoto smiles and goes into his best imitation of his grandfather.

"Yes I can speak it a little."

The Chinese woman with his contact ever so slightly grimaces at Naoto's comment. Even Corporal Futaba who has heard Naoto speak in English slightly narrows his eyes.

"I see my sources were not wrong."

"No they were not. My father is Britannian, and my mother is Japanese. I have lived my whole life in Japan."

The Chinese man does not seem at all satisfied but decides to continue.

"Very well. My name is Li Xingke. This is Zhou Xianglin. She is my aide-de-camp."

"I am Captain Naoto Kouzuki. This is Corporal Ichiro Futaba. I used the Britannia name format rather then the Japanese name format."

Li Xingke nods, "Very well Captain Kouzuki and Corporal Futaba follow me."

Naoto can tell that this Li Xingke is not all that excited about this. He wonders if it has to do with Naoto's rank. Naoto shrugs. If this succeeds, he will probably be made a major. Who knows after that he may get his own custom knightmare.

**

* * *

**

Friday, December 17, 2015

Lelouch is at West Point attending Anya's graduation. Anya has been appointed to Lelouch's brigade as a lieutenant. The paperwork has already gone through. Lelouch is alone on this trip. Milly and Kallen are enjoying some time off. The kids are with their mother, probably. Euphie is with Cornelia in Area 15. Nunnally and the Irregulars are enjoying their free time at some beach. Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta are back in Area 10 preparing to transfer the old knightmares to the mainland.

Lelouch manages to stay wake during the ceremony. After which he greets a few old friends. There are still a few cadets here from his time here. After all he only graduated a year and half ago, but it seems as it is a lifetime ago. He can tell that a few were hoping that he would bring the girls. First Anya salutes, and then jumps into his arms. He kisses her on the forehead.

"So where do you want to go for lunch?"

Anya shrugs, "I have to get ready for the dance tonight."

Lelouch nods. Each year in December the Britannian Military Jr. Academy Winter Formal takes place usually around the graduation day. Lelouch attended one three years ago. Since then his winters have been full of action.

Anya frowns, "You still want to come, don't you?"

Lelouch nods, "Of course I have to make sure my suit still fits me. I have been too active these past few weeks."

Anya looks at Lelouch, "You do look a little thin. Maybe lunch isn't such a bad idea."

She hooks her arm in his as they walk away.

* * *

Kallen is hanging around Lelouch's main Gloucester factory. After the utter failure of the Ford and Philips Magnavox Gloucester in Area 15, Lelouch has received the contract to make all the Britannian custom and mass production Gloucesters. Kallen is helping by doing some simulations. Cornelia and her knights have theirs. The Glaston Knights who are also in Area 15 are receiving theirs at the moment. It has also led to those two companies declaring bankruptcy. A combination of Lelouch, Schniezel, Cornelia, and Kallen's father has picked up the pieces.

"Hello Kallen."

Kallen turns around and sees Gino standing there.

"Oh hey Gino. What's up?"

"Nothing much just getting a look at the factory. I'm here with Nonette."

Kallen nods and gets back to her work.

"That's nice, I guess."

"By the way where is Lelouch?"

"Oh Lulu isn't here."

Gino twists his mouth.

"Is he out with Milly and the kids?"

"No, he went to Anya's graduation. He is probably staying for the dance."

"Oh I see."

"Weinberg, let's go."

Kallen and Gino look over to see Nonette standing behind them.

Gino nods, "Yes Lady Enngream."

After Gino and Nonette leave, Kallen continues her work. Apart from helping with the Gloucester simulations, she is also taking some online classes. She figures the sooner she is done with high school, the sooner she can go live with Lelouch. Mostly Kallen stays busy because she hasn't told her parents about her impending marriage to Lelouch. She still hasn't found a way to do it. She wonders if it will anger her dad. It is too late to turn back now.

**

* * *

**

Tuesday, December 21, 2015

Ayame snuggles into Lelouch causing him to wake up. Lelouch sits up and stays there for a few minutes before heading to the shower. He spent Friday night and Saturday with Anya. For some reason Anya wanted to come to Playland (Disneyland). Sunday morning she went up the coast to help Kallen with the knightmare simulations for the Gloucester. At the same time Ayame, Jinta, Evelyn, and the twins came down. They spent Sunday at Raspberry Farms (Knott's Berry Farm). Monday they went back to Playland.

They are going to Pendragon today because Lelouch has to put the finish touches on his weddings. His wedding with Kallen will be in a few days after she tells her parents which he doesn't think is necessary, but then again what does he know about parents. He is not even sure he wants his parents to show up at his weddings. His wedding with Milly will take place on New Year's Eve so she is kind of getting a big celebration.

After dropping Ayame and the kids off at Aries Palace, he goes to his meeting with the emperor. Surprisingly his mother is there as well. Since Lelouch is alone, the emperor orders Bismarck and the other Knights of the Round including Gino out of the room. They stare at each other for a few moments before the emperor begins.

"Is there any problems with your mission?"

Lelouch keeps his stoic appearance. Just like his father to view marriage as a mission.

"No your majesty. Everything is in order."

This time his mother speaks.

"Sweetheart, I don't think this is the way to do it. These girls deserve better than some furtive weddings."

"They will get their celebrations in due time your highness. But for the moment we agreed that this is the only way to accomplish out mission."

Of course by we agreed, Lelouch means this what I decided on. Marianne appears put off by Lelouch's use of your highness in reference to her. There are a few moments of silence.

"If there is nothing else you majesty, I would like to get back to my planning. There are still a few things that need to be accomplished."

When that doesn't get a response, Lelouch turns to leave.

Lelouch can see his mother nudge the emperor.

"Wait there is one last thing. We have been discussing the matter."

Lelouch turns to face his parents once more. By we have been discussing the matter; Lelouch assumes that his mother has been bugging the emperor about it.

"Yes your majesty."

The emperor curls his lips and appears to be gritting his teeth. He hates appear so weak in front of his children particularly this one.

"We have been discussing the matter and have decided to postpone the weddings. Marriages of this sort between great families of the Empire need to be publicized."

Lelouch maintains his deadpan, expressionless face.

"I see. If that us what YOU have decided," he pauses and smirks, "Can I get that in writing?"

Both Charles and Marianne look like they want to slap Lelouch.

"I ask for this because both Lady Stadtfeld and Lady Ashford will want to know why the weddings are being delayed. Although they will be thrilled about the publicizing it part."

Charles sighs heavily, "Very well you will have your written permission to postpone the weddings. You have one year from today to accomplish it, and they must be publicly announced."

Lelouch continues smiling, "That is most excellent, your majesty. I will make the necessary changes. If there is nothing else, I will be on my way."

Lelouch leaves the room unimpeded this time. The Knights of the Round are waiting outside, and they all look like they want to slap Lelouch. Of course they have been listening in on the conversation. Lelouch glares at Gino who turns away.

"Have fun being Nonette's pet, Weinberg."

As Lelouch walks away, he hears the Knight of Twelve mumble something. Lelouch whips back around.

"Is there a problem, Lady Kruszewski? Because if there is than maybe we should settle it."

Before she can respond, Luciano steps in, "Maybe you should pick on someone you own size, punk."

Lelouch grins, "I would but there isn't anybody here that big."

"You got some balls kid."

Lelouch grins even more, "I think I alluded to that earlier."

To stop the other Knights of the Round especially Nonette from going after Lelouch, Bismarck steps in.

"Your highness, how are the Gloucesters coming along?"

"They are coming along nicely. Cornelia and her force have received theirs."

"I see and ours."

"They are near completion. By year's end they should be finished. I have another surprise for you," Lelouch looks over at Monica, "So are we going to fight or what? If I'm too much for you, Nunnally should be arriving in a few days."

Before she can answer Marianne comes over.

"Sweetheart, play nice."

Lelouch smirks, "Yes mother. Anyways I don't have time to beat these guys up. I have wedding stuff to take care of."

They all stare at Lelouch as he leaves. Marianne wisely makes her exit as well.

* * *

Milly was spending a few days in Area 9 enjoying their summer. Now she has to go back to the northern hemisphere where it is winter. Well that can wait for a few days because she convinced Cecile and Jeremiah to enjoy a few days on the beach. There is no need to rush the Titans and Europas back to the mainland. Looking at them Milly notices that they are so relaxed. They have also brought Nina along.

Nina is still getting comfortable with the idea of Lelouch being a prince. It didn't take her that long to get used to the idea of Euphemia and Nunnally being princesses. They don't do a very good job of hiding their status. Nina also has to get used to the idea of Lelouch marrying Milly. Since they were children when their grandfathers worked together on the Ganymede, Milly has been Nina's only friend. Recently they have become more than friends. Nina has always know that Milly would marry Lelouch, but now it is about to become a reality. It is thanks to Lelouch that important people are listening to Nina's ideas. There is one thing bothering Nina about the situation. She wonders why Lelouch maintain his facilities outside of mainland Britannia. But Milly assured Nina that everything is fine.

Nina turns and looks over at the snoring Milly. Today is the day that they will head back to the mainland. Nina decides to get ready first because even for a seventeen hour flight, Milly has to look gorgeous. On the flight Nina and Cecile continue their work on Lelouch's new knightmares. They mostly work on incorporating Nina's new additions to the core luminous.

Cecile is already beginning to think about the next generation of knightmares. She wonders if it is because she is working for Lelouch or the addition of Nina to the team. The two of them have already begun to improve the power system. Cecile knows that they have something that no one else will think of for years. When Nina's grandparents and parents died in a failed experiment, everyone else turned their back on their ideas. But the girl kept their memory and work alive and now she is here working on those same theories. With the right facilities and people it will most likely be accomplished in a few years.

**

* * *

**

Thursday, December 23, 2015

Naoto is back in Japan from China. He is looking over the movement of the Burai Kais. A few shipments have already been sent to China for testing. A few others have been sold to foreign interests. Naoto notices that a few of those foreign interests happen to have Britannian names. He closes his eyes as he holds the list. Why do these names seem so familiar? Why would Britannians be buying Burai Kais with Glasgow and Sutherlands available? Naoto realizes why the names are so familiar. They are his father's business partners. Naoto wonders what it means.

**

* * *

**

Saturday, December 25, 2015

After informing the girls of the new arrangements, Lelouch gets back to work. Later today the Titans and Europas will arrive. In a few days the Knights of the Round will be outfitted with all new knightmares. At the Pendragon New Year's Eve Festival the Knights of the Round and their new knightmares will be revealed to the world. It will be the first time that any of Lelouch's knightmares have been publicly demonstrated. Also the emperor will be unveiling the newest members of the Knights of the Round.

Lelouch has been feeling uneasy since Kallen left. There is no one he can talk to about it other than technicians. He doesn't want to contact Kallen because she is nervous enough about her meeting with her parents. Lelouch decides to try something. He walks over to a mirror. He isn't even sure if what he is about to do is possible. It is said that a man should never know too much about his own future. He activates his second geass as he looks at himself in the mirror. It has evolved to the next level. He can control it at times, but he usually needs to wear contacts over both his eyes.

What he sees make him take a few steps back. He runs to the Gloucester hangar. Anya is there with a few technicians going over some simulations.

He yells out, "Prepare me a Gloucester with everything."

The technicians stare at him. "Your highness, we can't"

Lelouch snarls at them. "Do it now!"

They get to work. Anya tells them to get one ready for her as well. When they are done, Lelouch hands them a paper that absolves them of releasing a knightmare with its full armament in mainland Britannia. This paper is the only thing that will keep them alive. That and Lelouch surviving whatever he is going to do. Lelouch and Anya head north toward the Monterrey-Salinas International Airport. It is part of the Fort Ord Military Complex.

* * *

Kallen and the kids are waiting for her parents to arrive. She brought them along to ease her nervousness. This is the day she has chosen to tell her parents about her impending marriage to Lelouch. She spent most of the ride trying to convince the twins not to call her parents, grandfather and grandmother. They spent the morning shopping and have been here for a few minutes. Kallen can see her parents' jet landing.

"Let's go guys. Remember what I said."

They are a good distance away from the jet. Kallen begins to hear a buzzing noise in the distance. It takes her a few moments to realize what it is.

"Evelyn, take the twins back into the building."

As they turn all hell breaks loose. Her parents' jet explodes. Kallen lets out a yell and begins to run for the wreckage, but Evelyn and the twins grab her.

Castor begins to cry, "Sister Kallen don't leave us."

Kallen falls to the ground. She looks over at the kids. She can't leave them alone. She sees several knightmares behind the wreckage of her parents' jet.

"We have to run guys."

Now she wishes that Lelouch would have come with her.

* * *

Author's note: Since Lelouch knows the truth about geass; he uses them in everyday situations. At school he just stands or sits there and watches people's future movements. He also uses his third geass to make people daydream or at least that is what they believe is happening. Since geass is reflective, Lelouch is able to see his future movements by looking in the mirror. His geasses have advanced to their final stage. This makes Lelouch a pretty scary guy. Only the strong willed can even resist his first geass for a moment. With his second geass he can see deep into someone's future. Allowing him to plan for almost anything. With his third geass he can actually pull someone's fears or desires from their mind and make them see that. He can also use this to screw with someone's mind so that they become a permanent vegetable.

This is a list of the current Knights of the Round. Gino will get there eventually. I want to fill all the spots so if anyone has any ideas for names send me a message or review. The list will be finalized in a few chapters.

**Knights of the Round at the moment and their sixth generation knightmares. **  
One: Bismarck Waldstein, Titan Mk II  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Io  
Three: Gino Weinberg (eventually) Europa  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Io  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Gloucester  
Six:  
Seven:  
Eight:  
Nine: Nonette Enngream, Europa Attack  
Ten: Luciano Bradley, Titan Mk I  
Eleven:  
Twelve: Monica Kruszewski, Gloucester


	38. Traitorous knightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This is what happens when my internet goes down for most of the day. You get two chapters. With third and fourth one already thougt up in my head.

* * *

Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack.

Sun Tzu

...

Betrayal is worse when the person digging the knife into your back is the person guarding your back.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

...

What is a traitor? Someone you trusted with your life that has turned against you. Is that person still a traitor if there is no trust? Or are they simply someone looking for a different path.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

* * *

Kallen feels like running out there to see if her parents are still alive, but stops herself because her first priority has to be the kids. She looks over at the wreckage and sees several knightmares coming through it. At first they kind of hang around, and then come towards them. Kallen gasps because the knightmares are Burai Kais. Behind them are several Glasgows and Sutherlands.

"We have to run guys."

The kids nod but don't move. Kallen picks up Castor. Then Pollux points up.

"Look it's sister Cornelia's Mobster."

Kallen turns around and sees two Gloucesters. It can't be Cornelia. It must be…

"It's Lulu."

The kids cheer because their big brother is here to save them. Lelouch tells Anya to stay back. He begins to swing the Gloucester's lance. He is a little surprised to see Burai Kais here of all places. He activates his geasses to finish this quickly. He lets them flare out of control.

Kallen can feel that Lelouch's geasses are going out of control. Castor hands her a radio that Lelouch gave him. She calls him and hopes he picks up. He attacks the Burai Kais.

"Lulu, please stop. You're going crazy."

He doesn't respond immediately so Kallen calls him again.

"Lulu, we're safe. Please stop."

Lelouch yells, "I'll stop when they're all dead!"

Kallen begins to tear up. "Lulu, my parents are dead."

He stops for a moment before responding, "I know. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner. Just stay out of the way. Let me handle this."

Lelouch turns his geass off. It is a little dangerous with the kids, Anya, and civilians in the way.

Despite having been attacking for a few minutes, he notices that he only damaged two Burai Kais. When the others recover from the effects of his geass, they turn to attack him. There are also several Glasgows and Sutherlands. Whoever is responsible for this must be controlling Fort Ord. Lelouch rushes the Burai Kais. They are the most dangerous of the opposing knightmares. As Lelouch rushes them, he spins his lance around, but instead of standing and attacking they back off. They appear to be leading him back towards the other knightmares. They have to know that anyone piloting a Gloucester would finish them off with very little effort. Lelouch decides to screw convention and charges right in. He has to finish off the Burai Kais. After that the Glasgows and the Sutherlands should fall with no problem.

"Anya, let's move."

Lelouch flings himself at the Burai Kais. They continue to pull back. Lelouch stops at the wreckage hoping to see a sign of Kallen's parents. At the edge he sees what has to be a few servants. They are pulling bodies out of the wreckage. With Lelouch distracted, two Burai Kais charge at him. He smiles when he sees this and lifts his lance to block the attack.

He screams at them, "So you bastards have decided to stop running."

Lelouch pushes them away from the wreckage. Anya comes in and blasts one of the Burai Kais at point blank range. Lelouch takes the other one down with his lance.

"Anya, make sure you don't kill the pilots. We have to question them about this after we defeat them."

They keep running away from Lelouch and Anya. He wonders why. He also notices that there is very little activity at the airport or base. In the distance Lelouch sees several tanks and pieces of artillery forming. Yes whoever is in command of the base was in on this. Now he sees infantry forming behind all the machinery. There is no time to think because several Glasgows are rushing at him. Lelouch flings his lance at them damaging a few of them. He pulls out his M.V.S.

"Let's see these bastards handle this."

Lelouch manages to take down a few before the numbers game overtakes him. Still they don't seem to be fighting him. He realizes that they are taking him away from Kallen and the kids and towards those tanks.

Lelouch smiles, "Well let's give them what they want."

He jumps at the nearest tank and impales it with his M.V.S. He slices it in half. He pulls back as the infantry begin to fire upon him. Rifle fire can't take down a knightmare, but it can hit a vital system slowly him down. As Lelouch backs off several Glasgows engage him. He manages to dodge a few attacks. One of the Glasgows fires a slash harken at him. Lelouch catches it and pulls the smaller knightmare towards him. He manages to place it in front of him just as several tanks fire at him. They hit the Glasgow shattering it to pieces.

"Well that answers that question."

Lelouch pulls back. He has several choices. Neither of them are any good. He notices that Anya is helping the survivors of the explosion back. Lelouch decides that even if he declares himself that his opponents will not stop. He decides to attack again. He can see several Glasgows climbing several buildings with anti-knightmare rifles. He can dodge pretty much any attack but the smaller fights will wear on him and the Gloucester.

Kallen notices that Lelouch keeps attacking and pulling back. From this distance she can't see exactly what is going on, but she knows that Lelouch won't be able to keep going. Eventually the numbers will get to him. She takes Castor's binoculars. She can see tanks, artillery, and infantry. She also sees Glasgows on the roof with anti-knightmare rifles. She worries that Lelouch won't be able to hold up for much longer. Kallen sits down. She wonders if there is anyone nearby that can help. It will take almost and hour for her to go down and get a Gloucester. Why didn't Lelouch bring another up with him?

"Sister Kallen, something is wrong with my talkie walkie."

Kallen looks over at Castor and notices that there is a cracking noise coming from the radio. She sees Lelouch fighting off another group of Glasgows. Anya is done helping the survivors and goes over to help Lelouch. The radio continues to make cracking noises and then comes alive with a familiar voice.

"Look out bitches because Nunnally is here."

The twins run to the door. A few seconds later the Europa Attack lands atop a building crushing one the sniper Glasgows. Nunnally unloads on everybody below. They turn to fire on her, but she leaps off the building over to Lelouch. Kallen sees the Titans and the Europa land. They engage the 'rebelling' knightmares. Despite their technological advantage they are outnumbered.

This, however, gives Lelouch the chance to pull back for a moment. He only gets a few seconds rest because several Sutherlands charge at him. The Gloucester was supposed to be a Sutherland modified for knightmare to knightmare combat, but Lelouch changed that. Lelouch dodges their attack. At least there aren't any Ios out here because that would be ironic.

Kallen looks on as Lelouch dodges several Sutherland attacks. With the Titans and Europas out there, Kallen wishes they would have brought the Callisto along as well. But it is staying back in Area 10 and will be upgraded and will probably be given to Anya. Still Kallen wishes it was here. Something lands in front of the building they are taking shelter in. Kallen is shocked when she sees a red knightmare out there.

"No way, it can't be."

* * *

Nonette is enjoying herself in the Knight's lounge. All the Knights of the Round are there. As are the new member candidates and the knights to several royal family members. She is particularly enjoying her break from Gino. How Lelouch and the emperor convinced her to take the lanky blonde boy as her apprentice, she will never know? As if on cue Gino bursts into the room holding a laptop. Nonette groans and tries to duck so Gino doesn't see her, but it is too late.

"Lady Enngream, look at this."

Gino sets his laptop up so that Nonette can see the screen. Nonette casually glances over and sees a knightmare battle. She sees Glasgows on there and scowls. She is about to scold Gino and turn away when something catches her eye.

"Is that a Burai?" she asks. Then she realizes what they are, "No, those are Burai Kais. Where is this taking place?"

Before Gino can answer her, the television program they were all watching is interrupted by a news flash. Some kind of commotion has shut down the Monterrey-Salinas International Airport, and the Fort Ord garrison has been called out. Nonette wonder what could be happening so close to Lelouch's Gloucester factory. Lelouch's weddings were taking place soon. She wonders if this has anything to do with it. Did on of the girls' parents get upset and begin some sort of minor rebellion.

Nonette yells out, "Monica, come over here."

The Knight of Twelve comes over to Nonette slowly. She is watching the news flash.

"What is it Lady Enngream?"

"Hack into the Fort Ord security cameras so we can see what is going on."

Monica takes Gino's computer and begins to type away. In a few seconds she has hacked into the Fort Ord and airport security system. Monica begins to look over the camera angles.

"Let me see. Where is that action taking place? Ah here it is at the private airport."

Monica brings up the camera from the private airport. The angle is too distant. Nonette grimaces. She wonders when this all started.

"Can you check the previous footage?"

Monica smiles and begins to type away.

"Here we are. This is about an hour ago."

They see Kallen and the little vi Britannias standing there as a jet lands. As the passengers begin to disembark, the jet explodes. Several knightmares appear in the background. The knightmares head straight for Kallen and the kids, but two Gloucesters stop them. Nonette nods. That must be Lelouch and that Alstriem girl. Nonette feels Gino tapping her on the shoulder. She turns around to face him. All the televisions in the lounge have some angle of the battle, but soon they all focus a black knightmare.

Luciano spits out his drink, "What the fuck is that? It isn't the Titan or the Europa."

Bismarck grunts a little Merlin picks his phone up to call Schniezel. Gino shakes his head in disbelief at what he is seeing. He glances back his laptop which Monica has brought back to the present. A red knightmare appears right in front of the camera. Someone disembarks it, and minutes later Kallen boards it.

Gino gasps as the red knightmare get involved, "That isn't the Callisto. He can't have. There is no way they can be finished."

They are look at Gino. There is one more surprise for the Knights of the Round and the rest of the world. Kannon bursts into Schniezel's office. This causes Schniezel to frown because his assistant knows better. Rather than saying anything Kannon turns on the television. When Schniezel sees what is on, his eyes get large. It is one of the few times that he is left speechless. Throughout Pendragon members of the royal family are told to turn the televisions on.

Faramond begins to cheer Lelouch on.

"Look father. That's uncle Lelouch. I know it is."

Odysseus could not deny that the young man switching from the Gloucester to that black knightmare look a lot like Lelouch.

* * *

For some reason Naoto's plane is rerouted north to San Francisco. He supposes that it is a good thing that it wasn't sent to Los Angeles or even worse Las Vegas. He was able to transfer his reservations to this airport. He hopes that he doesn't get lost driving south. He spoke to his father a few days ago. His parents were meeting with Kallen and asked him to come. Of course they are meeting here because this is where Kallen is. He remembers something that Lelouch told him a month ago. Naoto's life was a wedding present for Kallen. Was he telling the truth or just trying to get under Naoto's skin? Naoto approaches the car rental counter.

"You have a reservation for James Naoto Stadtfeld."

The clerk gives him a bit of an odd look, shrugs, and pulls out the keys to a car. Naoto receives instructions and a map of the area. Minutes later Naoto begins his trip south. He wonders what the commotion is down there. As he gets close he sees lots of action in the air.

* * *

Nunnally picks up the lance that her brother threw. "Time to kick some ass."

Nunnally charges several Glasgows. Despite being less advanced the Glasgow has a speed advantage over most any knightmare. Even so Nunnally attacks them. She manages to hit a few, but the rest pull back. She sees that Lelouch's Gloucester has suffered major damage. He has been out here for the better part of an hour fighting. Nunnally knows that her brother is stubborn but still he is now a liability.

"Big brother, maybe you should go back and check on Kallen."

Lelouch slides his Gloucester back a bit. He tosses the MVS at Nunnally. He notices that Anya is now attacking with everything she has. Nunnally attacks with the MVS now. She is having little trouble finishing off the Glasgows. Someone screams out on an open channel.

"Look out below."

Lelouch blinks, "Cecile, what the …"

A black knightmare with silver and gold trim lands besides Lelouch's Gloucester.

"Hello your highness. I know it's a little late but happy birthday."

Cecile opens the hatch of her knightmare as Lelouch does the same. They trade places.

"There is a new flight suit in there for you, your highness. Well I let you get back to work."

Cecile takes the worn out Gloucester away from the battle. Lelouch smiles as the systems of his new knightmare begin to adapt to him. He connects all the adapters.

"Well let's see what this bastard can do."

A Burai Kai comes flying at him firing its assault rifle. Lelouch simply raises the knightmare's arm and activates the blaze luminous. The bullets fall harmlessly to the ground. The Burai Kai turns and begins to run away. Lelouch chases after it and leaps into the air. In midair he pulls out his MVS and slices down. Several Sutherlands come at him. At least these guys are smart enough to attack at the same time rather than to do that stupid circle attack thing. It doesn't matter either way. He is one of the world's best knightmare pilots and is in the world's best knightmare

"Bring it on you bastards."

* * *

Kallen and the kids stand there as a red knightmare lands in front of them. They tentatively move towards the door as a voice calls out from above.

"Um Kallen, are you there?"

The twins yell, "It's Mina. Mina's here."

Sure enough the skinny glass wearing girl comes inside. The kids rush at her. She pats them on the head. Kids, well people in general, aren't her specialty.

"Oh there you are. Well I brought your knightmare. Here you have to put this on. It helps you synchronize."

Kallen takes the red flight suit. "Cover your eyes guys."

The twins cover their eyes as Kallen begins to change into the pilot suit. Kallen looks over at the kids.

"What about them?"

Nina shakes her head. "Don't worry about them. Dr. Cecile is coming to pick us up after she drops off Lelouch's knightmare."

Kallen smiles, "Thanks Nina."

Kallen knows that it must have been hard for Nina just to drop down. Kallen boards her knightmare. The controls are similar to the Callisto only it has more power. The radiant wave surger has been strengthen and perfected. Kallen starts up her knightmare. As it begins the start up process she scans the battlefield. Lelouch has his new knightmare. She can see the Gloucester he was in heading back. She wonders where Milly is at. During their conference call with Milly, Kallen remembers something about a surprise.

Despite their enormous technological advantage, they are still outnumbered. Kallen moves forward to even the odds. She heads straight for Lelouch who is battling five Sutherlands.

"Take this you bastards."

Kallen fires her radiant wave and fries a Sutherland. Lelouch is surprised to see Kallen out so fast.

"Ka-Kallen."

"Hey Lulu."

Lelouch smiles and calls out, "Anya, Jeremiah, Villetta, Kewell, Nunnally pull back."

Nunnally does as he asks but she doesn't like it.

"Ah man it was just beginning to get good."

Jeremiah asks, "What do we do now, your highness?"

Lelouch grins, "You guys stay back and let us handle it."

Lelouch pulls out his VARIS rifle as several Burai Kais charge his position. Kallen prepares her radiant wave surger.

"Ladies first."

Kallen gets serious and charges up.

"Take! This!"

She follows the radiant blast and attacks with her fork knife. Lelouch blasts a few Burai Kais with his VARIS rifle and follows Kallen forward. After dispatch the Burai Kais, Lelouch continues forward. Still the enemy refuses to engage them staying in their defensive positions.

"Kallen, I have an idea. Fire you radiant wave as a shield in front of us."

Kallen does as Lelouch orders. He stands behind her. He transfers extra power to his blaze luminous system.

"Well let's see if this works."

Lelouch leaps over Kallen and fires with his wrist cannons. He incinerates a tank. He pulls out his MVS and destroys another. The infantry is firing away, but his blaze luminous is doing its job. Lelouch raises his wrist cannon and blasts a piece of artillery. With that the infantry makes a run for it. Lelouch thinks that they are finished, but then he sees fighter jets heading for them.

"Jeremiah, I need you guys to start picking up any survivors. We need to question them. Kallen, provide cover for them while I finish these guys off."

Lelouch continues to slice through Glasgows and Sutherlands.

"As if these bastards are any match for my Mordred."

Kallen comes up besides him.

"I'll show these guys the power of my Guinevere."

The fighters are almost there. Lelouch still hasn't thought of what to do about them. He could fire his VARIS rifle at them. Kallen could fire her radiant wave. They can also leap up in the air and bring them down with their slash harkens. As Lelouch thinks of a solution, Milly calls out over an open channel.

"Here I come, Lelouch my love."

Lelouch laughs a little at Milly's comment.

* * *

Nina realized almost immediately that one the primary problems with knightmares is the issue of power. The technology of powering knightmares has not kept up with the advances in the knightmares themselves. Lloyd and Cecile took care of this in part by placing sakuradite throughout the frame of the knightmare, but that can only do so much. It is limited by sakuradite. One day the world's supply of sakuradite will end, and the world will be left without its main energy source. There are many in Britannia that have advocated that a search for a new power source begin, but they are the minority. Even though Britannia is one of the many nations that depend on sakuradite for almost all its power needs.

Nina's grandparents and parents were in that minority. She remembers the first time she encountered her grandfather's equation, E=mc2. Very few people understand the ramifications of this theory. Nina knows that she is barely beginning to grasp the concept herself. There are also those that advocate natural power sources such as wind and solar power. While still planning on proving her grandfather and father right, Nina decided to help Cecile, Lelouch, and especially Milly on solving the knightmare power problem. Her first solution was to affix smallish solar panels to the frame of a knightmare. This worked to a point, but the panels could be damaged in a battle as a result would be useless.

Nina solved this problem make having smaller panels placed throughout the knightmare. Along with small wind powered turbines that proved useful since knightmares are constantly in motion therefore providing wind for the turbines. These were just stop gaps until longer lasting energy fillers were produced. Nina has also been working on something else for several months, and now is the time to see if it will work. She looks up at the transport carrying the knightmares as it makes one more pass.

* * *

Milly looks down at the battle and sees several fighter jets take to the air. She finishes putting on her new flight suit.

"Well that's my cue. Time to show them what a pissed future princess can do."

* * *

Author's note: The title of the chapter is in reference to the 'rebellious' knightmares and Lelouch's knightmare which is named Mordred. It is not like Anya's Mordred. It is similar to what the Titan was. It is kind of like a bigger Lancelot with more slash harkens. It also incorporates ideas from Nina. Kallen's knightmare is called the Guinevere. It is exactly like the Guren only with more slash harkens.

This may be a misconception on my part, but I'm pretty sure that power was the major issue in keeping knightmares from being able to fly early on. Amongst other creative issues. The inclusion of Lelouch and Nina into the technology race changes that. Kallen and Milly are also involved in this. This will also lead to the Knights of the Round getting custom knightmares earlier since they see the benefits.

The Titan Mk I and the Europa are the first knightmares that were made for Lelouch and Milly. The Titan Mk II and Europa Attack are two completely different knightmares. They are modified and more powerful version of their predecessors. There is only one Callisto because the radiation wave surger is expensive and volatile. By now Rakshata has managed to perfect the technology. The Callisto is not going to be given to a Knight of the Round since it is a unique concept. It will probably be given to Anya until she gets her own custom knightmare.

I have a poll on my profile about what story I should do next. The descriptions of the stories are also on my profile. So check it out.

**Mordred  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 5.09 meters  
**Weight:** 7.11 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive,Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Blaze Luminous  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere Sensor  
Landspinner Propulsion System  
Color: black with light silver and gold trim

**Armament  
**2x shoulder Slash Harkens  
2x chest mounted slash harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens  
2x Maser Vibration Sword  
VARIS rifle  
2x wrist mounted cannons  
Multiplex chaos mines

**Guinevere  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.51 meters  
**Weight:** 7.51 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection system  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Color: red

**Armament  
**Right arm-inbuilt Radiation Wave unit  
2x chest mounted Slash Harkens  
2x rotating hip mounted slash harkens  
Left-arm mounted custom Hand Gun  
Left handheld Fork knife

**Lelouch's Gloucester  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 5.52 meters  
**Weight:** 7.63 metric tones  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**  
Design Features  
**Cockpit ejection system  
Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament  
**2x shoulder Slash Harkens  
2x hip slash harkens  
1x Assault Rifle  
1x Jousting Lance  
2x Missile Launcher  
2x Maser Vibration Sword

**Optional Armament  
**1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle  
1x Giant Cannon  
Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)

**Burai Kai  
****characteristics  
****Height:** 4.37 meters  
**Weight:** 7.48 metric tones  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

**Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament  
**2x Chest-mounted Slash Harkens  
1x Katen Yaibatou (lit. "Revolving Blade Sword")  
2x Hand-mounted Protectors ((Shield-like bracers)  
1x Torso-mounted Antipersonnel Machine Gun

**Optional Armaments  
**1x Assault Rifle


	39. Queens of air and darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them far apart.

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Confucius

* * *

Nina crosses her fingers and closes her eyes as Milly's knightmare leaves the transport plane. Pollux looks over at her.

"What's wrong, Mina?"

Nina looks over Pollux. "It's Milly. She is using her new knightmare. I made some changes to it."

"So, big brother Lulu and sister Milly says yous a genius."

Nina smiles, "They say that."

Castor nods in agreement, "That's why they sends you to work with Aunt Cecile."

Nina is still smiling as she looks up. Milly waits for her knightmare to finish synchronizing with her. She closes her eyes and grabs the controls.

"Here we go."

Milly jumps out of the transport plane.

"Now feel the power of my Morgause."

Milly begins to activate the new power systems that Nina installed.

* * *

Gino is staring at the television.

"I don't fucking believe it."

They all look at him.

"What I can't cuss."

Luciano shrugs his shoulders.

Gino continues, "Who would have thought that the first person ever to pilot a knightmare with an integrated flight system would be Milly Ashford."

Luciano grunts, "So that hot blonde is in that knightmare."

They all turn back towards the television. Bismarck nods. So this is the power of the next generation of knightmares. The majority of the world is barely creating fifth generation knightmare, but here is visible proof that someone is well beyond that. Bismarck prepares to head over to the scene of the battle.

Schniezel is glued to the television. He can't believe that Lelouch did it. He created a knightmare with an integrated flight system capable of sustained flight. That isn't even the worst of it. The fact that he was creating Gloucesters for the Knights of the Round and even giving them his old knightmares now seems like a slap in the face. Those knightmares were yesterday's news. The future is in front of them.

"Kannon, I think we need to hurry up production of the Gawain and Lancelot."

"Yes your highness."

Schniezel smiles, "Looks like you did it again little brother."

* * *

Near the airport and base various amateur cameramen and women are filming the battle. A few are even taking the risk of getting closer to the action. All over the world people are watching the battle on the internet. Some in China and the EU view it as a sign that Britannia is crumbling from within. Others see it for what it is; a minor incident that is showing the true power of Britannia.

Milly allows her knightmare to fall for a bit before she turns on the flight system. She pulls out the MVS and attacks the first fighter. Milly brings the Morgause up to the air and straightens it out. The other fighters go around her. Milly fires her slash harkens and takes them out. Lelouch smiles as Milly is taking out fighters in the air. At the same time he and Kallen are taking out the remaining Glasgows and Sutherlands. Lelouch thought about leaping up and taking out a few fighters himself, but it appears as if Milly is doing fine on her own. Milly finally lands. She doesn't want to push her luck or knightmare. It seems as if Lelouch and Kallen have finished of the resistance on the ground.

Lelouch sees a mechanical infantry transport drives over. An elderly man steps out and begins to speak over a speaker.

"This is Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, commander of the forces of California. You will stop and desist this instant."

Lelouch knows this elderly man. He attended school with his grandson, Omar Bradley III. Lelouch doesn't have time to deal with this crap. He takes control of all the speaker systems on his knightmares.

"This is Lelouch vi Britannia. As of this moment I am in control of this base. Martial law will go into effect in the surrounding communities. I order this by my name."

Lelouch points his MVS at the general. Lelouch opens the cockpit to the Mordred. He glares down at the general. Several infantrymen come over as does Kallen in the Guinevere. Lelouch contacts Jeremiah.

"Have you rounded up the knightmare pilots yet?"

"Yes your highness."Very well."

As Lelouch disembarks his knightmare, several infantrymen come over to him. He smiles and removes his contacts.

"Obey my every command."

The soldiers stop for a moment.

"Yes your majesty."

Lelouch smiles as he begins to give instructions. Within minutes all activity in the base comes to a halt. Lelouch has the men divided up into several different groups. Those that he believes know something; he interrogates himself. Those he believes know very little; he allows Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta to interrogate.

* * *

Naoto has reached the city limits of Marina, a town just northeast of Monterrey. He notices several military checkpoints in both directions. He can't turn back now. The checkpoints must a precaution because of the base. For a few minutes there were reports of some commotion going on at the base, but those have died down. Naoto turns to enter the airport. It appears as if they are turning everyone away. Naoto sighs. He has been attempting to get a hold of his father during the drive south, but was unable to. He drives up to the airport checkpoint expecting to get turned away like everyone else.

The guard looks at him and questions him in a manner that says he would rather be at home.

"Name?"

Naoto stutters as he pulls out his ID, "James Naoto Stadtfeld."

The guard looks at his ID. Just as it appears that he is going to turn Naoto away, his expression changes.

"Lieutenant, I think I have something here."

The lieutenant Naoto assumes comes over. The two soldiers are discussing something.

"Stadtfeld huh. I think you better come with us, Mr. Stadtfeld."

They signal for Naoto to drive into the airport. He can see others being turned away. They don't look to happy. Someone, an elderly man most likely a noble, steps out of his vehicle. He begins to berate the soldiers who are attempting to turn him away. That is until the same lieutenant that let Naoto in goes over and hits him with the butt of a rifle. They drag the man away. Naoto continues to drive into the airport. There are several more checkpoints inside. He assumes that it is going to be a long night.

* * *

Lelouch is doing his interrogations when he receives a few visitors. Lelouch looks the two men over. A woman is also with them, but she is standing looking over the battle zone. His eyes narrow when he realizes what they are.

"How can I help you?"

"Ah you highness, it is us who are here to help you. We are taking over this investigation as agents of his majesty the emperor."

"Did my father send you?"

"Not specifically but we have authority to move as we see fit."

"Not here you don't."

"Excuse me."

Lelouch glares at them. "I am in charge of this base and the surrounding areas until an order from MY father arrives. Until that moment you are intruding."

Lelouch begins to walk away.

"Your highness, I don't think you understand. We are O.S.I. We are agents that answer only to his majesty. So you see."

Lelouch stops, "Let me ask you a question. Have you ever killed a man?"

The man who has been talking with Lelouch clears his throat.

"In service to my emperor I have done many unsavory things. We all have."

Lelouch smiles, "The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed. Don't you agree?"

"Well you highness we don't have time for philosophy. Rest assured we will capture those responsible for this."

Lelouch pulls out a gun and points at the man. "Since you don't have orders to be here, I assume that no one knows you are here."

The two men grit their teeth. "Why you little."

The woman slides towards Lelouch who pulls out another gun.

"You can try to get me, but I should warn you that I am considered one of the best marksmen to ever attend West Point, either division."

"That will be quite enough."

They all turn around to face Bismarck Waldstein. The three OSI agents bow before Bismarck since he outranks them.

"Forgive us Lord Bismarck. We assumed that his majesty wanted us to take control of the situation."

"Yes that is understandable, but from now on you will assist his highness with anything he requires."

"Yes sir."

The three OSI agents stand behind Bismarck who bows towards Lelouch.

"Is there anything you need from us, your highness?"

Lelouch stands there holding his guns.

"At the moment no."

Bismarck clears his throat.

"Must you always resort to violence when things don't go your way?"

Lelouch smirks, "But things always go my way," He puts his guns away, "I have found that it is better to act now and ask questions later."

"That is interesting. What if there is no one left to question?"

"Ha, there is always someone left to question," Lelouch flares his third geass at the OSI agents and repeats himself as he walks away, "There is always someone left to question."

Despite the fact that it is still early in the evening everybody is tried. Jeremiah has managed to gain control of the base. The general has sulked back to his office, but after Lelouch questioned him. Milly and Nunnally are with the kids. Cecile and Nina were able to get everyone something to eat. Kallen and Anya were helping with the interrogations but are now resting with everyone else. Kewell comes over to Lelouch.

"Yes Lord Soresi."

"Your highness perhaps you should get some rest. We can handle it for a while."

Lelouch looks over at him. Unlike the OSI agents, Kewell is actually worried about Lelouch's health. Lelouch nods and joins everyone else. Evelyn sits him down next to her and begins to get his food out of the bag as if he were a child. She puts his straw in his drink. Lelouch relaxes for a moment and eats quickly because there is still much to be done.

* * *

Naoto is taken to what appears to the scene of a battle. He sees several destroyed Burai Kais as well lots of Glasgows and Sutherlands. He then freezes in place when he sees three completely new knightmares. They seem like nothing he has ever seen. Their lines are so clean and polished. From a distance they appear to be of a solid color, but now up close he can see the silver and gold trim. He sees Kallen sitting down with some kids. She is wearing a red knightmare flight suit. Naoto looks over as they are all eating. He sees one the kids leaning into a blonde girl wearing a white flight suit.

In the center is the little Brit bastard. Naoto also sees that little Britannian girl that wanted to fight him last year. A skinny girl with glasses is staring at the blonde girl intensely. Two women that appear to be around Naoto's age are fawning over the little Britannian bastard. The silver haired on is wearing violet knightmare flight suit. She is standing behind him as if protecting him. The blue haired one is making sure he eats all his food. Neither of them seems to be doing it in a motherly way. More like lovers making sure that the other is being taken care of.

A little black haired girl is staring at Naoto. She reminds him of the little Britannian bastard. Although he is not so little anymore, he is still a Britannian bastard. She nudges the bastard. He looks up and sees Naoto. He nudges Kallen and signals for her to go over. Kallen glares at Naoto for a moment. The bastard nudges her again. Finally Kallen gets up and goes over to Naoto.

"What do you want?"

Naoto sighs, "I'm glad you're safe. Where are mom and dad?"

Kallen glares at Naoto, "They're dead. Your friends killed them."

"Kallen, I didn't have anything to do with this."

She points over to a Burai Kai, "But Japan did, and you are still proud to consider your self Japanese."

Naoto grimaces a little, "Have you forgotten that you are half Japanese as well?"

Kallen shakes her head, "I told you once before that I belong to neither Japan nor Britannia," Kallen sighs, "I'm sorry Naoto, but I have lots of work to do. I don't know if I'll ever want to see you again."

Kallen walks away. Naoto reaches out for her, but is stopped by a little boy.

"I think you should leave sister Kallen alone."

Naoto tries to go around the little boy, but the other little boy gets in his way. Now the little girl comes between them. The three of them glare up at Naoto.

Kallen calls out to them. "Come on guys, we have to go."

The kids follow after Kallen. After standing there for a few moments Naoto decides to leave.

* * *

Lelouch watches as the clean up crew finishes their job. His interrogations told him much of what he wants to know. He is going to have a few busy days. He knows that he will have to tell Kallen about what he discovered. Lelouch has many things to deal with at the moment. Lelouch leaves everything in the capable hands of Bismarck after he is done with all his interrogations.

When everything is settled, they head down to Lelouch's Gloucester factory in the Santa Lucia Mountains. Despite the fact that everyone has a room, they all sleep huddled up in the knightmare hangar just in case they need to get to a knightmare quickly. The Knights of the Round's Gloucesters are shipped over to Bismarck. The Titans and Europas also stay with him. After a few uneasy minutes everyone falls asleep.

Jeremiah is having a difficult time falling asleep. It isn't the children's safety he is worried. It is their sanity. He saw the state of the men the prince interrogated. Most of them seem insane after he was done with them. The ones that Miss well now Lady Stadtfeld interrogated well much the same. The many of ones that Lieutenant Alstriem interrogated died because of blood loss.

Jeremiah thought about the prince. Over the years their relationship has changed. At first Jeremiah saw himself as sort of a knight to the prince. Once the prince went to West Point, Jeremiah became more of an advisor. As the years progressed, Jeremiah becomes less of an advisor and more subordinate. The only thing that separated him from any other number of colonels in the military is the fact that the prince confides in him.

Since Jeremiah can't sleep, he decides to search for any information on the two factions that came up during the interrogations, the Purist and Pureblood. In reality they were very similar. The Purist faction wants only Britannians in the military. The burgeoning honorary Britannian system is offensive to them. Someone like Empress Marianne is admired by them because she shows the greatness of even common Britannians. Of course someone like Prince Lelouch disturbed them a little because of his attitude towards numbers. While not public about it, the prince endorses the honorary Britannian system and has begun to use numbers in his forces.

The Pureblood faction is slightly different. They believe that only Britannians of noble blood should be lead or pilot knightmares. While they have changed the latter to believing that only noble should pilot newer knightmares. People like Prince Lelouch and Lady Stadtfeld were slightly abhorrent to them. They believed that in a few generations if mixed with noble blood those bloodlines would be corrected. They certainly would not agree to a marriage between the prince and his girlfriend.

Jeremiah wonders if that is what it is all about. Too bad for the foolish factions that the marriage has been decreed by the emperor. No doubt certain people wanted to control the great Stadtfeld fortune. Since Kallen is her father's legal heir, that meant that the prince would see be in control of the great Stadtfeld fortune. Jeremiah wonders what the prince's next move will be. Jeremiah has to admit that without the new knightmares the battle at the airport would have been more difficult. Jeremiah begins to contemplate his next move.

* * *

Lelouch didn't want to do it, but he just couldn't resist the urge. He wakes up early in the morning and goes over to a computer. He begins to look up the vast property and wealth of Earl Stadtfeld. Lelouch eyes open wide at what he sees.

"Who knew that Kallen's dad was so filthy rich?"

In fact to simply call him rich is an understatement.

"What are you looking at, Lulu?"

Lelouch turns to face Kallen.

"Just doing some research."

Kallen looks at the screen.

"Is that all the stuff that daddy own?"

Lelouch simply nods.

Kallen kneels down beside him.

"Is that what you want?"

Lelouch begins to run his fingers through her hair.

"Of course not, I want you. I wouldn't care if you were poor."

Kallen sighs and leans up against Lelouch.

"I want to give away some of the money to less fortunate people."

"Of course it's your money now."

"Lelouch, I want to get married soon."

"I thought we were going to do the big wedding thing."

"What for?"

Lelouch sighs. Kallen is right. The only people that either of them want to be at their wedding are here in this room well minus the technicians.

"How about we get married on New Year's Eve?"

Kallen twists her mouth and thinks about it.

"I guess so, but I choose the guests."

Lelouch smiles, "As you wish," Lelouch pauses, "That leaves with a few days to take care of some business."

Lelouch proceeds to tell Kallen the results of his interrogations.

**

* * *

**

Tuesday, December 28, 2015, Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia

Today the will of Kallen's dad is read. He left everything to her with a reminder to take care of those that are as close as family. A not too subtle reminder to remember that she has a brother. The funeral for Kallen's parents took place the day before. The only people there are those that were at the airport, Schniezel, and Kannon. There were others at the small funeral service earlier in the morning, but the funeral is family and close friends only. After the funeral Nunnally and the kids head back to Aries Palace. Cecile and Anya go back to the knightmare factory. Milly begins to plan the wedding. Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell begin to set up a few meetings for Lelouch and Kallen.

The first meeting is that day at 1 pm with business partners of Kallen's father. The meeting is taking place in the Stadtfeld's modest Pendragon home. To Lelouch it is a sign that Lord Stadtfeld rarely spent time in Pendragon. It is about fifteen minutes after the agreed upon meeting time when Lelouch is informed that the guests have arrived. He knows that it is meant to be an affront towards Kallen. Lelouch smiles as the men converse outside. The entire house has been bugged by Jeremiah. The men are discussing how the will convince Kallen to turn everything over to them.

When they enter to the room and see Lelouch, there is a surprised look on their faces. Lelouch gestures for them to sit down.

"We are here to meet with the new Lady Stadtfeld."

Lelouch nods, "Lady Stadtfeld is not available at the moment."

"I see, and you are?"

Lelouch smiles because the two men do not recognize him on sight. These men must just be commoners. Lelouch doesn't have a problem with commoners. It is just that they don't always understand how things work when it comes to nobility and royalty. For them to believe that they would be allowed to control the business interests of a noble house is absurd especially one with connections to the royal family. It has happened in the past, but most nobles are weary of it now.

"I am Lelouch vi Britannia. In about three days the new Lady Stadtfeld will become Lady vi Britannia."

Well actually Kallen and Milly's new surnames and titles were still under negotiation, but it got the men thinking.

"But James, I mean Lord Stadtfeld never mentioned this."

Lelouch stops them. "It doesn't matter. By imperial decree," Lelouch tosses the official imperial decree at them as well as his marriage license at them, "Kallen Stadtfeld and myself are to be married in three days. Well we will have the wedding ceremony in three days. We are already legally married."

Lelouch got his mother and Bismarck to convince the emperor to declare Lelouch legally married to Kallen and Milly. This gave him legal control over all the Stadtfeld properties and wealth. Lelouch now had to use this wealth for the empire. Bismarck is happy because Lelouch is giving him the Titans and Europas as well as maser vibrations swords. His mother is happy because he is making the wedding public knowledge. The emperor is happy because he has gained new weapons for the greatness of the empire, Lelouch's knightmares and the Stadtfeld fortune. Lelouch's always finds it funny when people think that his father all powerful. While not far from the truth, it is an incomplete truth. No one is free from scrutiny and criticism. Lelouch believes he has given the men enough time to digest his marriage to Kallen. He hands them a few more papers and audio material.

They look Lelouch. "What are these?"

Lelouch smiles, "Confessions of the men that killed Lord Stadtfeld and his wife. They all implicate the two of you amongst other people."

Some of those other people are being handled by Jeremiah, Kewell, Villetta, and the recently arrived Irregulars. Nunnally and Anya wanted to go, but Lelouch said no.

"Your highness there must be some mistake. These people just want to see us suffer."

Lelouch gets up and turns around. He knows there can be no mistakes. No one can lie to him.

"I'm afraid not gentlemen and now for your punishment."

Lelouch removes his contacts and begins to give the two men a command. When finished he quickly places the contacts back on. Without his contacts he can't function very well because his geasses take over. The only people he can be around with the contacts off are Kallen, the kids, and for some reason Euphemia. After the two men exit the room, Kallen walks in.

"Lelouch, is it going to work?"

Lelouch smiles, "Of course, my Kalli. Let's go we still have a few more meetings to attend to."

**

* * *

**

Wednesday, December 29, 2015

The Purist and Pureblood factions were having their annual ideological discussion aka drinking party. Discussing the groups' slight differences was always better when drunk. They are discussing the rumored marriage between Prince Lelouch and the new Lady Stadtfeld. Normally the marriage between and eleventh prince and a countess would be of minor concern, but Lelouch has made a name for himself and the Stadtfelds are filthy rich.

As they continue their discussion Jeremiah and Kewell make their way into the room. Both have open invitations to join either group.

"Ah Gottwald, Soresi so the two of you have finally seen the light. Which of our groups are you planning on joining?"

Neither man answers.

"Not quite."

Lelouch wearing sunglasses steps between the two men.

"Oh shit the commoner prince."

This is one of the few comments said about Lelouch by the now drunk Purists and Purebloods.

The leader of the Purebloods snarls at Lelouch.

"You are not welcome here, your highness."

Lelouch smiles. "I go wherever the fuck I want to go."

"Oh really," The Pureblood leader pulls out a gun which is a little dangerous since everyone in the room is drinking.

Lelouch smile gest bigger. He answers with one word as he raises his sunglasses and stares right at the man.

"Die."

The man raises the gun to his head.

"Yes your majesty."

Lelouch is still smiling as the man kills himself.

"Well now that that is out of the way. What shall I do with the rest of you?"

The men cower as Lelouch approaches them. His eyes are glowing red from his geass.

**

* * *

**

Thursday, December 30, 2015

General Katase called Naoto in for a meeting. Naoto walks nervously into the general's office.

"_Sit down Captain."_

Naoto sighs and takes his seat.

"_Let me see where should I begin. First off I, personally, would like to pass on my condolences over the loss of your parents."_

"_Thank you general sir."_

"_Now let's begin. You were there, were you not? In_," the pauses as he reads the name, "Monterrey."

"_Yes general, I was on my way to meet with my family," _Naoto manages to get that out as his emotions overcome him a bit.

"_You saw the Burai Kai with you own eyes."_

"_Yes general, about six of them."_

"_I see. They were conveniently sold to Britannian nationals while you were in China."_

Naoto is stunned, _"Sir I don't have anything to do with," _Naoto pauses, _"General, I only help with the production of the Burai Kai. I don't have nay control where it goes after it is created."_

"_Yes Captain I know, but some would like to twist the truth."_

"_General I… my parents, my sister… I would never."_

General Katase raises his hand.

"_You traveled under the name of _James Naoto Stadtfeld."

Naoto could feel everything being pulled from under him.

"_Sir I only wanted to."_

The general stops him once more.

"_I know that James Naoto Stadtfeld and Kouzuki Naoto are the same man. A man that loves his family and country, Japan. But like I said, others may twist the facts," _the general pauses, "_Very well I am satisfied with the results of this interview. Please be more careful of your actions. Do not be so trustful."_

The general signals for Naoto to leave. As Naoto leaves, he decides to do some investigation. He goes to his office to have a talk with Corporal Futaba.

* * *

Lelouch and Kallen are on their way to take care of the last conspirator when he receives the call that informs him that Naoto is safe for the moment. Lelouch is not really sure about bringing Kallen for this last one, but he has no choice. The conspiracy to kill her dad was a multi-layered one. It involved several people with their own agenda, but they all wanted the same thing. Only none of them were going to get it.

_ "An announcement has been made by the imperial officials that the people responsible for the incident at Monterey-Salinas International Airport a few days ago have been arrested. The incident was responsible for the death of Earl James Stadtfeld amongst others. Alexander Huron and Kelvin Tudor are the main conspirators. This puts a damper the announced mar…"

George Stadtfeld turns the television off.

"You should have left it on. They were about to announce that I am marrying your granddaughter tomorrow."

George looks towards the door but can't see who is there.

"Who's there? How did you get in here?"

He begins to hit the button that calls his security team.

"You can stop hitting that button. Nobody is going to come to help you."

Lelouch steps into the room so that the elderly man can see him.

"Your highness, how may I help you?"

George fumbles for the key that unlocks his gun drawer, but Lelouch is upon him by that time. Lelouch takes away the keychain.

"Let me see, is it this one?"

Lelouch takes the key and unlocks the drawer pulling out the gun.

"How did you know?"

Lelouch lifts the sunglasses he is wearing and gives George a glimpse of his third geass. He slides the sunglasses back on and drops a small stack of papers on the desk.

"What are these?"

"Proof."

"Proof of what?"

"It is the evidence we used to capture those that killed your son."

"I see. What does this have to do with me?"

"You see I have been looking things over carefully for the past five days. Something just doesn't fit. How do business partners, the Japanese military, the Britannian military, the Purist and Pureblood factions know when and where to strike? Each one of these individually could pull something like this off with some work, but all of the together," Lelouch lick his lips, "No, they would someone to pull them all together."

Lelouch pulls a paper form the stack he set on the desk.

"And here it is. A week ago your son informed you of his intention of coming to Britannia and meet with his children. This e-mail confirms that. Everything is on here, time, location, even the hotel they were staying at."

George begins to tremble and shakes his head violently.

"No, no I love my son. I love my grandchildren. I would never."

"LIAR!"

George looks at the door and sees his granddaughter storming into the room. There is a bird like symbol in her eyes. Normally Lelouch and Kallen are immune to each other's geasses especially the one they gained from VV. But Kallen's rage is so great that Lelouch is slightly affected by her geass. Lelouch watches the old crumble to the ground. Lelouch stands up and puts his arms around Kallen. He begins to kiss the top of her head.

"Do it now Lulu."

Lelouch sighs and goes over to give the command that will cripple the old man emotionally for the rest of his miserable life. Kallen's geass will actually do that, but Lelouch's geass command will not let the man kill himself or order anyone to do it for him. Lelouch took care of the servant's already.

"Let's go Kalli. We need to see what insanity Milly came up with in three days."

Kallen walks off as her grandfather is left in the warped and dark vision of his worst fears.

* * *

Author's note: Okay so next chapter has the first big change from what I was originally going to do. There is also more drama in this story than I thought there would be. The action sequences are a lot easier to write than the drama sequences by the way. Lelouch and Kallen's wedding is coming up next chapter. Milly's wedding is coming up soon after that. Even though Milly planned Kallen's wedding, it will be kept simple. I have a few ideas, but as always I will take suggestions. The next chapter also has a surprise. If anyone can figure out what it is, they get a hug from Gino or a character named after them.

Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly are experiencing the same problem that cannon Kallen and Suzaku faced; they have the best knightmares in the world. Unless if they fight each other no one else can defeat them. That will change soon. If Kallen had a full energy filler, she would have defeated Xingke. Of course that battle would have played out different if the desired result was not to have Kallen captured.

One big change is that Lelouch is pretty ruthless here with his absolute obedience geass with people that try to hurt those closest to him. He really was only ruthless when his life was in danger. What he commanded the Purist and Pureblood Factions to do is a surprise.

The previous chapter name has a double meaning. The traitorous knightmares are of course those that attacked Kallen's dad. Also Mordred is always a traitor in any version of Arthurian legend. Guinevere is at times. I didn't think about it, but there is now a knightmare with the same name as Lelouch's oldest sister. I guess it will be funny in a few chapters when the more famous Guinevere is the knightmare.

This chapter also has a double meaning. Morgause is called the Queen of air and darkness in T.H. White's The Once and Future King. It also alludes to the fact that Milly and Kallen are the queens of air and darkness. Milly can fly in her knightmare. Kallen can make your life one dark warped hell hole with her geass.

I have a poll on my profile about what story I should do next. The descriptions of the stories are also on my profile. So check it out.

Court rankings

Emperor, prince, Archduke, Duke, margrave, earl, viscount, baron, knight

Empress, princess, Archduchess, duchess, margravine, countess, viscountess, baroness, knight

**Morgause**

Height: 5.42 meters

Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:**

Factsphere sensor

Cockpit ejection system

Landspinner propulsion system

Color: blue

**Armament:**

2 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens

2x hip mounted Slash harkens

VARIS gun

2 x chest mounted cannons

2x shoulder mounted cannons

1x maser vibration sword

Multiplex chaos mines


	40. Bittersweet celebration

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

The Knights of the Round will be numbered according to perceived skill so there will be movement up and down their ranks. Also their cannon ranks and numbering will change from this chapter forward.

* * *

If you have it [Love], you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have.

Sir James M. Barrie

* * *

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.

Voltaire

* * *

Lelouch really wishes that Kallen's grandfather had left the television on because then he would have known that they were going to go to Area 7. For some reason Milly decided that to make the wedding and new year celebrations mean something so they either had to be first or the last to celebrate the new year. The emperor, in actuality probably a combination of Milly and Marianne, decided to do both. The Knights of the Round and their new knightmares have been sent to Area 13 (South Pacific Islands). The emperor assures them that he feels safe with Lelouch who for some reason is the last one informed about all of this. At least Lelouch didn't have to ride in the same plane as his parents.

Kannon doesn't know why he agreed to this. He should have taken the comfortable seat when it was offered to him, but his sense of chivalry and courtesy won him over. Rather than being on a luxurious jet flying towards Area 7, they are on the cargo plane that is carrying the Mordred, Guinevere, and Morgause. Kannon can understand why Prince Lelouch and his friends want to be near their knightmares, but why did Prince Schniezel feel the need to come along as well. The twins come over to Kannon.

"What wrong Gannon?"

His is the only name that they don't play their little game with since they agree that Gannon is funniest thing that either of them can come up with.

Kannon shakes his head.

"Want a snack?"

Much to Kannon's surprise, one of the twins pulls out a granola bar. Kannon takes it.

"Brother Lulu says we have to eat healthy. He says we need more fiber. Something about it will keep us regular. Then sister Kallen hit him on the head."

Kannon munches away on the granola bar as the twins walk away laughing. Schniezel was having a good talk with the twins and Nunnally until Evelyn came over and shut them up with her glare. Still Schniezel was able to get some good information. For some reason the emperor thought that marriage would slow Lelouch down, and that giving him rank and titles would alienate him from his siblings. How wrong their father was? According to his little siblings, Kallen and Milly were partly responsible for this great boom in knightmare technology. Without those two girls the Callisto and Europa might never get built. They also were involved in the simulations that led to the creation of the Io and Gloucester. Even more importantly Lelouch might have just developed into another Cornelia. Someone just out to protect their younger siblings. Now he found something else. Sure a few of their siblings were anti-Lelouch, but many more were allying themselves with him. Schniezel he wonders where Kannon is at as he looks over at Milly.

"Excuse me, Miss Ashford, but who else did you invite to this wedding."

Milly smiles, "I invited all of your siblings. A few politely declined."

"I see so you invited Clovis."

"Yes he was the first one."

Lelouch glances towards Milly who shrugs her shoulders.

"What, his name is first alphabetically."

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders and takes a nap.

Once they land they head for the Stadtfeld home on Niihau. In fact the Stadtfelds own the island. The wedding is taking place on the same property. While looking over Kallen's new possessions, Lelouch found that the Stadtfelds owned many properties throughout the world. The emperor and his people go over to the Britannian government palace. They all settle in for tonight's show. The Knights of the Round are in the Line Islands, part of Area 13, which are about 1700 miles away from Area 7. It is the first place in the world that will celebrate the New Year. By some odd quirk it is actually the same time there as in Area 7 only a day later.

The new members of the Knights of Round will be introduced and along with their new knightmares. As the New Year goes around the world, the different areas of Britannia will each add something to the celebration. Despite being busy planning the wedding, Milly also takes care of providing the contributions of Areas 9, 10, 12, 16, and 17. The areas ruled by Lelouch's faction. Lelouch thinks about all of this as they walk into what is now Kallen's house. He also makes sure that the special packages are delivered to their proper location.

After dinner Lelouch has a meeting set up with a television producer named Deithard Reid. Lelouch has been avoiding this meeting for a few months, but now Mr. Reid has him cornered. Schniezel also told Lelouch that it is better to get on the media's good side. The meeting is taking place in the Stadtfeld home; this way Lelouch doesn't have to go anywhere. Lelouch manages to do some research on the man before the meeting.

"Mr. Reid. Please take a seat."

"Ah thank you your highness."

Lelouch glances at the man. He appears to be around thirty years old.

"How can I help you Mr. Reid. I assumed someone of your status would be over in Area 13 covering the unveiling of the Knights of the Round. "

"Yes well your highness, there are plenty of others there for that. No matter how you look at it, the Knights of the Round are old news. The old order is slowly dying; a new order is rising up to take its place. I wish to be there when it happens."

Lelouch wonders if this man even knows that what he is saying can be construed as treasonous by his enemies.

"Exactly what are your plans Mr. Reid?"

"Your highness, I would like to take advantage of your family history."

Lelouch almost felt like laughing. How is he any different then the other dozen or so princes? In the end they are all nothing but a bunch of royal brats.

"I don't see how that will."

Deithard interrupts him. "Marianne vi Britannia also known as Marianne Ashford, but born Marianne Vinette-Lamperouge."

This startles Lelouch a bit. Why would this man want to use his mother's past? She was a commoner born from commoner parents.

"She joined the military at a young age to escape life on the farm. She moved up the ranks quickly and caught the attention of many young nobles. She piloted the experimental Ganymede constructed by the Ashford Foundation. Upon the death of the patriarch of the family, Julius Ashford, she was adopted into the family in accordance with his will. She eventually made it into the Knights of the Round as the Knight of Six."

Lelouch knows most of this. He has seen his mother's plaque. In fact he still remembers the day when Nunnally broke it. It had been in the possession of Euphemia, but Nunnally being a brat wanted it. Instead of being mad Euphie was cheerful because now both of them could have a piece of it.

Deithard continues, "At this point she caught the eye of sixth prince Charles zi Britannia who married her. Following the abdication of the previous emperor," Deithard says this without the slightest hint of sarcasm because the previous emperor did not abdicated, he was relieved of his duties, "Charles zi Britannia became emperor. Exactly nine months after that Lelouch vi Britannia was born."

Lelouch also knows this. His mother always joked that he was conceived the day his father became emperor.

"What is the point of all this Mr. Reid?"

"Like I said your highness, I would like to take advantage of the fact that not all your blood is noble. We are at a time in the Empire's history when the people need to know that those ruling them understand their needs."

Lelouch understands that lesson very well. In the past two years he has helped put down two rebellions. Being a student of history he also knows that the will of the people can overcome many things.

"Very well Mr. Reid. I will consider your proposition."

Lelouch is still unsure about what the man is proposing.

"Thank you, your highness. I will begin tomorrow at your wedding. Do you have anything special planned for the New Year's celebration here?"

Lelouch has a few ideas, "I will contact you if anything is taking place, Mr. Reid."

Deithard excuses himself and leaves. Lelouch sits there for a few moments before going to rest. The Knights of the Round celebration is tonight and the kids want to stay up to see it.

* * *

The Knights of the Round come out for their presentation. They will be presented along with their new knightmares. After each one is announced they will come out and open the hatch of their knightmare.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to present the Knights of the Round. First the Knight of One, the strongest knight in the Empire if not the world, Bismarck Waldstein and the Titan Mk II. Next is the Knight of Two, the magician of the battlefield, Merlin Suzerain and his Gloucester. Next we have the new Knight of Three, the devastator Conrad Keyshavrin and his Io. The Knight of Four, the dark mistress of the battlefield, Dorothea Ernst and her Gloucester. The Knight of Five, the wrecking ball Salacia Ravenguard and her Gloucester. The Knight who is as deadly with her tongue as she is with her knightmare, Knight of Six, Nonette Enngream and the Europa Attack. Another new knight, the Knight of Seven, the god of thunder Thorin Odinus and his Io. Next up is the Vampire of Britannia, the Knight of Eight, Luciano Bradley and the Titian Mk I. The Knight of Nine, the very classy Monica Kruszewski and her Gloucester. The goddess that loves to beat her opponents down, the Knight of Ten Aphrodite Venitus and her Io. The composer of the battlefield and new Knight of Eleven, Amadeus Doedilus and his Io," slight pause, "Last but not least, the youngest Knight of the Round ever and the new Knight of Twelve Gino Weinberg and the Europa."

After it is finished pictures of the events as well the Knights of the Round roster are posted on their official website, .gov.

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Titan Mk II  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Gloucester  
Three: Conrad Keyshavrin, Io  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Gloucester  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Gloucester  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Europa Attack  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Io  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, Titan Mk I  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Gloucester  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Io  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Io  
Twelve: Gino Weinberg, Europa

After the ceremony the Knights of the Round battle about ten Glasgows and twenty Sutherlands easily dispatching them. Lelouch watches the battle alone. Everybody has fallen asleep. If that is how they want to play, Lelouch can play as well.

**

* * *

**

December 31, 2015, Area 7, Holy Empire of Britannia

While the majority of the world and Britannia have celebrated the New Year, there are still a few places that have not. Area 7 being the most prominent. Despite being up late everybody except for the kids is up early to get ready for the wedding. The Knights of the Round have come over this morning and do not seem too happy about having to travel for the wedding. The wedding will take place outside with the setting sun as a backdrop. Eventually the kids have to woken up for a quick wedding run through.

All the decorations have a little blue and violet in them to match their eyes. The bridesmaids are wearing violet, and the groomsmen are wearing blue. Of course Lelouch is in black. Milly is Kallen's maid of honor, and Gino is Lelouch's best man. Euphemia, Nunnally, Ayame, Suzaku, and Schniezel being the other participants. This makes Lelouch and Kallen realize they have to get some guy friends. The next options would have been Luciano, Guilford, or that guy from chemistry class.

As Lelouch stands up there waiting for the ceremony to begin, he begins to feel nervous. He wonders if it is the fact that he is getting married or the fact that the ceremony will be broadcast all over the world. Many for the first time will know that he is a prince. He looks around and sees his smiling parents standing there. His mother seems genuinely happy. He knows that his father is only faking. Inside Lelouch is smiling. For some reason his father assumes that these marriages will cause Lelouch problems. That couldn't be further from the truth.

As the ceremony begins, there is a light breeze. Despite being winter the temperature is quite reasonable. Euphemia and Schniezel walk out first. Suzaku and Nunnally come out after them. Ayame walks alone. The twins walk in front of Kallen holding the rings. Kallen's dress is a simple white strapless dress made of satin with a short train. In her hair is a small tiara encrusted with small diamonds. Holding the train are Jinta and Evelyn.

As Kallen walks out, Lelouch almost loses his breath. There are very few times when he has felt this sensation. Lelouch slightly glares at Gino who sighs when Kallen walks out. Of course the others including Schniezel have similar reactions. This settles Lelouch down a little. When Kallen arrives at the front, Lelouch takes her hands and removes her veil. They have prepared their own vows.

"Before our friends and those so special to us here, on this wonderful day of gladness and good fortune, I, Lelouch vi Britannia, take you, Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld, as my wife, in friendship and in love, in strength and weakness, to share the good times and misfortune, in achievement and failure, to celebrate life with you forevermore And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness. With this ring, I thee wed"

"I, Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld, take you, Lelouch vi Britannia to be my husband. To share the good times and hard times side by side. I humbly give you my hand and my heart as a sanctuary of warmth and peace, and pledge my faith and love to you. Just as this circle is without end, my love for you is eternal. Just as it is made of incorruptible substance, my commitment to you will never fail. With this ring, I thee wed."

* * *

Gino always assumed that he would be Lelouch's best man. He just assumed that Lelouch would be marrying Milly not Kallen. He imagined that that moment would begin his relationship with Kallen. He looks on as the new married couple seals the deal with a kiss.

In Japan, Rivalz and Shirley are watching the ceremony along with the rest of Ashford students still on campus. Milly told them that something big was going to happen. In Japan many are watching the wedding in awe. Naoto can't believe that his sister would do such a thing. Others wonder why Britannian prince attended a school in a foreign land albeit one taught in his native language. Tohdoh in particular is upset over the fact that his prized pupil is part of the ceremony. Sayoko Shinozaki also wonders about the fact that her prized pupil is a Britannian princess. In China LI Xing-ke is quite surprised at the age of the prince. He scans those in the wedding for the others that are in the prince's force.

In North Africa MM wonder if he made the right choice in choosing Lelouch as a contractee. CC wonders the same thing as she arrives in Area 11. At the Geass Order Vv watches with a slight smirk. He knows that Charles's intent is, but he has no idea how Lelouch will counter it. The appearance of the bride settles many matters. Some view her for what she appears, a nobleman's daughter. Others see the look in her eyes and realize that she is more than she appears.

The wedding reception is starting very soon after the ceremony, but first there is a very uncomfortable photographic session. Lelouch would rather not dwell on it. Once the majority of the guests are sitting, the couple enters to a standing ovation. A few people including Lelouch's parents, Schniezel, Milly, Euphemia, Nunnally, Evelyn, and finally Gino give the couple their best wishes. After a while people begin to dance with Lelouch and Kallen leading the way. After he dances with his new wife, Lelouch has to do his rounds. He dances with Euphemia, Cornelia, his mother, Milly, Anya, Sancia, Lucretia, Cecile, Nina, and finally Nonette.

"Well your highness at least you are behaving on your wedding day."

Lelouch smirks at Nonette's comment.

"I see you are behaving as well."

Nonette grunts in response. She leans and whispers in his ear.

"Well looks like you get to become a man today by deflowering that delicate little princess."

Lelouch keeps smirking.

"If you knew Kallen, you would know that delicate does not describe her, and what makes you think that I haven't already done that."

This comment stops Nonette so Lelouch walks away. Lelouch looks over and sees Kallen dancing with the twins. Euphemia is surprisingly dancing with Gino who looks a little disappointed that he only got to dance with Kallen once. Nunnally is dancing with Suzaku. Cornelia is dancing with Guilford. Lelouch has always wondered about those two. Schniezel is dancing with Milly while Clovis sulks in the corner. Lelouch wonders what he problem is. His various other siblings are also dancing. Lelouch takes Kallen away from the twins who find some girls their age to dance with.

After some more dancing and eating. Lelouch and Kallen retire to their room. Milly, Anya, and the kids follow a few minutes later with their presents. Lelouch wonders when everybody had the time to buy these presents. It is a little after 10 pm so they decide to get ready for tonight's show. Euphemia and Nunnally get the kids ready for bed, but first they will wait for the midnight show. The emperor has gathered the others at the government palace. They are all awaiting what Milly and Lelouch planned for the final New Year's celebration in Britannia and the world. Unless there is a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean but the again their celebration won't be televised while Lelouch's will.

Kallen is left alone for a few minutes. She is sitting down with her eyes closed. As she sits there the constant beeping comforts her. She looks down at the two bodies lying down.

"Don't worry everything will be fine once we get home."

Kallen strokes her mother's hair. Lelouch walks in and sits down beside her quietly. He puts his arms around her and kisses the back of her head.

"Lulu, why do you love me so much?"

Lelouch considers the question. It seems like a silly question to ask now that they are married, but still he thinks about it. He does realize that she asks 'why do you love me so much' not 'do you love me.' He considers everything they have been through: their first meeting, first dance, the first time they played together at Aries Palace, talking and playing in her room. Now that he thinks about it he went to Japan because of her. He went to West Point to make himself useful, but also to impress her. Now he realizes that that was a little foolish, but it gave them an opportunity to be alone.

"Because you are who you are."

"What do you mean?"

"How do I explain it?"

Rather than waiting for an answer Kallen kisses Lelouch.

"I love you because of who you are too, Lulu."

Lelouch smiles as he sits there holding his wife.

"I'll let you spend more time alone with them. I'll call you when it is time for the show to begin."

Kallen nods as her husband walks away. Kallen sighs.

"See I told you guys he was wonderful. You'll love him too when you meet him."

Kallen continues to sit there with her parents. She stares for a moment at the machines keeping them alive before dozing off.

Lelouch is making the final preparations for tonight's show.

"Q1, Q2, AA let's go."

* * *

Author's note: The poll is still on my profile so if you haven't voted. It would be nice if you did.

About something that happened in the previous chapter. Lelouch visited the Stadtfeld Pendragon home in the first chapter. He remembers it quiet clearly since it was his fourth meeting with Kallen, and the second time they played together.

Oh yeah Kallen's parents are still alive. The reason why they 'died' is pretty simple. With her father dead, Kallen legally inherits everything. If he were just in a coma, then others can try to bully their way in since Kallen is not legally in control depending on how Lord Stadtfeld set things up. With her parents dead and now being a duchess, Kallen is legally an adult and can marry Lelouch despite being only fifteen. Also this way Kallen can take her parents with her and ensure that they receive proper care. Thanks to the dark euphie for the little wedding tidbits. I plagiarized the wedding vows from myself.

The Deithard /Lelouch conversation was a result of trying to sort out where Marianne came from. I still think she is somehow connected to the Ashfords. How else would she get to pilot THE Ganymede? I capitalized THE because there was only one Ganymede, and Marianne was the test pilot that proved that knightmares were a viable weapon. You don't let just anyone pilot something like that.

Gino being made the youngest Knight of the Round is a continuation of Charles trying to separate him from Lelouch. Even though I really didn't like Gino, his appointment to the Knights of the Round is probably the most impressive in cannon. While Anya is the youngest, she has Marianne living in her so that probably helped her a little. Suzaku is just a physical freak. So Gino making it to the Knights of the Round is pretty impressive. That is until Suzaku beats them all in about fifteen seconds. We can't forget about the fact that Jeremiah in the Siegfried battled a few of them pretty evenly. Kallen probably could have done the same thing that Suzaku did as her quick defeat of Luciano and the Valkyrie Squad shows. Well I guess the Knights of the Round were essentially a joke, but still it is supposed to be an honor.

In case anyone is unsure about this. The Titan has been around for two and half years. The Europa and the Callisto for two years. The new or upgraded versions for about a year and a half. Eventually we will get to Lancelot Albion and Guren SEITEN type nightmares, but it will be a process. Technological advances like everything else is a process that takes years. Sure Lelouch's knightmares fly now, but it is an awkward flight. They will have the advantage of people not being used to flying knightmares.

Some informational stuff:

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Titan Mk II  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Gloucester  
Three: Conrad Keyshavrin, Io  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Gloucester  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Gloucester  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Europa Attack  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Io  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, Titan Mk I  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Gloucester  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Io  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Io  
Twelve: Gino Weinberg, Europa

**Known Areas and their viceroys  
**1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Indochina 2009- Lelouch vi Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010-Clovis la Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia/Djibouti 2014-temporarily Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia

**princes and princesses  
**Odysseus eu Britannia 1st 1984  
Schniezel el Britannia 2nd 1990  
Clovis la Britannia 3rd 1992  
Maximus va Britannia. 4th 1992  
Cassius ru Britannia 5th 1993  
Lucius pe Britannia 6th 1995- 2014  
Octavius ka Britannia 7th 1996  
Theseus ju Britannia 8th 1997  
Luther ti Britannia 9th 1999  
Edward vu Britannia 10th 1999  
Lelouch vi Britannia 11th 1999

Guinevere su Britannia 1st 1986  
Cornelia li Britannia 2nd 1991  
Euphemia li Britannia 3rd 2000  
Annabel pe Britannia 4th 2001  
Karine le Britannia 5th 2002  
Isabelle vu Britannia 6th 2002  
Victoria ka Britannia 7th 2002  
Gwendolyn ti Britannia 8th 2003  
Regina ha Britannia 9th 2003  
Selene ge Britannia 10th 2003  
Nunnally vi Britannia 11th 2003

**Mordred  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 5.09 meters  
**Weight:** 7.11 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive,Energy Filler

**Design Features  
**Blaze Luminous  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere Sensor  
Landspinner Propulsion System  
Integrated Flight System  
Color: black with light silver and gold trim

**Armament  
**2x shoulder Slash Harkens  
2x chest mounted slash harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens  
2x Maser Vibration Sword  
VARIS rifle  
2x wrist mounted cannons  
Multiplex chaos mines

**Guinevere  
****General characteristic****s  
****Height:** 4.51 meters  
**Weight:** 7.51 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

**Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection system  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Integrated Flight System  
Color: red with gold trim

**Armament  
**Right arm-inbuilt Radiation Wave unit  
2x chest mounted Slash Harkens  
2x rotating hip mounted slash harkens  
Left-arm mounted custom Hand Gun  
Left handheld Fork knife

**Morgause  
**Height: 5.42 meters  
Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:  
**Factsphere sensor  
Cockpit ejection system  
Landspinner propulsion system  
Integrated Flight System  
Color: blue with silver trim

**Armament:  
**2 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens  
2x hip mounted Slash harkens  
VARIS gun  
2 x chest mounted cannons  
2x shoulder mounted cannons  
1x maser vibration sword  
Multiplex chaos mines

**Callisto 2****nd**** upgrade  
****General characteristics:  
**Height: 4.51 meters  
Weight: 7.51 metric tons  
Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler  
**  
Design features:  
**Factsphere sensor  
Cockpit ejection system  
Landspinner propulsion system  
Integrated Flight System  
Color: purple

**Armament:  
**2x shoulder mounted slash harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens  
2x wrist cannons  
2x shoulder cannons  
2x assault rifle  
Chest mounted missile launcher  
Multiplex chaos mines

**Io series  
****General characteristics  
**Height**:** 5.14 meters  
Weigh**t:** 7.05 metric tones  
Power Source**:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
Color: purple with camouflage capabilities

**Design Features  
**Cockpit ejection system  
Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament  
**4x Slash Harken (2 shoulder mounted, 2 hip mounted)  
2x chest mounted Missile Launcher  
1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun  
2 x Stun Tonfa

**Optional Armaments  
**2x Assault Rifle  
1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle  
Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)


	41. Masks come off

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

My internet went down for a few days, but that let me expand this chapter a bit_. _

_Italics mean Japanese. 'Italics with single quotation mark mean Chinese.'_

* * *

Why do men lie? It is to hide the truth from themselves. When a man realizes who he is, there is no longer the need to lie because others will see him for what he is. Then there will no longer be the need to hide for man is his own self.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

...

Every man hides behind a mask. Be it an everyday mask or a temporary mask. When we realize our own true intentions then we will be set free. It has been said the truth will set you free, but what is the truth. There can only be one truth, On the day it is uncovered all masks will come off. Then man can truly be free with himself and his surroundings.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

* * *

**January 1, 2016, Area 7, Holy Empire of Britannia**

- "This is Stephen Randle. All day the great nation of Britannia has been ushering the New Year with celebration. It began almost 24 hours ago when the Knights of the Round were presented with their new knightmares. Here in Area 7 the celebration began in the morning with a festival and continued in the evening with the wedding of the Black Prince, Lelouch vi Britannia and Duchess Kallen Stadtfeld-Hue. Of course the Black Prince has made a name for himself helping put down rebellions in Areas 10 and 15 as well as conquering Areas 16 and 17. He is currently the viceroy of Area 10. In addition he is the son of Marianne the Flash," slight pause, "Duchess Stadtfeld-Hue is the daughter of the late Lord James Stadtfeld."

The man continues talking about the royal couple and the other events that occurred that day. He also talked about what was planned for the next day including a parade featuring the new royal couple. Deithard is unsure about what the prince is planning, but he was told to be ready for anything. At midnight a large cargo plane is supposed to fly over head with fireworks. Deithard is beginning to think that nothing will happen when one of the other producers begins to tap him on the shoulder. Deithard and the rest of the world are in awe of what they see.

Descending, not falling, from the cargo place are four knightmares. The world from Japan to China to Europe to Pendragon is watching the four knightmares slowly fly down. The four knightmares land and raise unusual looking guns. Out of the guns shoot out fireworks. The cargo plane comes back and releases more fireworks and Ios. The Ios surround the four knightmares.

Stephan Randle continues, "I am being told that the black knightmare in the middle is named the Mordred. The red knightmare to its right is the Guinevere. The white knightmare to its left is the Morgause. The purple knightmare in the rear is the Callisto."

There is a slight pause the Ios surround the four knightmares.

"It seems as there is going to be a knightmare demonstration. Once again Britannia will show the world its might."

Deithard can't help laughing at the man's ignorant comments. No, Britannia is not going to do anything but rather Prince Lelouch. Deithard looks at the Ios.

"Those Io knightmares are brand new. Look at their lines and color. They are similar to the ones the Knights of the Round got."

Deithard has a point. The original Io had a lighter purple shade while newer Ios were darker much like the Gloucester. There are about fifteen Ios. By the numbers it is slightly a larger percentage than the Knights of the Round faced. Not taking into account that they are fighting better knightmares.

Lelouch pulls out his MVS. He looks over at his team. Other than the Callisto, they have a distinct advantage over the Ios. The Callisto 2nd upgrade has been drastically changed to fit Anya rather than Kallen. The radiation burst was removed. It was improved and moved over to the Guinevere. Replacing it on the Callisto were two wrist cannons and two shoulder cannons. The Callisto was changed to a long range knightmare rather than short.

"Anya, stay back for a bit while we take out a few Ios. Try not to get too close."

Gino along with the rest of the Knights of the Round watch the battle with a mixture of awe and anger. They watch as the Mordred, Guinevere, Morgause, and Callisto finish off brand new Ios with relative ease. Lelouch backs up after finishing off an Io. He is attacked by two Io that fire their slash harkens. They begin to tie him up. The others are busy finishing off their opponents. Lelouch smiles as he begins to transfer power to his flight systems.

"Well let's see if this works."

Lelouch begins to fly. The Mordred and the Io are of similar height and weight, but the Mordred is much stronger because the placement of sakuradite and Nina's new additions. Lelouch lifts the Ios into the air. After a few seconds in the air the Ios release their slash harkens. Lelouch blasts them with his wrist cannons and finishes them off with his MVS. With in seconds Lelouch is over to help the girls.

Gino blinks, "Damn Lelouch is fast."

Bismarck nods in agreement. At first he scoffed at the nickname he was given during his invasion, the Phantom Flash, but he is beginning to believe it. For now the Knights of the Round would use the knightmares given to them, but in time they would create their own in their image. It is the only way to survive this onslaught by Lelouch. Schniezel is certainly not going to stay quiet for much longer. In a few years the current order and emperor would be toppled. At the current rate there is nothing that anyone will be able to do about it. Bismarck wonders if it is even too late now. He notices that the demonstration is over. The total time is even less than the Knights of the Round demonstration.

After the demonstration something happens that no one in Area 7 expected. The four knightmares open their hatches revealing the pilots. The reaction around the world is the same, one of shock and awe. Lelouch and the girls begin to walk away from their knightmares as the cleanup crew begins its work. Anya is in front with Kallen to her right and Milly to her left. Lelouch is walking behind them. Their flight suits match the color of their knightmare. At Ashford the students talk excitedly about everything that is going on. Rivalz looks like he wants to throw something at the TV. Suzaku shrugs his shoulders, and Shirley tries to not act surprised. The wedding didn't shock her. Lelouch and Anya piloting knightmares wasn't much of a surprise either, but the fact that Milly and Kallen pilot knightmare is quite a surprise.

* * *

All of Naoto's worst suspicions and fears are confirmed in one night. His little sister and new brother-in-law have been piloting the knightmares that Naoto has been encountering. Colonel Kusakabe and Corporal Futaba stay quiet as they watch besides Naoto. The colonel has been quiet since Naoto turned down his offer to seize his father's Japanese holdings and his sister as soon as she returned. Naoto is quite certain that she would not return. Even if they did, taking her hostage with some rhetoric about the legality of her marriage would not work. Lelouch come for her, and there would be very little stopping him. Such an act would be all Britannia needed to invade Japan and take control of its sakuradite. Of course the EU and Chinese Federation wouldn't sit quietly. They would invade as well. Everything for the sake of his little sister. Naoto isn't sure whether to be proud or horrified at what he sees.

Others in Japan are quite angry. They instantly recognize Suzaku's classmates both at the wedding and the knightmare demonstration. Colonel Tohdoh and Lord Kirihara in particular wonder what the purpose of everything is. If that skinny black haired boy is this black prince, what else does Britannia have? What reason did that same Britannian prince have for living in Japan for several years?

* * *

Guinevere is enjoying an afternoon out with some friends. They are at an exclusive tea house. Unlike some of her other siblings, Guinevere has never spent any time near any commoners. She sees it as being beneath her. Being one of the few royals that stayed in Pendragon for New Year's Eve, Guinevere took charge of the celebration. She believes that it was quiet a success. Following the example set by the Knights of the Round, Guinevere had her finest troops perform a knightmare demonstration.

Some of her friends felt obligated to watch Lelouch's wedding. Guinevere did so grudgingly because inevitably the question about her own marriage would come up. She always pointed out that the older Odysseus isn't married either. All day Guinevere has been hearing her name. Her best friend Carmina Rosencrantz has been babbling about something for almost an hour.

"What was that Mina?"

"Oh Vere, have you been ignoring me this entire time."

Guinevere doesn't want to seem to aloof. Even as a princess there are a few friendships that she cannot lose.

"Of course I was paying attention. You were discussing the New Year's celebration."

When Carmina smiles, Guinevere knows that she is correct. Still who wouldn't be discussing the New Year's celebration.

"Isn't everybody talking about it? It's been on every program. The knightmare demonstration was simply the best. I hear that my father's company is even thinking about creating a new program out of it."

Carmina's father owned several studios throughout the west coast. In particular they made cartoons which is the reason Guinevere and Carmina are such good friends. As a child Guinevere wanted to meet the man who created her favorite cartoon who happened to be Carmina's uncle. A life-long friendship was born.

"Well it wasn't all that much. It was a simple demonstration. I did what I could."

"Vere, are you crazy? That black knight knightmare in particular seems to be the best. Oh and it was piloted by that cute little brother of yours. I didn't know you helped plan that as well. You really are something, Vere."

Guinevere's mind begins to work. All the knightmares in her demonstration were standard royal purple with the older Glasgows being painted brown.

"Wait, cute little brother. What are you talking about?"

Carmina is distracted by something on the television.

"Look Vere it's on again."

She points at the TV. Guinevere's eyes open wide as Lelouch and his harem step out of their knightmares and begin to walk forward. They show their battle several more times. Guinevere stands up spilling her tea all over Carmina.

"Vere, look what you did. This was a brand new dress. The material was flown in all the way from Area 10. Vere, are you listening to me? Vere…"

Guinevere ignores her friend as she watches Lelouch and his girlfriends, well one is now his wife, make short work of several Ios. The very same Io that now serves as the main Britannian unit. The same Io that was gifted to several Knights of the Round the previous day. Guinevere wonders why Lelouch didn't use any Gloucesters. The answers is pretty simple because the Gloucester is being used by Cornelia. Lelouch wouldn't embarrass her.

Guinevere decides to call her group of royal children together, but she must speak with her Purist and Pureblood friends before that. Something must be done about Lelouch. Rumor is spreading fast that Schniezel will have some specialized knightmares this year. Cornelia has her Gloucesters which will continue to be improved. Guinevere must also have her own knightmares. But first Guinevere must take care of Carmina, After all she can't lose her cartoon connection.

* * *

Lelouch opens his eyes and looks over at Kallen for a moment. He reaches out and brushes her cheek. Kallen opens her eyes and smiles.

"Good morning my Lulu."

"Good morning my Kalli."

They stare at each other for a few moments before Lelouch breaks the silence.

"Do you still want to go to the parade?"

"Um yes let's do it. I think it will be great for the kids."

"I really doubt that they will want to wake up."

They hear a noise by the door.

"Watch out Castor."

"You watch out, Pollux. What if theys making babies?"

The twins continue whispering to each other behind the door. Lelouch and Kallen open the door on them. Lelouch clears his throat.

"Castor and Pollux vi Britannia, may I ask what the two of you are doing?"

The twins stare up at Lelouch and Kallen. Evelyn comes over to explain everything.

"The twins came over to see if you guys are still going to do the parade."

Kallen nods, "Of course we are. You guys get ready and we'll be down in a few moments."

It takes more than a few moments, but eventually they all make it down to the parade. After the parade the Lelouch's parents, the Knights of the Round, and most of his siblings leave. Milly takes the kids, Euphemia, Nunnally, Dalque, Alice, Ayame, and Jinta on a tour of Area 7. Anya, Lucretia, and Sancia stay with Lelouch and Kallen just in case. Also because guarding Lelouch and Kallen is their job. They spend the next few days just lounging around the island having a little honeymoon.

* * *

**January 8, 2016 Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Everybody except for Lelouch is on the way to Area 10. He has a few small matters to take care of before heading home. Lelouch arrives at the Stadtfeld manor where Kallen's grandfather lives. He is taking care of a loose end today. Since Kallen's grandfather is literally a vegetable, there is no reason for him to live in a large estate full of servants. Lelouch has just informed the servants that the lord is being move elsewhere and that the house is being sold off. They can all hear the screams of Kallen's grandfather from down the hallway. Some of the servants begin to plead with Lelouch.

"Your highness there must be something that can be done."

Lelouch keeps an impassive face.

"I am afraid not. With the state that Mr. Stadtfeld is in there is no reason for him to be living in this house with all these servants."

"What will happen to us?"

"A few will be able to stay with Mr. Stadtfeld. Others can go work for Lady Stadtfeld, I mean Lady vi Britannia in Area 10."

This doesn't seem very appealing to the Pendragon born and bred servants. Lelouch smiles. He enjoys calling his grandfather-in-law, Mr. Stadtfeld. Well technically Kallen isn't Lady vi Britannia. Her legal name is now Kallen Elizabeth Stadtfeld kou Britannia, Duchess of Stadtfeld-Hue, Duchess of Wellington, Countess of Carlisle and Glouter. But the servants will get the idea, Kallen or rather Lelouch is in control of everything.

"Perhaps the new masters of the house will hire you. In either case you have until the end of the day to inform me of your intentions."

With that Lelouch leaves the house. He has a few more meetings to attend before leaving Pendragon.

**Ashford Academy, Tokyo, Japan **

Gino has decided to visit his friends in Japan. He is getting a few days vacation before he is to report in Area 15. The situation with the EU is tenses once more. Britannia has managed to draw several African countries into an alliance of sorts. Gino sighs as he begins to think of his future as a Knight of the Round.

Rivalz, Suzaku, and Shirley are the only members of the student council still in school here. Kallen and Milly are heading towards Area 10. Lelouch and Nunnally will soon join them. The Irregulars and Anya go wherever those two go. Ayame who Gino only recently met is also leaving Ashford. Only Euphemia will possibly return to Japan. Gino wonders how she feels about her imminent marriage to Suzaku. Lelouch didn't seem all too happy about it. Gino wonders if it is because he doesn't to see Euphemia marry Suzaku, or he doesn't want to see Euphemia marry at all.

Rivalz is happy that Gino is there even if it is only for a few days. Rivalz lets out a sigh as they continue to work on the back to school festival. Even though Milly is not there yet, she still has them hard at work. A few other people are brought onto the student council as auxiliary members. Rivalz smiles as they continue their work.

"I wonder when Milly will come back?"

Gino twist his mouth a bit.

"Have you guys talked with her?"

"I think Shirley has, but I don't know. I mean this is her school."

"I guess."

Rivalz looks over at Gino warily.

"At least Lelouch married Kallen that means he can't marry Milly anymore."

That had been a concern for Rivalz when rumors starting spreading that Lelouch was a prince. His wedding with Kallen left Rivalz at ease until he remembered that Gino is a noble and now a Knight of the Round. Shirley interjects herself into the conversation.

"I heard somewhere that Britannian princes can marry more than once."

This causes both Gino and Rivalz to stare at her. Gino nods in comprehension.

"I see so that's how it is."

Rivalz stops what he is doing and glares at Gino.

"What do you mean?"

Gino laughs, "Come Rivalz in all your time here has Milly even shown the slightest hint that she is interested in you."

Rivalz growls, "What did you mean, Gino?"

Gino waves his hands through the air in a very Lelouchian manner.

"I always thought that Lelouch would marry Milly."

Rivalz grabs Gino by the collar.

"All this time that's what you believed."

Gino pushes Rivalz off.

"Yes and when he married Kallen, I thought that Milly was going to be his mistress," Gino pauses for a bit, "You know we have all caught them in here alone."

Shirley nods in agreement. She has caught Lelouch in here with many girls in particular Milly and Kallen. With everyone gone lately Shirley has also used the room for secret trysts.

Rivalz grimaces, "I guess we are all going to have to have a talk when they get back."

Gino raises his eyebrows.

"What makes you think they are coming back? Lelouch has been viceroy of Area 10 for over a year. I'm pretty sure they are all heading that way."

Rivalz moans and collapses to the floor. Gino shakes his head.

"Come on Rivalz. It can't be that much of a surprise. Even if Lelouch was only a noble, a marriage with Milly would be beneficial."

Rivalz is inconsolable. Shirley shakes her head and continues working when the door opens. They all look over to see Euphemia li Britannia walk in.

Gino bows, "Your highness, I had no idea you would be here."

Euphemia shrugs and giggles, "I don't think my whereabouts are any of your concern, Knight of Twelve."

Rivalz and Shirley are reminded once more that they have been treating royalty as if they were just regular people. Euphemia quickly realizes the situation. She goes over to Shirley.

"Don't worry about it, Shirley. We're still friends."

Shirley smiles, but Rivalz is still too distraught to say anything. Despite maturing just a bit over the years, Euphemia has never really liked Rivalz. Euphemia looks around.

"I though Suzaku would be here."

Shirley answers, "He is doing some family stuff. He said he would be by later on."

Gino wonders why Shirley knows were Suzaku is. Euphemia begins to help the others with their festival. She doesn't say anything about where Lelouch or Milly are. They continue to work on the back to school festival. Suzaku and Kaguya come a little later to join them. Anya has been assigned to watch over Euphemia, but she does not want to participate in any of the school festival stuff. She waits for the princess to be done before going to pick her up.

**

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**

January 10, 2016 Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia

In the last few days Lelouch has been meeting with several men. Mostly business partners of his deceased father-in-law. Much to Lelouch's surprise a few of them are foreign. He is meeting with one of Lord Stadtfeld's European contacts today.

"A pleasure to meet you, your highness. "

"Please take a seat Mr. Kiesinger."

The European (German) man takes a seat. Lelouch has had very little time to do research on all his father-in-law's business. There were a few important items such as this one.

"I don't see that there is very much for us to converse about. We dealt with James because he was above petty national issues. Obviously being a prince, you cannot be."

Lelouch sighs, "I see so is that how you feel, Mr. Kiesinger."

"Yes your highness, as of this moment I am afraid that all of James's European holdings and projects will be under the control of my group."

"Unfortunately I cannot allow that Mr. Kiesinger. Some compensation will have to be given."

Lelouch removes his contacts and activated his geass. Once Lelouch is done, he puts his contacts back on and walks out. He commands the man to purchase the companies from him rather just taking control. Lelouch deems it too dangerous to simply command the man to deal with him in the same manner that he dealt with Lord Stadtfeld. Lelouch does not consider it a total loss. He gained some valuable information about EU knightmares and gained some funding for his own projects.

Lelouch continues to look over several proposed projects that were found in his father-in-laws files. Those projects are now being sent to Lelouch. He has decided go return to Japan for a bit. Euphemia is staying there because the emperor is pushing the union of Suzaku and Euphemia forward. On his way there Lelouch continues to go over the vast holdings of his father-in-law. Lelouch notices that Schniezel is involved in many of the items he is looking at. Rather by default Lelouch is now his older brother's biggest business partner. Lelouch's phone begins to ring. He ignores for a moment, but Villetta answers it for him.

"Your highness, it is Prince Schniezel."

Lelouch takes the phone with a slight smirk on his face.

"Yes Schniezel, how may I help you?"

"Are you leaving Pendragon today?"

"Yes as a matter a fact I am. Did you need to see me for something?"

"I suppose we can have a short rendezvous before you leave."

"Very well I will be arriving at the West Pendragon Airfield in a few minutes. I will wait for you there."

Once Schniezel arrives, they discuss a few business matters.

"How is your Chinese?"

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders.

"It is decent. I have not practiced it too much. Why do you ask?"

"The situation with the EU is once again getting tense. We need assurances from the Chinese that they will stay out of it."

"I see."

"Kannon has prepared some information for you to read over on your flight."

Schniezel hands Lelouch a manila envelope.

"You will be expected there on the fifteenth."

Lelouch nods before boarding his jet. He glances over at Schniezel's package before handing to Villetta.

"Can you look over this? Give some to Kewell when he arrives."

Lelouch gets back to looking over his father-in-laws projects. The most intriguing item is the hadron cannon project. There are also several projects dealing with the improvement of tanks, artillery, and infantry carriers. He wonders how much Schniezel knows about these projects. He calls over Sancia and Lucretia to help him sort through everything.

Naoto is looking over the continuation of the Japanese knightmare project. The Six Houses of Kyoto have consolidated the project. Blood of the Samurai, Mitsubishi, SunTech, and the Sakura Technological Conglomerate are all being merged into the New Japan Technological Company. There is little for Naoto to do. The Burai Kai performed decently considering the conditions. The next step, the Gekka, is already under construction. Naoto can only sit and wait. He hopes that Colonel Kusakabe will do the same.

**

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**

Tuesday, January 11, 2016

Euphemia is enjoying sleeping in late. The back to school festival starts on Friday and runs into the next week. School starts next Monday. She flops around her bed for a bit before she feels something sitting at the edge of the bed. She thinks that it is just her cat. She gently kicks at it.

"Get off the bed, Mr. Ruffles."

Euphemia notices that the stupid cat does not move. She sighs as she sits up to forcefully move the cat off the bed. She really isn't in the mood to play with the cat this morning. As she lazily reaches over for cat she feels something big jump on top of her.

"Lulu, what are you doing here?"

"Just visiting my little sister."

They both lean in to give each other a kiss on the cheek but turn the wrong way, and their lips meet for a moment. There is an awkward silence.

"Um, so how long are you staying?"

"A few days."

"Oh you're heading over to Area 10."

"No, Schniezel wants me to go over to China for some negotiations."

"After that."

"Probably Area 10, but I won't forget about my little sister."

Lelouch hugs her.

"Well at least a get you all to myself for a little while."

They sit there for moment silently. It has been a very long time since they have been alone with no chance of interruption. When they were children, they spent an excessive amount of time together. There were several occasion when Euphemia and Nunnally fought over who would be the one to marry Lelouch. Over the years they discovered that their idea was misguided. Still there was always some resonance of those feelings between the two of them.

"So when are you leaving."

He brushes his hand through her hair.

"I am expected there on the fifteenth. So probably the day before to get acclimated with the situation."

"Okay so you can help us with the festival today and tomorrow."

Lelouch sighs, "I guess so."

"Gino and Anya are here."

Lelouch nods, "I know."

Euphemia jumps out of bed. Lelouch stares at her for a few moments before turning away.

"When did you start wearing lingerie?"

Euphemia smiles and shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm going to change. Go downstairs and get breakfast ready."

Euphemia runs off to the bathroom so Lelouch goes downstairs. As he walks, he can't help but notice the quietness of the house. A few weeks ago this house was full of people and noise. The past several years even without Lelouch here the house, there was still a lot going on. Now the household serves only Euphemia and Anya. He stops for a moment to enjoy the quietness. Anya is already eating breakfast so Lelouch joins her. About thirty minutes later Euphemia joins them. After breakfast they are driven over to Ashford. Euphemia has a small security team. Kewell and Villetta are around somewhere. Waiting for them at Ashford are Rivalz, Shirley, Gino, and Suzaku. Rivalz looks like he wants to jump at Lelouch.

Other than Rivalz's attitude towards Lelouch, everything is similar to how it used to be. Lelouch wonders how long that will last. Not just here but in the world as a whole. Eventually things in Japan will reach a breaking point. Either Japan comes nicely or one of the three superpowers will conquer it. Apart from that a war with the EU is looming once more. Lelouch once read a paper by a Dr. Zimmerman who stated that the world would only be at peace once Britannia conquered it. He stated that it had to be Britannia. No other nation or empire would be able to do it with the same result. The other countries only bred anarchy.

Apart from Rivalz acting antagonistic towards Lelouch, he also notices the playful manner in which Suzaku and Shirley interacted. Gino is also weirder than normal. If it wasn't for the emperor wanting Suzaku and Euphemia to get married, Lelouch and Euphemia would not be here. As if things weren't tense enough Milly chose today to call Lelouch to confirm wedding things with him.

"Yes Milly."

"Hey Lulu dear, I just wanted to see if you have chosen a wedding date."

"I thought you were taking care of all of that."

"Well that isn't very romantic."

Lelouch sighs, "How about sometime in May? The twins will like it because their birthday is at the end of the month."

"Very well, but you are helping."

"Yes dear, whatever you want."

Rivalz glares at Lelouch talking with Milly as if nothing is wrong. Rivalz just wants to get one shot across Lelouch's jaw, but first he has to get past Gino. Suzaku is on the other side of the room with Shirley and Euphemia. Rivalz makes his move. Gino tries to slide over to stop him, but Rivalz is expecting this. He dodges Gino and takes a swing at Lelouch.

As Lelouch hangs up the phone, he sees Rivalz swinging his fist at him. Lelouch allows the blow to land. Lelouch wipes the blood and spit from his mouth.

"I hope that you got all your anger out with that punch. Because if you try another one, I will fight back."

"Why did you make Milly get in that knightmare? Don't you know how dangerous it is?"

Lelouch shakes his head.

"You know better than I know that NO ONE can make Milly do something that she does not want to do. Besides what I do to or with Milly is none your business."

Lelouch emphasizes the 'your business.' Everybody else in the room hears it as well. Lelouch could have said none of anybody's business, but he singled out Rivalz. Rivalz makes another move towards Lelouch.

"Why you stupid playboy prince. Who do you think you are? You don't deserve someone like Milly. You don't even deserve someone like Kallen."

Lelouch nods and smirks, "Yes I know that, but whether I deserve them or not, I have them. They are all mine."

Before Rivalz can punch Lelouch again, Gino and Suzaku get in the way.

"Get out my way Gino. You hate him too for what he is doing to Kallen."

Gino is silent.

Lelouch leans in, "Yes Gino get out of the way. You've seen what I can do to people. Let him learn the hard way what happens to people who PISS me off."

Gino gulps, "Rivalz, I think you better leave," he pauses slightly and looks over towards the girls, "Don't come back until Lelouch is gone. Maybe it would be better if you thought about joining something else besides the student council."

The statement is a little shocking. Suzaku nods in agreement. Rivalz runs out of the room. Gino shakes his head and turns to Lelouch.

"We need to talk Lelouch."

"I don't see the need for that Lord Weinberg."

Lelouch begins to walk out of the room, but Gino reaches out for him.

"Now your highness."

Anya drops what she is doing and moves towards Gino. Sancia and Lucretia come out of their hiding place. Gino shakes his head and lets go of Lelouch.

"Gino, don't confuse things," Lelouch looks over at his sister, "Euphie, I'll wait for you at home. Anya, stay here with Euphie."

Lelouch walks out of the room trailed by Sancia and Lucretia. Lelouch spends the next few days with Euphemia and Anya. He doesn't make any more trips to Ashford. He has Euphemia inform them of the fact that Milly will not return so Ashford will have to choose a new student council. Euphemia and Suzaku will also be attending less as they prepare for marriage and their future. Shirley will probably be busy helping them since she is Euphemia's best friend. There is also the slight possibility that she will also move to Area 10 where Milly is almost done constructing another Ashford Academy. In fact there will be several Ashford Academies throughout southeast Asia.

Lelouch wonders what Suzaku will do. Euphemia is most likely going to be named viceroy or sub-viceroy of some newly conquered area. The fact that Suzaku has no hereditary position or title in Japan most likely means that there is nothing keeping Suzaku here for the moment. Lelouch continues his work. He is having a video conference call with several of his father-in-law's employees.

"So Dr. Oppenheimer, what is the status of the hadron project?"

"Well your highness, it is going very well. We have managed to successfully fire off several shots. There is one problem, however," there is a slight pause.

"Which is?"

"At the moment we cannot put the hadron cannon on a knightmare. There is some sort of conflict with the sakuradite."

"I see. I may have a solution to this problem. Begin to move the majority of your team to Area 10. From there we will begin to select an appropriate location."

"Yes your highness. You have heard of course that our partner has chosen to end his relationship with us. He will most likely end up working for Prince Schniezel."

"If Dr. Feynman chooses that course than we have little to worry about. If there is nothing else Dr. Oppenheimer, I will see you in Area 10 in a few weeks. Make sure your brother takes care of himself."

Lelouch signs off. Julius Robert Oppenheimer was a brilliant man, but he was a chain smoker. Luckily for him Lord Stadtfeld also dealt in the medical field. For the moment Lelouch has to deal with his younger brother, Frank Friedman Oppenheimer. The loss of Richard Phillips Feynman would set back the project just a bit, but Lelouch knows that putting everyone together will result in faster results. The EU contacts also allowed Lelouch to see a little of what they were doing. Of interest were the writings of Heinz Guderian and Charles De Gaulle.

On the way to China they continue to go over Lelouch's new projects. Kewell went immediately to China to secure Lelouch's location. Villetta and Sancia are looking into the hadron cannon project. The two have gotten along quite well. Lucretia is lying with her head on Lelouch's lap. They are traveling by boat. Since this is an unofficial meeting rather than meeting in capital, Lelouch is meeting with his contact on Horai Island.

* * *

Li Xingke is feeling relief as he exits his meeting with the High Eunuchs. China's de facto leaders do not understand the lives of ordinary people. They treat people as if they were possessions. Their words are still in his head.

__

'The Britannian prince is young. Maybe we should entice him with something.'

'Yes send him some women.'

'But it can't seem too obvious.'

'No they say he is very intelligent. We would need to send them to him in a manner that is not apparent.'

The High Eunuchs look at Xingke.

__

'Perhaps your subordinate, Zhou Xianglin, would work.'

__

'Yes have her seduce the prince and gain information from him.'

Xingke only nods.

* * *

Once the ship docks Lelouch allows Villetta and Sancia to meet with Kewell. They will arrange everything for him before he sets foot on land. He isn't meeting anyone until tomorrow. Lelouch stands alone on the deck for a few minutes. He removes his contacts to give his eyes some fresh air. As he looks down upon the docks, he can see the future movements of all those below him. He has to try to find a way to cast his geass on his contacts. Lucretia calls out to him.

"What was that Lucretia?"

"Villetta and Sancia have returned your highness."

Lelouch looks down and sees them returning with Kewell. Behind them are a Chinese male and female. From this angle he doesn't recognize them. Lelouch stares down at them for a few moments. The woman looks up just enough for Lelouch to look into her eyes and activate his geass. Lelouch spaces out for a moment as his geass begins to work. He sees the future for both the Chinese man and woman. Lelouch smiles at what he sees.

"So that is how they want to play."

"Your highness, your contact is here."

Lelouch looks over at Kewell.

"Thank you, Colonel Soresi."

Kewell leads Lelouch and Lucretia to the ship's conference room. Because of their part in the airport incident, Lelouch and his subordinates were given higher military ranks. Villetta and Sancia are already in the room with their two guests. Lelouch's mind quickly begins to work as he tries to figure out who is before him.

Kewell introduces them, "Your highness, allow me to introduce."

Lelouch smiles_, 'Li Xingke and Zhou Xianglin. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.'_

They are startled at Lelouch's use of Chinese.

Xingke responds, "No your highness, it is we who are honored by your presence."

__

'It would make sense to use my native language since my subordinate do not understand this one, but let's discomfort them for a few more minutes.'

Kewell clears his throat because he obviously understands Chinese.

Lelouch sighs, "Well I was hoping for a day to rest and enjoy the island before we began our negotiations."

"Your highness, we came today to welcome you to China. We do not have to discuss any business today."

Lelouch smiles, "Very well then it is settled. Perhaps you would join us for dinner tonight. I have been informed that my quarters on the island have been prepared."

They were making it all too easy for Lelouch. Of course every room in Lelouch's quarters ha surveillance devices. Kewell and his advance team took care of those. Dinner is full of inconsequential conversation: just wedding talk and childhood memories. Throughout the dinner Lelouch notices that the woman keeps looking in his direction nervously. Lelouch smiles because it will make his own plan all too easy,

Lelouch does manage to get a small tidbit about the relationship between the Chinese empress and Xingke. Lelouch is glad that the empress is only ten. Of course that would not stop his father or Schniezel from arranging a marriage with her. At the current rate the only candidates for such a union would be Odysseus, Schniezel, or Lelouch. Lelouch has to find a way to avoid such a fate. Although a loyal China would go a long ways towards accomplishing his ambitions, and he has the ability to bend the Eunuch Generals to his will.

In his room Lelouch looks over at the equipment that Kewell set up in his room. He can control what those attempting to spy in him can hear. Not surprisingly they are also spying on their own people. Lelouch listens in on the conversation between his two Chinese contacts. He learns that he is correct in assuming that they are going to try to get the woman to seduce him. Lelouch decides to do nothing about the situation tonight. In fact he will give them something to listen to and watch tonight.

* * *

Lelouch wakes up early the next morning. Sancia and Lucretia are still asleep. Lelouch is a little sore and feels like falling back in between them, but he needs to get to work. Lelouch goes out for a short walk around the island. Horai Island is an artificial island constructed by the Chinese to take advantage of the strong tides in the area. Lelouch has been thinking about what sort of geass he can cast on his two contacts. Lelouch grins slightly when Zhou Xianglin walks over to him. Lelouch has decided not to wait for the obviously shy woman to make her move. He is rally glad that neither Kallen nor Milly are here because they would put a stop to Lelouch's plan.

Lelouch turns and smiles, _'Good morning.' _

She nervously replies, _'Good morning your highness.'_

Lelouch continues to smile and slides over towards her.

__

'Last night we found out very little about you. I'm interested to find out what kind of person Zhou Xianglin is.'

Lelouch reaches out to touch her hands with his. Lelouch heard her and Li Xingke discussing the matter last night. He knows that the Eunuch Generals hope that this woman can entice him to give up something important He can tell that she is very uncomfortable with this assignment.

__

'You highness.'

__

'I couldn't help but notice the manner in which you were looking at me last night.'

Now Lelouch is practically hovering over her. Before he can make any further moves, Lucretia comes to get him.

"Your highness, the conference room is ready."

"Thank you Lucretia. I will be there in a few minutes."

Lelouch watches as Lucretia slowly walks away.

__

'Well shall we go and join the others.'

Lelouch puts his hand out to the Chinese woman. She cautiously takes it, and they walk towards the conference room.

According to Naoto's sources inside China, Lelouch is there meeting with Li Xingke and his people. Naoto begins to think about Zhou Xianglin. He spent a few brief moments with the Chinese girl while in China last year. Of course she rebuffed his advances. Since then Naoto has been working on his Chinese. The next time he visits China for knightmare testing he will surprise the girl.

* * *

Author's note: Sorry for the little delay. It wasn't really writer's block as much as it was writer's overload. I had so many ideas that I had to organize them. In fact half of this chapter was originally part of the previous chapter, but I thought it fit better here. It also let me add in a few more wedding details.

In case anyone is wondering Rivalz has strongly disliked Lelouch since the latter returned from West Point. The conditions that led them to become best friends simply don't exist. Sure it still could have happened if it was not for the fact that Rivalz is infatuated with Milly and Lelouch lied about being a prince. Not only did he lie about being a prince, he made all those around him do it as well including Schniezel. Lelouch doesn't really like Rivalz all that much either because how many goofy sidekicks (Gino) does a guy need anyways.

Since a few people brought it up, I will explain this. The girls' surnames change because they are married. They will still be Kallen Stadtfeld and Milly Ashford but since they are princesses they get a Britannia surname. They both can't be vi Britannia since Marianne is Empress/Lady vi Britannia. Nunnally and Evelyn are princess vi Britannia. Castor and Pollux's children will be the ones that actually carry on the vi Britannia name if Lelouch becomes emperor.

Kallen's full legal name will be Kallen Elizabeth Stadtfeld kou Britannia, Duchess of Stadtfeld-Hue, Duchess of Wellington, Countess of Carlisle and Glouter. Milly will be Camilla Millicent Ashford ash Britannia, Duchess of Ashford-Vinh, Duchess of Wellington. The duchy of Wellington will pass down to Lelouch's first child at which point everyone including Lelouch loses that from their legal name. Milly is now bumped up to duchess from margravine and takes the Ashford title by imperial decree.

Lelouch and girls don't get to choose their surname. If the emperor says you don't get to be vi Britannia because there are already vi Britannias, well then that is what happens. It can be changed later on if it makes sense.


	42. Give and take

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Thanks to all the people that have reviewed. _Italics mean Japanese_. '_Italics with single quotations mean Chinese.'_

...

I have shown you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive

Acts 20:35

**...**

**Queen:** The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

_Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 222–230_

* * *

Lelouch and Zhou Xianglin enter the conference room. The others are waiting for them. Along with Lelouch's people, there are two other Chinese officials. Li Xingke glances up at them. Lelouch can see the repugnance in his eyes. Lelouch sits down. Kewell begins the meeting by introducing Lelouch to everyone there. They spend a few minutes with some frivolous banter

Xingke decides to get serious, "Very well your highness. Let us begin."

'_Yes, so where should we begin?'_

Xingke frowns, "Britannia called for this meeting your highness so perhaps you should begin."

Lelouch twists his mouth and sighs.

'_Yes we did call for this meeting, but I assumed that it would take place in the capital. I was told that the High Eunuchs were informed of the sensitive nature of these negotiations.'_

Having dealt with Milly, Kallen, and his siblings, Lelouch did not fear these Chinese negotiators.

One of the Chinese officials answers, "Your highness, we were led to believe that you preferred informal situations."

Lelouch nods.

"Then let us begin your highness. As viceroy of Area 10 to the south and conqueror of Area 16 and 17, you hold great influence on the economy of those areas. "

Lelouch smiles and puts a small stack of papers on the table.

'_Of course I would be glad to extend to the Chinese Federation special privileges in the areas under my direct influence. Of course China would have assist the economies in those areas as well.'_

One of the Chinese officials picks up Lelouch's paper. In it are detailed trade agreements between The Chinese Federation and The Holy Empire of Britannia: Areas 9, 10, 12, 16, and 17. Lelouch slides another paper across detailing certain unofficial agreements. The other official picks it up and smiles. Officially China and Britannia will trade resources. Unofficially Britannia will extend to China several vacationing privileges in the named areas. China would also give certain details about the Japanese knightmare projects taking place in China and would stay neutral during any war with the EU that begins during the year. Most importantly both nations promise to not support any rebels within the other's territory. This applies only to the areas listed in the official agreement. Not mentioned in either document is the fact that while the vacationing privileges extend to a vast majority of the Chinese Federation's population, only a few will actually be able to take advantage of it.

Lelouch smiles, _'Of course any rebellion in territory taken from the EU will be deemed as a continuation of the war with the EU.'_

The officials nod at this. It simply means that while the war with the EU continues, China will not be able to help those that have already been conquered.

"I think we can agree to these terms, your highness. We speak for the Eunuch Generals. Li Xingke is here as the empress's representative. I am sure that he will have no problem with the agreements."

Xingke looks the papers over. Being a soldier he knows very little about these matters. If these two greedy men see benefit in the matter, he wonders if there is any for the Chinese Federation.

"There is no problem. I will however have to look at these with more detail."

The two officials ever so slightly roll their eyes.

"Yes Xingke that is important."

Lelouch smirks at this. This Li Xingke seems to be as dangerous as they say he is.

"Very well gentlemen. Perhaps we can discuss the matter in greater detail over dinner. I can give you the locations of some great family vacation spots," Lelouch winks as he says this.

Lelouch speaks the last sentence in English because it is the signal for Villetta and Sancia to go prepare everything. Xingke gathers his team to look over the agreements. However Lelouch asks Zhou Xianglin to join them for lunch. At lunch and dinner they have informal talks about the trade agreements. Li Xingke gives his approval as the empress's representative.

Li Xingke leaves the next day so Lelouch is left to deal with other officials. Personally Lelouch would rather spend a day doing wedding stuff with Milly or even his mother than deal with these men. Li Xingke is a straightforward person. When meeting with the others Lelouch makes sure to check for his wallet after each meeting. He also makes sure that he leaves with all his girls. They spend the next few days finalizing the trade agreements. Two things are added to the unofficial agreement. Zhou Xianglin will follow Lelouch as a semi-official observer. Lelouch is also given Horai Island as a combination base and vacation home.

Lelouch and his team prepare to leave. Kewell will head down to Area 10 to make the necessary arrangements. The others will return with Lelouch to Japan. Apart from the final negotiations for Euphemia and Suzaku's marriage, Lelouch still has to deal with his father-in-law's Japanese holdings. Zhou Xianglin appears a little uneasy with going to Japan with Lelouch. Once in Japan they head over to Stadtfeld manor. Everything but some of Kallen's most personal possessions are still there. They spend the night there.

**

* * *

**

Friday January 21, 2016 ATB

Lelouch leaves Stadtfeld manor early the next morning. He heads over to Lamperouge manor. He hopes to catch Euphie and Anya sleeping. He manages to get in with no problem since it is his house.

"Hey you."

Lelouch stops as he reaches the stairs. He spins around and sees Anya sitting there.

"Hey Anya, you're up early."

Anya shrugs her shoulders.

"Are we leaving soon?"

"In a week or so. I have a few things to take care of here."

Anya nods and goes back to her laptop probably uploading pictures that she has taken. Lelouch continues his trek to Euphie's room. She is still sound asleep. Lelouch slips his shoes off and slides into the bed. Euphie has her back to him, and he puts his arms around her. Euphie immediately snuggles back into him. He kisses the top of her head. He instantly realizes that this wasn't such a good idea especially in his present condition. Euphie brings her hands up to his and squeezes them. Despite the fact that they are cold, he does not move his hands away. She brings his hand up to her lips and kisses them.

"Ohayō, my Lulu."

Lelouch sighs, "Zǎo ān, my Euphie."

Euphie giggles as she turns around to face Lelouch.

"What does that mean?"

"Good morning in Chinese."

"Oh. So are you staying now?"

Euphie puts on her best pouty face. Lelouch brushes his hands through her hair.

"For a few days. Then we have to go to Area 10."

Euphie sighs, "Well at least Shirley isn't leaving me."

This surprises Lelouch a bit. He thought for sure that the orange haired girl would follow Milly to Area 10.

"Maybe I should stay home from school. So we can hang out."

Lelouch frowns.

"Or I should just go to school. At least Rivalz is gone from the student council. "

Euphie hops out of bed. Lelouch watches her skip off to the bathroom. After a few seconds he leaves the room and heads for his own room. It is mostly empty except for his bed and some clothes. As soon as the negotiations for Euphemia and Suzaku's union are complete, it is possible that she may also leave Japan. Lelouch wonders what Cornelia thinks of his and Euphie's impending marriages. He wonders if she even knows. Lelouch shakes his head as he lies down on the bed. He knows that he is being hard on his older sister. He dozes off for a few hours getting his first real sleep in a few weeks.

That night they go out to dinner with Anya, Suzaku, Shirley, and Gino. Lucretia and Sancia are somewhere nearby in disguise. For the most part they can freely talk about their impending marriages. Euphie implies that it would be nice if Gino and Shirley found someone. After dinner Lelouch decides to check up on Villetta and Zhou Xianglin. Gino offers to take the girls home.

"Do you need a ride home Shirley and Euphie?"

Euphie responds, "No, Suzaku is taking me home."

"Oh I see. What about you, Shirley?"

Suzaku answers for her, "I can take her home as well. It's sort of on my way home."

"Well if that's what you want to do."

Gino looks over at Lelouch who is on the phone. Lelouch signals for Anya to join Suzaku and the other girls. Once they are gone Gino goes over to Lelouch.

"Lelouch, don't you think that Suzaku and Shirley are acting strange?"

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders. He has noticed the closeness that emanates from Suzaku and Shirley. He figures that it is a product of them being left alone over winter vacation. Well Rivalz was there as well but he doesn't count. As long as Euphie is fine with it, Lelouch could care less. He isn't all too excited about Suzaku and Euphie getting married.

"They're teenagers," Lelouch answers as if that explains it. He begins to walk away from Gino, "Come on Gino. I'll give you a ride back to your apartment."

"I'm actually staying at school."

They walk out of the restaurant.

"I see. How much longer do you plan on staying here?"

Gino shrugs, "Until they need me back in Britannia."

Lelouch smiles, "Well it probably won't be much longer."

Just then Sancia and Lucretia pull up with Lelouch's car.

"Well looks like my ride is here for me. I have to go over to my wife's house to check on a few things," Lelouch states as he gets in the car.

"Sancia, take me to the Stadtfeld estate."

"Yes sir big brother Lulu."

Lelouch looks up and notices that Lucretia is driving. He grimaces a little. Lucretia has taken out a few cars while learning to drive. Who would have figured that piloting a knightmare would be so much easier than driver a car? Then again while piloting a knightmare you don't have to worry about hitting anything. In fact you want to hit things.

"Just drive carefully Lucretia."

"Yes sir."

The blonde hair girl takes the car away from the restaurant slowly. Sancia joins Lelouch in the back seat.

* * *

Naoto and Ichiro Futaba are out celebrating the latter's promotion to sergeant. Naoto is beyond drunk. Since they don't have to return to the office until Monday, Naoto decides to celebrate in style.

"Shit, see I told you Ichimo. Just stick by my side and everything will fucking work itself out."

Ichiro begins to drag Naoto out of the bar. When Naoto gets drunk he begins to cuss and speaking in Britannian. For some reason Naoto insists on calling it English. Ichiro had no idea why. Naoto looks odd with his looks and Japanese soldier's uniform not to mention the fact that he is speaking Britannian (or whatever). Ichiro hails a cab and puts Naoto in the back seat. Before Ichiro can give the driver directions, Naoto screams something out. He remembers his Japanese.

"_Take us to 54 Nakamura Street."_

Before the cab driver can protest, Naoto shoves some bills at him. The driver nods and moves the car. Naoto and Ichiro are silent during the trip. Once they exit the car, the cab driver takes off.

Naoto waves at him. He almost falls over.

"Fuck that stupid fooker."

Ichiro looks around. Not only are they in a very opulent neighborhood. By the looks of the buildings it is most likely a Britannian one. Naoto begins to make his way towards one of the estates. Ichiro runs after him. He can't have his captain getting arrested while drunkenly breaking into a rich Britannian's house. Ichiro is too late because Naoto is already pushing buttons on the security system. Quite surprisingly the gate opens. Naoto continues his trek towards the house.

"It's okay Ichino. This was my dad." Naoto hiccups a bit, "house."

Ichiro stares at him.

"_Sorry Ichimo. This was my dad's house."_

Naoto seems to be sobering up as he walks through the estate grounds detailing to Ichiro events from his childhood. When they reach the house Naoto pulls out a key. He unlocks the door and enters the house. He waves for Ichiro to follow him.

"_Come one Ichiho. It's okay."_

Naoto pauses at the foot of the stairs.

"_Okay I'm going to my room. My little sister's room is at the top of the stairs to the right so you can't fucking stay there. My parents' is at the end of the hall. So you can either stay in the guest bedroom right there under the stairs or with me in my room."_

Naoto begins to ascend the stairs. Ichiro decides to follow him. No matter where he is sleeping he must keep Naoto from falling down. Once upstairs Ichiro gets the urge to go the bathroom. Naoto points him the right direction and goes towards his room. Once in the bathroom Ichiro looks around and notices that someone has been here recently. In fact it is most likely a woman based on the items on the counter. He decides to go Naoto's room quickly.

Naoto opens the door to his room and begins to walk over to his bed. The first few days after his parents died, Naoto came here frequently. Since the New Year began he has only been here once or twice. Naoto notices that the blankets smell clean. The servants must be expecting him or Kallen to come over. Naoto slides into his bed and feels something or someone there. There is a scream. He quickly reaches for the lamp and is quite surprised at what he sees.

'_Zhou Xianglin, what are you doing in my bed?'_

Naoto has no idea how he managed to get the words out in Chinese or even if they sounded correctly. But they did because the Chinese woman responds.

"What do you mean your bed? I am here as a guest of."

She notices Ichiro by the door. Villetta, Sancia, and Lucretia are at the door within seconds of the scream.

"_Well, well, well, the prodigal son returns."_

Naoto grits his teeth and clenches his fists. He recognizes that voice.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Lelouch steps through his women and around Ichiro.

"_Last time I checked this estate belonged to my wife."_

Naoto stands up, "Do you think that you can appease me by speaking Japanese? You little Brit shit."

Lelouch laughs, "I remember you called me that once down the hall in Kallen's room. I love that room," Lelouch continues to make his way towards Naoto; _'If you don't want me to speak Japanese is this better. I think you should get out of the bed. How would it appear if I let my unofficial observer get molested by some Britannian soldier?'_

Naoto glares at him. _"I'm Japanese."_

Lelouch smirks, "Half. Your other half is why you made it this far into the estate. It is also the half that had kept you alive all this years."

Zhou Xianglin blinks and shakes her head. "Captain Kouzuki is Britannian?"

Lelouch continues smirking, "You're only a captain. Your little sister is already a major or colonel, I forget which one, and she isn't even in the military."

Naoto gets off the bed.

"You little fucker."

Despite sounding sober Naoto's body doesn't comply, and he trips over himself. Lelouch gingerly walks over and lightly kicks his brother-in-law. Naoto does not move. Lelouch slowly crouches down and nudges Naoto. There is still no movement.

Lelouch sighs, "_How much did he have to drink."_

Ichiro rolls his eyes. _"A lot."_

"_What was the occasion?"_

Ichiro points to his uniform, "_My promotion."_

"_I see," _Lelouch twists his mouth, _"Why was he cursing in English?"_

Ichiro frowns, _"He does that when ever he gets really mad or drunk," _Ichiro bites his lower lip, _"May I ask a question, your highness?" _Lelouch nods so Ichiro continues, _"Why do you call your native language English rather than Britannian? I was taught that the language is called Britannian."_

Zhou Xianglin nods in agreement.

Lelouch shakes his head. "We call it English because that is what it is called," Lelouch notices that they are confused, "England is the home of our ancestors. I suppose it is a feeling of redemption and revenge that makes us refer to it as English. I'm sure that those that still live on that island would dispute that what we speak is English," Lelouch looks down at Naoto, "Well enough of that. Villetta get two guards to carry Naoto out. Follow them out and to make sure that everything is fine. Have Stephen take him to his apartment. I'm sure he knows where it is at."

They watch Villetta and two guards take Naoto down stairs. Zhou Xianglin asks once again, "Captain Kouzuki is Britannian?"

Lelouch ignores her and turns to Ichiro.

"They are waiting for you downstairs."

Lelouch is vague on purpose. He could have meant that those that were taking Naoto were also waiting for him. But what he actually means is that Ichiro's two sisters, Midori and Ayame, and his brother, Jinta, are waiting for him. Ichiro leaves the room. Lelouch turns to face Zhou Xianglin.

"I suppose this means that you were also Naoto's contact within the Chinese Federation."

It takes her a few second to remember that Naoto is Captain Kozuki's given name.

"How do you know?"

Lelouch raises his hand to silence her.

"I take it that you were not instructed to seduce Naoto," she looks at him in amazement. Lelouch smiles, "I know that you were ordered to get secrets from me at any cost."

She gets off the bed, but Lelouch pushes her back onto it. Lelouch activates his second geass.

"I know every single move you are planning. No matter how many times you change your mind. I can see every move you will make."

She sits on the bed and brings her knees up to her chest in a defensive position.

"To answer your question from before. Naoto's mother is Japanese. His father is Britannian noble. His younger sister is my wife."

Zhou Xianglin sighs a little.

Lelouch smiles, "Is it a relief that I'm married? You seem to forget that I am Britannian. My culture has no problem with polygamy especially amongst the nobility and royalty," Lelouch gets on the bed and hovers over her, "It is quite common for nobles to have several lovers. I found you to be extremely attractive the moment I laid eyes upon you."

She turns away from him. Lelouch pulls her knees away from her body. He crawls over her and kisses her. At first she wants to resist, but she gives in and kisses him back. Lelouch grins and pulls back.

"This is interesting."

She leans forward to continue the kiss. Her hands come around Lelouch's body. He kisses her a moment before pulling back again. Lelouch stands up. He can see the frustration in her eyes. Her dedication to her country and military has left very little time for personal things. The foolish High Eunuchs have opened the door for Lelouch to enter. Although only a crack now, Lelouch will kick open the door soon. She begins to breathe heavily as she recovers from the kiss. Lelouch sees how everything will turn out tonight and turns off his geass.

"Sancia, inform the staff that I will be spending the night here. Make sure that Anya is informed about this as well."

Lelouch gets back on the bed and straddles the young Chinese woman.

'_Is it fine if I spend the night here with you, Xianglin?'_

Her hormones overcome her common sense. Deep inside she realizes that if she surrenders herself to the Britannian prince under these conditions, there will be no turning back. She will become his.

'_Yes'_

Lelouch smiles and begins to kiss her on the lips and neck. Lelouch sits up to adjust himself. Xianglin sits up with him and begins to kiss his neck.

Lelouch was hoping that she would do become excited and aggressive.

'_Take your clothes off.'_

She complies with his order. Lelouch is very glad he did not cast his obedience geass upon her. He notices that her excitement is getting the better of her. Lelouch helps her with her clothes and removes his own.

'_Get back on the bed.'_

She does as Lelouch commands. Lelouch smiles and gets to work.

* * *

Naoto falls out of his bed. He wonders if last night was dream. He stumbles towards the bathroom to get some pills. At least he has two days off or so he thinks. After downing a few pills his phone rings.

"_Yes Ichiro, whatever it is I'm sure it can wait?"_

"_Sir General Katase recommended you to escort a few VIPs for some negotiations."_

Naoto really feels like declining the offer, but decides to at least find out who it is.

"_Who am I escorting?"_

"_Sumeragi Kaguya and Kururugi Suzaku."_

Naoto grimaces, _"What time do I have to be there?"_

"_I will be by to pick you up at eleven."_

Naoto nods even though Ichiro can't see him.

"_Okay, can you swing by the office and pick up a fresh uniform for me? I was planning on doing laundry tomorrow. Didn't think I would need the uniform."_

"_Yes sir."_

"_Thanks Ichiro."_

Naoto decides to get some sleep. He still has a few hours. He will take a shower when he wakes up later.

* * *

Lelouch is on his way over to the Lamperouge estate. He leaves the Stadtfeld estate early in the morning. Anya is in the living room with her laptop. He nods, and she nods back. He goes up to his room. Waiting for him in his bed is Euphie. He slides into the bed and puts his arms around the pink haired princess.

"Hi Lulu. I stayed up waiting for you, but Anya said you were staying at Kallen's house. I didn't know she was here."

Lelouch kisses the top of her head.

"She isn't. I had some business to take of over there," Lelouch squeezes her tighter, "Don't stay in bed too long. We have an important meeting today. "

Euphie sits up in the bed, "Maybe we should run away together."

Lelouch looks at her in surprise.

Euphie continues, "We can go pick everyone else up and run off somewhere."

Lelouch shakes his head, "There is no running away from who we are. Just get ready for the meeting. We are having lunch with them before we begin."

Lelouch goes to his closet to select something to wear for the meeting and notices that there is something laid out for him.

Euphie comes over, "Anya picked it out for you. She said you would look cute in it," Euphie shrugs and leaves the room.

Lelouch heads for the bathroom.

* * *

Naoto and Ichiro have picked up their VIPs. Much to Naoto's chagrin, they also had to pick up Old Man Japan (as Colonel Kusakabe calls him), Taizo Kirihara. The old man is grumpy about several things. For the most part he is upset that his charges have decided not to dress in traditional Japanese clothing. Naoto thinks that old man should be happy that they decided not to wear their school uniforms. Naoto assumes that they still attend Ashford Academy. The old man continues to harangue them about what they are wearing. Naoto and Ichiro just sit there quietly. Naoto remembers his dad hassling him about dressing in traditional Japanese clothes.

Naoto looks around. He sees some people entering down the hallway. He pokes at Ichiro to go check it out. Naoto swears that he sees Zhou Xianglin down there. She appears to be wearing Britannian clothes rather than her traditional Chinese clothes. Naoto is about to go find out what is going on when he is asked to enter the negotiation room. Ichiro joins him a few seconds later. The old man is still harassing the two Japanese teenagers about their clothes. Suzaku is wearing a western style business suit. Kaguya is wearing a pink dress with white ribbons. Naoto remembers that she is usually in some sort of kimono. Naoto has noticed that recently less people are dressing in traditional Japanese clothes. It must be a sign of the times.

A dark skinned silver haired woman enters. She is wearing what appears to be a military uniform of sorts. It is black with gold trim on the collar and a silver symbol on the front. (Think CC's Black Knight's uniform) Naoto is certain he has seen her before. After her, three girls enter the room. In the center is a tall dark haired one. On her right is a blonde haired girl. To her left is a short pink haired girl. They are wearing uniforms similar to the silver haired woman. Naoto is certain he has seen these before somewhere. The dark haired girl steps forward.

"Now presenting her royal highness third princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia and his royal highness, eleventh prince Lelouch vi Britannia."

* * *

Author's notes: The poll is still on my profile. So vote if you haven't voted and bring a friend. I have a few ideas for Milly's wedding. But if anyone wants to contribute, I will take suggestions. Just think of the biggest most expensive wedding in the history of mankind and make it twice as expensive and three times as exciting. I kind of want to be real detailed about the wedding. Don't worry about Rivalz for the wedding. His role is taken care of.

I made it a little bit of a point to talk about what Suzaku and Kaguya are wearing because I think that they represent Japan as a whole in cannon and here. In cannon Suzaku is the hero of the honorary Britannian system. He is living proof that working with the system works. He is usually dressed in military clothes or school uniform. Kaguya represents the old Japan. The Japan that won't die. The Japan that will collaborate only to help the resistance. Along with the other members of the Six Houses of Kyoto, she dresses in traditional Japanese clothes. In a country without any nobility, they are the closest thing to it.

I had this insane idea of having Lelouch and Euphemia show up to the negotiations wearing kimonos. I'm not sure about it though.

Is Lelouch a womanizer like someone pointed out in their review of the last chapter? Yes but a purposeful womanizer like someone else pointed out. Every single one of Lelouch's moves is carefully calculated. Will they all work out? Probably not but the majority of them will.

Those around Lelouch but in particular his women can be separated into a few categories: those he loves, those he has a strong attachment to, those he is involved with in some manner, and everybody else. In the first category are his little sisters (Euphemia, Nunnally, and Evelyn), his wives (Kallen and Milly), and his mother. Although not as obsessed with his mother as his cannon counterpart if she were killed, he would still tear the world apart to find her killer. Do I even have to say what would happen if you messed with his little sisters or wives?

In the second category are Cornelia, Cecile, Anya, Villetta, Ayame, and the Irregulars. When Lelouch was a child Cornelia was in the first group but over the years they have become a little detached. It is possible for the others in this group to rise to the first one. In the third group are Kaguya, Zhou Xianglin, Rakshata, Nina, Sora Cummins, Nonette, Shirley, and Ayame's older sister. Of those in the everybody else category the female Knights of the Round, Nagisa Chiba, Sayoko, and the Chinese empress can advance to one to the other three groups. But for now they are lumped with everyone else.

Being in the second or third group does not imply a personal relationship. Villetta is more or less taking Cornelia's spot as Lelouch's older sister. Much like Kewell and Jeremiah are sliding into the older brother/father roles. Besides those two guys only Schniezel and the twins can even be considered to be in the love or strong attachment categories. Gino and Clovis are losing ground and are sliding to a more professional relationship. Luciano and Bismarck are just above the everyday else category. Lelouch's other siblings are grouped into those with him and those against him. With only Odysseus being sort of neutral.


	43. Aggresive Negotiations

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

In case anyone is wondering Lelouch and Suzaku strongly suggested that Naoto be there at the negotiations. They didn't do it at the same time or together_. Italics mean Japanese. _

* * *

Not all men are created equally. Some are smarter. Some are faster or stronger. It is what they are, but it is our drive and determination that makes us who we are. Weaker man must simply push himself harder to achieve his goals. A poorer man must work each and everyday to reach his aspirations. The conditions in which we are born do not determine how the future sees us, but rather in which conditions we die. It is at that moment that a man is truly realized. Each man is the sum of his achievements. But he should not be overcome by them lest he be forgotten and only the achievements remembered.

Cornelius li Britannia, 103rd emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia

_

* * *

_

It is clearly a literal fact that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of the chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest.

_Kyoshiro Tohdoh  
__Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits  
__Day 5 strength  
__Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

* * *

"Now presenting her royal highness third princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia and his royal highness, eleventh prince Lelouch vi Britannia."

Lelouch and Euphemia enter the room. Lelouch is dress in a simple black kimono. Euphemia is dressed in an elaborate dark pink kimono with a light pink flower pattern. They enter and take the seats offered to them. Villetta sand Sancia put several papers on the table. Lucretia and Anya serve the royal children drinks. Lelouch looks the papers over. He looks over at Naoto and Ichiro.

"_Captain Kouzuki, it is a pleasure to see you once more. It's about a year since we last saw each other."_

As far as anyone officially knows the last time Lelouch and Naoto saw each other was during the Ashford Cosplay event that took place a little over a year ago. Lord Kirihara looks over at Naoto. Everybody in the room knows what supposed to be a classified matter: that Naoto is Lelouch's brother-in-law. Many of those that know are not sure whether to count it as a blessing or a curse. When Naoto does not answer, Lelouch smirks.

"_Just like a good Japanese soldier is taught to do. Stay quiet while your superiors conduct business."_

Lelouch takes a sip of his water. The negotiations of Suzaku and Euphemia's marriage are completely in his hands since Cornelia, Schniezel, and Odysseus are occupied with the EU and Chinese Federation at the moment. Of course the emperor doesn't trust anyone else to take care of the issue.

"_Very well then let's begin. I have an issue with several of the items."_

Taizo Kirihara does not seem too happy about it.

"_What are the problems your highness?"_

Lelouch knows that the man does not want to see the marriage happen. Lelouch agrees with him on that point but for different reasons. Lelouch sees no possible gain for Britannia from it. Suzaku has no hereditary position. Being a member of one of the Six Houses of Kyoto gives him some traditional power, but that can end at any time. Lelouch knows that Suzaku's father used the power and wealth of Kyoto to rise to power. Genbuu Kururugi has been Japanese prime minister for as long as Lelouch can remember.

Lelouch isn't sure why he personally doesn't want to see his sister get married. It could be because he considers her to be too young. Never mind the fact that by the time the wedding happens, Euphemia will be the same age as Kallen when she got married. It could also be because he doesn't like Suzaku. Of course Lelouch has already gotten what he wanted from Japan and more (i.e. Kallen and Ayame). He assumes that Kirihara does not want the marriage to happen because it would be assumed by the world that Japan is becoming Britannia's puppet.

"_First off Kirihara-dono, there is a clause in here about Euphemia remaining in Japan. I see no need for it. She is a near successor to the Britannian throne. Her children would be as well. It is quite possible that she will be named viceroy or sub-viceroy of a Britannian territory in the near future. This will be done gauge her leadership capabilities but also to give her and her descendents something to grasp on to." _

Lord Kirihara waves that away. Lelouch does not change his expression. He knows that he will get what he wants from this negotiation. The emperor and prime minister have given him leave to set whatever conditions he wants. Lord Kirihara is only here to attempt to anger Lelouch into calling the marriage off. He also wants to be the first to know what the final terms of the marriage will be.

"_Your highness, you must understand that Kururugi is one Japan's brightest and mist able. He must remain here."_

Lelouch remains impassive, _"Kirihara-dono, no one is stating that Suzaku is permanently leaving Japan," _Lelouch pauses to take a sip of water_, "But being married to the third princess of Britannia carries its consequences. Those for the most part have been detailed in the papers that were sent to all members of the Six Houses of Kyoto last week."_

Lucretia slides a paper with Lelouch's terms across the table. Suzaku grabs it and scans the paper. Up until now he has had no idea what Japan is getting for him. Suzaku's eyes open wide at what he sees. Britannia will aid Japan in its knightmare project. With the possibility of several Japanese pilots getting personal knightmare at some indeterminate time. Japan will become Britannia's main source for several types of electronics and vehicles. More importantly Britannia will protect Japan from any Chinese or European encroachment.

Of course Britannia isn't giving up one of their most eligible princesses for nothing. Britannia will maintain its bases outside of Tokyo, in Okinawa, and will get to build at least two more. Britannian citizens are also given more rights within Japan including the right to be judged by their own laws. There are also several items pertaining to fishing and mining rights. Japan will also support Britannia's claim to several islands in the South (China) Sea.

"_You remember Kirihara-dono that the task was given to me. I am to set the terms of the marriage. A task given to me by the fathers of both parties involved. The parties involved and their parents simply have to agree with what I have put forth."_

Kirihara glares at Lelouch who is calming sipping his water. Lelouch moves his eyes around to study the room.

"_Then your highness. I must ask for the purpose of this meeting."_

"_Well there are other issues at hand to be discussed, Kirihara-dono."_

Lord Kirihara smiles, "_Yes like the fact that you kidnapped a Japanese citizen and forced her to marry you."_

Lelouch grins, _"I think you have it wrong. My wife is a Britannian citizen. She is the daughter of a Britannian noble."_

"_But she was born and has lived here in Tokyo, therefore she is Japanese."_

Lelouch shakes his head, _"I'm afraid you are wrong on one account. Kallen was born on Britannian soil."_

Lord Kirihara looks down at his papers. There is no denying that the girl was born in Tokyo.

"_While it is true that she was born here in Tokyo, she was born on Britannian territory because she was born at the Britannian embassy hospital. If you want, she can be here," _Lelouch sips some more water, _"I will warn you that if you try anything once she arrives, there will be consequences."_

Everybody but Suzaku is surprised at his tone when he says this.

Lord Kirihara begins to sputter, _"Are you threatening us? Who do you think you are?"_

Lelouch ignores him, "_Well enough of that let's go get to our real business."_

Before Lord Kirihara can continue, Kaguya raises her hand to quiet the older man.

Kaguya asks, "_And what business is that your highness?"_

Lelouch smiles, _"I have several properties and factories throughout Japan that I do not need anymore," _Lelouch slides over a list of all things that his father-in-law owned.

"_And you would like us to purchase them."_

"_You could do that or I could just close the factories and take the machinery to a country that is more amiable."_

Kaguya bites her lips as she reads the list. There is a little bit of everything on the list: farms, electronics factories, textile mills, etc. It would take an enormous amount of money purchase even half the items on the list. Kaguya wonders how Lord Stadtfeld managed to take control of all those things. Many of them have Japanese names or started as Japanese owned.

"_I am going to have to talk to some people."_

Lelouch shakes his head, _"Well it seems like I will have to find another way."_

Suzaku doesn't see what the big deal is. He notices that Kaguya is quite upset. Even Euphemia looks a little unhappy about Lelouch's attitude towards the issue. He just wants to get it over with. He isn't sure whether or not to be excited about marrying Euphemia. It isn't that he doesn't find her attractive because he does. He has always just gotten the feeling that she is after something else, something forbidden.

Kaguya responds to Lelouch, "_Perhaps there is something else we can give. Anything would be better than thousands of Japanese losing their jobs."_

Kaguya was careful not to add that those thousands of people would be losing jobs because of the whim of a bratty Britannian prince. Of course they do not consider the fact that Kallen would never allow Lelouch to close those factories without guaranteeing that the workers would be taken care of. They don't know her as well as he does. Lelouch can see the look in Naoto's eyes. He knows his sister well enough to know that Lelouch is only bluffing.

Kaguya sighs, _"What if we offered you something in return?"_

"_Like what?"_

"_Well me."_

Lelouch lifts his hands up and looks at them. _"What would I want with a twelve year old girl?"_

Lord Kirihara looks like he wants to jump over the table and punch Lelouch in the face. Now even Euphemia and Suzaku look insulted. Here is Kaguya giving herself up to save the jobs of thousands of her people, and Lelouch insults her.

"_When the time is right perhaps you can arrange my marriage."_

Lelouch laughs, _"The hand of one of Japan's finest and richest for a handful of factories hardly seems fair."_

Now Naoto's headache is returning. Did Lelouch just say that he was not giving up enough for Kaguya? Euphemia can't believe that her brother is even considering this. Why can't he just hire someone to watch over Kallen's properties and sell what he can? There is no need to involve Kaguya in any of this. Lucretia hands Lelouch a few papers while Anya passes some out to the others.

It is an addition to the previous agreement. In return for selling certain properties and factories at a much reduced rate, Lelouch gets the right to first refusal when it comes to Kaguya's hand in marriage. Also Japan will sell Lelouch or trade for the remainder of Kallen's holdings some property that he can use without restriction. Kaguya reads over the documents carefully.

"_May I add something to this your highness?"_

Lelouch nods.

"_We would like for you to permit a Japanese observer to join your force."_

"_That is a possibility; however, I would like it to be someone who has previously been with my army."_

They discuss a few minor items before Lelouch and Euphemia excuse themselves. Euphemia is extremely quiet on the way home. Lelouch just sits with a grin. She finally looks at her brother.

"You look extremely satisfied with yourself."

"Do I?"

Euphemia narrows her eyes, "What would your wife think if she knew that you were about to leave thousands of her people without jobs?"

Lelouch waves off the question as if it were of little consequence. This makes Lucretia slide away from Lelouch a little.

Lelouch smiles, "Kallen would know that it was just a negotiating ploy. Apart from the cost of having to shut down all those factories and farms, I have no desire to see so many Japanese people mad at Britannia."

Lucretia looks up at Lelouch. "But you care about the people too, don't you?"

Lelouch kisses the top of her head.

"Of course. I wouldn't want all those children to go hungry because their parents didn't have jobs."

Feeling satisfied at his answer Lucretia lies her head on his chest. This night they all head back to the Lamperouge household.

"Anya, make sure that one of the rooms is ready for Zhou Xianglin."

Anya salutes and goes off. Lucretia brings Lelouch something to drink. Euphemia is standing there with her arms crossed. Lelouch notices that she wants to talk.

"Villetta, I would like to speak with Euphemia alone. Why don't the rest of you make sure that the Stadtfeld estate is emptied?"

Euphemia waits until they leave before beginning. Anya come and sits down, sort of in between them, but she is so quiet that they barely notice that she is there.

"Lelouch, what was that meeting about?"

"To settle the issues dealing with your marriage to Suzaku."

"What about the rest of it?"

Lelouch leans forwards and licks his lips.

"To get what I want."

"And what is that?"

Lelouch stands and walks over to Euphemia. Anya slides over in her seat. Lelouch notices this.

"For you to be happy," Lelouch takes his seat once more. He takes a sip of the tea Lucretia made for him.

"How is forcing Kaguya to marry you making me happy?"

"That's easy. You wouldn't be happy being stuck here in Japan. The way things were there was no reason for Suzaku to leave which meant that you would have to stay. Now they have a choice. Either I take Kaguya with me as soon as we agree to marriage terms or you take Suzaku with you. Of course there is no way that I can stay here because of my committments elsewhere. But I will allow Kaguya to remain here so she can be in charge of everything I own in Japan."

All the political head games were too much for Euphemia.

"I'm going to go to bed already."

"I'll be up as soon as the others return."

Lelouch and Anya watch Euphemia go up the stairs. Lelouch continues to sip his tea. Anya sits down and looks at her phone.

"Was that really your plan, your highness?"

"Of course Anya. Moving all that equipment would have been too costly. In addition upsetting so many Japanese people would have been contrary to my mission."

Anya nods and returns to her phone. They sit their in stoic silence until the others return.

* * *

Lord Kirihara, Suzaku, and Kaguya walk in silence. Once in their car Lord Kirihara lets out a sigh. Naoto and Ichiro enter the car after securing the area. Naoto signals for the driver to move the car.

Lord Kirihara looks over at his young charges. He will have to speak with the members of Kyoto about what Kaguya did today. They have always given her leeway because she is heir to a great fortune, but now might be the time to put a stop to that before she gets married and her husband takes over.

"_Do you really believe that he would invade Japan only to get his wife back?"_

Suzaku nods and smirks, _"Probably. Why don't you ask her brother up there," _tilting his head towards Naoto, _"He would know," _Suzaku now turns towards Naoto, _"You were there, weren't you? The day your parents were killed,"_ Naoto stays quiet. Suzaku grunts, _"Just like Lelouch said a perfect Japanese soldier," _Suzaku turns back to face Lord Kirihara and turns serious, _"He would come here with everything he has. He would kill each and every person he felt responsible," _Suzaku pauses, _"Then he would probably kill their families to make sure no one would be able to get back at him. That is if he didn't harm her or anybody else close to him."_

Kaguya gulps, _"What happens then?"_

Suzaku let's out a laugh, "_Do I really have to say?"_

Lord Kirihara narrows his eyes and leans in towards Suzaku.

"_So you are saying that he is a very dangerous opponent."_

Suzaku leans forward and stares at Lord Kirihara in the eyes, _"The most dangerous but he is appeased for now," _Suzaku looks over at Kaguya, _"You didn't actually think that he would close those factories. Think of the expenses of having to move all that equipment."_

"_What do you mean?"_

Suzaku sits back. He brings his fingers across his lip signaling that he is done speaking. Lord Kirihara continues to glare at him. He can see a slight smile on Kaguya's face. He wonders if everything was a set up. After all Suzaku and Kaguya attend that Ashford Private Academy with the Britannian royal children. But who would they want to set up, they wouldn't bother with him. Lord Kirihara looks over at Captain Kouzuki and sighs. He was mostly likely their target.

After dropping everybody off, Ichiro takes Naoto home. Naoto simply waves goodbye and heads up to his apartment. As he reaches the door, his phone rings. He looks down at the caller id and picks it up.

"_Hey Kaname what's up."_

The person on the other side laughs, _"Oh great Naoto-sama, did you forget about tonight?"_

Naoto smack his forehead, _"Of course not. We still have a few hours. Since you don't have to work until Monday, Professor Ohgi; we are going to get smashed tonight."_

"_Okay you know where to meet us."_

Naoto decides to take a small nap before getting dressed to go out with his friends. Luckily for him they are meeting at a bar around the corner. When he gets there everybody is there (Kaname Ohgi, Yoshitaka Minami, Kento Sugiyama, and Shinichirō Tamaki). Naoto is already three drinks behind so he has lots of catching up to do.

* * *

Suzaku is dropped off at his house. He is home alone because his parents are gone for the weekend. He quickly forgets about the meeting and makes a phone call.

"Can you come over tonight because there is no one here?"

….

"Okay I'll go by and pick you up."

Suzaku gets ready to go out. When he reaches his car, he pauses slightly to fix his shirt. Then he begins to think of the sergeant who took them to the 'negotiations'. Why does the name Futaba sound familiar? Suzaku shrugs his shoulders and jumps in his car.

**

* * *

**

Friday January 28, 2016 ATB

Lelouch is preparing to leave for Area 10 after spending a week putting the finishing touches on his negotiations. They made one obvious change. When the time is right Lelouch will be the one to marry Kaguya. Euphemia, Anya, Suzaku, and Kaguya are traveling with him to Area 10. They will only be staying for weekend while Lelouch and company are staying permanently. At the airport a two Japanese women are waiting for them. Lelouch walks over to them.

"_Ah Captain Chiba, it is a pleasure to have you with us once more. I was quite sorry that I was not able to speak with you or Colonel Tohdoh when you observed us during the summer. How is the Colonel?"_

Chiba curtly responds, "_He is doing quite well."_

"_I pity he could not come with us. He must have lots of work to do here."_

Chiba grunts. She also has plenty to do here but things like that don't matter to bureaucrats. They want her to follow the prince around. She swore that she even heard one of them mumble something about feminine charm. If that is what they are expecting, they should have chosen someone else. Chiba recognizes the prince's female entourage. Although they don't look dangerous, she knows that any one of those girls could fight her evenly. The look in their eyes says they would kill for their prince.

Lelouch walks over to the other woman.

"_Shinozaki Sayoko, Nunnally will be quite happy to see you once more."_

Sayoko bows, _"Yes your highness, I would very much like to see how my prized pupil is doing."_

Lelouch waves towards the plane.

_"Shall we?"_

Of course both Kaguya and Suzaku have flown before, but never in a place quite like this. It is the biggest plane either has ever seen and is more like a flying command center. Everywhere there are people walking around. Once everyone is seated the plane begins the process of taking off. As soon as the plane is in the air they are allowed to wander around. Kaguya and Euphemia are taken to the cockpit and are allowed to 'fly' the plane for a few seconds. Suzaku decides to take a nap in one of the many bedrooms. They are shown some of the rooms. Kaguya looks out the window and notices that two other planes are trailing them.

"What are those?"

Lelouch looks out the window, "Oh they are there to cover us. There are several further back and in front of us."

"Are they Japanese?"

"A few but they will turn back when we get further south."

Kaguya nods and continues to look out the window. Lelouch sits down and continues reading and sipping his tea.

"Do you want to see some knightmares?" Lelouch asks quite nonchalantly.

Kaguya nods her head, "Of course I want to see them," she looks at him quizzically because it is on odd question to ask at this point of the trip, "Are you going to have them bring them out to the airport?"

Lelouch shakes his head and points to the rear of the plane. Kaguya blinks and her mouth opens up.

"You have some knightmares here."

"Correction, I have my knightmare here."

Lelouch stands and begins to walk towards the rear of the plane. Kaguya hops after him. From far away and on television the Mordred looks solid black, but now up close Kaguya can see the silver trim throughout. Kaguya sees a blue haired woman talking with some people over by the knightmare. She also sees Euphemia and Anya besides a red knightmare. Lelouch goes over to the blue haired woman.

"Is the Mordred ready, Cecile?"

"Yes your highness, everything is ready to go."

Kaguya notices that the woman slightly places her hands on Lelouch. Their manner of speaking to each other is slightly more playful than Kaguya is used to hearing Lelouch speak. Kaguya is pondering this when Lelouch calls out to her.

"What was that, Lelouch-kun?"

"I said are you ready to go, Kaguya-chan."

Lelouch is already getting into the Mordred. Kaguya can see that Euphemia and Anya are getting into the red knightmare. Kaguya slowly climbs up into the Mordred. Kaguya knows that they aren't landing any time soon. She sits on Lelouch's lap as he starts up the Mordred.

She timidly asks, "What are we going to do?'

"We are going for a little ride."

Kaguya looks confused, "Going for a ride," she yells out the last word because Lelouch takes the Mordred out of the plane. She looks at the monitors and notices a string of islands below them and one large one. She points at one of the monitors, "Where are we?"

"Area 11, my brother Clovis is viceroy. We are going to pay him a visit."

Kaguya notices that the red knightmare is also out there. Lelouch activates the alternate power systems. He mutters to himself as the energy filler stays at full power.

"I guess Nina and Cecile's new additions work."

Lelouch takes the Mordred down towards the ground. On the ground he can see soldiers panicking as the Mordred and Callisto fly above them.

"Anya, follow me. I know where Clovis is right now."

Anya follows Lelouch in the Callisto. They fly over Clovis's palace and land in the garden. Just as Lelouch expected Clovis is there painting some portraits. Lelouch brings the Mordred near Clovis and the object of his painting. Kaguya can only stare.

Lelouch mumbles, "At least he is painting naked women because people are getting worried."

Kaguya giggles at that comment. Anya brings the Callisto over as well. They pop open the hatches to their knightmares as Clovis's subjects scurry trying to get their clothes. Euphemia speaks for them.

"Hey Clovis, watcha doing?"

Clovis looks like he wants to jump up and strangle Euphemia. Lelouch stays quiet. To make the situation even better General Bartley comes running into the garden with a group of soldiers. One of Clovis's subjects faints. Lelouch catches her with the Mordred and sets her down.

"Well have to fly. See you later Clovis, Anya, let's go."

They take their knightmares back up. Lelouch does some requisite spins through the air. Lelouch allows Anya to dock with the plane first. Once the Mordred and the Callisto are back in place, Euphemia takes Kaguya back to the front of the plane because she wants to call Nunnally and tell her all about it. Lelouch and Anya talk with Cecile about the performance of the knightmares. Once satisfied with the results Cecile releases them. Lelouch hears Euphemia telling Nunnally and Evelyn about what they did.

"Oh Lulu, Schniezel is calling you."

Lelouch sighs, "I'll take it in the other room."

Within seconds Schniezel appears on Lelouch's screen.

"I take it the tests went well."

Lelouch smiles, "Yes quite magnificently."

"What are the future applications for the systems?"

"At the moment they can't be applied to knightmares, although a solution may not be far off."

"And the new power systems?"

"They are looking over the results as we speak. It performed better than I thought it would," Lelouch grins, "I'm surprised you called so fast after the tests."

Now Schniezel grins, "Lady Gabrielle was visiting me when Clovis called. She is quite angry. Expect a call from your mother."

Lelouch waves that comment off. The least of his worries is his mother scolding him for humiliating Clovis. It isn't the worse thing he has done to Clovis, and it certainly won't be the last.

"Have you been in contact with Lloyd?"

Schniezel nods, "Yes it appears that he will likely come over and help us with the Lancelot and Gawain."

Lelouch sighs, "That's good. I was a little afraid that someone else would throw everything they had at him. According to the people in Area 10, he was growing restless with very little to do but run tests."

Schniezel laughs, "I just never thought the day would come when my little brother wouldn't have the money to pay someone."

Lelouch laughs. While it is true that Schniezel 'outbid' Lelouch for Lloyd's services, Lelouch was not exactly out of money. He was just using it for other projects. It really didn't matter either way since they were essentially business partners.

"How is the situation with the EU?'

"Not good. I believe that they are more united than ever. Their parliament was recently given more power. Meaning that they will need less time to make big decisions."

"I see that is why I am returning to Area 10. The emperor wants me to form an army. He has begun to send me soldiers."

Lelouch is informed that they will be landing soon.

"Well I'll talk to you later, little brother."

Lelouch nods and signs off. At the same time that he is expanding the number of projects, he is consolidating his team under the leadership of Cecile. Although Lloyd and Rakshata have more wild genius, Cecile is just as brilliant but in a more traditional way. Lelouch didn't need his people to come up with crazy ideas. He could do that himself. Not to mention the fact that the kids bring him crazy ideas everyday. All his technology people have to do is make those ideas a realization. Lelouch rests for while before exiting the room and heading back to the knightmare hangar. Anya is waiting for him there.

"Are we going again, your highness?"

Lelouch nods, "Yes let's see how ready they are for us."

They board the knightmares for another trip. Lelouch takes the lead. Just as he expected, Kallen and Milly are out on the knightmare training ground. Everybody is out there watching them. Lelouch and Anya land in between them.

"Hey Kalli. What do you say Anya? Shall we show them who is better?"

Anya nods in agreement, "Yes let's make them a memory."

Lelouch laughs at Anya's comment as he moves the Mordred towards the Guinevere.

Castor and Pollux have been slightly paying attention to Milly and Kallen's knightmare sparing session. They have mostly been trying to find ways to get Jinta in trouble. It usually doesn't work because Evelyn defends him.

"Castor, Pollux, are you guys hungry? Because Jinta and I are going to get something to eat."

The twins don't look up from their video games.

Castor responds, "Not right now Evie. We'lls wait for Kallen and Milly to…," Castor is quite lucky that there are no adults nearby because the word that came out of his mouth usually results in a spanking. Evelyn is about to take care of that herself when she notices that both twins are pointing towards the sky.

Pollux lets out a yell, "It brother Lulu!"

This gets everybody's attention. They look up and see the Mordred and Callisto flying through the sky. Nunnally runs over to see the two knightmares land.

"Ah man it's just Lelouch and Anya. Euphie said that Kagy and Suzu were there too," Nunnally thinks about it for a moment, "Come on they must be at the airport."

Nunnally drags Alice and Dalque over to the airport to greet the others.

**Saturday, January 29, 2016 ATB**

Gino decides to make a stop at the Lamperouge estate to see what is going on. Upon arriving he notices that it is unusually quiet. Even with just Euphie and Anya here, there was a lot of noise. Gino uses the key that Lelouch gave him to get into the house. He wanders around a bit before hearing some noise outside. He goes towards the source of the noise. He suspects that the girls are out somewhere so Lelouch gave the servants the morning off. He still hasn't had a chance to have a good conversation with Lelouch. Now seems as good a time as any. Gino sees something orange down near the ground. It can't be who he thinks it is. Gino makes his way slowly across the back yard when something comes flying at him and hits him on the head. He sees Shirley running towards him.

"Oh Gino, I'm so sorry. I thought you were some sort of intruder since Euphie said the house would be empty."

Gino rubs his head, "It's okay Shirley. What are you doing here if there is no one here?"

"I'm feeding their cats since they are out of town."

Gino looks over at Shirley. "They're gone."

Shirley nods, "Well Euphie is only gone for the weekend, but Lelouch is gone for good. I think he only came to arrange Suzaku and Euphie's marriage. "

Gino twists his mouth, "I see."

"I think that Suzaku and Kaguya went with them too."

Gino gets up and dusts himself. Shirley looks over at him and wonders if she made a mistake.

"I'm pretty sure Lelouch misses Kallen and his little brothers and sisters."

Gino nods, "Thanks Shirley," Gino leaves the estate and prepares to go over to Area 10.

* * *

The Britannian Unified Armed Forces are divided into several groups. The First Group protects Area One through Five i.e. North America. The Second Group protects Areas Six and Eight i.e. South America and some Atlantic Ocean islands. With the exception of the troops in Areas Four and Five and in some of the Atlantic Ocean islands most of the soldiers in these two armies are light weights. People who have connections allowing them to serve in safe areas. The third Group is mostly composed of naval forces. It serves Areas Seven, Nine, and Thirteen. The Fourth Group protects Areas Fourteen and Fifteen dividing it into basically two armies. The Fifth Group protects Area Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Sixteen, and Seventeen. This is the army that Lelouch is in command of. There are also several levels of reserve armies stationed in the homeland. Of course each army is divided into many different general and specialized corps.

Outside of this group structure are the royal guards that each Knight of the Round has and special forces such as the Glaston Knights amongst others. Not to mention the fact that each viceroy is allowed to have their own troops guarding their area. This in essence makes the system useless because basically each viceroy has their own little private not to mention the forces of the Knights of the Round, Schniezel, Cornelia, etc.

Lelouch decides to let Clovis do whatever he wants with the Area Eleven portion of the force. In addition the Duke of Oregon is still commanding the invasion now occupation troops in Area Seventeen. Cassius has occupation troops in Area Sixteen. This cuts the number of available troops for Lelouch by almost half. He will have to find methods to improve the effectiveness of who he has. This afternoon Lelouch is getting a first look at his army. Jeremiah and Kewell have been working with them for a few months. Lelouch is walking amongst some of the non-commissioned officers. These are the men that make any army work. They are the oil that makes the engine work. If Lelouch can win their trust and admiration, then the rest will be easy. He can hear several sergeants snicker behind his back. It seems as if Deithard's commoner prince campaign is working too well.

Lelouch spent some time going over the files of the non-commissioned officers. He will let the others handle the officers since most of them are nobles. Lelouch walks up to one of the sergeants that had an interesting file.

"Is there a problem here, sergeant?"

The sergeant snaps back, "No general sir."

Lelouch smiles. Yes, this one is interesting. Most people would have called him your highness regardless of the uniform.

"So your comment about being able to beat the great Lelouch vi Britannia meant nothing."

The sergeant gulps.

"So what is your answer?"

"Sir?"

"Do you want to fight me?"

"No sir."

Lelouch leans in and whispers, "The correct answer is yes."

* * *

Gino arrives in Area 10 a little after noon. He finds Suzaku, and they head out towards where Lelouch's army is gathering. Gino isn't surprised to find Lelouch inspecting the troops.

"Oh shit it looks like Lelouch is going to fight some guy. Let's hurry, Suzaku."

They don't make it in time to stop the fight if it can even be called that. Gino notices the sergeant move towards Lelouch and take a swing. It isn't a wild but a calculated one meant to do damage. But almost as if he knows it is coming, Lelouch dodges it. Lelouch kicks the sergeant in the stomach as he moves past him. The sergeant doubles over in pain. Lelouch steps back and launches into a reverse spinning heel kick. Gino stops running and blinks after Lelouch lands.

"He missed."

Suzaku looks up and sees the sergeant fall over, "No, I think he killed him."

Gino shakes his head, "I'm pretty sure that Lelouch missed."

"I'm pretty sure the sergeant wishes that Lelouch had killed him."

Lelouch helps the sergeant up. It is very apparent that he missed that kick on purpose.

"Very well continue with your daily routine."

As the soldiers walk away, Lelouch heads back to office. He makes sure to glare at Gino on the way out.

That night Lelouch and the girls are sitting in his office taking care of paperwork even the kids are helping out.

Villetta calls out to Lelouch, "Your highness, there is someone here to see you."

"Thank you Major Nu. I will take the meeting in the inner office."

Lelouch goes into a smaller office that is for private meetings. Standing waiting for him are Kewell and the sergeant from earlier that day.

"Sergeant Hellerman, take a seat."

"Yes sir."

"According to your file it says you have flying experience."

Sergeant Hellerman shifts in his seat, "Yes your highness. I have been flying my family's crop-duster since the age of thirteen."

"I see. How would you like to fly something a lot faster?"

"Sir, your highness, what do you mean?"

"Well for the moment, I think you can take a small vacation to take care of some pressing matters at home. "

"Sir?"

"According to your file you have been engaged for a year. The moment you sign this paper you will be given the rank of first lieutenant. If you manage survive your new assignment you will be given the rank of captain. With that kind of promotion you will not need to stay in the military for many years before you are able to provide for a family, In fact such a rapid promotion will look good on any job application."

The sergeant looked down at the paper. Even if he remained in the military for another twenty years, there is no guarantee that he will ever go beyond the rank of sergeant. Very few enlisted troops do.

"You have until tomorrow at 0600, sergeant."

"No sir, I will sign this now."

Lelouch watches the sergeant sign his life away.

"Very well. Major Hillis, the sergeant is yours for a week. Then he gets a few weeks off to attend to matters at home."

Lelouch watches them leave.

"Kewell, are the others here as well?"

"Yes your highness, the soldiers you requested for each project are here. "

"Splendid send them in."

Lelouch spends the rest of his night assigning some of his new projects to various soldiers. Once done he goes looking for Kallen who is by her parents. Lelouch wraps his arms around her and gently kisses the back of her neck.

"Hey Kalli, are they getting better?'

Kallen shrugs her shoulders, "I'm not sure. The doctors say all we can do is wait."

"Do you want to stay here for a little while?"

Kallen shakes her head, "I'm so glad that you are back. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too."

Kallen grins, "Did you? Because I hear you were having some fun over in Japan and China."

Lelouch frowns, "Well I would have had more fun if you had been there."

Kallen sticks her tongue out at him.

"Liar."

Lelouch wraps his arms around Kallen.

"Let's go to bed."

* * *

Author's note: I know this is completely off topic, but anybody else wonder when the future is going to get here. Someone sent me a trailer to a video game that takes place in 2027. I'm thinking there is no way that it is going to be like that in 17 years. I know technology advances have quickly over the last thirty years. I was born a little after the Atari 2600 came out and look at what we have now. There were very few personal computers because they were too expensive. Now we have as many computers as we do people in my house. Still when are the flying cars and transportation tubes going to get here or were people in the 50's, 60's, and 70' just crazy.

While Anya, Lucretia, and Euphemia,Villetta and Sancia's love/loyalty to Lelouch is unconditional, they still have their own opinion about certain things. Usually I make Lelouch a little nicer and more caring than his cannon counterpart, but here he needs to be a little colder. Finally the really jerky Suzaku I planned from the start shows up. I guess I still need wedding ideas. Okay so Kaguya obviously has a crush on Lelouch that he takes advantage of. One look at a map makes Japan an obvious target for Britannia, China, or the EU. Lelouch sort of promised Kaguya that he would keep foreign powers from takign over Japan. How he keeps this promise is his secret.

**Known Areas and their viceroys**

1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Indochina 2009- Lelouch vi Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010-Clovis la Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia/Djibouti 2014-temporarily Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia


	44. Preparations pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

I cut this chapter in half because it was so long. Second part will come out in a few days. My internet has not been working so I have had to go out to go online. I hope to fix it soon.

* * *

If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.

Sun Tzu

...

A nod, you know, is as good as a wink to a blind horse.

English proverb

**

* * *

**

Monday, January 31, 2016 ATB

Lelouch has permanently assigned Anya to Euphemia. There is no other subordinate that he can part with that Lelouch trusts with the life of his beloved sister. Lelouch begins his first day as the viceroy of Area 10 even though he has been in the position for over a year. Kallen and Milly, and Nunnally have been doing some of the work over the past three weeks. Officially Nunnally is sub-viceroy, but in reality Kallen and Milly will most likely divide the duties amongst themselves.

Sub-viceroy is a difficult position to explain. While they are nominally second in command to the viceroy, the position's actual duties vary from area to area. In some instances the sub-viceroy can also be military commander of the area's forces. In other cases the sub-viceroy can take care of the administrative duties. But in most cases the sub-viceroy mostly attends functions that the viceroy does not want to attend. The sub-viceroy can also act as a go between for the viceroy and the nobles in the area. Recently most have not even bothered with sub-viceroy. Lelouch supposes that it is because a sub-viceroy gives the emperor a go to person in case the viceroy fails. Lelouch hopes to one day pass the area down to Nunnally as he moves on to bigger things. Nunnally will then pass the area down to Evelyn. But by this time things will have changed drastically.

There is another advantage to being married and having his little siblings here. Lelouch can increase the number in his royal guard. Theoretically there is no limit to the royal guard, but tradition limits the number to about seven to ten. Usually a knight and/or military advisor and then a few members for the actual guard. Cornelia is a great example of this. She has her knight, Gilbert G.P. Guilford, and her advisor, Andreas Darlton. Five of Darlton's sons form the Glaston Knights which is Cornelia's personal force.

Another thing that Lelouch will take advantage of is the royal guards of Cassius, Annabel, Edward, and Isabelle. One final thing that Lelouch is doing to increase his royal guard is assigning many of his current subordinates jobs in Area 10's government and military. It may seem odd to think about it, but Jeremiah and Kewell are no longer assigned to Lelouch's royal guard. They are part of the military and government of Area 10. Lelouch looks over the government structure of Area 10 and the Group Five military command structure.

**Area 10 government structure **

Viceroy: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia  
Sub-viceroy: Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, Kallen kou Britannia (unofficial)  
Royal guard: Baroness Villetta Nu, Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, Alice  
Domestic advisor: Alicia Lohmeyer  
Minister of War: Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald  
Minister of Foreign relations: Baron Kewell Soresi (unofficial)  
Minister of Education: Princess consort Milly ash Britannia (unofficial)  
Minister of Science: Countess Cecile Croomy

**Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five command  
**Overall commander: Major General Lelouch vi Britannia

Area commanders:  
Area 10: Colonel Jeremiah Gottwald  
Area 11: Major General Bartley Asprius  
Area 12: Lieutenant Colonel Fayer  
Area 16: Brigadier General Upson  
Area 17: Duke of Oregon

In a few days the five vi Britannia's will select their knights. For now Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque will serve as knights for the kids. Of course it is a ploy by Lelouch to increase the size of his overall royal guard. Apart from organizing his force, Lelouch has to put in order his area. Area 10 is not particularly large nor does it have many resources. Given the size of Area 17, Lelouch sees no reason why Area 10, 12, and 16 should even be separate areas. Nevertheless they are separate and Lelouch must deal with that fact.

Despite being here only a few weeks Kallen, Milly, and Nunnally have already made many changes. Milly has taken it upon herself to change the educational system. In fact the previous Minister of Education quit when Milly began making changes. The current minister is a figurehead. Her changes will only affect Area 10 for now. She plans on implementing her ideas in Areas 12, 16, and 17 by the end of the year. Kallen has made many changes to the honorary Britannian system. Area 10 is one of the few recently conquered areas that is not overwhelmed by Britannians.

"Why is there so much paperwork? " Lelouch mutters to himself.

"Your highness,"

Lelouch looks up, "Yes, Miss Lohmeyer, as you can see I am quite busy."

"Your highness, we must discuss the changes that were made to the area's laws recently."

She doesn't add who made those changes.

"I have looked over those laws. In fact I approved all the news laws myself upon arriving," Lelouch mumbles something cruder under his breath. He isn't surprised to find Miss Lohmeyer complaining about the new laws. In fact he made sure that those laws were put in place before he arrived. This way the people will learn to appreciate Nunnally and Kallen first.

"Your highness, many of these laws are contrary to the stated goals of the emperor."

Lelouch sighs, "I know my father's goals and ideas quiet well, Miss Lohmeyer," Lelouch glares up at her, "If you do not like the way I run my area perhaps you should go back to Japan with Euphemia," Lelouch is really hoping that that is exactly what she will do. He understands why she chose to come here. Why baby-sit Euphemia in Japan when she can help govern in Area 10. He is stuck with the woman by order of his mother. Lelouch stands up. "If you don't mind Miss Lohmeyer, I still have plenty to do. If you feel the need to help, then perhaps you could Milly with the education situation."

Miss Lohmeyer makes a very unladylike sound. She grunts and walks out of the room. No one wants to work with Milly at least no one important. Lelouch makes his way through the corridors. Due to its location Area 10 is quite temperate despite it being winter. Being near the equator and being shielded from the Pacific Ocean by several islands helps. Lelouch decides to get some fresh air and walks outside to the courtyard. Euphemia, Suzaku, Kaguya, and Anya are back in Japan. Gino is with Lloyd looking into ways into improving the Europa. Lelouch is expecting Bismarck, Nonette, and Luciano to drop by sometime during the week.

Jinta and Evelyn are sitting with their Milly-approved tutor. The twins are somewhere driving their babysitter crazy. Milly and Kallen are most likely inside making even more changes to the area's laws. Jeremiah and Kewell are off working with the troops. They have also been looking into getting someone to command Lelouch's naval forces. Villetta and the Irregulars are looking over files so they can add to the royal guard. Cecile, Rakshata, and Nina are working on improving the Mordred, Guinevere, and Morgause. Although quite successful in their taste of action, they were facing inferior knightmares. Lelouch wants to keep his advantage in the technology department which is why he is bringing in many different types of people.

"Watch this. I call it the Nunnally spin kick. I learned it from Suzaku."

Lelouch looks over and sees Nunnally training with Sayoko. He also notices that Jeremiah is watching the situation from the other side of the courtyard. Jeremiah sees Lelouch and walks over.

"Your highness, I was on my way to your office."

Lelouch nods, "Are those the plans about the division of the army?" Lelouch points to the papers Jeremiah is carrying.

"Yes your highness, I was bringing them so you can have a look at them."

"Very well just leave them in the office with Ayame or Midori. I will take a look at them later."

Jeremiah salutes and is on his way. Lelouch continues to observe Nunnally training with Sayoko. Eventually Ayame comes to get him.

"Your highness."

"Yes Ayame."

"You have several people waiting to speak with you."

"I am on my way."

Lelouch gives Ayame a peck on the cheek and runs off to his meeting. Waiting for Lelouch in the lobby are several short dark skinned people. When Cecile asked him to meet with some scientists, he imagined a bunch of people that look like Lloyd.

"Your highness, these are Nguyễn Sinh Son, Vo Nguyen Giap, Lê Hồng Nhung," Cecile says as she points to the people to her left.

They all bow. Lelouch returns the bow.

Cecile continues, "Your highness, these are Gema Suparmanputra, Liem Sioe Liong, and Sudono Salim."

"Yes have heard good things about your work. You are…"

One of them interrupts Lelouch, "Excuse me, your highness. We are all Honorary Britannians."

Lelouch nods because that almost went without saying. No matter what he said, Jeremiah and Villetta would never allow someone who wasn't at least an Honorary Britannian near Lelouch.

"Yes I understand that you have discovered something interesting. Perhaps we can discuss this further in one of the conference rooms."

Ayame comes over to inform Lelouch that one of the conference rooms is ready for them. Also taking part in the meeting are Rakshata, Nina, and Kallen. Ayame and Midori are taking notes for Lelouch. Lelouch can see Nina's discomfort in dealing with numbers. He assigns the Honorary Britannian scientists to work under Cecile and Rakshata in a new facility. Despite their admitted loyalty and Lelouch's acceptance of numbers, he would rather not have them near his knightmares. Lelouch dismisses them all because he wants some time alone.

The capital of Area 10 is in a city named Saigon. Placing it within 500 miles of the capitals of Areas 12 and 16. To the north in the cities of Hue and Vinh are Rakshata and Lloyd's facilities. Lloyd's facilities will be taken over by Cecile while Nina will work here in Saigon in Cecile's previous facility. The new scientists will be sent to the north. To keep the Chinese at bay Jeremiah and a large portion of the army has been stationed in Hanoi. Since Kewell like Nina has problems working with numbers, he is being sent to the nearby Spratly Islands to monitor Lelouch's other projects. The islands aren't much but surveys have said there may be oil and natural gas in the area not to mention guano and fish. Kewell will also oversee the harvesting of those resources. Kewell's presence will also divert attention from what is really going on elsewhere.

Lelouch spends the next week getting acclimated to the position. He spends most of his days in meetings with all sorts of officials, petitioners, lobbyists, etc. Now that he is actually in power not just officially, everybody wants to get a piece of the action. Despite his reservations about her ideals, Miss Lohmeyer turns out to be quite good at paperwork. With her help he is able to decipher a lot of what is going on. He can also send her out to deal with kiss ass nobles whom she doesn't have much use for either.

**

* * *

**

Friday, February 4, 2016 ATB

"Lady Nu, it is time to go to the ceremony site."

Villetta nods at the servant. The idea of having servants is new to Villetta.

"Yes, I am on my way."

Villetta adjusts her uniform before exiting the room and heading over to the knighting ceremony site. The day is clear and cool. It can almost be described as perfect. Villetta was worried because it has been quite cold in recent days. Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, and Alice stand behind Villetta. The five of them are dressed in a black uniform. The uniforms also have several strands of trim that match the trim on their respective royal child.

Nobles from nearby areas are standing according to rank. Seated at the front of the audience are Jeremiah and Kewell dressed in noble clothes rather than military uniforms. Also seated in the front are Empress Marianne, Prince Clovis, Princess Euphemia, Prince Edward vu Britannia, Princess Isabelle vu Britannia, Princess Annabel pe Britannia, Prince Cassius ru Britannia, Princess-consort Kallen kou Britannia, and Duchess Milly Ashford. Behind them are Shirley Fennette, Suzaku Kururugi, Kaguya Sumeragi, Zhou Xianglin, Nagisa Chiba, and Sayoko Shinozaki. Seated to the side of the stage are Anya, Ayame, Midori, Jinta, and Miss Lohmeyer.

Seated on thrones facing the audience are the five vi Britannia children. In the center is Lelouch. He is wearing black royal attire with gold trim. To Lelouch's immediate right is Nunnally who is wearing an impeccably white dress with light pink trim throughout. To her right is Castor who is dressed like Lelouch only with red trim. To Lelouch's immediate left is Evelyn who is also wearing a pure white dress only with silver trim. To her left is Pollux who is also dressed exactly like Lelouch only with white trim. The twins are wearing small crowns. The girls are wearing jewel encrusted tiaras. Lelouch's head is unadorned. Villetta notices that his messy hair sort of makes its own crown.

The five soon to be knights stand in position at the rear of the audience. Lelouch stands to his feet to signal for the ceremony begin. Once he is seated, Sancia leads the way. She is followed in order by Alice, Villetta, Dalque, and Lucretia. As the girls make their way down the aisle they can hear slight snickers coming from the crowd. One has to wonder how four teenage girls rise to the rank of royal knights. However the majority of the comments are directed towards Villetta because she will be Lelouch's knight. Since being attached to members of the royal family, Villetta has heard rumors about what happens between royals and their knights or between nobles and their bodyguards. She notices that he five royal children are sitting stoically and majestically before them.

Once they reach the thrones in the front the five knights go before their lord or lady and kneel at the same time. Sancia kneels before Castor. Alice smiles and kneels before Nunnally. Villetta kneels before Lelouch. Dalque kneels before Evelyn and Lucretia kneels before Pollux. The five vi Britannias stand at the same time. They say in unison which gives the words more of a drastic effect.

"We will now establish the vows of a knight. Will you become a knight of Britannia and fight for Britannia?"

Deithard makes sure that the words of all involved are heard not only in the area to around the world.

The five girls respond in unison. "Yes your highness."

They take turns saying the next part.

Lelouch begins, "Then will you cast away your personal desires,"

Nunnally is next, "working for justice,"

Evelyn follows, "becoming a sword,"

The twins say the last part together, "becoming a shield?"

The five girls respond in unison, "Yes your highness."

The five girls remove their ceremonial sword from the scabbard. They place the sword handle towards their lord and the point of the sword facing their heart. This part of the ceremony was practiced the most since only Lelouch and Nunnally have any experience with swords. Kallen and Milly are now standing behind Castor and Pollux respectively helping them lift their swords. The five vi Britannias take the swords and lift them. They move the sword first to the right of their knight and then to the left.

"I, Lelouch vi Britannia."

"I, Nunnally vi Britannia,"

"I, Evelyn vi Britannia,"

"I, Castor vi Britannia,"

"I, Pollux vi Britannia,"

"hereby declare Villetta Nu, a knight."

"hereby declare Alice Liddell a knight."

"hereby declare Dalque Coulter, a knight."

"hereby declare Sancia Endogen, a knight."

"hereby declare Lucretia Giuseppe, a knight."

The five vi Britannias hand the swords back to their knights. Once the swords are back in the scabbards, the five knights stand and turn to face the audience. There is a slight silence. Clovis and Euphemia both feel like clapping but defer to Empress Marianne. They notice the slight glare coming from the five royal children standing behind their knight. Empress Marianne allows a few seconds to pass before she begins to clap. This is immediately followed by Jeremiah and Kewell clapping. Others follow soon after.

The twins smile at the attention they are getting and wave at their mother. Nunnally and Evelyn also relax a bit. Nunnally nods towards Sayoko. Lelouch remains impassive causing Jeremiah and Kewell to smile at the prince they know so well. Euphemia notices that Milly and Kallen are now standing beside Lelouch.

The event is viewed with a mixture of pleasure, excitement, and concern around the world. In Area 15 Cornelia and her knights watch the ceremony with interest. With Euphemia and others there Cornelia feels that there are enough royal children in the area. She feels secure in her choice since Schniezel also does not attend. She will have to attend Lelouch and Milly's wedding in a few months. Schniezel watches the event with amusement. He knows why Lelouch is doing what he is doing. He suggested it after all. He just hopes that Lelouch will be able to take advantage of it.

The emperor and VV watch the ceremony from with the though elevator before the incomplete Sword of Akasha. They both smirk for different reasons. The emperor assumes that Lelouch is becoming much like himself. With so much to protect he believes that he has Lelouch right where he wants him. VV is smiling because Lelouch's conquest of the Irregulars is complete. He wonders why they are not making a bigger deal about the fact that members of the Britannian Special Honorary Foreign Legion are now royal knights. He assumes that Lelouch wants this fact kept quiet. VV wonders if Lelouch is putting to use the people that he sent him.

Gino is watching the event with Lloyd at Lloyd's facility. They are joined by Bismarck, Nonette, and Luciano. Lloyd is making adjustments to the Titans and Europas before they are sent to either Area 14 or 15. They are watching the ceremony with the same mixed emotions as others.

In China the event is viewed with amusement. It is quite obvious that Prince Lelouch has lots of women around him. Zhou Xianglin's presence at the ceremony is also seen as a good sign. The High Eunuchs even notice that the normally dour Li Xingke is pleased with what is going on. In the Japan the event is viewed with a mix of pleasure and discontent.

* * *

After the ceremony there is a celebration. Milly's festival budget has increased substantially. Previously at Ashford she only had what Lelouch could spare which was still a considerable amount. But now as the viceroy's future wife her budget is many times larger. Not to mention that she can convince Pollux and Evelyn to let her borrow some money. The celebration is divided into several sections. One reserved for commoners and numbers being held in the main city park. Lelouch, Nunnally, and the five knights make an appearance. Another party is being held for nobles. They make a quick appearance at this one, but they leave Clovis here so that the nobles can kiss ass to someone. Clovis doesn't mind. Of course he has General Bartley to follow him around. The others go to a more private party.

Cecile, Nina, and Rakshata are watching from Nina's new facility just outside of Saigon. Tonight they are revealing their latest creations, the GX-01 Alpha. Each knightmare has been customized for one of the Irregulars. The scientists still do not understand how these girls have gained such unnatural abilities. It doesn't really matter to them because Lelouch keeps providing them with the funds necessary to complete their research.

After a few minutes of mingling between parties, the new royal knights make their exit. The Irregulars are getting the GX-01 Alpha, but Villetta is getting a new Io that has seventh generation components. It is a prototype seventh generation mass production model sort of a sixth and a half generation knightmare. After the knighting ceremony, programs featuring the accomplishments of the new royal knights are shown on television.

Gino arrives at the party fashionably late.

"You are late Weinberg."

Gino turns to face Lelouch and laughs, "I am sorry your highness, but I was occupied with more important matters."

Gino quickly scans the room. The obvious thing is that the five new knights are not in the room.

"Where are your knights?"

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders, but his eyes point towards the outside. Gino nods and keeps looking around. He sees Milly and Kallen dancing with their respective twin. Suzaku and Euphemia are dancing as are Jinta and Evelyn. Empress Marianne is standing off to the side talking with Jeremiah and Kewell. Nunnally is off to the side talking with Kaguya and Sayoko. Lelouch walks over to Ayame and invites her out for a dance. Gino notices that Shirley is standing alone so he goes over to her.

After spending some time at the celebration, they head over to a small nearby stadium. The five vi Britannia are seated on thrones. Kallen and Milly are seated beside Lelouch. In a few minutes the five new royal knights will appear with their new knightmares. The knightmares descend down into the stadium. The Irregulars are in their new GX-01 Alpha while Villetta trails in her knightmare. Villetta's knightmare can be called the Titan Mk III because that is the closest description of it. All five knightmares are black. An unannounced feature of the GX-01 is the geass conduit that allows the Irregulars to use their geass in conjunction with their knightmares. The GX-01 has a more humanoid look than other knightmares. The five royal knights demonstrate the capabilities of their knightmares on some Sutherlands.

**Gx-01 Alpha  
****General characteristics: **Height: 5.16 meters  
Weight: 7.09 metric tons  
Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler  
Color: black

**Design features:  
**Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system  
Cockpit ejection system

**Armament:  
**2 x shoulder mounted slash harkens  
2x wrist mounted slash harkens.  
2 x maser vibration katanas  
2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm  
1x long range rifle  
Multiplex chaos mines

**Titan Mk III**

**General characteristics:  
**Height: 5.92 meters  
Weight: 7.12 metric tons  
Power source Yggdrasil Drive energy filler  
Color: black

**Design features:  
**Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system  
Cockpit ejection system

**Armament:  
**6 x Slash Harkens (two hip mounted, two wrist mounted, two shoulder mounted)  
2 x assault rifle  
2 x Stun Tonfa one in each arm  
2 x shoulder mounted rotating cannons  
2x chest mounted cannons  
2x maser vibration swords  
Multiplex chaos mines

**

* * *

**

Friday, February 18, 2016 ATB

Lelouch and Gino are traveling by boat to one of Lelouch's research facilities. Gino hopes to discover something about Lelouch that he can report to the emperor. Something about all of this has Gino uneasy. He sees Lelouch talking with several of the ship's crew as if he were one of them. Gino prepares because they will land in a few minutes.

* * *

Author's Note: These last few chapters contain the biggest changes to my overall idea. I had originally planned for Lelouch to keep his secret about being a prince for another year. With Kallen and Milly needing to be the ones that reveal the secret. The next chapter is Milly's wedding and then we get back on track. I need ideas for the actual wedding event like decorations and food. Stuff like that. I have Milly's dress already. I just need the little things that will turn this wedding into the greatest celebration in the history of mankind times infinity.

Kallen's wedding was all about the vows and the bride and groom. Milly's wedding will be all about the spectacle of the wedding. In other words Milly's wedding will be about the wedding not the participants. There will be plenty of surprise guests. Some will be expected while others not. I need a little help with the wedding stuff.

Why is everybody standing during Suzaku's knighting ceremony? I understand why they are standing as the ceremony is underway, but why are there no seats in the room. IT might be so that no one is tempted to sit during the ceremony. I noticed the same thing during little Lelouch's audience with the emperor although this one is more understandable.

In case anyone has forgotten since it was so long ago. Ichiro, Midori, and Ayame Futaba are the people that Lelouch saved in chapter five. Ayame told him her name, and he is able to keep track of them. Ichiro is Lelouch's spy in the Japanese army. He works for Naoto. The Irregulars are not Britannians. They are Honorary Britannians that were injected with CC's DNA (cells) to gain their geass abilities.

I hate it when I have to add words to the Works dictionary and then it forgets them after a month or two.

**Known Areas and their viceroys**

1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Indochina 2009- Lelouch vi Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010-Clovis la Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia/Djibouti 2014-temporarily Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia


	45. Preparations pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

...

"Instead of building newer and larger weapons of mass destruction, I think mankind should try to get more use out of the ones we have."

Jack Handey

...

He who fails to prepare; prepares to fail.

Anonymous

**

* * *

**

Friday, February 18, 2016 ATB

Gino is traveling with Lelouch in a very simple looking car. Gino is glad to be involved in Lelouch's subterfuge this time. They are on the island of Pulau Natuna Besar. The name means very little to Gino. He looks it up on a map when they arrive. The islands are in between the Malay peninsula and Borneo. They are part of Area 16 despite previously being part of Indonesia which now makes up most of Area 17. Along with the surrounding islands, Pulau Natuna Besar was evacuated and heavily fortified during last year's invasion. Lelouch simply bypassed the islands, but he returned later and simply starved out the defenders with a siege. Now the small island chain is a Britannian military base. The former inhabitants were given the choice of moving to Borneo or the Malay peninsula.

To divert attention away from himself, Lelouch has sent his many subordinates on different assignments. Jeremiah and Nagisa Chiba have gone to Hanoi. Kewell has returned to the Spratly Islands. Villetta and Zhou Xianglin are in the Paracel Islands looking them over. Nunnally, Evelyn, Alice, and Dalque are visiting Annabel in Area 12. The twins and their knights are home in Saigon. Kallen and Miss Lohmeyer are visiting the northern part of Area 10. Milly is visiting several schools throughout Areas 10, 12, 16 and 17. With all the movement people have forgotten to look for Lelouch or they simply assume that he is with one of the others.

Gino looks out the window as they enter a worn looking warehouse. He isn't surprised at what he finds inside. On both sides of the warehouse are a half dozen new model Ios. Rather than the traditional shades of purple, these are solid black with gold and silver trim. At the entrance to what appears to be an underground facility are four Gloucesters with lances in hand. The driver takes their car through the tunnel without stopping. Once the car comes to a stop Lelouch exits.

"Come on Gino, we have to walk the rest of the way," Lelouch walks over to what appears to be some toys, "Or we could ride these."

Gino raises his eyebrow, "What are those?"

"Scooters."

Gino looks at the 'scooters' with a perplexed look. They don't look like any scooter he has ever seen. For one there are no wheels, and they are a little bigger.

Lelouch notices the look on Gino's face, "They have this motor that allows them to hover. There are several different ones. Some are sakuradite powered. A few have other power sources such as natural gas or oil. This one runs on a solar powered battery. So pick one and let's go."

Gino goes over and looks at the scooters. One of nearby soldiers shows him how to work the controls.

"Hurry up Gino."

Form afar they look like two friends having fun on a Friday afternoon. Gino notices that they are above ground once more and are heading towards an empty field. When Gino arrives to Lelouch's location, he notices that Lelouch is talking to several older men.

"Gino Weinberg, these are Julius Robert Oppenheimer, Frank Friedman Oppenheimer, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, and John Hundale Lawrence," Lelouch waves towards a few of the men standing beside him, "Oh I should have added Doctor to all their names."

The men all laugh. One of the speaks up, "No problem, Lelouch."

Gino is used to Lelouch's unusual way of behaving around people but even this is a stretch.

Lelouch smiles, "Perhaps we should use a little formality. We don't want to discomfort the Knight of Twelve."

They all look at Gino.

"Very well your highness, Lord Weinberg follow us."

The scientists lead Gino and Lelouch over to another field where some sort of large cannon is set up. They are taken behind a screen. One of the scientists gives a signal. The cannon starts up and fires at some targets about a hundred meters away. When the smoke clears, Gino notices that the targets have been obliterated. He notices that the cannon while large is small enough to fit on a knightmare.

Gino begins to shake a little and asks, "Can you put that cannon on a knightmare?"

Lelouch answers, "Not yet but they are working on it."

"What is it called?"

"Hadron cannon," Lelouch's phone begins to ring, "Excuse me. I have to answer this," Lelouch walks away.

Gino goes over to the scientists to ask them a few questions about the project.

Once Lelouch is away from the others, he begins to speak.

"Yes Maximus, the test was very successful."

…

"We still have a few other projects to look at here, but we will return in a few days."

…

"No he would have discovered it sooner or later. After all Schniezel is co-sponsor of this project so word will probably spread in Pendragon."

…

"Very well just continue as planned. I will see you in a few weeks."

Lelouch goes back over to Gino and the scientists.

"Who was that?"

Lelouch smiles, "Just Kallen. She wanted to make sure that I am behaving."

They spend a few minutes there looking over data from the hadron cannon before leaving for dinner. At dinner they are joined by Ayame and Sora Cummins. Gino looks at the two girls and wonders why neither Kallen nor Milly came on this trip. Ayame hands Lelouch a few papers.

"Damn I thought that they would need a few months to everything together."

Lelouch takes his seat.

Gino asks, "What are you talking about?"

"The Japanese have completed the first Gekka," Lelouch pauses for a moment, "their sixth generation knightmare. I thought that they would need a few more months. I was planning on sending Rakshata and some of her people over their in accordance with our arrangement."

"How did you find out? Is Kallen's brother your spy?"

Lelouch shakes his head. There is no point in Gino discovering the truth about this.

"Don't worry about it. The emperor knows about my Japanese spy network."

Gino nods. He is going to have to check on Lelouch's claim. Gino notices that Sora is talking excitedly something new that her father is working on. The next morning the four of them head out to another field. Gino wonders what sort of test Lelouch has planned for today. In the distance he can see the results of the hadron cannon blast from yesterday. They sit around for a few minutes before the door opens. Gino is expecting some scientists to walk, but is surprised when it is the twins and their knights. The four of them walk through the room and exit only slightly nodding towards Lelouch. Gino wonders what that is all about.

"Aren't the twins supposed to be back in Area 10?"

Lelouch smiles, "Yes they decided to come over."

One of the lab workers comes over, "We are set your highness."

"Very let the demonstration begin."

They are seated in a large stadium type building. Gino wonders if they are underground. Down on the stadium floor two modern looking tanks roll out. They are followed by what Gino believes are two mechanical infantry units. They assemble on one side of the stadium floor. Two Glasgows and two Sutherlands come out onto the stadium floor. Gino is surprised to see such old knightmares in one of Lelouch's demonstrations. The tanks begin firing away. The four knightmares move towards them. The two Sutherlands are taken out. The much faster Glasgows manage to get closer but are ultimately destroyed. Gino looks over at Lelouch.

"Those tanks are new."

Lelouch nods and points down. Gino sees two more tanks make their way out through the stadium floor. They have an even more modern look. They are followed by four Ios each carrying a MVS. These are new model black Ios. The tanks fire away, but the Ios easily dodge the initial attack. The tanks and mechanical infantry units move in to attack. Gino notes that these Ios are based on the Europa because they are larger than the Glasgow and Sutherlands and because they have lots of weaponry. The first move by the Ios is to cut the main cannon off of all the tanks. After this move the Ios finish off the tanks. They even demonstrate the power of the MVS by cutting through the frontal armor of the tanks.

"That was a nice little demonstration, but they won't be able to cut that armor during a battle."

Lelouch nods and points down once more. Four more tanks come out. These are drastically different than the others. The first four were standard green camouflage. These are solid black. Just looking at them Gino can see that they are faster. The Ios move in to attack.

The twins and their knights are led into a room. They are seated in front of several monitors. Some scientist guy begins to explain the controls. The twins nod and wave the guy away. Sancia come over to the twins.

"Are your highnesses ready?"

Castor nod, "Yes Lady Sancia. Too bad we are controlling stinky tanks instead of knightmares."

Pollux nods, "Ya."

Lucretia sits down next to Pollux. She responds to their concerns, "It's okay. Brother Lulu said this is an important demonstration."

The twins nod and take their controls. Sancia and Lucretia take their controls. After the Ios destroy the four tanks and two mechanical infantry units, they move their tanks out. They allow for the crews of the six machines to make their exit. They will control the movement and main cannons of their tanks while the tank crew will control the secondary weapons.

Castor moves his tank out in front. Pollux and Lucretia are flanking him while Sancia keeps her tank in the rear. An Io charges at Castor's tank and takes a swing at his main cannon. Castor moves the turret to the side, but the Io jumps on his tank.

"Watch this."

Castor makes his tank stand up. The quick movement catches the Io by surprise. It jumps into the air. Castor turns the cannon and blasts it. However Castor's tank is in a vulnerable position and is quickly destroyed by the other Ios. His tank crew ejects. The massed Ios make an easy target for the other three tanks. Sancia fires through Castor's tank causing his remaining shells to explode. The explosion takes out one of the Ios. The remaining two Ios manage to escape. Their blaze luminous shielding protects them taking too much damage. Pollux moves in to finish off one of the Ios.

Gino is surprised at the maneuverability of the tanks. They are like nothing he has ever seen. Then one of the tanks does something Gino has never seen before. When an Io goes to slice its main cannon off, the tube disappears. The cannon tube is sent through the turret and is now facing in the other direction. This does not deter the Io which jumps on top of the tank and begins to hack at the frontal armor.

Pollux smiles, "Blaze luminous on. Okay Sancia fire."

Sancia fires and destroys the Io. On the other side of the stadium floor Lucretia is simply moving her tank around to distract the Io. Pollux and Sancia come over to assist Lucretia and finish off the Io.

Gino watches in amazement as four tanks have just taken out some of the most advanced knightmares in the world.

"How did they do that? That tank had blaze luminous, didn't it?"

"Yes."

"Their movements were amazing," Gino thinks about it, "The twins! The twins were controlling them weren't they?"

"The twins were controlling the movement and the main cannon, but the secondary weapons were controlled by the tank crew. The tank crew also has override capabilities in regards to movement."

Gino watches the three remaining tanks make their exit. Lelouch is talking to some people. Gino turns to a monitor and reviews the battle in its entirety, The first part of the battle shows that Glasgows and Sutherlands are obsolete and that tanks have been improving. The second part shows the superiority of the Io. They dispatched six conventional vehicles with ease. The final part of the battle shows that Lelouch has created tanks that are superior to those already in production. Gino wonders what else Lelouch has but isn't showing him. Gino wonders why Lelouch even bothers showing him this much at all.

"Gino, are you joining us for lunch or are you going to just sit there?"

The twins are leading the way with Sora. They are discussing their moves. Ayame is closing following them. Lelouch is walking with Sancia and Lucretia on his arms. They spend the rest of the day looking over the footage of the battle. Gino wonders what else Lelouch is hiding. He decides against doing his own snoopy around until he has a talk with the emperor or Bismarck.

At breakfast the twins notice that Gino is missing.

"Where's Gino?'

Lelouch answers, "The emperor requested that he return to Britannia this morning."

They continue eating when the door opens.

"Milly!"

"Mina!"

Milly and Nina walk into the room and over to the table. Lelouch does not lift his eyes from his breakfast.

"So how was your trip?"

"Not very comfortable."

Lelouch grunts, "Well they were designed for military purposes not princesses. I will look into making some luxury models."

Milly orders some breakfast for herself and Nina. The twins are excited that Nina has arrived because they can tell her about all the neat stuff they have done. After breakfast Lelouch leads them all to a warehouse storing several of the new tank models. After introducing Nina to the staff, Lelouch lets them get to work. Lelouch decides to check up on Kallen. She doesn't look very happy.

"Hey Kalli, how are you doing?"

"Why did you send this woman with me?"

"Who, Miss Lohmeyer?"

"Who else did you think I meant."

Lelouch smirks, "She can't be that bad."

Kallen sighs, "How are your tests going?"

"Everything is going fine. Gino is on his way back to Britannia so Nina and Sora can get to work on their adjustments. They still can't get the hadron cannon to work on a knightmare, but I think we can get it on one of the new tanks."

"I see. Are Milly and Nina there?"

"Yes and the twins. The only things missing are you, Nunnally, and Evie, but that might draw too much attention. Milly is only making a short stop as she continues her visits to the Areas' schools."

"Okay. Did they use the…"

"Yes, they used the submarine. The stealth feature is still being worked out. It works fine on the jets but everything else is still being tested. I think that they will have stealth tanks and possibly some smaller ships by the summer. Knightmares are still an unknown. I will have to get Rakshata and Cecile to look into it."

"Okay then. Well I have to get back to being the viceroy's wife. I hate having to act so nice. A few more months of this and people won't believe that I pilot the Guinevere."

Lelouch smiles at that thought.

"Just keep it up. In a few months they will probably be corrected of that misconception."

Lelouch ends the call. He still has much work to do but first he has other needs to take care of. He pulls Ayame towards him and kisses her. His hands begin to wander up her body. Ayame pulls away.

"I'm sorry, you highness, but."

Lelouch nods, "No, I'm sorry Ayame. I know that you want to take it slow."

That wasn't quite what she said, but Lelouch would rather not think about the possibility of never having Ayame.

Lelouch sighs, "Okay then let's get back to work."

Later that day the twins and their knights return to Area 10. In the morning Milly continues her inspection of schools in Areas 10, 12, 16, and 17. Lelouch returns to Area 10 to then go to the Spratly Island for an inspection. Sora Cummins and Nina stay in Pulau Natuna Besar. Within in a few days they manage to accomplish their task. Lelouch smiles and takes a nap. He can inspect the Spratly Islands after his nap.

**Friday, March 25, 2016**

Guinevere is on the way to the house of the best friend, Carmina Rosencrantz. Once in the house she notices that there are several travel bags by the door.

"Mina, are you going somewhere?" Guinevere asks because it is much too early for summer traveling and going on spring break is such a pain with all the commoners around.

Carmina looks at Guinevere, "Vere, don't tell me you aren't going?"

Guinevere does not answer, but her expression says 'going where.' Carmina hands Guinevere a wedding invitation. Guinevere scans it over. It is a wedding invitation for Lelouch and that Ashford girl.

"Well Mina, you know how I get so busy this time of the year," Guinevere responds weakly, "Besides the emperor is not attending. I think Schniezel, Cornelia, and even Odysseus are going. I think that is enough royal representation. "

Guinevere does not mention all those other Lelouch sycophants who will also attend.

"Well Vere, I'm off. Just looking at the program got me excited. They have so many things planned. Maybe I'll even get some time away from daddy. You know how he gets."

**Wednesday, March 30, 2016**

The wedding is not until Saturday, but the celebration began the previous Friday. Also being celebrated is Kallen's birthday which happened to be yesterday. Each day has its own special activities. There is so much going on that Milly made a program detailing that day's events.

Lelouch has been spending part of his week with Carmina Rosencrantz who despite being Guinevere's best friend, a spoiled noble brat, and thirty years old is actually quite fun. Of course the twins love her mostly because her father and uncle make cartoons. The Duke of Rosencrantz is currently in negotiations with Deithard about making cartoons based upon their lives. The last thing that Lelouch needs is a cartoon version of himself running around, but Deithard says it will help his image. Just like having Kallen visit certain parts of Area 10 and having Milly visit schools. They are just trying to lull the world into a trap by pretending to be a cute little bunny when they are really a rattlesnake in disguise. By the time they hear the rattling it will be too late.

Lelouch turns to face Carmina, "I'm sorry Mina where you saying something."

Carmina sighs, "You know you are just like Vere."

Lelouch frowns, "Now that is an insult."

Carmina smiles, "She would say the same thing. I think all you royal brats are more alike than you realize."

Villetta is watching Lelouch from a distance. She is pretty sure that this ditzy blonde is not a spy or assassin sent by Guinevere. Being around Lelouch, Nunnally, Evelyn, and the twins all the time, Villetta has learned to appreciate them. This has also given her a low opinion of anyone who disregards or disdains them. Villetta notices Kewell going towards the prince. It is too late to stop him. Villetta isn't quite sure whether the prince wants to be interrupted or not.

Carmina notices that Lelouch is running out of scones.

"Here Lulu, let me get you some more scones, and I can refill my tea."

As she stands up, she runs into a man with short brown hair.

"Oh my, I spilled my tea all over you and your papers."

Lelouch smiles. The situation wouldn't have turned out better if he had planned it. He signals for one of the servants to clean up the mess.

"Lady Carmina Rosencrantz, allow me to introduce one of my most trusted advisors, Baron Kewell Soresi. I assure you that that title and his current military rank are just temporary. Kewell is one of Britannia's rising stars."

Carmina stretches out her hand. Kewell shakes her hand. Even Lelouch shakes his head at that.

"Okay let me take these papers from you," Lelouch takes the papers from Kewell, "You know you haven't had any time off this week, Kewell. Why don't you show Lady Rosencrantz around?"

Before Kewell can protest, Lelouch is off and he signals for Villetta to follow him.

"Well Lord Soresi shall we," Carmina puts her hand out for Kewell to take it, "And you can call me Carmina or Mina."

Kewell takes her hand and walks out of the room. He wonders if the prince planned the whole thing.

"Kewell, I mean you can call me Kewell."

Carmina smiles, "Very well Kewell. Is it possible to go to a knightmare hangar? I have always wanted to get close to a knightmare, but daddy doesn't let me. I can tell him it is research for his new project."

Lelouch and Villetta watch Carmina and Kewell walk away.

"Your highness, did you plan this?"

Lelouch shakes his head. Villetta nods. Of course the prince didn't plan it. He can be pretty dense when it comes to certain things.

"Now I just have to find Ayame and have her take care of this paperwork."

Lelouch goes off yelling for Ayame. He finds her standing with his sister Isabelle near the entrance to the den. They seem to be excited about something. Lelouch goes over to them.

"Ayame, I need to look over these papers."

Ayame brings her finger to her lips, "Shush, be quiet."

"Did you just tell me to be quiet? What's going on?"

Ayame shuts Lelouch up in the quickest manner by kissing him. When she releases him, Lelouch shakes his head.

"What happened to taking it slow?"

Ayame points into the den. Lelouch peeks in and finds Edward and Kaguya sitting and drinking some tea.

"Now we just have to find someone for Jeremiah."

Ayame points out the window where Jeremiah, Sayoko, and Nunnally are walking.

"Okay Villetta," Lelouch says as he turns to face his knight who finds something else to do. Lelouch sighs, "I wonder where Kallen is. All this action is getting me excited."

Isabelle blushes at that comment. Lelouch continues, "Or maybe Sancia or Lucretia. I feel like I can handle two people right now."

Isabelle's face is completely red now. Ayame hits Lelouch on the arm. He ignores her.

"I'm heading over to the knightmare hangar. I heard Kewell was heading in that direction," he turns towards Ayame, "If you see Kallen tell her that I am will be out in the Mordred and if she isn't afraid she will come out and get her butt kicked."

Ayame and Isabelle do a double take. "What?"

Lelouch speaks slowly so they can understand him.

"Tell Kallen that I will be out in the Mordred."

Lelouch skips away having thoroughly confused Ayame and Isabelle. Isabelle looks in on her brother and Kaguya once more.

"I thought that Lelouch meant he wanted to."

Ayame blushes now.

"Sometimes his highness can be dense when it comes to certain things. We should go before they realize they are being watched."

Isabelle nods, and they walk away.

* * *

Lelouch is sitting in the Mordred taking a nap. Eventually Kallen comes to get him.

"Hey Kalli, what's up?'

"It's time for the rehearsal dinner."

"Just let me sleep a few more minutes."

Kallen shakes her head and begins to pull Lelouch out of the Mordred.

"Come on Lelouch. You promised to behave."

Lelouch allows Kallen to drag her out of the knightmare. Kallen runs ahead to inform Milly that Lelouch is here. Servants come over and begin to adjust Lelouch's hair and clothes. Milly comes over and begins to direct the servants in fixing up Lelouch. She is wearing a formal blue dress. The servants manage to get a black suit on Lelouch. Milly grabs Lelouch's arm and puts her head on his shoulder. Being slightly taller Milly has to bend a little.

"Now introducing his royal highness Lelouch vi Britannia and her soon to be royal highness Camilla Millicent Ashford, duchess of Ashford-Vinh."

Lelouch enters the room smiling as he looks around. Nunnally is still trying her hand at matchmaking with Sayoko and Jeremiah. Lelouch notices that Ayame and Isabelle are trying to get Edward and Kaguya together. Lelouch wonders if Milly put them together on purpose. Gino is trying his hardest to sit near Kallen, but the twins are keeping him away. Lelouch also notices that Euphie is helping. Suzaku seems to be talking with Shirley. Even Lloyd, Cecile, Nina, and Rakshata are here. Schniezel and Cornelia amongst others are not arriving until tomorrow so Lelouch hopes he doesn't have to do this again in twenty-four hours.

Of course he does. It isn't like he's in charge of the area.

**Thursday, March 31, 2016**

Lelouch and Milly's wedding ceremony takes place in two days. Lelouch manages to slip away from the festivities. He looks over towards Nina's facilities a few miles outside of the city. While Cecile is overall control of Lelouch's science and technology team, Nina and Rakshata have almost autonomy to do what they please with their budget. Although being Indian gives Rakshata an advantage in securing non-Britannians for her team. Of course those individuals are interrogated thoroughly by Lelouch. Despite this Nina has not fallen behind in her work. Her wedding gift to Lelouch and Milly will be the first seventh generation mass production models based on the Mordred and Morgause. Rakshata is working on mass production models based on the Guinevere while Cecile is working on a specialized knightmare for Jeremiah, but these will come out later on.

"Your highness, the subject has arrived."

"Has he. What has he done?"

"He attempted to purchase a weapon just as you said he would."

"Very well. Did you take care of the situation?'

"Yes your highness."

"Thank you Anya. Just keep following him until he makes his move."

Anya leaves Lelouch alone. Lelouch closes his eyes and relaxes for a few moments. He is going to have to make Milly pay for all the commotion she is putting him through.

"There you are."

Lelouch turns around and sees Evelyn and Nunnally standing there.

"What are you two up to?"

Nunnally answers, "Kallen sent us to bring you back to the celebration. She says that you promised to behave."

Lelouch sighs and follows his sisters back inside. He is going to have to make Kallen pay as well. Who do they think they are forcing Lelouch to behave?

* * *

Author's note: In the month time gap between Lelouch's tank experiments and his wedding with Milly, the future union of Suzaku and Euphemia is announced. Also Euphemia is officially named sub-viceroy of Area 11 since it is the closest Britannia area to Japan. This will become important later.

The next chapter is the wedding and a few things that happen the week after. I still need wedding ideas. So that is holding back the next chapter because I have already begun to work on the post weddign chapters.

**Known Areas and their viceroys**

1 United States aka mainland

2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands

3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands

4 Greenland

5 Iceland

6 South America

7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll

8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia

9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia

10 Indochina 2009- Lelouch vi Britannia

11 Philippines 2010-Clovis la Britannia

12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia

13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia

14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia

15 Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia/Djibouti 2014-temporarily Cornelia li Britannia

16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia

17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia


	46. White and Black wedding

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Here is something for you guys to enjoy on New Year's Day. The next chapter will probably be out soon.

...

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.

Plato

...

They do not love that do not show their love. The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.

William Shakespeare

...

All the world is a stage.

Jaques:As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143

* * *

We would like to cordially invite you to celebrate the union of Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, Duke of Wellington, Viceroy of Area 10, major general and commander of the Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five and Camilla Millicent Ashford, Duchess of Ashford-Vinh.

Date: Saturday, April 2, 2016 Ascension Throne Britannia  
Place: Saigon Palace, Saigon, Area 10, Holy Empire of Britannia

**Bridesmaids  
**Princess consort Kallen Elizabeth kou Britannia, Duchess of Stadtfeld-Hue, Countess of Carlisle and Glouter  
Princess Cornelia li Britannia, Duchess of Virginia, Viceroy of Area 15, Commander-General of Britannian Unified Armed Forces  
Princess Euphemia li Britannia, Margravine of Plymouth, sub-viceroy of Area 11  
Lady Nonette Enngream, Knight of Six  
Lady Nina Einstein, Baroness of Da Nang  
Lady Shirley Fennette, Baroness of Vientiane  
Lady Kaguya Sumeragi, Japanese noblewomen  
Nunnally vi Britannia, Margravine of Cheshire

**Groomsmen  
**Lord Gino Weinberg, Knight of Twelve  
Prince Schniezel el Britannia, Duke of Ohio, Prime Minister of the Holy Empire of Britannia  
Lord Suzaku Kururugi, Japanese noblemen  
Lord Luciano Bradley, Knight of Eight  
Prince Cassius ru Britannia, Duke of Cumberland, Viceroy of Area 16  
Prince Clovis la Britannia, Duke of York, Viceroy of Area 11  
Prince Edward vu Britannia, Margrave of Maine, Viceroy of Area 17

**Ring bearers  
**Castor vi Britannia, Earl of Hanoi  
Pollux vi Britannia, Earl of Saigon

**Bride's attendants  
**Evelyn vi Britannia (Viscountess of Kentshire)  
Jinta Futaba  
(Evelyn's noble rank is not shown on the wedding invitation because she doesn't want Jinta to be the only person without a title.)

* * *

**Saturday, April 2, 2016 Ascension Throne Britannia**

As they are getting ready for Milly's wedding, Shirley looks down at the wedding invitation. She feels silly being in the wedding party. Everybody else is a royalty or nobility. Even Suzaku and Kaguya are sort of nobility in Japan, after they marry Euphemia and Lelouch, they will be nobility in Britannia as well. Shirley scans the list of those in the wedding party and the guest list. When she reads her name, she does a double take and lets out a squeaky yell.

Milly looks over at her, "What's wrong Shirley? The dress fits you, right? I selected only the finest materials from around the world," Milly comes over behind Shirley and grabs her breasts, "You are a perfect ten. You will probably snap up some prince or noble with this perfect body. Maybe even Prince Clovis after all Euphie is now sub-viceroy of Area 11."

Shirley tries to escape Milly's grasp but knows it is futile so she gives up. Sometimes Milly can really act like a perverted old man, but that's not something you can say to someone on their wedding day. Shirley points down at the wedding invitation.

"This says that I am Baroness of Vientiane. I have never even heard of the place."

Milly releases Shirley, "Oh you'll love it. It is up the Mekong River. There is small lake nearby. There are several large estates there. The city is mostly Britannia now."

Shirley shakes her head, "Okay but how am I the baroness of it."

Milly waves her hands, "Oh that. I had Lelouch declare you the Baroness of Vientiane a few weeks ago. I have been petitioning the emperor about it for several months now. I can't have one of my best friends just sitting around not doing anything at my wedding just because she isn't noble. So I."

Shirley interrupts, "You discussed me with the emperor."

Milly nods, "Well it was mostly with Lelouch's mother. But the emperor caved in and allowed Lelouch to grant peerages in his area up to a certain degree."

Shirley still isn't sure how it all works, but is distracted because Milly grabs her once more. This time Kallen has to pry Milly off Shirley.

CC has been enjoying her slumber. After eating an entire three meter pizza on her own, she needs to rest. But the noise started early this morning. It must be the wedding for Lelouch and the crazy blonde girl. Well at least the crazy blonde was responsible for the giant pizza. CC wonders what else they have planned. She pulls out the program and notices that only the wedding is planned for today so she goes back to sleep.

The entire city and surrounding area is decorated for Milly's wedding. All the decorations are white, black, blue, or violet. During the Kallen part of the week red was seen everywhere, but that color has disappeared. All the decorations throughout the city are large. The wedding party minus bride and groom are paraded throughout the city. The wedding will be shown on giant screens placed in the city's many parks. In addition the very food being served at the wedding reception is being served to all those watching.

Saigon Palace is decorated in all white with hints of black, blue, and violet. Out side of the palace are soldiers dressed in black lining the walkway. Behind the soldiers are the Callisto, Guinevere, Mordred, and Morgause. As one enters through the lobby of Saigon Palace, there are portraits of all the entire wedding party. Each couple has their own portrait. There is even one of Lelouch and Milly. Of course for the portrait Milly is not wearing her real wedding dress, but an extra dress that will be auctioned off for charity. After exiting the lobby, guests are guided to the Aries Garden where the wedding will take place. It is a beautiful spring day out. The garden is full of every flower imaginable.

Deithard make sure to film every important person as they enter the ceremony site. Much like the knighting ceremony, Deithard's aim is to make the vi Britannias seem both accessible and regal. Deithard cuts to a short commercial break. It is also important to make people believe that others see this wedding as an event.

-Guests of the vi Britannia/Ashford wedding were flown courtesy of Royal Britannian Airways. When you want to fly like royalty use Royal Britannian Airways.-

-Catering for the vi Britannia/Ashford wedding was provided by Jeannine's Royal Cuisine. Now with locations in Areas 10, 11, and 16. -

- Guests of the vi Britannia/Ashford wedding were also provided with gift baskets and bags provided by…-

Deithard checks the monitors as the list of sponsors for the wedding is announced. He smiles at the fact that the majority of the companies are owned by members of the royal family. He gives the signal to return to the ceremony site. He prepares the next scene. Prince Lelouch and the Knight of Twelve, his West Point classmate and best friend, wait at one of the garden for the ceremony to begin. As each guest enters Deithard makes sure that their full titles are shown and announced to the television audience.

Lelouch and Gino are waiting alone in the front. The other groomsmen will appear with the bridesmaids. The organ begins to play signaling the procession to start. The audience stands to their feet. Odysseus, Faramond, Bismarck, and Marianne are seated in the front. The Ashfords are seated in the front across the aisle. Milly's parents are smiling from ear to ear. Little do they know that they will receive little benefit from the marriage. Milly's grandparents are also there. Her paternal grandmother cannot stand and is sitting in a wheelchair.

Schniezel and Cornelia are the first ones out. The bridesmaid's dresses are made from blue lace and silk. The dress is silk while the bodice is an almost see through lace. The dresses are made to accentuate the bodies of well endowed bridesmaids (well except for Kaguya and Nunnally). The groomsmen suits are white with an amethyst vest and tie (to match Lelouch's eyes). Schniezel nods towards the Ashfords while Cornelia nods towards Marianne. Suzaku and Euphemia are next. Everybody remarks on what a lovely couple they make. They walk slowly down the aisle. Apart from their titles, Deithard makes sure that their accomplishments are listed as well.

Luciano and Nonette are next. Before they enter Nonette whispers something into Luciano's ear. By the look on Luciano's face, Lelouch assumes that she is telling him to behave. This does not stop Luciano from checking out the ladies in the audience. Luciano and Nonette's military achievements are listed. Cassius and Nina are next. They walk down slowly. Most of the people wonder who Nina is. For the first time it is publicly announced that Nina works on Lelouch's science team. She is announced as the winner of a prestigious science grant.

They are followed by Clovis and Shirley. Clovis takes his time, but his siblings glaring at him from the front make him go a little faster. He is pretty sure that Nunnally and Evelyn are glaring at him from behind. Shirley gets lots of looks from several nobles in the crowd. When she reaches the front, she notices that Lelouch, Gino, Schniezel, and even Luciano are looking at her. This pretty much dashes the hopes of the lower ranking nobles.

Edward and Kaguya are waiting in the back quite nervously. Normally Edward is paired with his sister, Isabelle. The audience is focusing on Clovis and Shirley. Edward sees his sister looking back at him. He nods and moves forward. Kaguya follows his lead. She is noticeably nervous as they walk down the aisle. She feels so small in comparison to all this nobles. Of course Shirley isn't noble either so this gives Kaguya a little encouragement.

Edward and Kaguya are seen with a mix of emotions. Most of Edward's siblings are glad that he appears comfortable with a girl. His mother doesn't like the idea of Edward and this Japanese girl being together. She is hoping to set him up with a nice Britannia girl. She was really hoping that Kallen and Milly had some more friends, but she figures Shirley will do. In Japan some see this as an opportunity to break off their deal with Lelouch. The prime minister, however, sees nothing wrong with one of Lelouch's brothers escorting his future wife.

Nunnally waits until they reach the others before starting her walk. She can hear people remarking about how lovely she appears, a perfect combination of her mother's beauty and grace and her father's demeanor and confidence. When she reaches the front, Nunnally goes over to Milly's grandmother and hugs her. All those that attended Ashford Academy acknowledge the elderly Ashfords as they pass them.

Kallen stands in the back. She wants to begin when Nunnally is halfway down the aisle but Milly stops her. Once Nunnally is in her position, all eyes fall upon Kallen. At least she isn't wearing a tiara as Milly planned, but her hair is spiked up. Sure she likes it that way but this is a formal event. She can feel Milly's parents glaring at her. She takes her position across from Gino who is staring at her with his mouth wide open. Kallen even notices that Lelouch's brothers glance in her direction. Luciano does his best to avoid looking at her. Suzaku is staring forward at Euphie. Kallen smirks or maybe he is staring at Shirley.

Luciano manages to poke Gino so he can stop his drooling. Luciano knows better than to stare at forbidden fruit. Luciano doesn't even bother looking at the orange haired girl. He wonders if the prince has had her as well. The only one not forbidden to Luciano is Nonette, and he isn't going to sleep with that freak again.

Castor and Pollux make their way down the aisle holding the rings in a special box. Their mother is disappointed that they aren't walking with any girls. Once they reach the front they hand Gino and Kallen the rings. They walk over and stand by Nunnally. There is a slight pause in the music.

Milly is wearing a traditional white wedding dress. It has a Victorian style bodice and huge skirt, made of silk with intricate bead work, and a long train. Atop Milly's head is a medium sized tiara and with large diamonds in it. She is wearing white silk gloves and her veil is made of lace. Behind her manning the train are Jinta and Evelyn as well as two little girls that can best be described as special friends of Castor and Pollux. The three girls are wearing amethyst dresses while Jinta is wearing a black suit with a cerulean vest and tie.

Lelouch is wearing the same thing as Jinta only a bigger version (obviously). By royal decree (Milly's orders, she is legally a princess now) Lelouch is forced to wear a crown. He is a prince and viceroy of this area after all. When Milly reaches the front Kallen and Cornelia take the train and move it aside. Evelyn and Jinta walk over to the side. The twins go over and get their 'girlfriends'. There is a slight giggle and cheer from the crowd when this happens. Even Lelouch cracks a little smile for the first time since the ceremony started. The kids are escorted to the side by their knights. The five vi Britannia knights along with Jeremiah and Kewell have been standing inconspicuous on the edge of the audience.

Lelouch removes Milly's veil. They smile at each other. The audience gasps at how beautiful they look together. How Lelouch's black contrasts with Milly's white. The rest of the ceremony is a bit of a blur. Even the vows seem unimportant when contrasted with the rest of the performance. After a chaste kiss, Lelouch and Milly make their exit. They are followed by the kids and their knights. Nunnally quickly grabs Kallen to stop Gino from getting any ideas. She forces him to walk out alone. The rest of the wedding party follows in order. The wedding is shown in giant screens throughout Area 10. Food and drinks are being provided for all those who wish to partake in the celebration.

The wedding is being viewed around the world. The emperor and VV are watching it with slight interest. The emperor still feels that things would have been better if they had forced Lelouch's wives to marry someone else. That would have been the real test. Guinevere falls asleep watching her favorite soap opera.

* * *

The reception is also being held outside in another part of Aries Garden. After spending some time taking pictures the wedding party makes their entrance. Each couple makes their entrance. For the sake of symmetry Kallen walks out with Gino. Nunnally, Evelyn, and Jinta walk out together. The twins and their special friends are next Milly and Lelouch enter last to applause.

Much to Gino's disappointment, he doesn't get to sit with Kallen. The wedding party is seated mostly by couple, sort of. Odysseus, Cassius, and Clovis join Schniezel and Cornelia at a table. Suzaku, Euphemia, Shirley, Edward, Kaguya, Isabelle, Ayame, Anya, and Faramond sit together. Nina sits with Cecile and Rakshata. Gino can choose between sitting with his old Ashford friends or sitting with…

"Come on Weinberg. We get our own table."

Gino follows Luciano to the table where the other Knights of the Round are seated. Joining them are the five vi Britannia knights. Gino is expecting Nonette or Bismarck to make a comment about Lelouch's selections, but they stay quiet. Nothing really happens except for some minor knightmare discussion. Gino does notice Luciano glancing towards Villetta. Gino grimaces because even though his main objective has been Kallen these past few years. He can't deny having always been attracted to Villetta ever since that day he saw her in her lingerie back at West Point. Gino feels something hit the back of his head.

He growls quietly, "What the hell?"

"You were drooling all over your food." Luciano smirks, "What's up? See some cute guy you like."

Gino sighs and shakes his head. He glances over at where Lelouch and Milly are sitting. They are joined by their family. They are sitting facing everyone else on a long table. Marianne is sitting by the Ashfords. Next to them are the twins and their girlfriends. Marianne is sort of keeping an eye on them giving Kallen and Milly a break. Lelouch is next. Milly is beside him of course with Kallen beside her. They are talking about something quiet animatedly. Evelyn and Jinta are seated next. Nunnally is sitting on the end ready to make her escape towards her friends. After a few minutes of vi Britannia solidarity, Nunnally is allowed to leave. Eventually Ayame comes over to check up on Jinta.

Jeremiah, Kewell, Sayoko, and Carmina are sitting very near the vi Britannia table. Despite not being the prince's official protector, Jeremiah still sees it as his duty. It also allows Villetta to get a bit of rest. It also helps that Sayoko feels protective of Nunnally.

After an awkward toast by Gino, Lelouch and Milly go out for a dance. They are joined by the members of the wedding party. Once again Kallen concedes to being with Gino. Faramond comes over and takes Nunnally out to the dance floor. He hopes that it will help him score some points with the other young ladies. (you know because he is being a gentleman and dancing with his aunt.)

After the first dance Milly takes her seat. Lelouch, however, comes and takes Kallen away from Gino. Others also come out to the dance floor. Luciano invites Villetta to dance. Jeremiah, Sayoko, Kewell, and Carmina come out to dance. Suzaku leaves Euphie and wisely goes over to Nunnally first. A few others switch partners as others come out to the dance floor. Lelouch makes his rounds dancing with his sisters and friends. Gino gives up trying to dance with Kallen.

* * *

While many of the guests are enjoying the celebration a few are hidden from the public. Schniezel's aide Kannon is touring Nina's facility as the reception takes place. Others are taking advantage of the celebration to hold secret meetings.

"Well Bartley, you are just as big as ever. Serving Prince Clovis hasn't done anything for your physique."

General Bartley grunts, "I enjoyed watching your former subordinates at their knighting ceremony a few months ago."

This time Colonel Madd grunts. Both men stay quiet for a few seconds. Neither particularly likes Lelouch. They are only here because it enables to speak without drawing unnecessary attention. They begin some discussion about a few projects when they hear noise from above on the balcony.

* * *

The celebration continues on for some time. Lelouch manages to escape the reception for a few moments and steps out on the balcony. Lelouch sighs and closes his eyes.

"You can come out now Rivalz. I know that you are hiding."

Rivalz steps put of the shadow holding a submachine gun. He looks visibly worn and dirty.

"I'm ending this tonight. Milly and Kallen can move on without you. Gino can get Kallen like he deserves. Milly," Rivalz looks down, "Well at least she will be away from you."

Lelouch laughs and snaps his fingers, "Is that so? Then fire away, Mr. Cardemonde."

Rivalz releases the safety on the weapon. He has been practicing this for several days. It would do him no good if he wasn't prepared. He pulls the trigger and nothing happens. He looks down at the weapon and makes sure that everything is correct. He goes to fire once more. He looks up and notices that Lelouch is smiling.

"What's wrong Rivalz? You equipment doesn't work. I wouldn't be surprised if your real equipment failed as well. Who would want to be with a loser like you?"

"I may be a loser but at least I'm not a traitor."'

"I am not the one who is point a gun at a member of the royal family."

"You think people don't notice what a snake you are. How you plan on backstabbing everyone once you get to the top. You think no one notices al your little schemes."

Lelouch laughs, "If you noticed all of that, how is it possible that you did not notice what was going on between Milly and me. "

Rivalz looks away and throws the gun angrily at Lelouch who catches it and tosses it aside. Rivalz pulls out a knife. He knows that Lelouch is a deadly fighter, but as long as he manages to kill Lelouch nothing else matters. Before Rivalz can move forward, someone kicks the knife out of his hand and trips him. Rivalz looks up and sees Anya standing over him. Lelouch picks up the knife.

"That will be enough, Anya. I can take it from here."

Anya moves to the side. Lelouch comes over to Rivalz now.

"I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this."

Rivalz tries to make a quick move at Lelouch, but finds his knife in his stomach.

"I warned you before I left Japan to forget about Milly. She is mine. She wants to be mine. You could have been enjoying yourself downstairs if only you would have stopped your silly fantasies and seen the truth. Perhaps you could have had a nice little post working for me here or at some factory." Rivalz staggers away from Lelouch, "Now you have nothing. I hope that Gino isn't as delusional as you are."

Rivalz reaches the edge of the balcony. In the distance he sees the celebration is still going on throughout the city and country side. He hears Kallen calling out near the entrance to the balcony. But before Kallen get there, Lelouch pushes Rivalz over the edge. Rivalz hits the ground hard. He feels his face being torn apart by the impact. Before he blacks out he hears several men discussing something called Code R.

* * *

Gino is standing at the entrance to the balcony. He sees Lelouch and Anya discussing something but can't make out what it is. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Sancia and Lucretia standing near the entrance of the balcony hidden. Most people would not notice them standing there. Gino is sure that if he can see them, they can see him so he moves out onto the balcony. Of course he supposes that they heard him calling out before he even reached the balcony. Kallen comes out right after Gino.

"Lelouch, there you are. You promised to behave. Now let's go back to the reception."

Kallen drags Lelouch away. Gino goes over to Anya.

"What were you guys talking about?"

Anya is staring up at the sky.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" she doesn't wait for Gino to respond, "Did you follow Kallen out here?"

Gino stays silent but makes sure to stay near the entrance to the balcony. Anya leaves without saying anything else. Sancia and Lucretia follow her. Gino makes sure that they are long gone before he lets out a sigh of relief. Lelouch's knights are very scary in certain situations. Even though Anya is with Euphemia for the moment, Gino knows that she really works for Lelouch. Gino goes over the edge of the balcony. Before he has a chance to look around, Euphemia comes jumping out onto the balcony scaring Gino. Euphie begins to laugh.

"Did I scare you, mighty Knight of Twelve?"

Gino smiles and shakes his head. Euphie frowns, "Ah man too bad. Come on. I am tired of dancing with Suzaku, and my brothers are annoying."

Euphie drags Gino back to the wedding reception.

That night Lelouch lies there thinking about what happened with Rivalz. He would never tell anyone that he feels remorse for killing Rivalz. If it were not Milly's special night, Lelouch would be showing more emotion.

In the morning Luciano regrets drinking so much not because of the hangover but because he ends up with Nonette. Gino wonders what was happening out on the balcony before he arrived.

**

* * *

**

Friday, April 8, 2016

Kallen is getting some fresh air out on the balcony. The same balcony that Lelouch killed Rivalz on the night of Milly's wedding. At least they believe him to be dead since no body or trail of blood was found. She closes her eyes and breathes. She feels two arms wrap around her. They are too long to be Lelouch's. She turns around and tries to push away when she realizes that it is Gino.

"What's your problem, Gino?"

Gino laughs, "Oh come on Kalli. I just want to have some fun. Kind of like the fun that Milly and Lelouch are having right now."

Gino tries to get close to Kallen again, but she slaps him.

"Are you crazy? I love Lelouch. I would never…" Kallen just shakes her head.

Gino frowns, "You can't be serious. What do you think is going to happen when he returns after spending two weeks alone with Milly?"

Kallen just keeps shaking her head. "Just stay away from me," Kallen begins to leave the balcony, "Stay away from the kids or the emperor is going to have to look for a new Knight of Twelve."

Kallen leaves. Gino makes a move to go after her but is stopped by the sound of Suzaku's voice.

"She is going to tell him about this."

Gino turns to face Suzaku who is in a corner of the balcony.

"Why would she do that?"

Suzaku comes out onto the balcony.

"There are no secrets between them. You don't actually think that Lelouch and Milly are spending their entire honeymoon fucking, do you?"

Gino twists his mouth. "Wouldn't you if you were married to Milly?"

"Touché, but what do you think they have been doing since Lelouch arrived here in Area 10, playing patty cake? They have been sharing him."

"Sharing him?"

"Yes all the girls have been getting their turn with Lelouch. Even Nunnally, Evelyn, and the twins get their days with Lelouch."

Gino looks up and shakes his head. Suzaku continues, "I'm pretty sure that they have been," slight pause, "sexually active since Lelouch's invasion last summer. You know Lelouch with Milly and Kallen. Probably with some of the others as well. I don't know why you haven't noticed. You're just like that stupid Cardemonde. Wherever that poor bastard is at."

This last comment makes Gino look at Suzaku.

"What do you mean?"

Suzaku sighs, "Cardemonde has been pawning stuff over the last few weeks even some stuff from school. He disappeared a little over a week ago. He bought a ticket for Area 17. But who knows where he went after that," Suzaku makes his exit, "I would heed Kallen's warning about leaving her and the kids alone. Sancia and Lucretia would not hesitate. You can't forget about little Anya. She is worse than Miss Lohmeyer. I have a better chance being alone with Kallen than I do Euphemia because Anya is always around."

Once Suzaku is gone, Gino thinks about he said in particular the part about Rivalz disappearing. Gino is lost in thought when he feels two arms wrapping around his waist. He jumps away. Euphie is standing there laughing and shaking her head.

"That's the second time I scare you out here."

Gino laughs as Euphie hugs him again.

"What's wrong Gino? You feel so tense."

"Where's Anya?"

Euphie shrugs her shoulders, "Probably off doing some knightmare testing with Cecile and Nina. Come let's go down to the beach. I got this new swimsuit I want to try out."

Euphie drags Gino away. Once at the beach Gino keeps thinking about what Suzaku said. If Rivalz was in Area 17, then perhaps he found a way to sneak into Area 10. Once here who knows what he would have done. Euphie pulls Gino out into the water. Rivalz would have gone after Lelouch. Gino decides that he will ask Lelouch about it once he returns, but for now he will enjoy Euphie's company.

In the distance two teenagers are watching Gino and Euphie play around on the beach, a red haired girl and a raven haired boy. They are also watching Suzaku and Shirley attempting to sneak off to another part of the beach.

"I wonder how Rivalz was able to get hold of this information. We must find him."

The two teenagers continue watching the scene below them.

"I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do anything about this, but it seems as if my hand is being forced.

* * *

Author's note: Thanks to the dark euphie for some of the wedding ideas. I call the people attending the wedding the audience because they were watching a performance. Lelouch and Milly love each other and are legally married so the wedding ceremony was just a formality.

I have hinted at Gino liking Kallen and believing that Lelouch marrying her is just a business type thing. Gino's parents are pushy and try to force him to date/marry certain girls. So he imagines that things are even more so for Lelouch even with all the hints that others like Milly and Euphemia saw. For Rivalz things were a little harder since Lelouch and Milly were a bit more secretive about their relationship.

I guess this as good a time to talk about it. Back at the beginning of chapter six, I quoted Shirley saying she met the love of her life and his mortal enemy at Ashford. At the time I probably meant Lelouch and later switched it to Suzaku. But in all honesty Shirley met almost all the Britannian characters in this story and most of the Japanese ones during the cosplay thing. In addition to that Milly is opening up an Ashford Academy in Area 10 so Shirley will probably meet more people there. So Shirley could have been talking about anyone: Lelouch, Charles, Schniezel, Luciano, Tamaki, Naoto, Tohdoh, Lord Kirihara, or even a girl. Heck the love of her life could be Euphie and Euphie's mortal enemy could be Evelyn because they fight over who Lelouch's second favorite sister is. Yes Nunnally is Lelouch's favorite because they are close in age and Nunnally is not as needy as Euphemia.

Noble ranks  
Emperor, prince, Archduke, Duke, margrave, earl, viscount, baron, knight  
Empress, princess, Archduchess, duchess, margravine, countess, viscountess, baroness, knight


	47. The Black Knights

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters. But I did create the little vi Britannias and they are awesome.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_

Much like the anime episode of the same name the group that the chapter is named after will make its big appearance at the end. It is never talked about but since Code Geass takes place in what would be our 1960's. I believe that satellites are plausible. When we get to the end of the chapter you'll know why I bring this up although you won't see the results until next chapter.

* * *

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon."

Napoleon Bonaparte

...

Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College  
Thomas Gray

**

* * *

**

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Lelouch wakes up exhausted having spent most of the last three days making love to Milly. Lelouch looks over at his naked wife and smiles. Milly is already hard at work on her laptop. Lelouch sighs because he knows that he isn't going to get anywhere with her on this day. Lelouch gets up from the bed and heads for the bathroom. He only has about nine days do what he needs to do. When his done showering, Lelouch goes over and pecks Milly on the cheek.

"Villetta will stay here to keep appearances. I may return in a few days when I am done with the first inspection."

Milly nods and bites her lip, "Are they still looking for Rivalz?"

Lelouch sighs, "Yes, but there was no signs of blood where he should have landed."

Milly nods once more, "Okay. Be careful."

Lelouch kisses her once again, "Of course."

Lelouch leaves Milly and heads over to Nina's facility. With everybody thinking that he is with Milly, he has to move carefully. Now that he thinks about it maybe a two week honeymoon is a bit excessive, but it keeps certain people from looking for him. Of course the twins, Evelyn, Nunnally, and Euphie will have to drop by his honeymoon suite since they are needy. They also have to know what is going on. Of course more importantly Kallen and Anya have to know where Lelouch is. Nina gives everyone a few days off so that Lelouch can come in unnoticed. Kallen and Anya are waiting for him there. Lelouch takes the reports from Nina.

"I can manage this Nina. I think that Milly needs comforting right now."

Nina nods. She wasn't informed completely about what happened with Rivalz, but she knows that something is up. With Nina gone, Lelouch begins to look over her work. Everything is quite remarkable. Who knew that hidden inside that shy girl was genius waiting to spring out. Kallen and Anya sit there quietly as Lelouch reads for Nina's reports. Apart from completely the first seventh generation mass production models based on the Mordred and Morgause, she has also begun work on her true objective.

"Your highness, the Bors is ready to be viewed."

"Yes Cecile, I will be there in a minute."

Kallen looks over at Cecile who smiles. Kallen wasn't expecting Cecile to be here. After spending a few minutes looking Nina's notes, Lelouch stands up and follows Cecile. Kallen and Anya follow closely.

**Bors  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.89 meters  
**Weight:** 7.11 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive Energy Filler

**Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere Sensor  
Landspinner Propulsion System  
Color: black with silver trim  
Command modules color: silver with gold trim

**Armament  
**4x shoulder Slash Harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens  
2x Maser Vibration Sword  
VARIS rifle  
2x wrist mounted cannons  
Multiplex chaos mines

* * *

"I can take over from here Cecile."

"Of course your highness."

Cecile bows before exiting the room. Lelouch looks the Bors over.

"So how are things going?"

Kallen answers, "About the same. Only Gino is being a pain. Euphie has been able to distract him a bit but still."

Lelouch nods, "Something must be done to push him."

Anya nods, "Do you need me to do something about him, your highness?"

Lelouch shakes his head, "No Anya, I think the problem will resolve itself soon enough. That will be all I will see you in a few days."

Anya hugs Lelouch before leaving. Lelouch goes over to Kallen and puts his arms around her. He begins to kiss the back of her neck.

Kallen slides away from him. "You smell like her."

Lelouch smells his shirt, "This is a brand new shirt, and I showered before coming here."

Kallen shakes her head, "That's not what I mean. I mean," Kallen pauses for a bit, "I don't know what I mean," Kallen sighs, "I should be getting back or people will get suspicious."

Lelouch sighs because he was hoping to spend the night with Kallen.

"Very well. Make sure that the twins remember to go over to our honeymoon suite on Saturday."

After Kallen is gone, Lelouch looks for Cecile. He is on his honeymoon after all.

**Friday April 8, 2016**

Lelouch spends two days with Cecile. They throw in some business to go along with their pleasure. It isn't quite what Lelouch wanted but it is close enough. More importantly he hopes that no one noticed that Nina or Cecile were missing. Nina is a bit of a recluse anyway so people may have assumed that she was just working. Lelouch carefully makes his way over to his honeymoon suite. He has been preparing for this event for months so there are many secret ways to get to the room.

Once in the room he finds Milly and Nina in each other's arms. It is pretty much what he expected to find. The two girls have been friends since they were children. Lelouch was not surprised that a relationship developed between the two of them. Milly always needs to dominate, and Nina always needs to be dominated. The last few days were probably odd in their relationship. This time it was Milly who needed the reassurance. Nina probably did her best to fill the void. Lelouch hated to leave Milly when he did a few days ago, but he knew that she needed her space.

Lelouch notices Nina sitting up. She puts her glasses on and looks at Lelouch. A smile comes over her face. Lelouch wonders if it is because he is here to be with Milly or because he allowed Nina to have her time with Milly. Nina stands up and gets dressed. Lelouch assumes that Nina also needs her time with Milly. Lelouch wonders if Nina knows about his relationship with Cecile.

"Thank you for watching over Milly for me these past few days."

Nina silently nods and continues to dress herself. Once she is out of the room, Lelouch slides into the bed with Milly. She is mumbling something. Lelouch leans in to listen to what she is saying. She is saying his name and is asking him not to kill Rivalz. Lelouch brushes his hand through Milly's hair and puts his other arm around her. Since he is only in his underwear, he can feel her tears running down his chest.

"I'm sorry, Lelouch. I just wish there would have been another way to fix the problem."

Lelouch kisses he forehead, "So do I, but he left no other option."

Rivalz's actions could only result in his death or imprisonment. Even if Gino and Kallen had made out onto the balcony before Rivalz impaled himself on the knife, he still would have died. Lelouch would have ordered Gino to kill him. With Anya, Sancia, and Lucretia as witnesses not to mention the security cameras, Gino would have had no choice. If not Gino then one of the girls would have done it. But as fate would have it, Lelouch is the one responsible for Rivalz's presumed death.

* * *

Lelouch spends the morning cuddling with Milly. In the afternoon he receives a call from Kallen. It seems as if the Gino situation has taken care of itself. Lelouch goes off to meet with her and Anya.

"I wonder how Rivalz was able to get hold of this information. We must find him."

They look down at the beach where Euphie is playing with Gino while Suzaku and Shirley are sneaking off to another part of the beach.

"I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do anything about this, but it seems as if my hand is being forced."

"Your highness, what did he uncover?"

"Nothing important. Just some information about my business dealings in Japan. I don't how he managed to get it though especially the stuff about me helping build the Burai and the Gekka."

Kallen bites her lip at the mentioning of the Japanese knightmare.

"How is Milly?"

"She is doing better now. She is still upset because she feels that she is partly responsible for what happened to Rivalz. She'll be fine. Anya keep monitoring the situation. I will be leaving for the eastern facility in a few days."

**Sunday April 10, 2016**

The kids came to visit on schedule the day before so Lelouch and Milly move on to the second part of their honeymoon. They are taking a cruise over to the eastern part of Area 17 to some islands known as the Moluccas. Lelouch mostly bypassed these islands during his invasion so they were left intact. However at great expense Lelouch has been buying the land through several different companies including several of the Japanese ones. If Rivalz managed to give anyone the information on Lelouch's Japanese holdings, it would be discovered that Lelouch owns all of the Moluccas.

Again to cover up what he is doing Lelouch's subordinates scatter. Normally in this situation Lelouch knows that Gino would follow Kallen but after what happened two days ago that will not be a problem. Kallen has left Saigon to run some tests on the Guinevere. Euphie and Suzaku are in Area 11 looking for an official home. Jeremiah is still with the army in Hanoi. Kewell is touring several bases throughout several areas. Nunnally, the kids, and their knights are taking a little vacation. The knights are testing their knightmares while the vi Britannias run some tests of their own. Of course Villetta is with Lelouch and Milly. Milly allows Lelouch to resume their honeymoon activities.

**Wednesday, April 13, 2016**

Lelouch is enjoying some time alone. Despite being left alone Gino remains in Saigon, but Miss Lohmeyer probably wishes he was gone. Kallen is able to escape using a submarine and is on her way to Lelouch's location. Lelouch continues his work in organizing his army group. Aside from a few thousand troops loyal to Clovis, Lelouch is in control of every soldier in Areas 10, 11, 12, 16, and 17. Lelouch is sure to rotate the troops under the control of the Duke of Oregon based in the eastern part of Area 17. There has been constant rebellion on the island of New Guinea. Lelouch also wants to keep Australia neutral. A show of force near its territory should do the job.

"Your highness."

Lelouch looks over and sees one of his naval officers standing there.

"Ah Captain Horthy, I had forgotten about our meeting. Please have seat."

Lelouch gestures for the captain to join him.

"Thank you, your highness."

"I have read your reports on the illegal shipping going on."

Unlike his ground forces, Lelouch's naval forces are under his complete command. Below Lelouch is Fleet Admiral James Williams, a very nondescript officer. Below him are several young officers such as Captain Horthy. They do most of the work. Captain Horthy is in charge of Lelouch's fleet east of Borneo to New Guinea. Captain Horthy places a vial and a syringe on the table. Lelouch picks them up.

"Your highness, this is refrain. It is a vile drug that has become quite popular as of late."

"Where is it made?"

"It is made in many places. China is the main producer at the moment, but its supply is crude," the captain pauses for a moment and appears to think about what he is going to say next, "The highest quality product comes from Area 11."

This gets Lelouch's attention.

"What does refrain do?"

"It makes the user believe he is in the past, in a happier time. It is a hallucinogenic."

"Have you put it on the illegal drug list?"

"Yes your highness as soon as we discovered it."

Lelouch is normally not informed of such minor matters. If one of his officials feels that something is harmful to Lelouch's areas, then it is made illegal. By making it a military issue Lelouch can even force Clovis to do things his way.

"Where did this particular product come from?"

"Palawan, Area 11. There are several factories on the island. Several nobles in Area 11 are involved in its manufacturing."

"Very well. Take care of the issue. I will deal with Clovis later."

Captain Horthy takes his leave. Captain Horthy and his men will act and ask questions later. So many nobles in Area 11 will become upset. Lelouch knows that this will upset Clovis, but he isn't going to have this vile thing in his territories. Lelouch feels two hands cover his eyes.

"Guess who?"

He takes the hands and begins to kiss them.

"Hey my Kalli. I didn't expect you so soon."

Kallen kisses the top of Lelouch's head and slips from his grasp.

"Where's Milly?"

Lelouch points towards a door at the end of the room. Kallen skips in that direction. Lelouch sighs and gets back to work. After a few hours of work, he decides to go to bed. As he reaches the door, he sees that Kallen and Milly are sound asleep. So much for experiencing new things. He didn't think he would be able to get away with it anyways. He blames stupid Luciano for putting the idea of a threesome in his head. Lelouch decides to find another room to sleep in when he runs into someone unexpected.

"_Ichiro, what are you doing here?"_

The Japanese soldier bows, _"Your highness, I am on vacation."_

Lelouch stares at him for a moment.

Ichiro smiles, _"I'm doing some reconnaissance in Areas 11 and 17."_

Lelouch nods. He knows that Japanese soldiers take 'vacations' in areas that they hope to send their mercenaries. As Lelouch ponders this, Ayame pulls him aside and points her brother in the opposite direction. Lelouch sees Ichiro head out to portico.

"You know, one of these days I'm going to get tired of you pulling and pushing me around."

Ayame shuts Lelouch up by kissing him. He sighs. He is going to have to get his secretary some less romantic minded friends because his sisters and wives are warping her mind. Lelouch can hear Villetta and Ichiro talking outside.

"You know you owe for this. First you take Kaguya away and now Villetta. How is my harem supposed to grow if you keep taking its future members away?"

Ayame keeps Lelouch occupied for the next two days so that Kallen and Milly can get some work done. Not to mention having Ichiro and Villetta spend time together.

**Saturday, April 16, 2016**

Gino is dreading his meeting with Lelouch, but he can't avoid it because he has nothing else to do. He really wants to ask him if he knows anything about Rivalz, but at the same time is wondering if what Suzaku said is true. Gino goes to take a seat.

Lelouch shakes his head, "Don't sit down. This won't take long."

Gino gulps and looks around. He notices that they are alone but that doesn't mean that the others aren't nearby. For the first time since he met Lelouch, Gino is afraid. There are so many ways for Lelouch to get rid of Gino and not be blamed for it.

"I hope that your honeymoon was enjoyable."

Lelouch ignores Gino's attempt at lightening the mood.

"Since you are a Knight of the Round, I cannot order you to leave Area 10. I can, however, ask you to leave my palace," Lelouch licks his lips, "Since you are here to observe the army's preparation, you can stay up north with Jeremiah if you like."

Observing the army is Gino's official reason to be here, however, observing Lelouch is his real aim. Gino decides to get formal.

"Your highness, I believe that observing the army's commanders is just as important as observing the army itself so I will remain here."

There it is as plain as Gino can put it. The emperor sent him here to observe Lelouch

Lelouch smirks, "Very well. Then I will file an official complaint with the emperor. You put your hands on a princess-consort and propositioned her to break her marriage vows," Lelouch pauses to let that sink in, "Such events can tarnish the reputation of my wife and lead to possible questions about the legitimacy of possible heirs to the throne."

Lelouch tosses a small package of papers at Gino. Gino picks then up and begins to read. It is the marriage contract between Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly. It details in great length how they are making their threesome work including items about who inherits Lelouch's right to the throne. Gino is surprised at how much Kallen gets out of this.

"Do not act surprised, Lord Weinberg."

Gino begins to sputter.

Lelouch sighs, "I see you are just as foolish as Cardemonde."

Gino glares at Lelouch at the mentioning of Rivalz.

"Only the situation is worse with you. I have told you from the beginning that Kallen is my best friend. I would never betray or lie to her. Despite the fact that I do love Milly, Kallen has always been my first choice," Lelouch stands up, "I did not marry her first out of pity or shame. I married her first because that was the plan all along. I married her because I love her," Lelouch begins to exit his office, "You have until the end of the day to leave Saigon Palace and until tomorrow to leave Saigon. If you are not gone, Villetta and Ayame have been instructed to file the formal complaint to the emperor."

Now Gino sits down. He also notices that Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, and Alice have been waiting at the door the entire time as was Evelyn whom Gino is most afraid of. Gino knows that the emperor will most likely ignore the formal request to transfer Gino away from Area 10, but it will go on Gino's permanent record. It may even be leaked to the media that Gino tried to proposition one of Lelouch's wives. In the end people will think that Gino tried to proposition the recently married Milly.

Gino shakes his head at the fact that he misread the entire situation. It is now clearly obvious that Lelouch cares very little for his parent's opinion. It is probably something that Gino should have seen earlier, but his own family situation probably clouded his mind. Was Gino as delusional as Rivalz? No it was different for Rivalz who never stood a chance at getting Milly. In fact Rivalz probably didn't stand a chance at getting Shirley or Nina. Now Gino will never to able to ask about Rivalz. Even if the Rivalz did manage to come to Area 10, what could he have done? Even worse if Lelouch took care of Rivalz, the emperor would do nothing. He would see it as Lelouch handling his own business. Lelouch is the viceroy of Area 10. As long as his actions don't contradict an imperial order, he is able to do as he pleases. Gino closes is his eyes as he thinks. He feels two slender familiar arms wrapping around him.

"You didn't scare me this time."

Euphie giggles, "I wasn't trying to. Where's Lelouch?"

"He left a few minutes ago."

"What were you guys talking about?"

Gino tries to turn the situation to his favor.

"I just informed Lelouch that I will be observing the army in the north."

Euphie frowns, "Ah too bad. Things were just getting to be fun here."

Gino sighs, "Well it can't all be fun. When are you heading to Area 11?"

Euphie shrugs, "I don't know. It isn't like Clovis need me. I will probably spend most of my time here or with Cassius or Annabel."

Gino nods and stands up.

"Well I have to finish packing."

"Okay I'll help."

Gino and Euphie go off to Gino's room.

"I think that you have a different definition of finishing packing than I do because you haven't even started."

To make it go faster Euphie is able to get Nunnally and the twins to help. The twins are sad to see Gino because he is the subject of most of their jokes even though there is only so much you can do with his name.

* * *

After his meeting with Gino, Lelouch is left alone with Evelyn. So of course they play a game of chess. To Lelouch it is a little like the times he played with Schniezel when he was a boy. Evelyn grimaces because it is pretty obvious that she will lose this game. As Lelouch sits there he thinks about his honeymoon with Milly. Evelyn scowls because even though Lelouch is only half paying attention to the game, he is still winning. After defeating Evelyn twice, Lelouch stands up and kisses her on the forehead.

"Maybe next time, Evie. I have to go check up on the knightmares."

With Gino on his way out of the palace, Lelouch is able to visit the real knightmare hangars. While Nina is working on the mass production models based on the Mordred and Morgause upstairs, others are working on different projects well below the ground.

"Your highness, I wasn't expecting you to be back here so soon."

"Well Cecile the opportunity presented itself."

"Very well your highness. Allow me to introduce knightmare frames Lucan and Chrysalis."

Lelouch looks up at the very unusual looking knightmare frames.

"Well actually the Lucan is a Knight Giga fortress."

No one really knew what to call the Chrysalis. It is a combination tank-knightmare. According to the twins it is a Transformer.

Lelouch approaches the unusual knightmares.

"Do they both have flight systems?"

"Yes your highness. Also neither of them is powered by sakuradite."

Lelouch smiles, "So you are putting hadron cannons on them."

"On the Chrysalis. The Lucan calls for something else. Although the solution to that problem may not be far off," Cecile pauses, "Your highness, I don't believe that there is anyone capable of piloting these knightmares."

Lelouch brushes his hand through Cecile's hair.

"Don't worry about that, my dear Cecile. It is being taken care of as we speak."

Cecile nods. She doesn't worry about what Lelouch isn't telling her. She is used to him keeping a few secrets. Cecile feels Lelouch put his arms around her.

"Let's go. I wasn't completely satisfied during my honeymoon."

**

* * *

**

Saturday, April 23, 2016

The twins are excited because everyone is here except for Gino and Euphie. Of course they are more excited because they are receiving visitors today. They are a month away from their fourth birthday and already there is talk of arranging marriages for them. Of course the talk of arranging marriages for Nunnally and Evelyn is louder. The twins are dressed to receive their visitors and head out to their private living room. However when they reach the entrance they hear voices inside.

"Your highness, you are so funny."

The twins peek into the room and see their special friends sitting with their older cousin, Carolina and Lelouch. Obviously Lelouch notices his younger brothers watching.

"Well my dear Carolina perhaps we should make our exit," Lelouch stands up and puts his hand out. Carolina takes it. Lelouch bows, "It was a pleasure to meet the two of you. Perhaps we can do this again," The two little girls put their hands out and Lelouch kisses each causing the little girls to giggle. "Miranda, Emily, it was my pleasure. The twins should be here in a few moments."

Lelouch walks Carolina out. The twins are introduced and walk over to their girlfriends.

"Hi Casto"

"Hi Muranda."

"Hi Po-lux."

"Hi Emily."

Lelouch and Carolina walk out onto the porch where the others are drinking tea. Edward and Isabelle already know Carolina, Miranda, and Emily since they are cousins. Lelouch introduces Carolina.

"This is Carolina Sforza, Duchess of Alberta."

Kallen and Milly introduce themselves. Milly begins, "So you are Isabelle and Edward's cousin."

Carolina takes some tea. "Yes my father is their mother's brother. Our uncle is the Duke of Oregon and the father of Miranda and Emily."

They continue with the small talk. Eventually Nunnally and Evelyn join them. Later in the evening Lelouch makes sure that Carolina, Miranda, and Emily are taken to their rooms. Lelouch walks towards his office with Villetta trailing behind him. Now a week removed from his honeymoon and with Gino out of town, they can all get to work. He bumps into someone as he walks away.

"I am so sorry, Lady vu Britannia. I had no idea you were here."

Edwards and Isabelle's mother bows, "Well your highness, I have been asked by my brothers to watch over their daughters."

Lelouch smiles when he thinks about the twins taking undue liberties with the girls. Then he realizes that she must also be talking about Carolina.

"I will see you later, your highness."

Lelouch nods and makes his way to his office. For him being married to Kallen and Milly is enough for now. Although Carolina's presence would help in certain situations when Lelouch needs Kallen and Milly to be elsewhere. Because he can't attend those parties with Ayame or Cecile and attending with his knights is counterproductive. This is the type of situation that would be perfect for Euphemia only it is more important having her appointed sub-viceroy of Area 11. Of course it is important for Milly and Kallen to attend certain events to project a certain image.

"Guess who."

Lelouch yanks and lifts the person covering his eyes and begin to tickle her.

"Stop big brother, stop."

Lelouch ceases his attack on Nunnally. She sits on his lap and puts her head on his chest. Evelyn allows her elder siblings to have a moment before coming in the room.

"Nunna-chan, I thought you were just coming to get Lelouch-san."

Lelouch brings Evelyn closer.

"So what do my two favorite girls want to do tonight?"

Both princesses ignore Lelouch's obvious attempt to pander them and begin to give Lelouch a list of the night's activities.

**Thursday, April 28, 2016**

Lelouch is sitting in his office continuing to work on the organization of his army when he receives an unexpected visitor.

"Lord Waldstein, I was not expecting a visit from you."

Bismarck looks around Lelouch's office.

"Yes well I was hoping to speak with Lord Weinberg."

"Well at the moment he is inspecting the army in the north."

Bismarck grimaces, "I see so that is where he is. Well your highness, I will be on my way north."

Gino's mission has nothing to do with the army. His mission was to observe Lelouch. If something happened that forced Gino to leave Saigon then his presence here is no longer necessary. If that is the case then Bismarck will have to send Luciano or Nonette. No perhaps Bismarck should send someone else. It is obvious that Lelouch knows he is being watched. If the younger vi Britannias had been raised in Pendragon than they would be perfect spies.

Lelouch is not surprised by Bismarck's visit or his quick exit. It seems likely as though someone else will be sent to spy on Lelouch.

**Sunday, May 1, 2016 **

Bismarck has just left Area 10, but before leaving he informed Gino of his intention of sending him elsewhere. It seems as if no one knows the reason why Gino was asked to leave Saigon. Gino hasn't been doing much except wandering around. For some reason Jeremiah isn't around instead Kewell and Villetta are here with the army. For now Euphie and Shirley have returned to Japan. From what Gino has been able to gather the elderly Ashfords will most likely give control of the school to Milly. Gino is going over some reports and forms looking for any irregularities when he hears some noise. Gino leaves his office and sees some commotion down the hallway. He ignores it because there is always something going on.

"Lord Weinberg, I had no idea you were still here. I assumed that you would have left with Lord Waldstein."

Of all the people Gino expected to see up here. He never would have expected to find Kallen here. She is wearing one of those black uniforms that Lelouch's people wear. In the center is Lelouch's logo. It is similar to the end of a trident only the outer two spikes are bent towards the side. They form an L shape. (Black Knights symbol, geass sigil with a sword down the center)

Gino nervously asks, "What are you doing here," slight pause, "your highness?"

"Commander Stadtfeld, his highness is ready for us."

"I will be there in a few minutes, Captain Alstriem."

Anya's glare suggests that Gino would have been better off leaving with Bismarck.

Kallen smiles and puts her hand out, "Care to join us, Lord Weinberg."

Gino politely declines Kallen's hand, but follows her. They step out onto a balcony. The five vi Britannia knights are standing in a line. Anya directs Kallen towards the edge where Lelouch is standing looking down. Standing off to the side is Lelouch's entourage: his siblings dressed in a similar uniform, Jinta, Ayame, and Midori. Gino doesn't see Milly and wonders why. As he looks around Gino doesn't see any cameras. Lelouch gestures for Gino to come to his left. Kallen is at his right.

Once there Gino looks down towards the ground. As he expects Lelouch's army is gathered, but what he does not expect is the sheer size of it. Gino knows that that Lelouch is command of the Fifth Britannian Army Group, but this is insane. In the front are thousands of soldiers standing. Gino can see many of them do not appear to be Britannian. Behind the soldiers are several hundred tanks, APCs, and knightmares. Gino recognizes some of the knightmares, but there are some new models out there that Gino has not seen. As they stand there several jets fly over them. Also in the air are several dozen VTOLs and helicopters. Nagisa Chiba and Zhou Xianglin are watching from the side. Both are in awe of not only the size of Lelouch's force, but the manner in which he controls it.

Lelouch raises his hands to calm down the cheering soldiers.

"We are allies of those who hold no weapons no matter who they are. Those who seek to harm and use underhanded tactics will be dealt with. For years the rulers of this world have been like this. They massacre their own people rather than caring for them. We will not stand to see these kinds of cruel acts. We do not wish to fight. However, the act of the strong utterly killing the weak that is unforgivable. Only those who are prepared to be killed should kill," Lelouch glances at Gino, "When those with power attack those without, we will appear. No matter who the enemy is whether they be Britannian or foreign. Those with power fear us. Those with power will fear us. Those without will seek us. If they value justice. If they value life. If they seek truth. They will seek us. We, the Black Knights, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this world."

Lelouch smiles and raises his right hand.

"ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

Those soldiers below him repeat this. The yell echoes throughout the city. Gino stands there flabbergasted at what hears and sees.

* * *

Author's note: I love that speech. I tweaked the speech a bit. It might seem like it doesn't fit, but Lelouch's audience is his army which has a large amount of Numbers in it. Despite the fact that it is not being officially broadcast around the world, that does not mean that others will not see the speech.

I thought of that last part over Christmas weekend. I saw the entire Star Wars and Lord of the Rings sagas. I drew inspiration from the gathering of Saruman's army from the Two Towers before the attack on Helms Deep and the emperor boarding the Death Star in Return of the Jedi.

In the early 1800's Oregon stretched from what is now the state of Oregon north to British Columbia. The Duke of Oregon does not own this entire territory but is the leading noble in the area. Although he does own large tracts of land. Alberta borders it. Making this family powerful in the western part of Area 2. This also explains why the emperor married Edward and Isabelle's mother. Carolina will not be the last girl from a powerful noble family that is tossed in Lelouch's direction.

I talked a bit about Shirley at the end of the last chapter. So I'll talk a little about Gino and Kallen here. They have basically taken Suzaku and Rivalz's roles as Lelouch first and best friends. Gino is slipping into the early season 2 Suzaku role while Kallen is in the late season 2 Suzaku role. Only Kallen knows exactly what Lelouch is planning and has known for some time. Kallen's cannon role is divided amongst Lelouch himself and eventually Anya and maybe Nunnally.

The next chapter is the first that doesn't follow Lelouch since chapter 23, but it will still kind of be Lelouch-centric since the stuff that happens will be a result of his actions.


	48. The Ill made Knight

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

I made a slight change to the end of the Black Knight speech to make it fit more. The speech was more for Gino and those he reports to than anyone else. It could also be seen as directed at any world leader who abuses his power and people. In case anyone didn't figure it out Lelouch's army has lots of Numbers in it.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_

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* * *

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Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

_Day 6 ability and character  
__Kyoshiro Tohdoh  
__Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits  
__Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

...

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men

Lord Acton, a 19th century Britannian historian

**

* * *

**

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Lloyd is arriving in his office in Pendragon. He has been moving his things over for the past few months. Of course he moved the important things first. Everything else is just clutter. Since finishing the Titan several years ago, Lloyd has been in contact with his old mentor, Leonard Labie. Their conversations became more frequent when the Mordred and Morgause were completed. With his task accomplished Lloyd needed to find something else so the two Britannian princes conspired, and Lloyd is now working for Prince Schniezel.

Lloyd is now in charge of Camelot which is Prince Schniezel's knightmare team. Lloyd smiles at the similarities between his two employers. Lelouch named his newest knightmare project, Caerleon which is an older site for King Arthur's home. Lloyd is now tasked with building the Lancelot and Gawain. The Lancelot in particular is important to Lloyd since he helped create many of his concepts previously while working with Leonard Labie. Now Lloyd is working with Leonard's daughter Mariel who prefers to go by Elle.

"Dr. Lloyd, what is this?"

Lloyd looks over at Elle who is helping him sort through his things. Despite her desire to be informal about her name, she still uses some formality when relating to others. Lloyd wonders if her father has anything to do with that. Lloyd looks over at what she is holding.

"Oh those are just old test scores. Ones from the Titan, Callisto, and Europa. There are plenty of others here from other knightmares. Cecile has the ones from the newest knightmares," Lloyd sighs, "I don't know why I even kept all those reports."

"These scores are tremendous," Elle continues to look over the reports. Some of the names are known to her (Lelouch, Kallen, Milly, Gino, Anya).

"I can't believe that Princess Nunnally is able to score so high here."

Lloyd nods, "Yes well the only problem is that her body isn't developed enough to handle the stress or else she would be perfect for the Lancelot."

"You even have test scores here for Princess Euphemia."

As far as Elle knows, Princess Euphemia has never even been within ten feet of a knightmare much less piloted one Even though her test scores where the lowest of the bunch, they were still pretty impressive. Lloyd nods once more. He even has test scores for Evelyn and the twins although those are more about potential. In the knightmare simulator very few if any actually beat the twins, mostly because they view it as a video game.

Elle shakes her head, "But they are all so young."

Lloyd raises his eyebrow. Standing before him is someone who should still be in high school but is actually months away from a doctorate. She is claiming that others are so young. Lloyd will admit that there is difference between piloting a knightmare and showing brilliance is school.

"Wait, who is this?" Elle points down at the top of the list, "Suzaku Kururugi. His scores are the highest on the Titan. My father mentioned that the Titan is similar to what the Lancelot will be."

This time Lloyd simply shrugs. In his mind the Titan is preview of what his vision for the Lancelot will be. While Suzaku's peak scores are the highest on the Titan, his average is below Lelouch. Lloyd supposes that in the right situation Suzaku can be more effective. But it is of little concern to Lloyd; Suzaku is in Japan and can't be used.

Elle asks, "Isn't Suzaku Kururugi engaged to Princess Euphemia now?"

Lloyd twists his mouth around. Cecile always wanted him to pay more attention to his surroundings. If Suzaku is engaged to Princess Euphemia, is he now an option? Before he can comment on the situation, Prince Schniezel walks into the room. He is accompanied by Kannon Maldini, his assistant, and Merlin Suzerain, Knight of Two.

Elle quickly responds to this surprise visit, "Your highness, we were not expecting you to come today," Elle nudges Lloyd who spins knocking over Elle and Lloyd's reports.

Schniezel bends down to assist Elle up meanwhile Kannon picks up the reports. He notices that same thing that Elle noticed, Suzaku's name on top of the Titan performance report. He points this out to Schniezel who smiles.

Schniezel responds to Elle, "You see Merlin here," Schniezel gestures to the Knight of Two, "was getting impatient and wanted to see how things were coming along with the Gawain."

Lloyd gathers himself, "Yes very well then. Follow me out to the knightmare hangar."

Elle apologizes profusely for Lloyd's manners. Schniezel simply smiles. While not one for complete formality Schniezel wonders if this is the reason why Lelouch opted to keep Cecile Croomy rather than Lloyd. Nevertheless Lloyd managed to turn around an almost moribund project. Since Dr. Labie was injured last year, his daughter took over. Despite being quite intelligent Mariel Labie is no Lloyd. In time she can perhaps turn into something better. As Schniezel ponders these matters, Mariel goes over to show the Gawain to Merlin. Most people in Merlin's position would rather have the Lancelot, but Merlin has always liked leading from the rear. Schniezel isn't sure that the Gawain is even capable of knightmare to knightmare combat. Kannon brings Lloyd's reports to Schniezel's attention and points out Suzaku's performance.

"Lloyd, may I have a word with you?"

Lloyd remembers his manners, "Yes your highness."

"What are these reports?"

"Oh those they are from our knightmare testing sessions. You may recall a few of them such as the knightmare battle a few years ago or the rebellion in Area 10. Of course knightmares automatically record data. That data is also available to the knightmare's base of operations."

"I see and Suzaku's scores were the highest on the Titan."

"Yes well his peak scores were highest. These were based on actual combat situations during the rebellion in Area 10. When you factor on his overall levels, he drops a bit."

Schniezel is perplexed, "What does that mean? If his scores are the highest, is he not the best pilot?"

Lloyd shakes his head, "Not entirely. You see if you look at some of these other reports you will see that Princess Cornelia scored higher than Prince Lelouch, but overall Lelouch is the best for the Titan. He uses all the knightmare's systems not just certain ones."

Schniezel understands, "So Lelouch because he uses everything at his disposal."

Lloyd lightly nods, "That is a simple way of putting it. Prince Lelouch does not depend on the knightmare solely. He does not charge in blindly regardless of the situation."

"I see. I wonder if it is possible to have Suzaku come in and run a few tests on the Lancelot simulator."

Lloyd has been wondering the same thing.

"Very well Lloyd. It appears that Merlin is done. We will be on our way."

**Tuesday, May 4, 2016**

Li Xingke is going over Zhou Xianglin's reports. He finds them quite disturbing. He does wonder how she was able to get the prince's confidence so quickly. She has attended important meetings and seen secret warehouses. Of course there is the strong possibility that those may have been a front for something bigger. Before he can continue to ponder the situation he is called into a meeting. The only attendees to the meeting are the High Eunuchs and a few high rankings generals.

'_Ah Xingke, you're here. Take a seat.'_

Once Xingke sits, the giant screen is turned on. One of the generals begins to speak.

'_These are images from our Dragon 2 satellite system.'_

The image is fuzzy at first but begins to clear up. It takes them through what appears to be the countryside when it reaches what is unmistakably the outskirts of a Britannian city. Then they all see that thousands of soldiers as well as hundreds of pieces of machinery are in plain view. Xingke begins to think of where the Dragon 2 is located when he feels all eyes in the room on him.

The general continues, _'At the moment none of our spies have been able to return north to give their report since most of them act as fishermen along the Red River and the Gulf of Tonkin.'_

Luckily for Xingke, he brought along Xianglin's reports. Since they are usually chronological, he flips to the last pages. He raises his hand before speaking up.

'_Yes Xingke, you have something to add.'_

'_According to Zhou Xianglin's report this force is part of the Britannian United Armed Forces Group Five. They are under the direct control of Major General Lelouch vi Britannia. I have here a detailed description of their divisions and content. She also says that the prince has given this force the name, the Black Knights.'_

'_Thank you, Xingke. It seems as if we were correct in sending Zhou Xianglin with the prince.'_

The High Eunuchs dismiss the meeting. They don't bother asking Xingke for Xianglin's reports. A few of the generals ask for copies to be forwarded to them. Xingke knows that they will be ignored. If they really want to know what Xianglin has to say, they would demand that copies be made that very instant. Xingke goes back to his office and continues to read Xianglin's reports.

* * *

Colonel Kusakabe, Major Naoto Kouzuki, and 1st lieutenant Ichiro Futaba are attending a highly classified meeting. Naoto is not really sure why they are attending since the meeting has nothing to do with Japanese knightmares. Now with the construction of the Gekka completely underway, Japan has established a knightmare brigade. In time it will grow to a division, a corps and finally an army. Naoto has no plans to invade other nations. He just wants them to leave Japan alone. Also attending the meeting are General Katase, Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh, Lord Taizo Kirihara, Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi, Suzaku Kururugi, and Kaguya Sumeragi. A few other generals and secretaries are in the back of the room. They know that their place is to sit there quietly and listen.

Even though he is only a major, Naoto has gained respect because of his work with knightmares. There have also been minor talks about having a few Indian scientists including the great Rakshata Chawla come in a help with the knightmares. Of course Naoto is at the center of it all. A colonel who Naoto recognizes as being in charge of espionage steps forward and begins to speak.

"_These are images that were taken from Chinese and Britannian satellites. Some of our tech people were able to hack into their systems. These images are from what Britannia calls Area 10."_

Now Naoto realizes why he is here. Above all these people consider him to be an expert on Lelouch vi Britannia. Naoto wants to point out that everyone in this room has met with Lelouch many more times than he has. In fact Suzaku and Kaguya were in his most recent wedding. Heck Suzaku was in his previous wedding. Not to mention the fact that Suzaku us marrying one of Lelouch's closest sister and Kaguya is most likely marrying Lelouch.

The images show several thousands soldiers and hundreds of pieces of machinery including some new knightmare types. Naoto can already see that Ichiro is taking notes.

Lord Kirihara asks, _"Do we have any idea what these troops will be used for?"_

The colonel shrugs his shoulders, "_From their position it seems as if they are there to keep the Chinese in check. But a quick look around the area may point to the obvious conclusion."_

They all stayed silent because the obvious conclusion meant invading Japan. Relations have been good with Britannia. It is with the Chinese and EU that Japan has been having problems with. Suzaku decides to interject himself in the conversation since nobody here knows Lelouch.

"_I think he is preparing to go to war against the EU and its allies."_

Suzaku knows this because Euphemia mentioned something about it to him.

The colonel nods, _"I suppose that would also explain the naval buildup. Although that has been harder to track since it is spread out."_

Naoto considers that comment. In light of the fact that large stretches of the territory has only recently been conquered, it is most likely that Lelouch is keeping a large force to dissuade any rebels. However he wonders if Lelouch is setting out to conquer Japan. What would Kallen think of such an event? If successful the conquest of Japan would put Britannia in control of all the territory to the east of China. They spend a few more minutes discussing ways to combat Britannia if it comes to that. Naoto can see Suzaku looking in Ichiro's direction.

Suzaku is certain that Lieutenant Futaba is familiar but he can't quite put his finger on it. He excuses himself because he has a date with Euphemia, and he has to prepare.

**Friday, May 20, 2016**

Nunnally, Evelyn, and the twins are spending a few days in Pendragon. Milly wants the twins out of Area 10 so she can plan their birthday party in peace. On the way here they dropped off Sayoko in Japan and picked up Suzaku. Of course Euphemia is traveling with them as well. As is Miss Lohmeyer who is personally making her report to the emperor. Nunnally looks out the window of the plane. She has almost forgotten what Pendragon looks like. Aries Palace is just a vague memory to her despite the fact that she spent most of her life there.

She looks towards Euphie who doesn't seem all that excited about coming to Pendragon. Nunnally can't even call it home because it isn't. Their knights and Anya who is basically Euphie's knight are sitting behind them. Around Miss Lohmeyer are several other officials helping her with paperwork. Nunnally wonders what her father's opinion of this woman is. He must agree with her stance on Numbers. Nunnally has heard her many arguments with Lelouch about something that Milly or Kallen did that benefited Numbers more than Britannians.

Nunnally knows that her father's stance on the superiority of Britannia, but she knows that her father is also not someone who will cast aside someone useful. She looks over to make sure that Evelyn and the twins are buckled up for the landing. She wonders who will pick them up. Nunnally wonders if it is too much to hope for their mother to be there. Of course since Euphemia and Suzaku are here as well, Cornelia would not forget about them.

Once the plane lands their knights come over to assist them. Nunnally wonders if Lelouch is upset because his four most loyal subordinates are not at his side. Anya goes over to make sure that Suzaku isn't taking any undue liberties with Euphie. Their knights exit first. They are followed by Nunnally and the kids. Euphie and Suzaku are next with Anya following closely. Miss Lohmeyer is bringing up the rear.

Much to their surprise their mother does come for them. Cornelia is busy with affairs in Africa at the moment. After settling into their rooms, they go out to the garden for a bit. They all remark how much better Milly's garden is in Saigon. Before going to sleep Nunnally and Evelyn help the twins write letters to their friends. In the morning they are all gathered for breakfast. Suzaku has been invited to a meeting by Schniezel.

He asks, "So what are you girls going to do today?"

Marianne answers, "I thought we could begin to plan Euphemia's wedding. I invited that friend of yours, dear."

Euphie looks perplexed. "Friend?"

"Yes the orange haired girl."

"Oh Shirley. When is she coming?"

"She should be here this morning."

Wedding stuff doesn't seem at that exciting to Nunnally. She wishes that Lelouch would have let her stay in Saigon and work on her knightmare with Nina. The twins don't like the idea of being here much less spending their time with Euphie's wedding stuff. They would rather be in Saigon working with Carmina's dad. They came up with an idea of creating a cartoon based on the premise of having autonomous robots that can transform into everyday vehicles. Evelyn is undecided. Nunnally is the first to speak up.

"Ah can't I go with Suzaku-san."

Marianne catches that last bit. Nunnally has to remind herself to readopt Britannian customs. Too much time in Japan and Area 10 has affected her. At least she didn't say it in Japanese or even worse Vietnamese.

Marianne sighs, "Nunnally, I don't want you bothering Suzaku and Schniezel on their business. Besides it won't be too long before you have to deal with wedding things yourself."

Nunnally smirks, "I don't have to worry about my wedding. Milly has it all planned out."

Suzaku senses an argument coming so he interjects himself.

"Nunnally would be no bother, Lady Marianne. In fact I would feel a bit more comfortable with some company."

In truth Suzaku feels a bit nervous meeting with Schniezel. With Lelouch you always know that he is holding something back. Suzaku would not be surprised if Lelouch has a whole bunch of facilities underground in Area 10, Japan, and even here in mainland Britannia. Lelouch can be working on conquering Mars for all Suzaku knows, but he is planning something. With Schniezel you never could tell. You might think that he has a reward for you when in fact a dagger is already in your back.

Marianne considers this. It will probably be easier to get things done without Nunnally pouting all day long. She does wonder what Evelyn will want to do now.

"So who else doesn't want to do wedding stuff today?"

The twins raise their hands.

"Fine you two can stay here."

Marianne looks over at the knights who are sitting at a different table.

"You girls can rest today. My personal guard should be enough to watch over us."

The four knights nod. Anya just sits there quietly. After breakfast everybody goes to prepare for their day. Shirley is lead to Euphie's room. Shirley is looking around, and Euphie notices this.

"It isn't much when you compare it to Saigon Palace."

Shirley shrugs, "I guess, but Milly probably has a lot to do with that."

"Let's go. Lady Marianne is probably waiting for us.

Shirley nods, and they go off to meet Marianne. On the way out Marianne notices that Anya is trailing behind them all acting like she is still on duty. Marianne looks over at Euphie who shakes her head. Marianne shrugs and lets Anya follow along. Not that she would be able to stop her.

Of course Alice goes with Nunnally and Suzaku so the remaining three knights remain with the twins.

"Here Lucretia, help me write a letter to Muranda."

Pollux takes his laptop over to Lucretia and dictates to her. Castor is out in the garden drawing robots that transform into cars and planes.

* * *

Suzaku is a bit nervous. Maybe it isn't such a good idea to meet with Schniezel after all it would only be a matter of months before Euphemia can convince Lelouch to build him a knightmare. If not Lelouch then Suzaku will get a knightmare from the Japanese military. At least he is here with Nunnally not Euphemia even if Alice is tagging along. Nunnally leans against Suzaku.

"What's wrong Suzu?"

"Nothing, it's just that I have never really met with Schniezel."

Now that Nunnally thinks about it, she has never really met with Schniezel either. Lelouch and Cornelia are usually the ones that deal with their older siblings. Sure she has been with him, but she has never spent any time with him.

Nunnally smiles, "Don't worry Suzu, Alice is with us."

"Sure Nunners."

Alice isn't so sure about that. She does wonder what they will do while Suzaku is off doing things with Schniezel. Once there Suzaku is taken away to take several tests. Nunnally and Alice spend the day working with some simulators. There is an uneasy moment at first with Lloyd's assistant, Elle, who insists on treating them like little girls. Of course Nunnally points out that both of them have actual combat experience. Nunnally helped put down the rebellion in Area 10 two years ago. Apart from that Alice also participated in Lelouch's invasion last year. With the situation with the EU deteriorating by the day, Nunnally points out that they will probably see action once more. Elle decides to leave them alone. After a few hours Suzaku is finished with his tests. Nunnally decides that tomorrow she will probably go help the others with Euphie's wedding stuff.

**Tuesday, May 24, 2016**

Edward and Isabelle were finishing some paperwork. A few weeks ago they returned to Bali. They thought that they escaped their little cousins. But since the twins were in Pendragon, Miranda and Emily came to Bali. If they had brought Carolina with them things would have been better, but the girls came alone because Carolina was having so much fun up north in Area 10. Now the girls are on their way back to Saigon since the twins on their way. Edward and Isabelle were also on their way when their uncle tossed some paperwork in their direction. They are viceroy and sub-viceroy after all. Lelouch has informed them of the fact that the situation with the EU is not good so there will probably be a war soon. Lelouch wants all the region's viceroys except for Clovis to meet. Aside from that there will be a celebration for the twins' birthday in a few days.

**Wednesday, May 25, 2016**

With talks with the EU breaking down, the Knights of the Round are having a meeting. The meeting will decide their assignments in the upcoming war. The Britannian forces are divided amongst five commanders. Schniezel will be in the northeast attempting to blockade Egypt. At the moment Egypt and the Sudan are independent of both the EU and Middle East Federation but will most likely join the latter to keep out of this war. Odysseus is stationed in Morocco and is tasked with keeping the EU from reinforcing Africa with fresh troops. In part that is also Schniezel's task. Cornelia is in the east in Area 15. She will attack southwards through Kenya and Tanzania. Guinevere is in the west. She will attack along the Congo and into Zaire. In the south will be Lelouch. One look at the map shows that he is being given the biggest task. He must conquer the southern part of the continent. Although it can also be said that he may invade and keep forces distracted while his sisters move southward.

Luciano laughs at that thought. Lelouch should be the one moving while his sisters wait for him. Gino wonders why Lelouch is given such a large task. At least he redeemed himself a bit when he brought in the report of Lelouch gathering his army. He remembers the confrontation with Lelouch after. Gino has never been more afraid in his life. Running through his mind were images of different ways that Lelouch could kill him. (effects of Lelouch and Kallen's geass). He immediately left for the homeland.

They are each assigned to serve under one of the commanders. Dorothea Ernst and Salacia Ravenguard are assigned to Odysseus. Merlin Suzerain and Monica Kruszewski are assigned to Schniezel. Nonette Enngream and Amadeus Doedilus are assigned to Cornelia. Conrad Keyshavrin and Thorin Odinus are assigned to Guinevere. Luciano Bradley, Aphrodite Venitus, and Gino Weinberg are assigned to Lelouch. Bismarck will remain in the homeland. Once the meeting is over Bismarck leaves the room.

"Looks like we'll working under Lulu again, eh Weinberg."

Gino nods slowly.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

Gino shakes his head.

Luciano sighs, "Well I better go over there and talk with the Venus flytrap."

Gino just sits there nodding. Nonette looks over at Gino and wonders what is wrong with him. Did something happen in Area 10 to scare Gino? As Bismarck leaves, he thinks about the look on Weinberg's face when he received his assignment. It was a face of complete fear. He wonders why.

Luciano approaches the third Knight of the Round assigned to Lelouch. The unfairly nicknamed Venus flytrap. She gained the nickname because of her name, Aphrodite Venitus and because her mother has a reputation for ensnaring nobles. It is even rumored that the person believed to be her father is in actuality not. Luciano usually stays away from her because the other female Knights of the Round watch him like hawks. Mostly because Aphrodite is genuinely a nice person. Of course out on the battlefield she is like the others.

"Hey Luciano, I guess we're working together."

Luciano nods and waits for Nonette to leave.

"I guess so."

Aphrodite giggles, "You've worked with Prince Lelouch before, haven't you?"

"Yes, we attended West Point together."

Aphrodite giggles once more, "There's no need to be so stiff."

Luciano relaxes a bit. This girl has no idea just how stiff he can get. Before he can say anything, Luciano's phone rings. As he picks it up he waves at Aphrodite to follow him.

"Yes your exalted Luluness, what can I do for you today?"

…

"I'm on my way. I just have to find Weinberg. By the way what did you do to him?"

…

"Fine if you two don't want to talk about your lovers' quarrel. Just don't get me involved."

…

"I have a surprise for you unless if Waldstein already told you about it."

…

"You sly dog. We will be there in a few minutes."

Aphrodite looks at Luciano in anticipation.

Luciano smiles, "That was Prince Lelouch. He sent his jet to pick us up."

"What about our knightmares?"

"He took care of it. Now we just have to find Weinberg."

"I'm right here."

Luciano turns around and sees Gino standing there grinning.

"What's so funny?"

Gino shakes his head.

"If I told you, then you probably would want to fight. Let's go the car is waiting for us downstairs."

While being transported to the airport, Gino looks out the window. He wonders how the other Knights are getting to their location. It makes a little sense for Cornelia's Knights to travel with Lelouch's Knights. He notices that Luciano is grinning. The man must be eager to get out to the battlefield.

"Anxious to get back out there, Luciano."

The vicious Knight smirks, " A little," he looks at Gino, "I guess this means that you don't know or maybe he didn't prepare anything for you."

Gino looks at Luciano wonders what he means. Much to Luciano's chagrin, Nonette and Amadeus join them on the jet. Nonette seems to know a little about what Luciano is talking about. Two knightmares are being loaded on another jet. While three more are being transported from Area 9 to Area 10.

* * *

Author's note: The next chapter features the return of the letters. I suppose that most of them are sent electronically now. Well actually they are all sent electronically. If you look closely the letters give away some information from the following will be out most likely on Friday sometime with the next few chapters coming out over the weekend.

I mentioned the fact that Lloyd became really excited when Suzaku piloted the Titan. That event took place a little over two years before this chapter. I guess the twins create Transformers in this Code Geass universe. Maybe they can stop Michael Bay from making movies that focus too much on the actors and not enough on the Transformers. Suzu and Nunners are nicknames that Suzaku and Nunnally have for each other. No one else calls them these names except for the kids when they want to mock them.

I always thought that Euro Universe was a stupid name so I am calling them the European Union or maybe European Ultra Union since it is called that in one of the light novels. It makes more sense.

Knights of the Round and their current knightmares

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Titan Mk II  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Gloucester, S  
Three: Conrad Keyshavrin, Io, G  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Gloucester, O  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Gloucester, O  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Europa Attack, C  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Io, G  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, Titan Mk I, L  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Gloucester, S  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Io, L  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Io, C  
Twelve: Gino Weinberg, Europa L

**Known Areas and their viceroys  
**1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Lelouch vi Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010-Clovis la Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia/Djibouti 2014-temporarily Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia

**Lancelot  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.49 meters  
**Weight:** 6.89 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Blaze Luminous  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere Sensor  
Landspinner Propulsion System

**Armament  
**2x wrist mounted slash harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens  
2x maser vibrations swords  
VARIS gun

**Gawain  
****General characteristics  
****Crew:** 2  
**Height:** 6.57 meters  
**Weight:** 14.57 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Druid System  
Integrated Float System  
Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament  
**10x Slash Harken fingers are miniature slash harkens  
2x shoulder cannons (Hadron cannon will be added later)  
2x chest cannons


	49. Letters pt 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

If I had to pick one day in my life to live forever, it would be the day I met you.

The diary of Emily Sforza

...

Some are lucky while others are good. But there are those that are both lucky and good, it is these men that change the world. Their enemies may overcome their skill or have their own luck, but to overcome both factors is nearly impossible.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

...

How do you tell someone that you love them when there are so many things getting in the way?

The diary of Nunnally vi Britannia

...

Just a glimpse of your smile. Just a little touch of your hand. That's all I need to make it through the day.

The journal of Suzaku Kururugi

* * *

January 11, 2016

To: Lord Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One  
From: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, commanding general Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five

Of course your current knightmares are temporary. I have been moving heaven and earth to find a group of scientist and technicians needed to create several seventh generation knightmare for members of the Knights of the Round. I would need a list of which members you wish to outfit with said knightmares or I can interview them and see what can be done. I have been instructed by Schniezel and Cornelia to release the new specs for the Ios and Gloucesters to my other siblings. I have done so grudgingly. From the banter coming from the EU's leaders and the emperor, war can not be too far off. I will write to inform you of our progress.

* * *

March 9, 2016

To: Lord Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One  
From: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, commanding general Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five

I am glad that you are pleased with the progress of the knightmares. I am also pleased that you are happy with my selections for the knightmares. I will continue to inform you of our progress.

* * *

April 1, 2016

To: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia  
From: Cecile Croomy

We have finished the Bors and are working on finishing the Lucan and Chrysalis. I have been in contact with Lord Cummins and the teams on the mainland. They are also near completion of their knightmares. Most likely by the end of May.

* * *

April 13, 2016

To: Dr. Rakshata Chawla  
From: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia

I have been in contact with the Japanese knightmare manufacturers obviously through several intermediaries. I have also discovered that they would like to have your services. Since the Guinevere and the Bors are complete, I think it is possible to loan you out to the Japanese. It would also allow your team to have some independence. Let me know what you think.

* * *

April 30, 2016

To: General Bartley  
From: Colonel Madd

We will have to move our operations to the new location as soon as possible. Several of our best Refrain labs have been attacked by the military. The current subject has been sedated but appears to be restless. We need to complete the project as soon as possible.

* * *

April 30, 2016

To: Cecile Croomy, Margravine of Kuala Lumpur  
From: Lloyd Apslund, Earl of Pudding

I find it odd that your court ranking is higher than my own. Of course the princes offered to make me a duke of something, but I politely declined and asked for more funding. The Lancelot and Gawain are both near completion. It was no small task, but we are nearly done. We helped with a few other projects that the princes asked us to look into. There were others involved as well including your old flame. What was his name from the Academy? Listen to me sounding so out of character. The Gawain has a devicer, but the Lancelot does not. If only Princess Nunnally were a few years older, she would be perfect. There is one issue that Prince Schniezel has been attempting to handle, but I wanted to know if you would mention it to Prince Lelouch. Suzaku Kururugi would be near perfect for the Lancelot. The thought was if he could come in and run some tests. After all he is marrying Princess Euphemia soon. Well that is about it. Say hello to Rakshata for me.

* * *

May 2, 2016

To: Earl Lloyd Apslund  
From: Cecile Croomy

I am not sure whether or not Suzaku Kururugi will be able to help you. At the moment he is in Japan. Although I assume that at some time he may visit Area 10. I will relay the message to the prince.

* * *

May 3, 2016

To: Lord Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One  
From: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, commanding general Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five

We are in the final stages of completely the Knights of the Round's seventh generation knightmares. We are working on six. Believe me all the facilities have been at full capacity to accomplish that. It was a little difficult since they are also working on other projects. It would have been easier if each would have just gotten their own team. I suppose since we were already working on similar project, it was just a matter of changing a few things to fit the pilot. Too bad we won't get to see what your research team created. I will write when the knightmares are completed or if anything comes up.

* * *

May 20, 2016

To: the prettiest girl ever, Emily Sforza

From: Castor vi Britannia, Earl of Hanoi

Big sister Nunnally is helping me write this letter. I am just writing to let you know that I am okay. There isn't anything to do here but play in the garden with Pollux. At least we are only spending a few days here. So see you at my birthday party next week.

* * *

May 20, 2016

To: Lord Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One  
From: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, commanding general Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five

We have completed the seven generation knightmares for the Knights of the Round. As you may have heard Schniezel is giving the Gawain to Merlin. What he plans on doing with the Lancelot, I do not know? Nunnally tells me that Schniezel wants to see Suzaku in Pendragon for some reason. As far as a know Suzaku and Schniezel have barely met so I don't understand it either. I will inform you if I find out anything else about the situation.

* * *

May 23, 2016

To Pollux:

From: Miranda Sforza, Future Countess of Saigon

Cousin Carolina is helping me write this letter. I wish you were here because it is more funner. I guess you will be back for your birthday party so see you then.

* * *

May 26, 2016

To: Lord Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One  
From: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, commanding general Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five

I spoke with Nunnally earlier. It seems as if Suzaku is getting the Lancelot. Schniezel got hold of some old tests that Lloyd had. It seems as if Suzaku had the highest scores on the Titan. It is still odd that Schniezel would give something like that to Suzaku. Well it isn't that odd since I had planned to give Suzaku his own knightmare as a wedding present. Still it is odd for Schniezel to do such a thing.

We have begun to make modifications to some of the Bors units. I doubt Conrad or Thorin will take them. I believe that Guinevere's research team has modified Ios and Gloucesters. In this battle they will be quite a bit more advanced than anything that African or EU forces will put out on the battlefield. Since Amadeus is with Cornelia, he may just take a modified Gloucester. Aphrodite will have a Bors. You will have my detailed battle plan in a few days.

* * *

June 3, 2016

Dear Suzu,

We are heading to an undisclosed location in an undisclosed ocean on an undisclosed planet. You know how security works. Today Lelouch is leading an attack on a place that rhymes with Natagascar. Everybody is helping on this one except for Jeremiah and Villetta who are at another top secret location. Hope you are doing well. I won't tell anyone that you are heading towards the Rover Mile to attack Dairo and Olezendruo.

Luv Nunners,  
Margravine of Cheshire

* * *

June 4, 2016

Dear Jinta-san,

Brother Lulu is leading an attack on Madagascar. Uncle Jeremiah is leading on attack on Zanzibar. But we have to wait on the boat with Nunnally. We don't have anything to do because brother Lulu wants to save his big surprise for later. There isn't anything much to say. Someone will be traveling back and forth between us and Area 10 in case you want to write.

Sincerely,

Evelyn vi Britannia  
Viscountess of Kentshire

* * *

June 5, 2016

Dear Kewelly,

Just your little sister writing to let you know that I'm safe. I am being stationed along the coast. Of course because of security I can't tell you exactly where I am. Well you know the drill. Carmina came by to yesterday. She is a really sweet woman. So I really hope you don't mess that up.

Your loving sister,

1st lt. Marika Soresi

* * *

June 6, 2016

Dear Colonel Soresi,

Just writing to let you know that I am doing fine. I visited your sister yesterday, Of course for security purposes I have been instructed not to tell you where she is. I am sure you won't have much to time to read this letter, much less write back. Just letting you know that I am thinking of you.

Yours forever,

Carmina Rosencrantz

* * *

June 7, 2016

To my Euphie,

This will most likely be the last chance I have to write for some time. Just remember that I love you more than you can imagine.

Forever yours,

Major General Lelouch vi Britannia  
Duke of Wellington

* * *

June 8, 2016

To: prettiest girl ever, Emily Sforza,  
From Castor vi Britannia, Earl of Hanoi

Just writing to let you know that I am doing fine. We are just sitting here on the ship waiting for big brother Lelouch to let us attack. Here are some pictures of us hanging out with the crew. Pollux is a little overeager to get into the action. See you in a few weeks.

* * *

June 9, 2016

To: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia  
From: Carolina Sforza, Duchess of Alberta

I don't know what I was thinking letting you name me temporary sub-viceroy. Even though I don't completely agree with your stance on numbers, Miss Lohmeyer is almost obsessed with the matter. She keeps trying to convince Euphie to make changes to the laws. Euphie really enjoys having power over her. At one meeting Euphie just told Miss Lohmeyer to shut up. If little Anya was here I swear that she would have killed Miss Lohmeyer and dumped her body somewhere in the ocean. It is pretty awesome to have people trembling at the dynamic duo of Euphie and Caro. Maybe we should get out own cartoon. I am going to have to talk to some people about that. Well Lulu I guess I'll see you in a few weeks. I will try to keep the girls from flooding the twins' emails.

* * *

June 10, 2016

To: General Bartley  
From: Colonel Madd

VV has continued to elude our best men. He must be getting assistance from somewhere The worst part of it all is that he gave Lelouch the plans for the Siegfried. This Lucan appears to be nothing more than a prototype. We must find VV because his majesty is getting impatient. Perhaps once the subject is finished he can be sent to Area 10 to snoop around that is the most likely location of VV.

* * *

June 10, 2016

To: Pollux vi Britannia  
From: Miranda Sforza, Future Countess of Saigon

I saw Castor's pictures. You need to behave before you get into trouble. Nothing more to say so see you in a few weeks.

* * *

June 11, 2016

To: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, major general, Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five  
From: Princess-consort Camilla Millicent ash Britannia, colonel, Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five

We have managed to gain control of Guinevere's force. There was a bit of trouble with her assigned Knights of the Round. Once we established that we would go on the attack, the majority of the generals came to our side.

* * *

June 11, 2016

To: Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, Margravine of Cheshire  
From: Princess Evelyn vi Britannia, Viscountess of Kentshire

The Rivalz units are decent in certain situations. If you put enough of them out there, you should be fine. I am waiting to hear and see how the Miss Lohmeyer performs. There are no QOGs here so you'll be the only one who gets to test them out. The Bismarcks have performed well despite having soldiers in them.

* * *

June 12, 2016

To: White Witch  
From: Crimson Lotus

We have encountered little resistance after our initial attack. Still we will move cautiously north.

* * *

June 13, 2016

To: his royal Luluness,  
From: Luciano Bradley. Knight of Eight

ALL HAIL BRITANNIA

* * *

June 14, 2016

To: all commanders, South African task force  
From: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, major general, Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five

ALL HAIL BRITANNIA

* * *

June 15, 2016

To: Dr. Rakshata Chawla  
From: Friend of Pudding

I am glad that you have settled into your new situation. I await to hear how you are doing with the Gekka and anything else that follows.

* * *

June 16, 2016

To: General Bartley  
From: Colonel Madd

The subject was unable to capture VV but he was able to catch a Chinese subject and an interesting woman. Both are being brought back to Area 11. Things seem to be going our way.

* * *

June 17, 2016

To: Prince Lelouch vi Britannia  
From: Carolina Sforza, Duchess of Alberta

I'm sure that Euphie told you all about what happened so there is no need to add. If it wasn't for your little friend, things would have ended badly. Nunnally's Japanese sensei was also of assistance. Please hurry and come back.

* * *

June 19, 2016

To: Ferdinand Marcos  
From: Red light

go

* * *

Author's note: Lampe rouge can mean red light in French.

The next chapter features the return of everybody's favorite short blonde homicidal, still technically a prince, code bearer. You will also get information on the Knights of the Round's new knightmares. The next chapters will also deal with some heavy issues such as race relations and the treatment of conquered peoples.

The Rivalz unit or LT Stingray is a small tank. LT stands for Lelouch tank. The Miss Lohmeyer or LT Sheridan is a medium sized tank but is a bitch to bring down. The QOG (Quaker Oats Guy) or M108 Charles is the largest tank in Britannian army. The K1 Bismarck is the tank used by people. The others are automated. Lelouch, Nunnally, and Evelyn named the tanks.

Since this chapter is short, I can discuss a little bit of how the EU came to be because it will come up in the next few chapters. Basically I have taken what little is provided by the writers and from Code Geass Wikia page. If you don't feel like reading a history lesson just stop reading here and accept the fact that the EU was formed and Africa and western and central Asia also formed associate unions or federations. I am changing a few little things from what the Code Geass Wikia page has. I don't think that any revolutions in Europe or anywhere else for that matter would have occurred without a successful American one or at least without French involvement in the American Revolution. While a decisive battle Yorktown is not an Actium, a Stalingrad, or an El Alamein type of battle. George Washington simply would not have placed the American army in such a vulnerable position without some help. Here are changes that made the Code Geass universe what it is.

I think that most people are familiar with the initial premise that during Julius Caesar's invasion of the British Isles, the Celtic tribes unite and elect Eowyn as a super king thus beginning the Britannian Imperial family. Basically history stays the same other than the discovery of sakuradite. The next major change comes with Elizabeth I having a son and that son inheriting the throne. Thus the Stuarts do not come to unite the thrones of England and Scotland. This also means that several other changes occur. For one Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan dictatorship does not rule England during the 1650's nor do we get the Glorious Revolution of William and Mary. It is most likely that Oliver Cromwell died in rebellion against Henry IX who would have of course been illegitimate. Over time the Stuarts most likely become marginalized or become united with the Tudors. Finally it also means that when the Stuart line come to an end with Anne, we do not get the distant German cousins ruling. Meaning that there is no George III during the late 1700's AD.

Without the French assistance during the American Revolution, we don't get the French economy failing leading to revolts and finally the French Revolution. So here's my version of what happened and how it lead to this Code Geass universe. First the Americans were successful at Saratoga. This leads not only to the French pledging assistance, but has another side effect. It causes the French residents of Quebec to rebel. Having only been under British rule for less than twenty years this seems reasonable. Now comes the big change. According to the Code Geass Wikia page Benjamin Franklin has been tasked with getting French assistance for the American cause, but he is bribed by the Duke of Britannia to not do so. I would instead have Franklin convince the French to assist in Quebec rather than in the thirteen colonies. Expecting French help George Washington makes a crucial mistake and loses at Yorktown. This causes the American cause to fail while the war continues in Quebec.

The extended war causes the French Revolution to accelerate, however, Napoleon does not become emperor instead he is just a great general. This causes the next big change. The Napoleon leads the French to a victory at Trafalgar crippling the English fleet. After Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, he moves on to finish the English. Soon Napoleon captures London which leads to the abdication of Elizabeth III and the eventual move of the Britannia to North America. With his greatest enemies across the Atlantic Napoleon moves to conquer the rest of Western Europe as Spain, Italy, and Germany fall. Only Russia is able to withstand Napoleon. Napoleon then begins to reorganize the rest of Europe into republics forming the basis of the EU. However the old order rebels against Napoleon and defeats him at Waterloo. In 1822 AD (1876 ATB) after more than twenty years of revolution Napoleon is poisoned. It is speculated that it happens in accordance to the will of Elizabeth III.

Meanwhile in North America Elizabeth III nominates Ricardo von Britannia, her lover, as her successor. In 1813 AD (1868 ATB) the Ascension Throne Britannia calendar system is established. The first task of the new Britannia king is to settle issues at home. Apart from the loss of its previous homeland, Britannia also lost India which was considered an important colony. As a result of Napoleon's revolutions all colonies in the new world began to rebel. The former thirteen colonies and the area extending to the Mississippi River and beyond were declared Area One. The former rebellious colony of Canada was pacified and declared Area 2. Over the course of the next thirty years Britannia pushed its territory to the Pacific Ocean and extended south to take Mexico which became Area 3.

By now Western Europe was consolidated into a union. This causes Britannia to invade Greenland and Iceland to have bases closer to Europe. Over the course of the next few decades several wars similar to our German and Italian wars of unification, Boer War, World War I and World War II happen although these wars are not as disastrous. The results of these wars are that Britannia controls all of North and South America as well has Hawaii and several Atlantic islands. While this is occurring the now republican Europe is extending its ideals to the south and east. There is a very different Russian Revolution and the colonization of Africa does not occur in the same manner. Rather efforts are made to protect Africa from Britannia incursions. The Britannia colony of Ricardovia (Liberia) with its capital of Elizabethtown is invaded, and Britannia is driven from Africa. As the 1900's continue Africa and western Asia are consolidated into a series of unions and federations allied to the EU. To combat this, the Chinese Empire begins expansions to the west taking India and Burma. Southeast Asia is put under a sort protectorate status.

Meanwhile Australia and New Zealand at first colonized by Britannia are abandoned during the reigns of Elizabeth III and Ricardo von Britannia because they are too difficult to maintain. They are mostly left alone with small European and Chinese colonies along the coasts, but Britannia invades New Zealand making it Area 9. This invasion near the end of the 20th century ATB signals Britannia's renewed interest in conquest. This is followed in 2010 ATB by the invasion of Indochina, the Philippines, Cambodia, and several Pacific islands. Initially Japan follows the Chinese Federation and the European Union in an embargo of the Holy Empire of Britannia. However after negotiations the Japanese embargo ends and Chinese and European efforts at blockading Britannia fail. The biggest cause of all of this is the development and deployment of the knightmare frame by Britannia. This brings us up to the beginning of this story.

The biggest change to all of this is that Africa was not extensively colonized. The EU still exploited the manpower and resources of the continent but did so with the natives benefiting. The other big change was that apartheid never began instead after the Boer War, the black majority population governed. Also Lesotho and Swaziland are part of South Africa. There are a few other border changes to accommodate certain native tribes. French is the lingua franca of Africa, language of convenience.


	50. The end of the beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

If you want to know what Lelouch said in his conversation with Luciano, you get it here.

* * *

A leader is not moved by his people, but rather moves his people.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

It was the day my childhood ended. The day I realized that the boy I loved was a killer. A brilliant wonderful loving killer.

The Diary of Miranda Sforza

**

* * *

**

Monday, May 23, 2016

VV is on his way to meet with Charles. It is quite unusual for Charles to call VV in for a meeting especially with the events about to take place in Africa. They have been able to find all the thought elevators in the world. Their next objective is to gain control of them. VV wonders if this plan is still the most viable plan. He does have Lelouch and Kallen as a back up. He sees a closeness in them that he once had with Charles. Once in the throne room VV begins to look around for Charles, but he is nowhere to be found. VV hears noise behind the throne and assumes that it is his brother.

"Charles, you are such a child. Late as usual."

Rather than Charles there are three soldiers standing there with weapons, handcuffs, and a net. Luckily VV always comes prepared.

"I see so that is how Charles wants to play."

VV pulls out his trusty automatic rifle and fires away. Not only does he kill his would be assailants, but he does a number to the throne room.

"Bismarck, I know you are back there. Come out and taste some lead."

VV smiles at his wittiness. He never imagined watching all those movies with Rolo would have done some good. Speaking of Rolo there the little bugger is.

"Did you forget that your geass doesn't work on my. I'll squash you like a bug."

VV tosses a few grenades in Rolo's direction and makes his exit. VV escapes through one of the secret tunnels underneath the palace. On the way out he is sure to pick up a few toys because he knows that there will be guards waiting for him outside. On his way out VV wishes that he would have waited a few years before taking the code because it would have been easier to escape. Rather than opening the door VV blasts it with a rocket launcher and tosses some grenades out. Then he comes running out firing like a maniac.

Bismarck grimaces as he sends guards after VV. He figured that the little monster would be ready, but this is too much. At least Rolo is on their side if not the little assassin will have to die.

* * *

The twins are outside playing in the garden when they come across a child standing by the wall, a very finely dressed but dirty child.

"Who is you?"

The child turns around and is very heavily armed. The twins ignore the guns and study the child's face.

Pollux lets out a yell, "You is VV."

Castor nods, "Yes VV."

VV looks at the twins.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Brother Lulu."

"Yes Brother Lulu."

"I see so Lelouch told you about me. Did he tell you anything else?"

The twins stay silent but point towards their left eye.

"So you know that much, do you."

One of the twins puts his finger up to his mouth while the other one goes off to the side. When he returns, he goes over to his brother.

"Molo is here."

"Hm Dolo, that might be trouble."

VV can't very well endanger the twins or kill Rolo here. There is only one other solution. VV touches the twins, and they begin to see many different visions. Then one of them takes VV and sits him down.

Rolo turns a corner because he hears voices coming from there. Standing there are the vi Britannia twins, Castor and Pollux.

"Hey Molo. Want to play. "

Ya Dolo come on. Jump over this rock. It's big."

"Watch me climb over it."

VV can't help but laugh inside as one of the twins climbs over him. One of the twins must have a geass that affects vision, and he must have made Rolo believe that VV is a rock.

Rolo's phone rings.

"This is Rolo. I'm at Aries Palace."

"VV wouldn't be there. Check over at the Grove."

"Yes sir."

Rolo turns to face the twins who are still playing on that rock. Rolo is certain that he saw VV coming in this direction. He runs off to search for VV.

Pollux goes off to make sure that Rolo is gone.

"Dolo left."

"Maybe I should have made Molo crazy."

VV nods. The one that calls Rolo, Molo has the vision affecting geass and that one appears to be Castor. The other that calls him Dolo appears to have a geass similar to Rolo and that is Pollux.

"They are searching for you."

The three of them turn around and see Evelyn standing there.

VV grimaces, "How do you know?"

Evelyn lifts a communicator.

VV eyes open wide. "That's an OSI communicator."

The twins lift up the same type of communicator.

Castor answers, "Brother Lulu gave them to us so that we can spy on the Quaker Oats Guy."

VV looks confused, "Quaker Oats Guy?"

Pollux does his best imitation of the emperor. VV has to admit that seeing this from this point of view his brother is almost a caricature of himself.

The twins go over to Evelyn and explain to her what is happening. Castor looks at VV.

"You owes us now."

"Owe you?"

"Ya for helping you with Molo."

"What do you want?"

The twin's eyes light up.

"We need help with our cartoon series."

VV feels like laughing. As their older brothers and sisters are setting out to conquer the world, these two want to make cartoons.

"We need money."

VV pulls out a piece of paper and writes an account number on it and a password.

"Here this should cover it."

Evelyn takes the paper and brings out her laptop. After checking VV's information, she nods.

Castor taps VV on the shoulder.

"Now you has to give Evie a magical power."

"Ya its Evie's turn."

VV looks at them. Giving the twins a geass is one thing but giving one to Evelyn will cause problems. Knowing her there is a few directions that her geass may take. What will stop her from starting a coup d'etat tonight?

"Are you gunna do it or do we have to call Rolo?"

The mentioning of Rolo by his correct name gets VV's attention.

"Fine."

VV approaches Evelyn. After Evelyn recovers from gaining her geass she looks around for someone to test it on.

"You three can play with your powers later. I have to find a way to get out of here."

Pollux begins to jumps up and down.

"Take our knightmare."

"Take your what?"

Castor nods his head, "That's good thinking, Pollux. Follow me."

VV follows them as they sneak through the garden. He is not so sure about this because he knows that there are cameras everywhere. For children they are pretty careful. They enter an underground tunnel of sorts and there is a small knightmare. It appears to be an imitation Titan. VV wonders when Lelouch had this built. More importantly when did they have it brought here?

"What is this?"

Evelyn answers as she prepares the knightmare for launch, "It is knightmare frame Titan mini."

"Does the Quaker Oats Guy know about this?"

The twins nod. Evelyn shrugs her shoulders and replies, "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it. Just blow some stuff up on the way out."

"Won't they ask questions?"

Evelyn grins and then frowns, "We're just little kids. What are we supposed to do when someone points a gun at us?"

For the first time in a very long time VV feels fear. VV takes control of the knightmare. The controls are fairly simple. He makes his way out making sure to fire a few rounds at Marianne's room just in case she is there.

Marianne and the girls rush back to Aries Palace when news of the explosions gets to them. This time all the girls except for Evelyn went out to do wedding stuff. Suzaku is still working with Schniezel. The twins go crying to their knights. Evelyn just stands there teary eyed.

"It was horrible, Nunnally. The little short man pointed his guns at us and made us help him. Then he stole our knightmare."

It is a particularly hard blow for Evelyn since she got the knightmare from Lelouch for her birthday last year.

"When can we go back to big brother Lulu? He would never let some short little midget man into his castle."

The twins nod in agreement. After they calm down a bit everybody sits down for a quiet dinner which Lelouch interrupts with a phone call.

Marianne answers, "Ah Lelouch dear, this is a surprise."

"Mother, what happened? I got a distressing message from Evelyn saying that they were in some sort of trouble."

Marianne frowns. Of all the things Evelyn could have done.

"Dear it was nothing the kids were just frightened about some tests being conducted in a neighboring field. There is nothing to worry about. Oh dear I have to run. Bye."

After being put to sleep Evelyn begins to do some calculations. It would take Lelouch almost twenty hours to reach Pendragon. Even if he came here with Schniezel and Cornelia in Africa things would be difficult. No, Evelyn will have to trust that her brother has a plan. Even with his geass abilities, he is not ready to begin his plan or maybe all of this is part of it. That must be it. Evelyn lies down to go to sleep. The twins are sleeping with their knights. Dalque, Nunnally, and Alice are sleeping with Evelyn. During the night Nunnally comes over to Evelyn's bed and wakes her. Nunnally brings her finger up to her lips signally for Evelyn to stay quiet. She lifts her head as if asking what's up. Evelyn makes a sign by lifting her middle and index fingers on both hands. Nunnally understands and goes back to sleep.

**

* * *

**

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Lelouch is on the way to pick up his little siblings and mom from the airport. According to what Nunnally told him Suzaku is staying in Britannia to work with the Lancelot. Lelouch decides to call Luciano to make sure that everything is going according to plan.

"Yes your exalted Luluness, what can I do for you today?"

"Ah Luciano, ever the one for formality. Are you on your way?"

"I'm on my way. I just have to find Weinberg. By the way what did you do to him?"

"Don't worry about Gino. He is just a little confused about his loyalties."

"Fine if you two don't want to talk about your lovers' quarrel. Just don't get me involved."

"Well the knightmares are finished. Your's and Gino's are there and are being prepared for the trip."

"I have a surprise for you unless if Waldstein already told you about it."

Lelouch smiles, "Do you mean the Venus flytrap? I requested her. I figured you could use a little fun."

"You sly dog. We will be there in a few minutes."

"No need to hurry."

Lelouch hangs up the phone and looks over at Ayame who as his assistant goes everywhere with him. Lelouch is amazed that she is able to adapt to the role so quickly. Lelouch wonders what happened in Pendragon. Nunnally and Evelyn's messages were short and concise. He is going to have to find some time to speak with them alone.

**

* * *

**

Thursday, May 26, 2016

With the twins' birthday party all planned out, Kallen and Milly have no option but to spend time with their mother-in-law. In fact all the girls including Ayame have to hang out with Marianne.

"Your highness, I don't understand why I have to be there. We still have lots of work. "

Lelouch and Ayame have been having this conversation all morning. Lelouch clears his throat.

"I will be fine without you for a day or two. Besides I still have Midori and Villetta."

Lelouch has Ayame on that point. Midori works alongside her sister as Lelouch's assistant/secretary. Lelouch pushes his secretary towards the living room.

"Besides Mother requested you by name."

Ayame doesn't go in without a fight. She pulls Lelouch in, but to no avail. Lelouch manages to sit her down. He smiles at the other girls only Euphie smiles back. Behind him, Lelouch can hear Evelyn, Miranda, and Emily walking and talking. When they reach the room, Evelyn realizes what is going on, but it is too late. Lelouch pushes them in.

"Have fun."

Kallen and Milly don't seem too excited about hanging out with their mother-in-law. Ayame and the Irregulars are even less excited. Everyone has other things that they would rather be doing.

Marianne enters the room smiling, "Okay girls. What should we do first? We have a few days so we shouldn't rush into anything."

Nunnally groans. Lelouch is so going to pay for this. The girls spend the day walking around with Marianne discussing their relationships with her children. Marianne is most interested in hearing what Ayame and Carolina have to say. Milly takes them on a tour through the palace grounds. As they walk Marianne asks them questions.

"So Ayame you are Japanese, is that correct?"

"Yes your highness."

Marianne is surprised at the girl's quickness.

"How did you meet my son?"

"It happened mostly because of circumstance, your highness. My sister Midori worked for one of his highness's companies. His highness noticed her excellent work, and we were introduced. His highness took notice of my skills and asked me to come with him here. That is the story, your highness."

"Along with your older sister and younger brother."

"Yes your highness."

"And your parents?"

"They died a few years ago, your highness."

Marianne looks at the girl. Lelouch couldn't have coached her this well. She was most likely prepared for this moment. She notices that Milly and Carolina are holding back giggles. Marianne turns her head to ask Carolina a question but continues walking forward. This causes her to run into Milly who makes an abrupt stop.

"Excuse me, Milly dear. Why have you stopped?"

Milly points ahead.

"We are not allowed in there because it is Jeremiah's vineyard."

Marianne is surprised, "You aren't allowed in there."

Milly shakes her head, "No, but we are allowed to go into the orchard just down the path."

"Why aren't you allowed in there?"

Ayame responds, "His highness has forbidden us to enter into the vineyard because he says that we are too young to be engaging in the drinking of alcohol, your highness."

Marianne is intrigued, "Is that so? Well I'm," she points at herself, "old enough to enter so wait for me here."

Marianne enters the vineyard and walks into the winery. Lelouch is with Villetta, Jeremiah, and Kewell going over his battle plan when he notices that the girls and his mother are walking around the palace grounds. He begins to laugh.

Jeremiah raises his eyebrow, "You highness."

"My mother is going in the vineyard."

"Why?"

"Since the girls are prohibited from entering it, my mother must have assumed that I was hiding something there."

Lelouch notices that they don't even raise an eyebrow. Confident in his subordinates, Lelouch gets back to work.

* * *

With everyone otherwise occupied Edward and Isabelle are pretty much on their own for the first time in their lives. Their mother is back in Britannia. Their cousins are out walking around with the other girls and Marianne. Lelouch is having meetings with his military people. Later he would meet with Cassius, Annabel, and of course the two of them. Edward pours his sister some tea. Isabelle fills it up with sugar also a product of their mother being gone. They sit there quietly enjoying the day when they hear someone yelling down the hall.

"Euphie! Milly! Nunna! Hello, is anyone there?"

Edward and Isabelle go to see who it is. As they turn the corner they run into a mass of orange hair. Edward manages to stay on his feet. Instinctively he helps his sister onto her feet. They both notice that Shirley is still on the floor. Isabelle nudges Edward who goes over to help Shirley to her feet.

"Thank you," Shirley gather herself, "your highness."

Isabelle jumps in before her brother can say anything stupid.

"You can just call him Edward. I'm Isabelle. I think that we briefly met at Milly's wedding."

Shirley nods, "I think so."

Isabelle winks at her brother and takes Shirley's hand.

"Come have tea with us."

Shirley comes quietly but keeps looking around.

"Where's is everyone?"

Edwards answers her, "Lelouch is in a meeting. All the girls are with Lady Marianne."

"All the girls?"

Edward and Isabelle nod at the same time. Isabelle offers Shirley some sugar. Shirley nods, and Isabelle begins to add it.

Edward asks, "So you're Euphie's friend?"

Shirley nods her head, "Well I'm friends with everyone. We met at school."

"You met them at school."

Isabelle gets excited, "What it like? You know school."

Shirley is a little confused, "You two have never been to school."

Edward and Isabelle shake their heads.

"So what did you guys do?"

"Tutors."

"Ya tutors."

Shirley begins to laugh.

Isabelle is slightly insulted, but only a little.

"What so funny? All of us had tutors. Schniezel, Cornelia, even Euphie and Lelouch."

Shirley shakes her head, "That's not it. You two remind me of Castor and Pollux, Are you sure you two aren't twins?"

Edward and Isabelle turn to face each other. Shirley laughs once more.

"So what are you two going to do today if everyone is occupied with other things?"

Isabelle tilts her head and twists her mouth.

"I guess we didn't really think about it. We really don't get a lot of free time."

Shirley thinks about it.

"I could show some karate moves that I learned from Suzaku and Nunnally."

They go outside to a garden, and Shirley show them some karate moves. They quickly discover that Shirley isn't as a good a teacher as Suzaku or Nunnally, but they still have fun. In the evening they hear laughter coming from the entrance of the garden. They hear Carolina's voice.

"I swear if I heard Ayame say his or your highness one more time, I would have covered her mouth."

The other girls laugh.

Ayame responds to that comment, "Her highness wanted me to be more formal."

All the girls laugh once again more or less at Marianne's expense. Carolina notices her cousins and Shirley and stops causing everyone to run into her.

Kallen growls, "Caro, why did you stop?"

She points towards her cousins and Shirley who are on the floor in a very tangled manner.

Euphemia notices Shirley and runs towards her.

"Hey Shirley's here."

When they heard Carolina's voice, Isabelle had the idea of scaring them. She found a nice hiding spot and accounted for Edward's clumsiness, but she didn't account for Shirley's so they all fell to the ground. Kallen and Milly come over to help them get untangled. Carolina just stands there laughing at her cousins.

Isabelle adjusts her clothes, "You know, Caro, you can help."

Carolina laughs, "I could but where is the fun in that. Besides a delicate flower such as myself cannot participate in such tiresome activities."

Ayame snorts.

Carolina playfully glares at her, "I thought you were told to be more formal."

Ayame smiles, "Yes your highness."

"I can see that you still have plenty of energy left."

They all turn to see Lelouch helping Edward to his feet. Evelyn goes over and punches her brother in the stomach. She walks away and is joined by Emily and Miranda.

"Don't go to far Evie. The three of you still need to be fitted with your dresses for tomorrow's party. And don't go ruining your appetite with junk food. The kitchen staff has been working hard on making a special dinner for everyone."

Evelyn stops with her back still to Lelouch.

"Put that tongue back in your mouth before I cut it off. Don't you roll your eyes at me young lady. Don't make me go over there and take care of business."

Evelyn visibly sighs and leads the two younger girls to the living room. Lelouch turns to face the others.

"Does anybody else have a problem?"

Everybody including Marianne who has come out to look for Lelouch shakes their head.

"That's what I thought."

"Your highness."

"Yes Ayame."

She points to her mouth. The twins come out and stand behind Lelouch. It is quite obvious that they were snacking on junk food because their mouths are covered in cheese.

Nunnally gets mad, "Big brother, you little jerk."

Nunnally begins to chase Lelouch around the garden. With Kallen's help she catches him, and she begins to tickle him. Lelouch manages to get his sister off him.

Lelouch clears his throat, "Well I would LOVE to hear all about your day, but I need to get the twins cleaned up so that they can be fitted for their party clothes. So if you'll excuse me."

Lelouch takes the grumpy twins back into the house. Marianne looks over at the girls.

"So is this what you normally do. Play around."

Nunnally answers, "Of course not mother. Sometimes we go out and get candy from strange men," They all look at Nunnally who continues, "As sub-viceroy of Area 10, I decree that everyone get cleaned up for dinner."

* * *

"Did you have any trouble getting here?"

"No, Charles isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Besides there is no one at the Kamine Island Thought Elevator."

"At least no one that doesn't work for me."

"Yes, do think it will be safe for me to stay here?"

"Of course. In a few days everyone will be gone with the exception of Euphie and Carolina. I have also asked Sayoko Shinozaki to come and continue training Euphie and certain members of the staff."

"Can she be trusted?"

"She will do for now."

"As you wish. How is Jeremiah?"

"Still adapting to his new additions."

"It shouldn't take him too long."

"No, I guess it shouldn't. I should be off. I still have lots of planning to do."

**

* * *

**

Friday, May 27, 2016

While the rest of Area 10 is celebrating the twins' fourth birthday, Lelouch is meeting with his most trusted advisors. Slipping away is quite easy since they can always say that they want the twins to be the focus of attention. Evelyn and the five vi Britannia royal knights stay at the celebration. Lelouch will bring them up to speed later.

Lelouch begins, "I have just been informed by Prime Minister Schniezel that last minute peace talks with the European Union have broken down."

Kallen looks over at the map. This is something that was expected. In fact Lelouch has already received his assignment and has begun to mobilize his army. The three Knights of the Round assigned to Lelouch are working with their force down in Area 17. Lelouch begins to detail his plan. In a few days they would attack Madagascar and several islands east of Africa to use as launching points.

Lelouch continues, "Tomorrow we will begin discussing the battle plan. I have already informed the corps and division commanders. We probably need to slip back into the party."

**Saturday, May 28, 2016**

Odysseus has finished his last meeting before his force moves to their attack positions. They still have a few days before the attack is set to begin. His son, Faramond, has asked everyone to come out. Odysseus wonders why he is not in Area 10 celebrating the twins' birthday

Faramond clears his throat, "Allow me to knightmare frames, Pelleas and Andraste."

Everyone stands there in awe.

The two Knights of the Round, Dorothea Ernst and Salacia Ravenguard, accompanying Odysseus walk out from behind the knightmares. Odysseus wonders who built these two knightmares. More importantly why was he not informed about their presence because Faramond obviously knows about them? He looks out towards the border with the North African League. In days the attack will begin. Schniezel and the rest of the diplomatic team are leaving at the moment. Schniezel's attack force is already on its way to the eastern Mediterranean.

* * *

"You can't attend the meeting mother."

Lelouch has been saying this all morning.

"Why not? I'm your mother. I don't care if you are a major general or viceroy."

"You cannot attend because you are not part of my command."

Marianne laughs at this comment, "Dear, who do you think I am, a spy?"

"Yes."

With that Lelouch leaves his mother and goes off to his meeting. Marianne would follow him, but she knows that she will only get lost. Marianne decides to continue her search for any secret knightmare hangars. There is also the slim possibility that VV decided to come to Lelouch.

**Thursday, June 2, 2016 **

Lelouch is on his flagship, HIMS Excalibur, about fifty miles east of Madagascar. The sun is cresting the horizon behind him. His attack on the island nation and the surrounding islands will begin in a few seconds.

"Ayame, tell the commanders that they may attack as soon as they see fit."

"Yes your highness."

Lelouch hears the artillery going off in the distance. He waits a few moments before going over to the Mordred. He will lead the attack himself. If everything goes according to plan, in a few days the island will fall and Lelouch will be off to South Africa.

* * *

Mao has spent some time in southern China just trying to get by. He decides to once again make an attempt to find CC. He decides to make his way down to Area 10. There are rumors that Britannia will soon go to war with the EU, and Lelouch is most likely gone. More importantly the red headed demon is probably gone as well. Mao must be careful because it is possible that they have others in place.

**

* * *

**

Friday, June 3, 2016

Rolo is still searching for VV. He must find his old master. He must find him for his father. Rolo still remembers their conversation a week ago.

- Rolo is standing before the emperor. It is the first time that he has been here without VV. Rolo is unsure whether this is a good or bad thing. The emperor is looking down at Rolo. His gaze penetrates into the depths of Rolo's soul that is if he had one.

"Rolo, how do you feel about your life?"

"Your majesty, it is what I was chosen to do."

The emperor comes over and puts his arm on Rolo's shoulder.

"But what if you could have something better."

Rolo nods as he continues search. He won't let his father down. Nothing will get in his way.

* * *

For over a week the search for VV has continued. Charles contemplates the situation. For Ragnarök to work he needs two codes. Now he doesn't even have one. Bismarck was careless when trying to capture VV. Who would have figured that VV would be so prepared for such an event? Now he is going to have to relay on Lelouch's connections to the various code bearers. It is obvious that the boy has had contact with a code bearer or two. He has demonstrated a number of geass abilities. Charles wonders if some of Lelouch's subordinates have also gained geass

There are other issues beyond that. For some reason the twins found and disabled the cameras out in the garden that day. Even before that day they moved the cameras around creating several blind spots. It is much too late to turn those children over to his side. There is one way, but at this point it may be too risky. They will have to go back to Lelouch that way they can be a burden to him.

**

* * *

**

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Suzaku is standing aboard Schniezel's flagship, the HIMS Damocles, north of Alexandria. It took quiet an effort just to reach this point. Early that morning Merlin and Monica led forces that successfully landed at Benghazi and Tripoli respectively. Schniezel has successfully blockaded the Suez Canal keeping the EU from shipping supplies south. If Odysseus does what he is supposed to do the EU will have to ship supplies west over the Atlantic or east through the Middle East Federation. Schniezel and Kannon are standing on the deck speaking with several officers. Suzaku thinks that Schniezel makes a pretty enticing target to anyone that happens to be looking at the ship. Of course that supposes that the enemy has the ability to attack.

"Kururugi, we are boarding."

Suzaku nods at the other knightmare pilot. Unlike them he is piloting something vastly superior to what the enemy will have. Of course the enemy has nothing to counter the newer model Ios and Gloucesters. Suzaku gathers from the reports that have been coming in even the new EU knightmares are no match for what Britannia has. Suzaku boards the Lancelot and prepares for launch. Schniezel is taking a huge risk allowing Suzaku to pilot the knightmare. Suzaku will make sure that he does not let him down.

* * *

Lelouch is on the move once more. His attack on Madagascar was successful. There was no need to take the entire island. After two days of fighting, Lelouch offered quite generous peace terms. Madagascar is allow to three Britannian bases on its territory and allow Britannia to control the surrounding island nations Britannia (Lelouch) will buy half of the vanilla produced in Madagascar. Also he will open several factories on the island and hire only natives. In light of the fact that Lelouch could have just bombed them into submission, his peace terms are quite generous. Edward is on his way to complete the peace negotiations. Lelouch is moving south along the African coast. He has no choice but to send raiding parties to terrorize the natives. He makes a few calls to prepare for the next part of his plan.

**

* * *

**

Friday, June 10, 2016

"Are you sure it is wise to send the subject out so soon?"

"Don't worry. His hate and anger will be enough to fuel him."

"Too bad we couldn't secure a finer specimen."

* * *

Lelouch is aboard an aircraft carrier just south of Cape Town. He knows that he was sent down here to be a diversion to the main attack along the coast. At the moment Cornelia's land forces are bogged down north of Dodoma. She needs something to distract the forces of the Southern African Union.

A few days ago Darlton led a daring strike through Kenya. Guilford led his forces over to the west side of Lake Victoria to great success. While to the north Schniezel and Odysseus are having moderate success. Their task is mostly to keep the EU from reinforcing Africa. Guinevere is being sent to western central Africa. She is at the mouth of the Congo River. Lelouch took Zanzibar, Madagascar, and several Indian Ocean islands, but Cornelia has been unable to take advantage of those moves. Lelouch is to take the south while Cornelia and Guinevere march down the sides. Once that is done Britannia will begin to exploit those areas before pushing north through Africa and into Europe.

Lelouch looks at the progress reports. Cornelia's strategy is too straightforward. She believes that the easiest and quickest way to defeat an enemy is to bludgeon them with everything she has. Of course Cornelia only uses knightmare with infantry and some light armor for the purposes of support. Lelouch continues to look at the map.

"Colonel Nu, have the units reached their destination?"

Villetta looks at her reports.

"Almost your highness. The units heading towards Luanda are still on their way."

"Very well. We can begin the attack. Inform the commanders of the Luanda units that they may attack once they are in place."

Villetta nods and heads out of the room.

"Q1, have them prepare the knightmares. The time has come."

"Yes your highness,"

Lelouch is left alone on the bridge of the carrier with a small crew manning the electronics. Lelouch looks down at his messages. He gets a very interesting one from Lloyd. Lelouch smiles and activates his communicator.

"Order zeta zeta, chūmon roku roku, sáu mươi sáu thứ tự, einde sestig."

This is it, the end of the beginning. Despite having seen combat many times and having lead an invasion, this is Lelouch's first real test. All the previous time he was against inferior opponents. This time it is the real deal. Everything will begin or end here. In his mind it is already his finest moment. This is the moment that it truly begins, the rise of the Black Prince.

* * *

Author's note: I was always going to have the kids get geass. I just hadn't made up my mind whether they would get it from VV or Lelouch. After I decided to have Lelouch become VV's backup plan, I also decided not to have VV kill Marianne. I have something so much better for her. So I decided to have Charles turn on VV. After all he doesn't need VV running around for the plan to succeed. He only needs to secure another code. I always found it amusing that Charles and VV wanted to end all lies and spent the majority of the time lying to each other. Castor's geass allows him to affect other's senses. Pollux's geass is exactly like Rolo's. Evelyn's geass is exactly like Lelouch's first because what else would a little girl want.

Charles turned Rolo in the same manner that Lelouch did in the anime and then he geassed him into believing that he is his father. The most important thing to remember is the Lelouch does not lie to his inner circle and tells them everything (two wives, two sisters, two brothers). His other subordinates know what they need to know.

At this point technology has been bumped up a year. We also got an actual sixth generation of knightmares, the Moons/Ios series. We also got the seventh generation a year early, the Caerleon/Bors series. With the Gloucester, Titan Mk III, and Callisto Mk III somewhere in between. Things will continue at a reasonable pace. There will be no energy wings within a year as it will take time to develop the technology. Since war will be a constant from here on out, Cecile, Rakshata, Lloyd, etc will have to deal with those needs first before they begin to make any outlandish creations.

Some informational stuff.

Lelouch-Mordred  
Kallen-Guinevere  
Milly-Morgause  
Anya-Chrysalis  
Jeremiah-Lucan  
Kewell-Callisto Mk III  
Villetta-Titan Mk III  
Irregulars-GX-01 Alpha

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Galahad.  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Gawain, S  
Three: Conrad Keyshavrin, Io, G  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Pelleas, O  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Andraste, O  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Epona, C  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Io, G  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, Vlad, L  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Andarta, S  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Pellinore, L  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Gloucester, C

Twelve: Gino Weinberg, Tristan L

Character ages at this point in the story. They are in order of importance in the story so far. Colonel Madd and General Bartley are probably in their fifties, but their near the bottom overall anyways. Charles and VV are in their early sixties, I believe. While they are the general movers of action, there overall importance isn't going to be that much.

Lelouch vi Britannia 16, Jeremiah Gottwald 27, Kewell Soresi 25, Schniezel el Britannia 26, Suzaku Kururugi 15, Gino Weinberg 15, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia 4, Lloyd Asplund 29, Naoto Kouzuki 26,Edward vu Britannia 17, Deithard Reid 31, Luciano Bradley 21, Odysseus eu Britannia 32, Jinta Futaba 7, Colonel Kusakabe 39, Ichiro Futaba 23, Bismarck Waldstein 39, Merlin Suzerain 35, Clovis la Britannia 24, Gilbert GP Guilford 27, Kannon Maldini 28, Maximus va Britannia 24, Cassius ru Britannia 23, Kyoshiro Tohdoh 37, Ryoga Senba 39, Kosetsu Urabe 30, Asahina Shogo 29, Conrad Keyshavrin 31, Thorin Odinus 27, Amadeus Doedilus 25, Octavius ka Britannia 20, Theseus ju Britannia 19, Luther ti Britannia 17, Li Xingke 22, Kaname Ohgi 26, Shinichiro Tamaki 24, Hong Gu 34

Marianne vi Britannia 37, Kallen Stadtfeld 16, Milly Ashford 17, Nunnally vi Britannia 12, Evelyn vi Britannia 5, Euphemia li Britannia 15, Anya Alstriem 14,Villetta Nu 25, Cecile Croomy 24, Ayame Futaba 16, Lucretia 16, Sancia 17, Alice 12, Dalque 15, Rakshata Chawla 28, Zhou Xianglin 18, Cornelia li Britannia 27, Nonette Enngream 29, Sora Cummins 14, Nina Einstein 16, Isabelle vu Britannia 14, Shirley Fennette 16, Nagisa Chiba 28, Kaguya Sumeragi 13, Marika Soresi 16, Liliana Vergamon 16, Sayoko Shinozaki 24, Dorothea Ernst 31, Salacia Ravenguard 19, Monica Kruszewski 20, Aphrodite Venitus 21, Mariel Labie 18, Guinevere su Britannia 30, Annabel pe Britannia 15, Karine le Britannia 14, Victoria ka Britannia 14, Gwendolyn ti Britannia 13, Regina ha Britannia 13, Selene ge Britannia 13, Tianzi (Jiang Lihua) 11,


	51. From the present to the past and back p1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

The complete name of the chapter is _From the present to the past and back again pt 1_, but the last words didn't fit.

The next two chapters are about a series of flashbacks that will kind of fill in holes in regard to certain relationships such as Gino/Luciano/Lelouch, Lelouch/Anya, Lelouch/Carolina/the twins, the vi Britannias etc. They aren't in chronological order. But they are grouped by who is in it with the vi Britannias starting and finishing.

...

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Confucius

...

The moment he took my hand in his and kissed it that was the day I understood what kind of man stood before me. Even though at the time he was a child but so was I. I knew from then that he was the man who would control my destiny.

The Diary of Carolina Sforza

...

Don't worry. Big Brother Lulu will save us. He always does.

Nunners Lamperouge  
Converters Cartoon 2018 ATB  
C and P Productions

...

Just kill those stupid humans who get in our way.

Vampiro  
Converters Cartoon 2018 ATB  
C and P Productions

**

* * *

**

vi Britannia

**June 9, 2016 ATB **

Lelouch is sitting down on the bridge of his flagship. He is making final preparations for his attack. Evelyn walks in to bring him something to eat.

"Here big brother. You have to eat."

Lelouch takes a sandwich from the plate. He doesn't bother checking what it is. Evelyn learned the art of making food for Lelouch from Nunnally so it will either be bologna/ham or peanut butter/jelly. The lack of a glass of milk means that it must be the former. Lelouch devours the first sandwich and takes some of the potato chips from the plate. He must have been hungrier that he thought. Lelouch begins the second sandwich a little slower. Seeing that her brother is eating, Evelyn decides to leave him to his planning.

"Evie wait."

Evelyn turns back to see Lelouch take the last bite of his second sandwich and take a sip of orange juice. Lelouch puts his hand out, and Evelyn takes it. Lelouch pulls Evelyn towards him and sits her on his lap. Surprisingly Evelyn sits there quietly. Lelouch kisses the top of her head and begins to stroke her hair.

Jeremiah has been searching for the prince since early in the morning. He is not in his room or on the deck. Jeremiah sees Kallen standing by the door to the bridge. He goes over to see if she knows anything about the prince's whereabouts. Kallen sees Jeremiah approaching her. She still has not gotten used Jeremiah's changes. It seems almost unnatural. When Jeremiah reaches the door, Kallen points into the ship's bridge. Sitting in his chair is Lelouch with Evelyn on top of him. Both of them are sound asleep.

"Your highness, I think you had better wake them."

Kallen nods, "I guess you're right. It's about time to get started."

That isn't really Jeremiah's concern. He just isn't in the mood to incur the wrath of the raven haired vi Britannias. While Kallen is loved by both so it should naturally be her that wakes them. As the princess-consort wakes her husband and sister-in-law, Jeremiah decides to prepare for the day's operations.

**December 19, 2010 ATB**

Lelouch holds Evelyn in his arms for the first time. He looks into her amethyst eyes and strokes her dark hair. Nunnally comes up beside Lelouch and hugs him. Rather than being jealous Nunnally is ready to be a big sister. For seven years Lelouch has helped take care of her. Now it is Nunnally's turn to help. Lelouch puts an arm around Nunnally.

"I promise that I will take care of both of you. No matter the cost."

Nunnally nods. That night the two (three) of them make a pact to always stay together. They also pledge to make the world a place where little Evelyn can grow up in peace.

**May 29, 2012 ATB**

Evelyn is up early in the morning because Lelouch is coming home today. The only thing that can make this day better is if Nunnally was coming, but she is in Japan and won't be here for a few weeks.

"Hey Evie, what are you doing up so early?"

Evelyn looks up at Lelouch and raises her arms. Lelouch lifts her up, and she points down towards the twins. Lelouch smiles because it appears that Evelyn is not going to be a jealous sister. Lelouch remembers how he felt when Nunnally was born. Even more importantly he remembers how Euphie felt.

"Big bruther."

"Yes Evie."

"I help babies, kay."

Lelouch kisses Evelyn on the forehead. He sets her down and grabs the twins one at a time. She shows Evelyn the proper way to hold a baby. Even though she is only 18 months old, it is never too early to learn. In fact Lelouch is already teaching her how to play chess. She is probably good enough to beat Euphie or Clovis. In a few more years she will probably be beating everyone around the palace.

**

* * *

**

Carolina, Lelouch, and the twins

**August 7, 2008 ATB**

Carolina has been visiting Aries Palace all summer, but she doesn't come alone. Her cousins, Edward and Isabelle, usually stop in to visit. Despite being born a commoner, Marianne vi Britannia, has managed to gain some power in the court. Carolina's father and uncle wish to make an alliance with her of sorts. Marianne usually spends the day speaking with the Dukes of Oregon and Alberta about politics. Lelouch enjoys Carolina's visits because she is the only girl that can seriously challenge him at chess. At least since he begins to beat Cornelia consistently two years ago, but today is not Carolina's day because she is already down several pieces. Despite this fact Carolina plays Lelouch until the end. Another thing that he likes about her. Euphemia and Nunnally would have given up after losing a few pieces and would have tried to get him to play house or some other girly game.

"Looks like you won again, Lelouch," Carolina smiles, "Now its time to collect your prize."

Unlike Euphemia and Nunnally's prizes, Lelouch enjoys Carolina's. She leans in to give him a peck on the cheek when Edward and Isabelle tumble through some bushes. Lelouch can see Euphemia and Nunnally standing back there as well. Just like his sisters to try to see what he is up to. They do the same thing whenever Milly Ashford comes to visit. Then Lelouch has a brilliant idea.

"Why don't we play hide n seek?"

Everybody seems to like the idea except for Euphemia who always wants to play house or doctor.

Lelouch continues, "Since Edward is the oldest, he's it."

Lelouch yanks Carolina and runs off with her. The other girls also make a run for it. Edward stands confused wondering how he got stuck with this task. Lelouch takes Carolina to one of his many hiding spots.

"Here Carolina, sit down here. Do want anything? I have some snacks here or a book to read."

"Sure Lelouch, whatever you have," Carolina is impressed by Lelouch's hiding spot, "Lelouch, did you make this by yourself."

Lelouch nods, "Kind of. The servants helped for some of it. We had to be careful and work on days that mother and Nunnally were out of the house. Here I have some girly books."

Lelouch hands her a book. Carolina can tell by the size and the title that it is too advanced for her. Carolina decides not to look foolish because Lelouch is reading a similar book. From that day forward Carolina decides to learn as much as she can about everything to be like Lelouch. She thinks back to the first time she remembers meeting Lelouch vi Britannia

**February 14, 2005**

Carolina is getting ready for her fifth birthday party. Her cousins, Edward and Isabelle, are here, of course. Carolina really doesn't like their mother. Since the death of Carolina's mother, Lady vu Britannia has been a constant visitor to the house. Even though she misses her mother, Carolina wishes that her father would remarry that way her aunt would just leave Carolina alone. What Carolina really hates about her aunt is that she makes her do ditzy noble stuff. Since her father lets her do as she pleases, Carolina's parties are usually pretty big events. Sometimes even members of the royal family come. Well other than Edward and Isabelle.

Today Marianne vi Britannia is coming with her two children, Lelouch and Nunnally. Carolina has never met her, but she already likes her since her aunt does not. Lady Marianne is carrying a little girl who is given to one of the servants. She then begins to walk around with a boy who appears to be about Carolina's age. Carolina signals for the musicians to begin playing something. Carolina makes her way across the dance floor. Her servants follow her closely. Once Carolina reaches her destination, she signals for her servants to stand down. Marianne turns to face her.

"Now who do we have here?"

Carolina bows, "I am Carolina Sforza."

The boy is being held back by his mother. He keeps trying to wiggle free and finally manages.

"Hi I'm Lelouch vi Britannia. Thank you for inviting me to your party. Pleased to meet you," he says with a bow.

Carolina puts her hand, and Lelouch takes it and kisses it.

"Would you like to dance, Lady Sforza."

Carolina nods, "It would be my pleasure your highness."

They dance for a few minutes. They spend most of the night dancing with each other. Lelouch introduces Carolina to his little sister, Nunnally. The little girl seems very attached to her big brother.

**December 5, 2005**

Of course Carolina is invited to Lelouch's birthday party. For the first time in her life Carolina gets a taste of what it really means to be with a member of the royal family. Sure her cousins are royals, but their mother holds them back. Carolina is amazed at the amount of people at the prince's party. Much to her chagrin he spends most of the night being dragged around by his mother being introduced to silly nobles. Carolina's father does that to her sometimes. Lelouch manages to get away a few times, but he usually dances with his sister, Euphemia, on those occasions. Lelouch does come over to dance with Carolina once. Then his mother takes him back to meet with nobles. Carolina notices that Lelouch dances with two other girls, a blonde and a red head. However before the night is done, Carolina manages to get a few more dances with Lelouch.

**February 26, 2016 ATB**

Castor and Pollux are excited. For the first time since leaving Japan in December, they are going to have a play date. According to Lelouch the kids they are going to meet are important, however, Lelouch won't tell them if they are boys or girls. Not that it matters to the twins. They just want kids to play with. They figure that their guests are probably girls since Nunnally and Evelyn dress them up. Now they are waiting alone with Lelouch in the living room which is another sign that their guests are probably girls. One of their servants steps into the room and signals for them to stand.

"Now introducing Lady Carolina Sforza, Duchess of Alberta and Ladies Emily and Miranda Sforza."

The twins stand to their feet, and Lelouch quickly wipes the crumbs from their faces and clothes. Carolina and Lelouch step forward and greet each other. Both sets of twins stand there in amazement. Castor's favorite color is red, like Kallen's hair, so he is immediately attracted to the little girl wearing the red dress. Pollux favorite color is blue since it is Milly's favorite color so he is attracted to the little girl in a blue dress. Caroline winks at Lelouch when she sees this. They came up with the idea of dressing the girls in dresses that matched the boy's favorite colors. Not to mention that they also dressed the boys in the girl's favorite colors.

Pollux being the more forward one, a product of him hanging out with Milly, decides to speak first.

"Hi my name is Pollstor. This is my brother Casux."

Lelouch shakes his head. He decides to correct his brother. "This is Pollux, and this is Castor."

Carolina also decides to avoid confusion, "This is Miranda, and this is Emily."

"Why don't we go out to the garden?"

Carolina nods and she reaches out to take her cousins hands, but they go over to Castor and Pollux who take their hands and lead the girls out. Lelouch smiles and takes Carolina by the hand and leads her outside. Once out in the garden both sets of twins are a little more relaxed. Lelouch has to help the boys take some of their clothes off that way they can play in comfort.

"Looks like that worked."

Lelouch laughs, "I guess it did. So how long are you here for?"

Carolina thanks the servants as they bring out some tea.

"I'll be here for a few weeks until the girls get acclimated. I think they should be comfortable with your sisters," Carolina looks around in particular at some bushes, "By the way where are your sisters."

Lelouch smiles, "Euphemia is in Japan. Nunnally is probably with Alice doing some knightmare simulation. Evelyn is with her tutor."

Carolina nods, "And your wives."

"Kallen is probably working on her own knightmare simulations. Milly is wedding planning."

"I see."

"Let's not talk about them."

Carolina smiles and touches Lelouch's hand, "What should we talk about?"

Lelouch nervously looks around, "We should probably keep on eye on the kids."

Carolina waves that thought away, "Don't worry about it. The girls are perfect angels."

Lelouch shakes his head, "But the boys are not."

Almost on cue Castor and Pollux come running covered in dirt. Miranda and Emily come out slowly behind them. They aren't quite covered in dirt, but it isn't from lack of effort. Carolina is absolutely appalled.

"Girls, what has come over you?"

Miranda and Emily stand there with their hands lowered.

Lelouch grins, "Don't worry about it. We are prepared for anything here at Saigon Palace."

Lelouch signals for the girls to follow him. Castor and Pollux already know the routine. Lelouch leads them all towards a little room prepared for just such an occasion. Servants come to help clean up the kids. Castor and Pollux are disappointed because Lelouch isn't bathing with them. Also because the girls are bathing in a different room. Outside Carolina picks up one the twins' play swords and turns to face Lelouch.

"En garde, your highness."

Lelouch laughs and picks up his own toy sword.

"You never did beat me."

Carolina grunts and adjusts her dress.

"Well then, shall we?"

Carolina and Lelouch engage in a little fencing duel. The twins come out to see them. The girls cheer on Carolina while the boys cheer on Lelouch. Lelouch manages to get the upper hand by tripping Carolina. Both set of twins jump in to help her. Lelouch manages to fend them all off. He is even able to fend Evelyn and Jinta when they come. He is not so lucky when Nunnally arrives. Castor pulls Emily back.

"Watch Nunnallys is going to fight big brother Lulu."

Miranda pulls Pollux back which is a little difficult because he wants to keep going at it. Alone Nunnally is no match for Lelouch, yet as she likes to say, but with Carolina's help they manage to pin him down.

Nunnally isn't surprised to see Carolina and her little cousins there since she suggested their visit after a talk with Isabelle. She begins to laugh.

"Remember when the two of you used to fence."

Evelyn, Jinta, and the twins sit down to hear Nunnally tell a story.

**August 3, 2010 ATB**

After Lelouch informs the emperor of his intent to join the military, he begins to train. Nothing to strenuous, he is only ten after all. He begins to run and does some exercise with Cornelia and Guildford. Everyone thinks that Lelouch is just trying to ready himself for the future. For some reason Lelouch begins to take fencing lesson, however none of his available fencing partners is adequate. Euphemia and Nunnally are not strong enough, and Nunnally is a little too aggressive for a little girl. Marianne and Cornelia don't take it seriously. Clovis is most likely unable to defeat an armless man in a sparing session. Lelouch's other brothers such as Edward and Theseus are too busy with other things. If Milly was here, she would at least humor Lelouch. He wonders if that Kallen girl knows how to fence. So there is only one possible sparing partner for Lelouch.

Being a noble from an old noble family, Carolina is trained in all the usual noble things such as horse riding, ballroom dancing, and fencing. When she is invited to be Lelouch's fencing partner, she accepts. At first she is more of a teacher, but she is patient much in the same manner that he is patient with her whenever he teachers her a new strategy game. Now several months later Lelouch routinely and soundly beats Carolina.

"En garde, your highness."

They begin their match. Isabelle cheers on Carolina.

"Come on Edward, you're a boy. You have to cheer Lelouch on."

Edward cringes each time the swords clash.

"Isn't it a little dangerous?"

Euphemia agrees with him. Nunnally as always cheers her brother on.

"Cut her head off, big brother."

Euphemia tries to calm Nunnally down. Lelouch defeats Carolina once more. After their match the two of them sneak off before anyone can see where they are going. They hide in one of Lelouch's hiding spots.

"So you guys are going to Japan."

"Yes, we leave in a few days."

"Are you coming back?" Carolina asks this because she knows that Milly is living there with her grandparents now.

"Probably it depends on what mother wants us to do. The Ashfords are living there now, and Clovis has been named Viceroy of Area 11."

"Well keep in touch okay," Carolina leans in to give Lelouch his victory kiss, "We should probably go with the others."

Lelouch nods in agreement. After that day Carolina does not see Lelouch for several years. They keep in touch. Every year Lelouch makes sure to send Carolina two gifts for her birthday, February 14.

**

* * *

**

Lelouch, Luciano, and Gino (a little Nonette)

**February 10, 2013**

Gino notices that Lelouch is working on some sort of card.

"Hey Lelouch who is that for."

Lelouch quickly put his letter away.

"Nothing Gino. Just working on some extra credit."

Gino smirks, "Whatever, come on we have get ready for our next battle."

Later that day Gino tries to look for Lelouch's letter but finds nothing. A few days later Lelouch gets several Valentine's Day cards. Gino looks them over. There are the usual ones from his sisters, Milly, Shirley, Kallen, and one from Carolina Sforza. Gino is sure he has heard that name before.

**May 21, 2014**

Lelouch's graduation from West Point is in a few days, but tonight Luciano is taking him out. Lelouch supposes that no one will say anything about a Knight of the Round taking a prince out to drink even if both them are underage. In Lelouch's case a lot underage. Luciano takes Lelouch to a small auditorium on the edge of the city. It is mostly used for local dances. Lelouch wonders if some kind of hazing is about to take place. He also wonders if Gino is coming.

"Is Gino coming?"

Luciano scoffs at the comment.

"That guy isn't what we need for this."

Luciano leads Lelouch onto a platform. Standing before there are several dozen soldiers. Lelouch recognizes some of them as being current or former members of the Black Knights. Luciano steps forward.

"Everyone is here for a reason. We have all come to an agreement. We have decided that there is only one person worth serving."

Those in the crowd all stand at attention.

"All hail Lelouch. All hail Lelouch."

Lelouch is stunned at first, but then he smiles. Luciano is correct in that Gino is not needed for this. Lelouch wonders if his supposed best friend would think of this. Throughout their time at West Point, Gino seems too perfect, too helpful. Lelouch must uncover the truth behind him. Lelouch reaches up and removes a contact from his left eye and steps forward.

"You will serve me and me alone. You will be my Black Knights. We will destroy this world and together create a new one in our image."

"ALL HAIL LELOUCH! ALL HAIL LELOUCH! ALL HAIL LELOUCH!"

**May 26, 2016**

With the girls providing a perfect distraction for his mother and vice versa, Lelouch is at the airport picking up his and Cornelia's Knight of the Round along with their new knightmares. Lelouch is going to have to give his science team a vacation after all they have accomplished. Lelouch sees his oldest non-female, non-family member friends walking towards him. Luciano appears quite satisfied. Lelouch wonders if the violence loving knight became a member of the mile high club. Gino doesn't appear too happy about being here under Lelouch's command. Behind them Aphrodite is walking a little unsure about herself. Lelouch decides to approach her first.

"Ah Lady Venitus, a pleasure to meet you once again. Your radiant beauty is almost too much to bear."

Aphrodite giggles as Lelouch takes her hand and kisses it.

"There will be no funny business, Lulu," Nonette says as she pushes Aphrodite away, "What would your wives think?"

Lelouch smirks, "They would probably think that there is finally someone else here to handle my insatiable appetite. Now my sisters would probably want to fight her."

Aphrodite blushes. Lelouch turns to face the final Knight of the Round.

"Lord Doedilus, I hope that these maniacs were not too bothersome," Lelouch points towards Luciano and Nonette.

Amadeus laughs, "Not at all your highness. The flight was interesting to say the least."

Luciano decides to get down to business.

"Your highness, there is a question I have been meaning to ask since we landed," Lelouch looks at Luciano in anticipation, "Are there any women available in your area? Someone like you must know who likes to play and who doesn't," Luciano glances towards Gino.

Lelouch maneuvers himself around so that all five Knights of the Round are in front of him.

"Finally someone with some common sense," Lelouch manages not to completely glare at Gino, "There are a few lonely noblewomen who wouldn't mind someone new in their bed, but why look around when perfection is standing beside you," Lelouch moves towards Aphrodite and brushes her cheek as he says this. The Knight of Ten blushes even more than before. Lelouch continues, "Very well then, shall we? There is still much to do."

They follow Lelouch to their transport. Once inside Luciano decides to get really serious.

"And our knightmares."

"On their way to the training location."

"The new ones."

Lelouch nods, "Of course. The old ones have been returned to Cecile for upgrades. They will be given to unit commanders."

Nonette asks, "Are we going to get to test them first?"

"Of course," Lelouch smiles that predatory smile of his, "New Years will seem like last century's news when the new knightmares are revealed."

* * *

Aphrodite and the Pellinore are fighting several Ios. Gino and the Tristan are preparing because they are next. Nonette and Amadeus are watching the battle from below. Leaving Lelouch and Luciano to speak.

"Weinberg is a fool."

Lelouch nods, "Yes but a useful fool at the moment. Both for the emperor and myself."

"To that man we are all just disposable pawns."

Of course to Lelouch everyone is a pawn as well. Luciano understands this, but he understands the situation. The current emperor is wasting Britannia's resources on petty wars. Luciano isn't a big fan of peace. War and violence are almost like air and food to him, but there are ways to go about things. At the current rate Britannia will not be able to stand much longer. Already its resources are stretched thin. If not for Schniezel and Lelouch's planning, Britannia will not last for much longer. So what if the world eventually falls to Britannia's might, it will not take much to push Britannia to its extinction.

Luciano is not some idealist who believes that the world will unite against Britannia and once it is defeated peace will reign. No, Luciano is a realist. Like the others he has made his choice. Like Bismarck, like Merlin, like Thorin, etc, Luciano has chosen a member of the royal family to follow, and it is the one who hates losing the most. It isn't that Lelouch can't lose. It's that he doesn't know how to lose. Luciano saw it many times at West Point whether it was chess, poker, or even chutes and ladders. No matter the odds Lelouch always won not just because he was the best but because he knows no other way. Lelouch just doesn't know how to lose.

"Hey Luci,"

…. (silence mixed with giggling)

"Ano."

Luciano turns to source of the giggling and sees the twins sitting there.

"Castor, Pollux, what are you doing here?"

"Mom took away our girls.

"Ya she took away our girls."

Luciano looks confused, "Your girls. How many do you have?"

"Two."

"Ya two."

"I see."

The twins look down at the arena floor.

"Who's that?"

"Ya she's hot."

"Maybe we gets to keep her."

Aphrodite sees them looking and waves. For some reason Luciano waves back.

"Hey Luci is that your girlfriend."

"Ya Ano is that your girlfriend."

Before Luciano can say anything, Nonette walks into the room.

"Looks its Nonit."

"Ya Noni."

Nonette is surprised to see the twins here in Area 10.

"Boys, what are you doing here?"

Lelouch answers for them, "They live here, Nonette. In fact they've been with me for over a year."

"Yes I know but," Nonette pauses because she is not sure if Lelouch knows the details of the attack on Aries Palace. She has been instructed not to tell anyone about it.

Lelouch looks in her direction, "Yes but what."

"Never mind."

Luciano forgot all about Lelouch while talking to the twins. Luciano hopes that Lelouch didn't see him waving at Aphrodite because that would be quite embarrassing. Lelouch slightly smirks.

"Aphrodite did well, didn't she?"

Neither Luciano nor Nonette answer.

"Big brother Lulu, that girl's hot."

"Ya hot, can we keeps her?"

"Not right now guys. She belongs to the Q.O.G., but maybe later."

Nonette and Luciano wonder what Lelouch means by that.

"Come one guys. It's time to go."

"Oh we didn't even get to play with Bino."

"Ya what about Mino."

"You will get to see him later when they all come to the palace."

"I thought that Mino isn't allowed to go to the palace."

Lelouch grins, "We will have to change the rules just this one time. Come on let's go."

With that the three princes exit the training facility. Nonette wonders why Gino is not allowed to visit Saigon Palace. From down below Gino watches them talking. He is able to see Lelouch and the twins leave. That day Gino almost breaks his knightmare due to his aggressive attacks. He is caught off guard several times. He is severely reprimanded by Nonette who threatens to send him home if it happens again.

That night after all the excitement and preparation for the twins' party, Lelouch continues his planning. He looks down at his information on the Knights of the Round. Nonette, Gino, and Luciano he knows very well. Amadeus is just filler. He was probably chosen for his loyalty and past service. Aphrodite is the intriguing one. Not just because of her looks or skill but also her past. Despite being from a minor noble family, her past is a little tainted because of her mother's propensity to sleep around and marry. Aphrodite's mother has been married at least a dozen times. Those are just what one would call the legal marriages. There are probably a dozen others voided by court ruling. Still they live a comfortable life. Now that Aphrodite is a Knight of the Round, her past is a thing of the past. If not for the trouble Lelouch figures it will cause, he wouldn't mind having Aphrodite.

Aphrodite Venitus  
Born: July 3, 1997 ATB  
Hair color: pink  
Eye color: hazel  
Comments: Despite her calm demeanor she is one of the toughest in a knightmare. Her family situation is most likely the reason why she does not rank higher. If given the opportunity, she can probably defeat many of the Knights ranked above her. The best way to describe her is a body like Milly, knightmare skills like Kallen, aggressiveness like Nunnally, naiveté like Euphemia, intelligence like Nina, noble like Carolina, kindness like Lucretia and hair like Anya.

Lelouch continues working late into the night. Since tomorrow will be all about the twins, he can rest a little. Lelouch begins to ponder about his relationships. Over the years he has established many. Some are obvious and normal. Others are twisted and unusual. A few are a little of everything. Most notably his relationship with Anya is like this.

* * *

Author's note: There is a Shirley poll on my profile. I guess more people care about Shirley than Clovis because more people voted on that poll than the Clovis one from before. It's kind of funny because I haven't even mentioned te poll and people have been voting for it. Edward is winning. I will probably close the poll in a few days and either put another one up or put the Clovis one up since we are nearing the point where Clovis's life is in danger.

Converters is Castor and Pollux's cartoon about robots that transform into everyday vehicles. The main humans in it are Lulu and Nunners Lamperouge. Vampiro is their version of Starscream and is based on Luciano. Their version of Optimus Prime is based on Bismarck. Their Megatron is based on Schniezel.

Lelouch met Carolina several months before he met Milly or Kallen. Now it is possible that Milly has met Carolina before since they are both nobles from families that do noble stuff unlike Kallen's family. Carolina attends Milly's wedding, but is not introduced to Kallen until a few weeks later because Kallen is busy with other things. Lelouch is really good at hiding that might come up later. How else do you think that he and Nunnally hid for all those years? According to a sound episode they didn't move in with the Ashfords until Lelouch was in middle school which probably was a year after the invasion.

Miranda and Emily are also twins. Their birthday is June 3, 2012. Exactly one week after Castor and Pollux. It is heavily hinted that as children Lelouch/Euphemia and Schniezel/Cornelia "liked" each other. Luciano is not geassed. Like Anya, he just a loyal follower of Lelouch. When you consider Gino basically turning on Lelouch this becomes important as the story continues.

Someone asked about Milly or Nunnally getting a geass. I shudder at the thought of Milly getting a geass, but it actually makes sense in this story since Milly is mellower, less evil maniac. I think Nunnally would be against gaining a geass. To her it's okay if the others gain a geass but it kind of goes against her basic principles. Nunnally is kind of this story's Suzaku. Someone who will go to great lengths to accomplish the goal of someone she loves (Lelouch). It's also kind of her goal as well. Although her principles are slightly different than Suzaku's. Like Lelouch, her principles will be shaped by her parents actions. She also notices that geass is taking its toll on Lelouch and Kallen. So that might be the deciding factor.

This is an addendum to the little history lesson at the end of the letters chapter. Even though there was not a massive colonization of Africa and Asia, parts were still colonized by certain EU members. Places like Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, and Indonesia were under the control of certain European powers at the time the EU was formed so they stayed colonies for a while. Even democracies have colonies. Also since there is no British Empire to colonize certain parts of west and eastern Africa, France dominates the continent and the EU.


	52. From the present to the past and back p2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This is more flashbacks. I wrote some things about Anya/Lelouch and Kallen/Naoto. I also wrote a little piece about the royal children and their unusual relationships. I have a question regarding Nunnally at the end.

...

Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.

Where so ever you go, go with all your heart.

Confucius

**

* * *

**

Anya and Lelouch

**June 17, 2016**

Anya is preparing to take the Chrysalis out to battle for the first time. The last few times she went out, she used a Bors. She moves her knightmare out to attack. Anya begins to think about her time with Lelouch. It has been almost seven years since they first met.

**September 18, 2009**

Little Anya Alstriem is brought to Aries Palace to learn proper etiquette. She is one of several girls brought here for that purpose. It is possible that she could have gone to a different estate, but she ends up here. The first few days are difficult because she mostly deals with very tough teachers. After a few days some of the girls are let go. They also begin to let Anya walk around the palace grounds. One day she is wandering around the garden when she sees two girls playing out there. Anya hides behind a bush because she doesn't want to be seen. Anya feels someone come up behind her.

"What are you looking at?"

Anya answers, "Those two girls playing."

"Oh them. They're brats."

Anya shakes her head, "You can't say that because they're princesses."

"Sure I can because they're my sisters, and they are brats."

Anya slowly turns to face who is talking to her. Standing there is a black haired, violet eyed boy.

"Your sisters."

Anya begins to think about it and suddenly realizes that she is talking to a prince. Before Anya can say anything, she hears the two princesses yelling.

"Lulu, where are you?"

"Lulu, come out come out wherever you are."

Anya notices that the two princesses are heading in her direction. They seem nice enough, but who knows what will happen if she is caught. But Anya doesn't have to worry about that because the prince grabs her and starts running away.

"Euphie, I think I see him running away. Let's go."

A few moments later Anya is blindfolded and sitting down.

"Okay you can take the blindfold off," the little prince sighs, "That was a close one. I thought that they were going to catch us."

Anya can hear the two little princesses outside still looking for someone. The prince hands Anya a cookie.

"Here have a cookie. By the way I'm Lelouch, Lelouch vi Britannia," he pauses and begins to nod his head, "Well Prince Lelouch vi Britannia if you want to get technical about it. What's your name?"

Anya timidly finishes her cookie and answers, "Anya Alstriem."

"Anya Alstriem," he appears to be thinking about her name as he hands her another cookie and a juice box, "I like it. It sounds cool."

After a few minutes of sitting there, he blindfolds her once more so that they can sneak out of his hiding spot. He takes Anya over to his sisters who are playing some card game. Both girls pretend to ignore them as they walk over, but the pink haired one keeps glancing up at them. Then Anya hears something that she really isn't in the mood to hear.

"Alstriem, come here this instant."

One of her etiquette instructors is looking for her. Anya must have gone over on her free time. Now she is going to have to make it up by practicing more. The woman walks over and reaches for Anya. Out of the corner of her eye, Anya can see the two princesses smiling. She wonders if they are the ones that told the etiquette instructor about Anya being out here. The woman begins to yank Anya away when she feels a slight tug in the opposite direction.

"Where so you think you are taking her?" Anya hears Lelouch ask. Inside Anya feels slight horror at the thought of him getting into trouble because of her.

The etiquette instructor turns and has a slight look of shock on her face as she looks at the impassive Lelouch who gives her no time to respond.

"Woman, I asked you a question. Where do YOU think you are taking Anya?"

Even at his age Lelouch is a master of words and emotions. It helps that he reads well above what others his age are reading. Anya slightly shakes her head. She can see that the two princesses are also a little frightened at the wrath of this woman. Being girls they are of course instructed in proper etiquette. Anya has seen the younger light haired girl with many of her instructors.

The woman finally answers. She is not used to being treated in this manner by anyone especially not a child, but she has never encountered a child such as Lelouch even Cornelia, Euphemia, Karine, etc. were more or less well behaved.

"Your highness, Alstriem here must continue her lessons particularly ones about being on time and knowing her place."

She tugs at Anya as she says this. Lelouch reaches over and takes the woman's hand off of Anya.

"I guarantee you that Anya is not late. In fact she is quite on time."

The woman is perplexed, "On time for what?"

"For her lessons with me," Lelouch looks up at the woman, "Or are you saying that I would not be a proper instructor."

The woman violently shakes her head, "No your highness. Exactly what is it that you will be teaching Alstriem?"

Lelouch smiles and snaps his fingers, "We will begin with a simple chess lesson. I believe that that will show Miss Alstriem the proper place of everything especially pawns," Lelouch glares at her as he says this and continues, "Then perhaps we can go horseback riding. My sister still has her old pony even though she has moved on to a regular sized horse. Of course I can also instruct her in many forms of dancing not to mention how to properly speak to a member of royalty," Lelouch sighs and pauses, "There is so much that we can teach her here without resorting to your methods."

The woman grunts at that because her methods are obviously good enough for members of royalty throughout Pendragon over the years. After Lelouch snaps his fingers, several servants begin to set up a chess board and table. Lelouch leads Anya to the chessboard and begins to instruct on in chess. They spend hours doing this with Nunnally and Euphie eventually introducing themselves. After a few days of this, Anya is transferred to be the personal servant of the vi Britannia children. With this position her advancement is secure because both children show great potential.

**Friday, December 17, 2015**

Lelouch and Anya are dancing at Britannian Military Jr. Academy Winter Formal. Anya graduated from West Point that morning. Now she gets Lelouch all to herself for a few days well almost. At the moment Lelouch is dancing with Aphrodite Venitus who according to Lelouch will be named Knight of Ten in a few weeks. Anya is dancing with Aphrodite's cousin who also graduated. Only he is a bit older than Anya since he comes from a minor noble family and started at the academy when he was thirteen which happens to be Anya's age now.

"Wow you get to serve under Prince Lelouch that must be so cool."

Anya shrugs. She has been serving under Lelouch for almost six years since she was named the vi Britannia's personal servant.

The annoying former cadet continues, "Cousin Aphrodite won't let me serve in a forward area especially now that she is getting influence," he winks, "So I'll probably have to serve near home."

Anya feels like punching the annoying twit in the gut. That wink was meant to signify that Aphrodite is getting a huge promotion. Lelouch knows about it because he has several friends as Knights of the Round and knows the Knight of One personally. Anya sighs at the boy's ignorance. Like most people he assumes that there is lots of communication between the emperor, his children and their subordinates. This guy is lucky that his cousin is holding him back. He wouldn't last a second out on the front. Anya still remembers being in Africa and Area 10. Both of those events happened less than two years ago. Of course Anya also participated in Lelouch's invasion of southeast Asia during the summer. Before Anya can make a comment the song ends, and someone else comes to dance with Anya. Anya lets Luciano take her from Aphrodite's cousin. They both look towards Lelouch.

"Looks like his highness is enjoying himself, doesn't it?"

Anya only nods to Luciano's comment.

"Don't worry kid. I'm sure he hasn't forgotten that this is your special day."

As the song ends, Luciano leans in towards Anya.

"Just make sure to remind him that we have a meeting tonight. It won't take up too much time."

After the song ends Luciano leaves Anya alone but only for a moment because Lelouch is back. They dance a few more songs before making their exit. After the meeting with Luciano, they head over to California. Anya wants to have some fun. After spending a few days together Anya leaves to do some Gloucester simulations with Kallen.

**May 29, 2016**

Anya is walking around Saigon Palace. With Empress Marianne on her way back to Pendragon everybody gets to work. The Knights of the Round are training with their new knightmares. The other girls are also training. Anya has spent the last few months training with the Chrysalis so she gets some time to rest. She decides to walk around the palace grounds because only Euphemia and Carolina are at the palace. As Anya walks the scent of pizza hits her nose. Anya is instinctively attracted to it.

"No that isn't right. I paid for half this pizza so I should get at least half. I don't care if I eat slower than you, you frustrating green haired witch."

Anya approaches the noise and the pizza. She sees a finely dressed little boy and a barely dressed girl. They don't seem to see her. Anya stands there watching them. She believes that she has learned the art of hiding from Lelouch, but she is not quite as good.

"Hey look it's the little pink haired one," the green haired girl grins, "Maybe if you ask Lelouch he'll let you date her."

"Be quiet you witch. I'm probably four times her age."

Anya looks into the little boy's eyes and sees a wealth of experience. The little boy looks at Anya.

"Your name is Anya, isn't it?"

Anya only nods.

"Yes, I remember you're the one who takes pictures of everything. Well it would be a little dangerous if you took a picture of us," the little boy walks in Anya's direction, "You want to help Lelouch, don't you?"

Again Anya only nods. These two 'children' seem much more experienced than they look.

"What if I could give you a power to assist him, would you want it?"

Anya considers the offer. She knows that other girls around Lelouch have certain extraordinarily unnatural abilities.

"Yes."

**June 17, 2016**

"Chrysalis transform."

Anya pulls her knightmare just a bit. She allows the kids to move their tanks forward. Suddenly several EU knightmares come down at her.

Anya looks at them stoically, "I will make a memory of you," Anya says as she activates her geass.

**

* * *

**

Kallen and Naoto

**March 22, 2006**

Kallen's sixth birthday is a week away so Naoto is taking to pick out her present. He may be a good brother, but he isn't perfect. But before he takes her to get her present Naoto is taking her to her dancing lessons. For some reason since they returned from the trip to Britannia, Kallen has been taking dancing lessons. Naoto wonders if it has anything to do with the little prince she danced with. Naoto wonders if that will result in anything. Kallen is still young but a future marriage to a prince would do wonders for his sister. However the lessons have not been going well. She may not continue them for much longer. After her lessons they go to the mall.

"_Naoto, I'm hungry."_

Naoto grimaces. Since it's Friday he is hoping to go out with some friends. He was hoping that they could just make a quick stop and get her present and then he can drop her off quickly before coming back to hang out.

"_Fine let's go."_

He takes her to her favorite restaurant, McDonalds. Naoto wonders about the amount of Britannian restaurants and stores in Tokyo. In fact Britannian fashion has taken the Japanese capital by storm. Most of his friends dress in Britannia styles rather than Japanese. In fact Naoto bought Kallen her present at a Britannian store. Their father always scolds them about abandoning their Japanese roots. Naoto doesn't know why his father worries about it. He is a Britannian noble after all. Both Naoto and Kallen will probably marry someone from a Britannian noble family. Each time they visit Britannia Naoto is introduced to a new noble girl. At least Kallen is a kid and she won't have to worry about that stuff for a while. If she is lucky, her father will manage to hook her up with some minor prince. Someone like the eleventh prince who is good deal away from inheriting the throne and will most likely govern some minor area. Naoto hopes that his sister can find someone like that when it is her time to marry.

**Friday, June 17, 2016**

Naoto is sitting in his office staring at a picture of his family. The picture is over ten years old. He sighs as he looks at the picture. Sergeant Futaba does his best to ignore Naoto's pining for those long lost days. Britannia's invasion of Africa has been going on for a two weeks. The reports from Major Chiba have also been coming in. Not that Naoto officially gets to see those reports. He does however see reports coming in from observers stationed with the Middle Eastern Federation army on the performance of the Burai and Burai Kai. Since the incident with his parents Japan has been careful about who it sells its knightmares to. That explains why there are no Gekkas out there. Not that it would make a difference. Britannia has been using several new experimental knightmares. The white and gold one in particular has damaged several of the Japanese made knightmare. According to the reports it seems to be heading straight for them. Naoto will have to look for the report later. He will also have to find out who the pilot is.

Naoto continues his paperwork about the formation of Japan's first knightmare brigade. Naoto hopes to increase that to a division by year's end and to a corps or even an army by the end of the next year. If Gekka proves its worth, Naoto may see another promotion. By time he is thirty Naoto may be a colonel in charge of a knightmare brigade. That is if they don't think that Naoto is better suited behind a desk designing knightmares. Naoto would hate to bring up the point that Lelouch designs and pilots his knightmares. Not to mention all the other interesting things that he is using in the current war. Naoto is about to send Ichiro home early when he hears some commotion outside. He signals for Ichiro to follow him outside. There are several soldiers in unusual uniforms. Naoto quickly recognizes them as does Ichiro who takes a step back. These men are Kempeitai, Japanese military police.

Naoto steps forward, _"I demand to know what is going on here."_

The Kempei as they are called look at Naoto's rank. Naoto notices that their leader is a Tai-i, a captain. That means that an entire Buntai of sixty-five men is here. That also means that they are prepared for just about anything. Naoto is also prepared. There is an exit from his office down to the knightmare hangar. Then it dawns upon Naoto that they are prepared for this. That is why they didn't just send in a ten or twenty man squad. Colonel Kusakabe is being taken from his office.

The Tai-i finally answers Naoto. He does not have the usual smug Kempei face. Apart from the fact that Naoto is technically a superior office with Colonel Kusakabe gone, Naoto is now in charge of the knightmare project so he is a dangerous man to upset.

_"Colonel Kusakabe is being taken in on suspicion of conspiring with foreign agents."_

Naoto says nothing as they continue to take the colonel. They take nothing from his office but a few papers. Ichiro goes over to confirm if the colonel's office needs to be sealed.

_"Major, what should we do?"_

Naoto looks over at Ichiro as the last Kempei leaves.

_"Sergeant, contact General Katase. I assume that he knows and will have orders for us."_

Naoto signals for the others to get to work. Now rather than going home early they will have to stay late and possibly work through the weekend. It is one thing that Naoto hates about being Japanese, the adherence to one's work and company. Naoto consider what the Tai-i said. What foreign agents could the colonel possibly have been conspiring with? Then it hits Naoto that he will never be able to see his sister again. The colonel is the person responsible for selling Burai Kais to the people that killed Naoto's parents. Naoto sits at Colonel Kusakabe's desk. The Tai-i conveniently left the incriminating evidence on the screen.

**

* * *

**

Royal children

**September 2007**

Lelouch has caught them before. In fact over the past several months they have been out in the garden several times late into the night. The last few weeks they have been coming here almost every night. Lelouch is careful not to make any noise. He is also careful not to let Euphie or Nunnally know what he sees. They are out again tonight, Schniezel and Cornelia. In a few days Cornelia will join the military to train, and Schniezel will visit several areas with Odysseus to see how they are being governed. Lelouch sees them kiss. Sometimes Schniezel moves his hand over Cornelia's breasts. They don't do anything more than kiss.

Over the next few years Lelouch sees other siblings participate in such activities. He makes many trips with Schniezel and catches him with several girls. He never commits to any of them. Lelouch also makes trips with Cornelia and catches her in the arms of her knight, Guilford. Lelouch notices that both of his role models dominate their relationships.

**

* * *

**

A little bit of everyone.

**May 28, 2016**

It is Gino's first time at Saigon Palace since mid-March when Lelouch sent him away. The others have been here a few times. Luciano and Aphrodite have spent the last two nights here because Lelouch requested it. He knows that Empress Marianne is here somewhere. Today and tomorrow Lelouch has scheduled more knightmare sparing. Gino grimaces at the though of having to face Lelouch or Kallen in a knightmare.

"Thanks for the puppy, Emily. I promise to take cares of it. Okay. Do you like your birthday present? I know it's a little early, but I couldn't wait."

"It is great, Casto. I'll wear it all the time."

Emily gives Castor a peck on the cheek. They stop and wait for their siblings. Pollux's puppy is a little wilder kind of like him and Miranda, a product of them hanging around Milly.

"Hurry up Pollux. We's waiting."

Pollux's puppy runs to Gino and begins to rub up against him. Miranda and Emily look up at Gino in amazement since he is so tall. Pollux picks up his puppy.

"Hey Mino looks like my doggy likes you."

Gino laughs, "I guess he does."

"Is the Gino Wienerberg?"

"I though that his name was Whinesberger."

Gino turns to see Carolina and Isabelle walking towards him. Edward, Shirley, and Euphemia are walking behind them.

Euphemia squeals, "Gino's back!"

Euphemia runs over to hug Gino. She turns to introduce Gino to everyone.

"This is Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Twelve."

Edward and Isabelle met Gino at Milly's wedding. Carolina bows and puts her hand out. Gino simply shakes it.

"Have you two met before?"

"They dated last year when Gino's parents wouldn't let him come back to Japan before he became Knight of Twelve."

Everybody turns to see Lelouch walking with his harem behind him (Kallen, Milly, Sancia, Lucretia, Anya, and Ayame). Gino glowers because he never told Lelouch about the girls his parents made him date. That must mean that Carolina told him, but that would mean that Carolina and Lelouch must have talked some time in the past year. Gino's head looks like it is going to explode as he tries to remember if Lelouch ever talked about Carolina or vice versa.

Lelouch smirks, "We should go to the conference room before Gino's head explodes," Lelouch glances at Gino, "What did I tell you about thinking too hard," This earns a laugh from everyone, "Luciano and Aphrodite will be joining us later. They are quite busy at the moment."

Lelouch and his girls walk towards a conference room. Shirley looks at Gino who looks incensed.

"I know whenever I think to hard; my head feels like it wants to explode."

The others laugh. Euphemia hugs Shirley.

"You're so silly, Shirley. Let's go out to the garden and play with the twins' new puppies."

Gino sighs as he watches them walk out.

"Yo Weinberg, let's go. His exalted Luluness is waiting for us."

Gino scowls at Luciano's yell. Aphrodite giggles as he and Luciano walks in holding hands. Gino walks into the room visibly sulking because he knows that everyone in the room except for Aphrodite knows what happened between him, Kallen, and Lelouch. Who knows maybe Aphrodite knows as well.

After the meeting Gino goes out to the garden. Everybody else is in one of the living rooms. Gino wonders how long Carolina has been here. From the looks of things she hasn't left since coming for Milly's wedding. It seems as though Lelouch is leaving Euphemia and Carolina in charge of Area 10 when he leaves. He must really trust her. Gino lies down on the grasses and looks up. He accidentally bumps into someone.

"Oh I didn't know anybody was out here."

Isabelle smiles, "It's okay. I should be getting back inside."

Gino shakes his head, "It's okay maybe I should get back inside."

Isabelle giggles, "Let's both stay out here."

Gino nods as he looks at Isabelle who blushes and lies down. Gino wonders if good looks run in the royal family.

Isabelle sighs, "It must be fun being a Knight of the Round."

Gino shrugs and lies down beside her.

"It's a lot of hard work. I really don't have time for personal stuff. I wish I could have stayed at Ashford that was fun."

"I know Shirley tells us about it all the time. So you don't have time for friends and stuff."

Gino wonders about that and stuff.

"What about you? You're sub-viceroy of Area 17."

Isabelle sighs, "Yes but it isn't like I make any decisions. We spend most of our time here because our uncle want s us to learn from Lelouch and his people. Anyways Edward says I'm too young to have a personal life."

"How old are you?"

Isabelle sits up and puffs her chest out.

"I just turned fourteen. How about you?"

Gino sits up as well.

"I turn sixteen in September."

"You should come here and celebrate."

Before Gino can answer, Euphemia interrupts them.

"What are you to doing?"

Isabelle answers, "Just talking. Why did my brother send you out here to look for me?"

Euphemia shakes her head, "No he is too preoccupied with Shirley to even notice that the twins have tied his shoelaces together."

Gino shakes his head and laughs, "Those two are always getting into mischief."

Euphemia giggles, "No, it wasn't Castor and Pollux. It was Miranda and Emily."

Isabelle shakes head, "Carolina is going to be so mad. Those girls have really tuned into mischief makers since coming here."

Gino smiles, "It must be because they hang out with Milly so much."

They all laugh because they remember Milly's crazy antics. Euphemia lies down Isabelle.

"I remember when we used to look up at the sky."

As the three of them sit there looking up at the sky, they can hear all the sounds coming from inside. Gino knows that he will never be able to enjoy himself with his friends like he once did. Isabelle has never fit in with her brothers and sisters. Even Edward seems more comfortable now that he is hanging around with Shirley. Euphemia has been feeling out of sorts since Lelouch returned from West Point. At first she couldn't wait for him to get back. But then once he returned everyone else got in the way. Now they rarely spend anytime together. Euphemia remembers the day that people started taking Lelouch away from her.

**

* * *

**

vi Britannias

**October 25, 2003**

Lelouch is pacing back and forth so much. It is making Bismarck dizzy just looking at him. One would think that the little prince is the expectant father. Little Euphie doesn't see what the big deal is. She just turned three a week ago and doesn't feel like sharing her big brother and sister with anyone. Cornelia and Schniezel are sitting down laughing about something. Euphie gets jealous and wishes that Lelouch would act like Schniezel does with Cornelia. Euphie tries to get Lelouch to settle down, but he refuses. At around 4:25 pm, Nunnally vi Britannia is born.

**May 29, 2016**

Marianne is on her way back to Pendragon. She is traveling alone. Despite the fact that Lelouch is going off to war in a few days, the kids decide to stay in Area 10 with Euphemia and Nunnally. Marianne wonders if there is more to that than it seems. She also wonders about the kids' encounter with VV. Most of the garden camera and microphones went offline that day. Marianne continues to work on her files for Lelouch's girls. At the moment she is not sure whether or not to include Euphemia and Nunnally's friend Alice in the group. Although Alice is part of Lelouch's force. Marianne contemplates that. If Alice is part of Lelouch's force, what is to keep him form adding Nunnally who is already a decent knightmare pilot? Even more importantly what is to keep Lelouch from using the kids in some remote control capacity? Marianne sighs and looks down at her files. She organizes the girls in terms of who she thinks is the most dangerous.

Anya Alstriem  
Birth date: October 23, 2002  
Hair color: pink  
Eye color: blue  
Comments: Despite being small in stature and young, this girl is one the deadliest and most loyal of Lelouch's subordinates. It appears that nothing can be done to take away from Lelouch. If transferred to another command, she will most likely quit the military and join Lelouch as some sort of private contractor or Euphemia will officially declare that Anya is her knight.

Carolina Sforza  
Birth date: February 14, 2000  
Hair color: black  
Eye color: violet  
Comments: In spite of recent attempts to keep her away form Lelouch, she keeps coming back. Research shows her to be a quite intelligent despite the lack of formal schooling. She is also quite adept at horseback riding and fencing. It is unknown if she has ever piloted a knightmare. Definitely someone to keep on eye on.

Ayame Futaba  
Birth date: September 23, 1999  
Hair color: purple  
Eye color: blue  
Comments: Extremely efficient at her work. Must find out more about her family. Need to find a way to separate her from Lelouch.

Camilla Millicent Ashford  
Birth date: March 13, 1999  
Hair color: blonde  
Eye color: blue  
Comments: Decent knightmare pilot. Shows signs of improvement. It is too late to separate her from Lelouch. Taking to her role as viceroy's wife too seriously.

Kallen Elizabeth Stadtfeld  
Birth date: March 29, 2000  
Hair color: red  
Eye color: cerulean  
Comments: Excellent knightmare pilot. In a few years may be unstoppable. Also taking role as viceroy's wife to seriously. Along with Milly has enacted many new laws that affect how Numbers are treated. Must find a way to estrange her from Lelouch. Perhaps ordering him to invade Japan will work. It might also work with that Ayame girl.

Lucretia  
Birth date: February 20, 2000  
Hair color: blonde  
Eye color: light blue  
Comments: According to files from the Geass Order has geass ability named the Land. Didn't say much during meeting. Must find way to meet with her alone.

Sancia  
Birth date: January 31, 1999  
Hair color: black  
Eye color: violet  
Comments: According to files from the Geass Order has geass ability named the Order. Also didn't say much. She is also said to be the leader of the Irregulars. If she breaks the rest of the team should follow.

One look at Marianne's list might assume that she is wrong about how she has the girls ranked. No one can deny that Anya is the most loyal and dangerous of all the girls. Her loyalty has even led her to accept the role as Euphemia's unofficial knight. In her mind Carolina is much more dangerous because of her family's heritage. There is no way that Lelouch can be allowed to marry Carolina. In fact the twins shouldn't be allowed to play with those little girls either. Perhaps several years ago Carolina could have been perfect for Lelouch bit not anymore. He has grown too influential in the military. The last thing needed is for Lelouch to become politically influential.

Ayame is dangerous for reasons that very few would even think of. The girl is practically a Number considering the way Japan is subservient to Britannia. If it ever comes to that, Marianne wonders if that girl will be able to turn Lelouch to the Japanese cause. Marianne considers Milly more dangerous than Kallen simply because who would have expected Milly Ashford to do any of the things she has been doing these past several years. To Marianne, Kallen seems to be a known quantity. If the list was only about knightmare piloting or fighting ability the final two girls along with Kallen would be at the top, but it is not. Marianne knows that Sancia and Lucretia have a weakness, and she knows how to use it. In reality all the girls are extremely dangerous. Marianne hopes it isn't too late.

Marianne doses off thinking about her children. She wonders if what she and Charles are trying to accomplish is worth the effort. She wonders if everything they have done is right.

**June 10, 2009 ATB**

-Those guilty of today's terrorist attack on members of the royal family have been caught and executed.-

Lelouch is standing outside. The day was pretty hectic with some terrorist attacking their car. Lelouch isn't sure if the terrorist know who they are or if they were just attacked because they seemed like important Britannians.

"Big brother."

Lelouch turns around and puts his arms out towards Nunnally.

"Why did those people try to hurt us, big brother?"

"Because we're bad people, Nunnally."

Nunnally shakes her head in disbelief, "But we're not bad, big brother."

Lelouch shakes his head, "Of course not, Nunnally, but Britannia is bad."

Lelouch put his arms around Nunnally.

"If Britannia is bad does that mean that father and mother are bad?"

Lelouch considers this. If Britannia as a nation is evil then the source must be its leader.

"Nunnally, I swear that I will destroy Britannia and create a better world."

**June 11, 2016**

Nunnally remembers that day. It was exactly seven years ago. The day she and Lelouch swore to destroy Britannia and create a better world. She also remembers the day they swore to protect Evelyn and the twins. Nothing will get in their way. Not their father, brothers, sisters, or even their mother. Nunnally begins her final preparations for her part in the attack.

"Prepare the units."

* * *

Author's note: We are roughly a year away from when cannon takes place (2017). There are a few things before we get to that. I wanted to know if anybody would have a problem with me changing Nunnally a bit more. I know I have changed her attitude a lot but that is a natural consequence of her not being the baby anymore. She is also less dependent on others. In cannon her attitude is based on the fact that she is crippled, blind, and dependent on others. The physical and emotional trauma most likely also affected her physical development. She isn't going to develop into Milly but she won't be so much of a loli. It isn't going to happen overnight but over the course of the next few years. Not really sure if I should make a poll. I'll think about it since it is a few chapters away.

The Clovis survive or die poll is back up. After two or three chapters of the Africa Invasion, Clovis's fate will be determined. The first chapter of the invasion is complete and will be up soon.

This is a little timeline to catch everyone up on what has happened in the story so far. It is also for my own sanity since sometimes I forget when stuff happened. Especially these last two chapters. I had to keep going back to make sure that I had things in the right order. I will ignore things like birthdates for the most part.

**2005 **

Lelouch meets Carolina Sforza, Camilla Millicent Ashford, and Kallen Elizabeth Stadtfeld respectively. Many years later these girls would become important.

**2006**

Lelouch becomes interested in knightmares for the first time. Later that year he makes his first knightmare design. The design still hangs on a wall in Bismarck Waldstein's office.

**2009 **

Anya Alstriem moves to Aries palace to learn proper etiquette.

**2010**

Lelouch once again encounters Kallen Stadtfeld and Carolina Sforza. The meeting with the former causes Lelouch to move to Japan. Euphemia li Britannia, Nunnally vi Britannia, Jeremiah Gottwald, Kewell Soresi, Villetta Nu, and others also move to Japan. Here they first meet Suzaku Kururugi, Rivalz Cardemonde, Shirley Fennette, and Nina Einstein. Lelouch also meets CC for the first time and receives his first geass.

**2011-2012**

After a year at Ashford Private Academy in Japan, Lelouch begins to attend the Britannian Military Academy, Jr. Division at West Point. Here Lelouch meets Gino Weinberg and Luciano Bradley amongst others. Lelouch also begins to make serious inquires about creating his own knightmare.

**2012-2013**

Several of Lelouch's friends and siblings attend the Britannian Jr. Academy Winter Formal. Lelouch is able to procure several Glasgows and Sutherlands. This is important not only because it allows Lelouch's science team to tinker, but it also allows Lelouch and his friends to pilot actual knightmares. In mid 2013 the first sixth generation knightmare, the Titan, is completed. Its power and Lelouch's skill are both tested in a live knightmare exercise.

**2013-2014**

The second and third sixth generation knightmares are completed. The Callisto and Europa are also proven in live knightmare exercises.

In Africa Lelouch has his first success in the battlefield. He manages to save Cornelia and defeat the enemy. He also meets MM for the first time and receives a second geass.

In early 2014 the first mass produced sixth generation knightmare, the Io, is created. It is crucial in the crushing of the Chinese and Japanese assisted rebellion in Area 10. Lelouch and more importantly Kallen show great skill. This event is also the first many humiliations of Guinevere su Britannia at the hands of the vi Britannia siblings.

Naoto Kouzuki and Ichiro Futaba are amongst Japanese mercenaries assisting the rebels. Once back in Japan Naoto begins to create his own plans for a Japanese made knightmare. Lelouch also begins to secretly buy Japanese electronics companies in an effort to control the Japanese knightmare making process.

In May of 2014 Lelouch graduates from West Point. Luciano Bradley and several West Point students and graduates pledge their loyalty to Lelouch unofficially. After this Lelouch returns to Ashford Academy in Japan. Gino Weinberg also moves to Japan. In addition the Britannian Special Honorary Foreign Legion (Irregulars) move to Japan to observe the "Lamperouge" children and act as their bodyguards.

Kallen meets CC for the first time and gains a geass power. In December many members of the royal family and Knights of the Round visit Japan for negotiations. Lelouch and Kallen both meet VV and gain a geass power from him, Lelouch's third and Kallen's second. They also visit Area 10 for a live knightmare combat. Once again Lelouch proves that he is a superior commander and pilot as he is able to defeat his mother, Marianne the Flash, in one on one knightmare combat.

**2015**

Lelouch vi Britannia is officially named viceroy of Area 10. Nunnally vi Britannia and Euphemia li Britannia are named sub-viceroys of Area 10 and 11 respectively.

Lelouch successfully leads on invasion of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand turning them into Areas 16 and 17.

In late 2015 Lelouch and his team help put down a rebellion in Area 15. This is the second humiliation of Guinevere at the hands of the vi Britannias. Near the end of the year Lelouch successfully stops an attack by rebellious Britannian nobles and military factions. However the attack results in the death of Kallen's parents. On the last day of the year Lelouch marries Kallen Stadtfeld.

**2016**

Lelouch moves to Area 10 to govern in person. His wife, Kallen, and future wife, Milly, begin to make changes to Area law. Lelouch is given authority to form an army to defend southeast Asia.

On April 2 Lelouch marries Milly officially and legally giving her power to make changes. After his wedding Lelouch is also tasked with creating an army for an invasion of Africa.

On May 23 VV meets the three younger vi Britannias and grants them a geass power.

On June 3 the invasion of Africa begins.


	53. The Rise of the Black Prince pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

I have given little hints of what Lelouch has and what he has been planning, but it all begins to culminate here. The POV switches around quite a bit so you have been warned. I will try to divide it where I can.

...

"And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand".

Matthew 12:25

...

That was the day I saw the rise of a legend, a god, a demon. There are no words to describe what I felt that day. It was a feeling I had not felt in many decades. Despair is the closet thing to describe what I felt that day. Utter and complete despair.

Maurice Marcel  
The memoirs of an immortal  
Neo-Pendragon Press 2031 ATB

* * *

"Order zeta zeta, chūmon roku roku, sáu muoi sáu thứ tự, einde sestig."

And it begins.

**

* * *

**

June 10, 2016

GG has always been the laziest of all the code bearers. The others commented that she has no ambition or drive. She is probably the only code bearer without a contractee. In her younger days she wanted to be a writer. Then she has a meeting with the previous GG and gains a geass ability. Only when it is too late does she realize that praise for her work is because of geass. She spends the several years wandering throughout southeast Asia. She settles in a few fishing villages before settling in Semarang, Indonesia. Now Semarang is under the control of Britannia. Of course it wasn't Indonesia back then. It was called the Dutch East Indies. After a bloody war of independence, that nation is set free. During the war she has several contractees. All of them die freeing their nation.

Once independence is won, GG begins to wander the world. Over the years she meets others like her, other codes bearers. She thinks about returning to Indonesia and wreaking havoc there. However those thoughts are pushed aside when war comes to her present location in South Africa. It isn't the first war here. The bloody Boer War over fifty years ago gives control to those that made the majority of the population. Over the last century most of Africa joined the EU in some fashion either directly or through an alliance. Now Africa is united in fighting Britannia. According to MM the only possible strategy is to hold Britannia off until they tire or the Chinese and Japanese can be talked into attacking nearby Britannia areas.

'Come on Gloria. It is time to strike.'

GG laughs at her code name.

'Very well Maurice.'

As they walk several alarms begin to go off. GG follows MM to the knightmare hangar. When they arrive, MM goes to investigate the reason for the alarms.

'Sir, it seems as if several installations have been destroyed by some unknown source.'

"Unknown source?'

"Well sir, the source seems to have come from the ocean, but there is nothing out there."

MM looks at the screens in confusion. Several more blasts come out of the ocean.

'Oh no they have finished the hadron cannon'

MM looks back at the scientist who said this.

'What is the hadron cannon?'

Before the scientist can answer, several more alarms go off.

MM asks, 'What is going on now?'

'Sir, several objects are rising from out of the ocean.'

'Knightmares?'

'No sir they appear to be panzers.'

The last word is in German, but they all understand it.

'Panzer-hummels?'

The technician shakes his head. MM wonders what is going on. Britannia rarely uses what it classifies as obsolete conventional weapons. Certainly Lelouch has never used them. Lelouch is at the forefront of knightmare technology. In fact the current EU elite knightmares (Musketeer and Cossack) owe a lot of their design features to Lelouch's innovations. Lelouch attacked Madagascar using only knightmares and infantry. Lelouch is most certainly the one off the coast. The Mordred was sighted on a carrier off the coast. Unless if Lelouch has come up with something new, he is most likely with the Mordred. Are the tanks a diversion?

'Sir, there are several attacks along the coast. The Guinevere has been sighted.'

MM nods, 'Very well. Let's move. It appears as if we have a long day ahead of us.'

* * *

Guinevere is finally getting to lead her own forces. There will be no interruptions from Cornelia or Lelouch. To make things even better Guinevere is able to secure brand new Ios and Gloucesters for her entire force. Guinevere has been telling her best friend Carmina all about it. Carmina has been vacationing around the world since leaving Pendragon a few months. Guinevere thinks that Carmina met someone but wants to keep it a secret.

Guinevere checks her mission objectives. Officially she is to create a diversion in central western Africa while Lelouch and Cornelia carve up the continent. But there is no reason for Guinevere to stay still. Guinevere looks around at her command staff. Every person here is a member of either the Purist or Pureblood faction. With their help Guinevere will achieve her goals. Guinevere begins to lead her force out. Within minutes they have managed to push the enemy back. Guinevere laughs at the success of her force. Soon her force will be marching down the coast towards Lelouch. She is sure that she will beat Cornelia there despite starting a week later.

Guinevere prepares her force for the second attack wave. She will lead this one personally. She gives the attack order. Suddenly Guinevere is attacked from behind. Her attackers let out a yell.

"All hail Britannia!"

Lelouch yells out signaling the attack. All along the southern Africa coast from Luanda to Cape Town to Maputo, Lelouch's forces attack.

MM looks at the attacking tanks. A few are destroyed, but there appears to be no one in them. He continues to ponder the situation from his Musketeer. He notices that the tanks are moving with very precise movements. If they are remote controlled, he wonders if each one has its own crew or if.

'It would take a genius to manage all those tanks.'

The first wave of the attack is tanks being controlled by the twins and Evelyn. The twins are controlling the weapon systems while Evelyn controls the movements.

"Come on guys. Big brother Lulu is depending on us."

The twins nod as the blast several EU knightmares.

Lelouch continues to sit on the deck of his flagship. The first wave of attack tanks is doing its job.

"Admiral Williams, tell Colonel Hillis that she may take her force out."

The admiral nods and does as Lelouch commands. The admiral is the perfect person to command Lelouch's naval forces because he knows his role. Lelouch turns on his personal communicator.

"Lieutenant Hellerman, I believe it is time to show these people what we have."

* * *

MM tells the anti-aircraft forces to prepare. After his initial attack, Lelouch will most likely look to soften up the defenses with an air attack. That is what he has done in the past.

'Captain, is there anything on the radar?'

'Yes sir, there are several objects showing up.'

MM grimaces because he can see the Britannian planes on his own radar, but he is expecting more to come. He thought that Lelouch would attack Cape Town because if South Africa falls than all of the southern part of the continent is open.

'Field Marshal Maurice! Field Marshal Maurice!'

'Yes, what is it?'

'Sir the anti-aircraft cannons have been destroyed.'

MM looks at his monitors. The planes are still off in the distance. Lelouch's tanks are still fighting their way up the shore. So what could have destroyed the anti-aircraft cannons? Just then he gets his answer. Several black unusual looking planes come low to attack. They are not on MM's radar. That is only the beginning to his problems.

'Sir, look at monitor ten.'

MM flips his screens to monitor ten which is of a camera pointing out towards the ocean. For moment there is nothing there and suddenly MM's worst fears appear. There are hundreds of ships and submarines. Above them are hundreds of planes. While MM expects Lelouch to focus the majority of his force here, he was not expecting this. By all accounts Britannian forces were attacking along the entire southern African coast. As far north as Angola and Mozambique. Are all those attack diversions? MM keeps pondering the situation as Lelouch's forces continue to assault the EU's overmatched troops. In a matter of minutes dozens of Ios and the new Bors are upon the shore. Whoever is controlling those automated tanks is doing their job very well.

* * *

Evelyn and the twins are taking a break. In their place are several dozen soldiers. After a few minutes they get back to work.

"Okay we're back."

The soldiers sigh in relief and leave the room. Although not physically taxing, controlling all those tanks takes its toll mentally. The kids take control for the next part of the plan. While the main part of the plan is Lelouch's idea, the next part is Nunnally's idea. Evelyn grins a wicked smile, which Milly would be quite proud of, as she prepares for the next part of the plan.

MM is leading his group of knightmares through the first wave of Lelouch's attack. After the initial shock of tanks rising from the sea, the EU allied forces are able to stall them. In fact several of the tanks go down a little too easily, but nothing is going to stop MM's troops from moving forward. They must reach a specific point so that the Panzer Hummels will be able to target Lelouch's knightmares as they come onto the shore.

GG grunts, 'So much for your genius boy, eh MM. Believing all that Britannian propaganda.'

MM grimaces. He knows that Lelouch is a genius. No one else but him figured out that the EU was using automated knightmares in Africa. Even now MM's only hope is to stop Lelouch just enough so that his subordinates get nervous about the attack and force him to try to land elsewhere. Even that plan is based upon the other EU forces holding out and troops being able to come in from Europe. Not to mention the fact that China, the Middle Eastern Federation, the Central Asian Federation, and Japan have to stay out of it or join with the EU. Of course it all depends on Lelouch having subordinates that will be able to confront him. Then all of sudden knightmares begin to go down around MM.

'What's going on?'

Then he sees it. The downed tanks are still functional and are blasting the EU knightmares. Even some of the main turrets that are blown off are still firing. MM wonders if it was planned. There is only one thing left to do, and it is not something that MM wants to do.

'This is Field Marshal Maurice. All units are to retreat to point D. All units all to retreat to Point D. This is a direct and immediate order.'

MM sighs and moves his Musketeer back. During the retreat the EU forces are continually attacked by those new Britannian jets. They have what one of the scientists called a hadron cannon. They are also harassed by the ships and submarines near the shore. Some of MM's troops manage to knock one of the new jets down, but they are forced to leave their prize because Britannian forces are in pursuit. The Mordred and Guinevere are out and are cutting MM's knightmares to pieces. MM can see some of his best troops going down. He wonders where that other knightmare is, the flying one the Morgause. It doesn't appear to be out there.

**

* * *

**

June 11, 2016

Milly, Kewell, Anya, and Nunnally are approaching their destination. They are a few miles from Guinevere's flagship off the west African Coast near the mouth of the Congo. Since leaving Luanda they have been hearing confusion from the Britannian forces stationed there. They know that Guinevere is not exactly the best commander but even she can't be this disorganized. They are hailed on the communicator.

"This is battle group New York. Identify yourself."

Milly takes the communicator.

"This is the HIMS Ganymede. I am Princess Consort Camilla Millicent ash Britannia, colonel of special operating force two, Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five. I am in command of Group Five's Luanda force. We came north upon hearing confusion amongst Britannian forces here," Milly pauses, "With me are Colonel Kewell Soresi of 61st division, 21st Corps and Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, Sub-viceroy of Area 10."

There is a moment of silence.

"Very well your highness. We have established our headquarters at Cabinda."

Once they dock Milly can see all the damage from the fighting. They are taken to Guinevere's command center only to find that she is not there.

Milly asks, "Where is her highness, Princess Guinevere?"

The officers in the room look around nervously before explaining what has occurred.

"Her highness has been injured and can no longer participate in any capacity."

The truth of the matter is that Guinevere can still lead from the rear, but is a matter of pride. Nunnally steps forward. '

"As eleventh princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia, I demand to know how my sister was injured."

The general who is left in charge gulps and decides to tell Nunnally what happened.

* * *

Conrad Keyshavrin and Thorin Odinus manage to get things under control. After Guinevere goes down, her army is in disarray because everybody becomes a suspect. But the two Knight of the Round take charge and now things are begin to move once more. They just have to get these stubborn generals to follow them. They have only been attacking for a few days, and the cowards want to run. They hear the intercom begin to crackle.

"This is Nunnally vi Britannia. I repeat this is Nunnally vi Britannia."

Conrad and Thorin hear that and begin to run to the communications room.

"As eleventh princess of the Holy Empire of Britannia, as of this moment I am taking over this zone of combat. I ask all soldiers in the area to assist me. Those who wish to return home to Britannia in shame may do so now. There are ships waiting to take you home. All general staff officers and officers that have the rank of colonel or higher are asked to come aboard my flagship, the HIMS Boudicca to confer. That is all."

Conrad and Thorin burst into the communications room and blurt out.

"What is going on here?"

The chair in front of the microphone spins around and sitting there is a sharply dressed little girl.

"I'm taking over this zone of combat."

Conrad regains his composure first.

"On whose authority?"

"My own as a princess of Britannia. These soldiers have just become my royal guard."

The two Knights of the Round grimace. It is legally possible for any prince or princess to ask any soldier for assistance. As long as it didn't involve anything treasonous, there are no consequences.

Nunnally grins and stands, "The two of you can escort Guinevere and the cowards back to Britannia if you like."

Conrad kneels first and Thorin grudgingly does the same.

"No your highness. As we promised to serve Princess Guinevere, we will serve you."

"Very well then. Return to your troops. I have something special for you in mind."

Conrad and Thorin exit and head over to their troop's location. Once there several of their officers begin to question what just happened.

"My lords, something is being sent of us."

They wait a few minutes will the message is being printed. It details new orders. They are to take their force and attack further north along the mouth of the Niger River. It will give them an independent command, but more importantly will send them away from this location.

"Prepare the knightmares and equipment. We will move as soon as possible."

The soldiers let out a cheer, but the two Knights are not so sure. This plan reeks of Lelouch. Who else would be pulling the strings on this little princess?

Nunnally prepares for the next phase of the plan. Africa and western Asia are divided into several semi-democratic federations and unions under EU sponsorship. To the northeast is the Middle East Federation. It controls the areas around the Jordan, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as well as the Anatolian and Arabian Peninsulas. It is bordered to the east by Iran and to the west by Egypt. To the west of the Middle East are Egypt and Sudan. Both are semi-independent. Although they will most likely join the Middle East Federation and denounce the EU-Britannian war. Along the north and west of Africa is the North African League. It contains all the countries that inhabit the Sahara desert. It is the closest to the EU and is ruled from Tunis.

To the south of the North African League is the West African Union. This area is dominated by the Niger River. Most of it was once under French control. Like the EU, France is still the dominate power in the area. It also contains what once was the only Britannian colony in Africa. The Union was conceived by the French controlled EU as a way to keep power in the area and control the various native groups. To the southeast of that is the Central African Federation. This area is the most diverse. Apart from all the native ethnic groups the area was previously ruled by several different European powers. The Adamawa Highlands form a bit of a natural border in the west while a string of lakes and the Nile form the border on the east. The Congo River dominates the central part of the C.A.F.

Along the east coast of Africa is the Eastern African Union. It is the smallest of all the groups in Africa, but the most advanced. Bordering Area 15 with Cornelia as viceroy has caused the EU to really put effort into this area. In southern Africa things are a bit different. While the nations in the northern part of southern Africa haves created the South African Confederation. The nation of South Africa has decided to maintain its independence, although it allows EU troops for this current conflict. The biggest reason for this is fear that by joining with the other nations in southern Africa; the white minority will feel even more ostracized and will revolt leading to violence at a time when unity is needed.

* * *

After two days Lelouch manages to force the enemy to abandon Cape Town. It is not an easy task, but it is accomplished. Kallen sighs as she reads Milly's messages to Lelouch. It seems as if the plan is working. The native defense forces have been pushed back, and Britannia forces are begin to land. In the morning they will continue the assault and push the defenders further back.

"You know they say that the only thing worse than a battlefield lost is a battlefield won."

Kallen turns to face the oddly accented voice.

"Forgive me but my Britannian is quite rusty."

A dark haired middle aged man comes out of the shadows smoking a cigarette.

"I remember saying the same thing to your boyfriend on the northern part of this continent a few years ago," the man tosses the cigarette and pulls out another one, "Excuse me. I mean your husband."

Kallen grinds the cigarette with her foot.

"You know those things will kill you."

The man laughs, "I don't need to worry about that for you see I am."

"You are MM."

MM blinks and looks at the red haired Britannian girl.

"You know about me, your highness?"

Kallen nods, "Yes your code is on your chest," she looks at MM and grins, "You are a lot older than I imagined. I guess when you consider that CC and VV are basically children. It seems odd to see such an old immortal."

MM laughs it off, "I suppose so. Yes but in reality I'm so much younger than CC. She is quite a delicious dish, eh," MM grins as he looks at Kallen, "Has your husband ever?"

Before he can finish, someone else come out from behind the shadow.

'Maurice, why did you leave me?" GG begins to adjust her clothes when she notices Kallen, 'I see you found one already. I know this one. It is the Crimson Lotus, the red demon. She pilots that red knightmare with the crazy right arm,' GG reaches for her gun, 'I'll just put and end to her right here.'

Kallen backs up a little so that she can use her geass effectively. Suddenly someone kicks GG in the gut and takes her gun away. Kallen looks over and sees Anya standing there.

"I am afraid that if you insist on harming the princess, I will have to make a memory of you."

Even though she has no idea what Anya is saying, GG begins to laugh, 'Listen little girl. You have no idea what you are messing with.'

MM grabs GG and holds her back. Kallen has no idea what the dark skinned woman is saying, but she is definitely hostile.

'Gloria, wait you don't quite understand the situation'

GG struggles to break free from MM.

'I understand it quite clearly. Look at the way she is standing. She looks like she is ready to use geass on us.'

MM looks at Kallen who has no idea what they are talking about but does understand the word geass.

'Ah MM and you brought along a special friend. She does not appear to be European or African. By her accent I would guess that she is from the East Indies. Most likely Javanese.'

Kallen is awe of Lelouch speaking what she believes is French. Kallen should have taken her lessons more seriously. Lelouch glides towards them until he is between them.

GG glares at Lelouch, 'How do you know that?' GG smacks her head, 'I remember now. You are the one who enslaved my people much like you will enslave the people of this continent.'

Lelouch laughs, 'That mark on your left hand tells me that your are no longer human so you have no people.'

Kallen notices GG's code for the first time. Like VV it is on her hand.

GG smirks, 'Try me boy. You'll see how inhuman I am. There is no weapon in your arsenal that can harm me, boy.'

Lelouch laughs and pulls out a wicked looking rifle.

'Fire away, your highness. Once you run out of bullets. I will kill you,' GG shakes her head, 'No, I will keep you alive and slowing torture your little whores. I just wish that blonde one was here, but I'll get to her.'

Lelouch smiles, 'This isn't an ordinary rifle. It is an elephant tranquilizer. It would most likely kill an ordinary human. But you, it will put to sleep, a nasty nightmare filled sleep. Then I would turn you over to some scientists who love their work a little too much.' Lelouch raises the rifle and points it at GG, 'So I suggest that you settle down or go back to your base,' Lelouch looks GG up and down, 'Besides from the looks of you, you would have trouble beating my brother Clovis in a fight,' Lelouch looks towards MM, 'Is this the best you have?'

GG realizes that even without the tranquilizer gun, it would have not been possible to subdue Lelouch and these two girls. Not to mention the others who may be watching. GG begins to step back As she moves back, she can see four girls standing around them. Not to mention the fact that the little pink haired girl looks like she would kill her mother if the Britannian bastard asks her to.

Lelouch looks at the male code bearer. "I suggest that you come back the exact way that you came. The other sectors were not informed to let you through."

MM nods while GG tries to figure out what Lelouch said. In her youth she disdained all things Britannian and now regrets not learning the language.

"I also suggest that you evacuate your EU forces from this country and move them to the SAC. There is trouble already brewing here in South Africa."

MM smiles, 'Nice try my friend, but I will risk staying here.'

'Fine but I don't want to see either of you unless it is out on the battlefield or when you surrender.'

Lelouch directs MM towards the way out. Lelouch has very little need for any of MM's advice since VV has told him what the emperor is planning. MM and GG walk off. GG does not appear to be happy.

'What did that brat say? I couldn't quite make it out.'

MM stops, 'We will talk about it when we get back. I am afraid that we will have to make preparations for an evacuation.'

GG scowls at that. She will fight the Britannians with her bare hands if she has to. She decides to make a few of the EU soldiers her contractees that night. It doesn't matter if they are not fit for geass.

MM hopes that Lelouch is wrong, but a strong showing from the Britannians in the morning can only lead to one thing.

They watch the two coder bearers walk off. Kallen wonders what all that was about. It seems weird for MM to risk coming here to just to speak with Lelouch.

"Let's go Kalli. We need to rest for tomorrow."

Kallen nods and the girls follow Lelouch back towards the ships. That night most Britannian forced re-board Lelouch's ships in preparation for their attack.

**

* * *

**

June 12, 2016

MM barely sleeps that night. Not that he needs it, but still sleep always clears his head. He thinks about what Lelouch said to him last night. Being an EU army MM's force has people from everywhere, but he notices the looks from some of the locals, particularly the whites. Having spent his whole life in a democratic society where things like race rarely matter, MM is not used to dealing with such issues. Being a Britannian Lelouch knows all about such things.

'Field Marshal Maurice, the Britannians appear ready to attack'

MM nods, 'Thank you captain. Tell the men to prepare to drive the Britannian scum back into the sea.'

Despite the show of bravado, MM knows that today will likely go Lelouch's way. He spends most of the night devising several retreat scenarios. There appears to be something different about the Britannian formations. Many of them look almost abandoned. MM flips through several monitor channels. MM wonders if he should have spent some spies forward to investigate what is going on. Then he finds what he is looking for and crosses himself. Today is a good day to begin believing in God.

'Oh mon dieu.'

* * *

Nunnally prepares her force for its attack. Actually Kewell and Milly are working with the generals for the attack. Nunnally is preparing her monitors for her part in the attack. Unlike the kids Nunnally is working with all the tanks in Lelouch's arsenal. While Nunnally is controlling the tanks, Sora Cummins is watching the monitors for anything that may endanger them from the sides. She is also controlling the Blaze Luminous system. Nunnally wishes that Alice was here. Then they could really kick some ass.

"Excalibur rise."

Lelouch gives the order that signals the attack. His ship begins the transformation that will change the situation of this battle, of battle in general.

Kallen leaves the Excalibur earlier in the morning and is now on her own ship, the Avalon. Anya is with her. After Lelouch's command, Kallen gives her own command to transform the Avalon from naval ship to airship. Jeremiah and Villetta also have their own airship. What is left of the three ships transforms into a submarine and leaves for its own mission elsewhere.

Milly and Kewell are aboard Milly's flagship, the Ganymede, which has just finished the transformation and is flying above the battlefield.

"Your highness, we have finished the transformation should we begin to disembark the knightmares."

Milly shakes her head, "No, Princess Nunnally is to begin her attack first."

Nunnally cracks her knuckles and rolls her head. She speaks into her headset and turns her communicator onto an open channel.

"Let's do this. Watch out bitches because Nunnally is here."

Sora shakes her head to Nunnally's language. Despite the way she talks and acts, Nunnally is a very caring and kind person. Nunnally is aboard her own airship, the Boudicca. She spent a small fortune to get the ship made. Not having quite the resources that Lelouch has; it was a bit difficult for her, but she did it.

"Release the M108."

The M108 Charles is the largest tank in the Britannian military. Nunnally moves her tanks forward to attack the enemy positions. Like the kids Nunnally has a team of people she has been working with for the past few months.

"Captain Mitchell, have your team take control of the M108. I will now release the Sheridans."

"Yes your highness."

Rather than dropping the tanks down, Nunnally takes them through the air. The more in awe the enemy is, the faster they will surrender. Nunnally hopes to keep the casualties to a minimum. It sounds contradictory, but Nunnally doesn't want any senseless killing. Unfortunately to defend themselves and everyone they love there is no choice at the moment.

**

* * *

**

June 15, 2016

Nagisa Chiba is aboard the Excalibur. The airship has been in the action for the past three days. She still cannot believe that Lelouch has not just one airship but three. For all she knows he may have more. She is standing above the knightmare hangar. The Excalibur has a unique design which may be a result of it transforming from a sea ship. The bridge of the ship is at the top and can rotate which means that the Excalibur can go in either direction with ease. In the center of the ship is a massive knightmare hangar. The different rooms surround the hangar. It also makes it quite easy to locate someone or something.

There are several elevators to take the crew to different parts of the ship. Not every elevator goes to every level. To get to the level that she is standing on (the one with her room which also has the rooms of the prince, his family, and friends) you need to board a special elevator that has several levels of security. That special elevator only makes certain stops. It stops at the bridge, at this floor, and at the knightmare hangar. Of course in case of an emergency the elevator can be stopped somewhere else but a massive amount of security clearance is needed for that.

It doesn't matter much anyways since Nagisa doesn't go anywhere else but those three floors. She usually doesn't travel alone. She isn't here to study the mind and daily routine of the common Britannia solider. Although from what she has seen those aboard the Excalibur are not typical Britannia soldiers. Apart from the royal guard of the princes and princesses, most of the soldiers seem more like technicians than fighters. Most of the crew looks like it would faint if ever confronted with an actual combat situation unlike the prince and his immediate subordinates.

As she watches them prepare from above, she sighs. Nagisa isn't sure what has come over her. She finds herself thinking about the prince a lot. Most of her dreams have been filled with visions of him. It doesn't help that her room is next to his. She can hear him in there every night with a girl. Unlike her Chinese counterpart, Zhou Xianglin, she wants to stay as objective has she can. The Chinese girl even wears a Black Knight uniform. They offer Nagisa one so that she will fit in but she declines the offer. But now seeing the attention that the Chinese girl gets from the prince, makes Nagisa want to reconsider the offer. She can hear them preparing for the day's action below so she decides to head over to the bridge. Eventually she will make her way over to where the kids are controlling their machines.

* * *

MM's force has been beaten back. At the moment he is in Bloemfontein. Along the western coast Lelouch's forces have reached the Orange River and are combining with the force he sent into Namibia. MM contemplates the situation. For over a week Lelouch has been on the attack. Twelve days ago his forces attacked Madagascar and Zanzibar. This does not include the attacks from the other Britannia forces. For the most part the other forces have been less successful. After his initial attack on Cape Town, it appears that Lelouch pulled the majority of his force and attacked along the coast. MM's goal is break Lelouch. With that done he can move to defeat the other Britannian forces.

It has been confirmed that the Morgause is north at the mouth of the Congo along with more of those remote control tanks. A knightmare similar to the Callisto has also been sighted there a well. After some confusion there, Britannian forces are beginning to move. New knightmares most likely belonging to the Knights of the Round assigned to Lelouch have attacked south of Zanzibar. All of Lelouch's subordinates including his younger siblings have been accounted for with one exception. No one seems to know where Jeremiah Gottwald is at. MM's spies have confirmed that he is not with the Zanzibar force as previously reported. There is no way that that man would not be here to serve Lelouch.

'Field Marshal Maurice.'

MM looks over.

'Yes.'

'There is a problem amongst the South Africa forces.'

"What now?"

At that very moment Lelouch's attack. MM stares at Lelouch's vast force. Now that Lelouch's separate forces are beginning to unite once more, they seem endless. Then MM sees what appears to be an orange ball flying through the air. It is slightly bigger than a knightmare. It is tearing into MM's forces. MM turns his communicator to an open channel and hears the voice of the man he has been looking for.

"Now all will see the power of the Lucan. With this I will show my loyalty."

Jeremiah takes the Lucan and charges at the EU forces. He is joined by all the royal knights (Villetta, Anya, Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, Alice). Lelouch directs the battle from the rear. After a few minutes he notices that there is some confusion amongst the enemy forces. He takes advantage of that by sending Kallen out to finish the job. With the EU allied forces being pushed back, Lelouch decides to organize himself for a final attack. He establishes a headquarters on the ground to begin to take control of the situation below. He takes the Mordred down.

"Your highness, there are some individuals here that want to speak with you about surrendering."

Lelouch has the Excalibur land near his headquarters. Once Lelouch exits the Mordred, He goes to his headquarters. Five individuals surrounded by several royal guards are brought to him. One of them is holding a box. All the royal guards have a look of disgust on their faces. Lelouch knows that it cannot be because these men are surrendering.

"Just who are you? As I understand it, the leaders of this nation are black while you men are."

"Afrikaners, your highness."

"What is it that you gentlemen want?"

"Your highness, we wish to assist you in taking over this continent and putting its people in their place," the man sets the box on the ground, "Here is a token of our loyalty."

Lelouch kicks the box open. Inside is the head of a black man. Lelouch can see the look of disgust on the faces of his men. The Afrikaners seem quite pleased.

Lelouch asks, "Who was this?"

"He was the president of the so-called Republic of South Africa."

Now Lelouch lets his frustration and disgust show.

"The man who I have been trying to meet with for several days. The man who can legally hand over control of the country to me."

"Your highness, you have conquered South Africa and have begun to set it right. Allow us to assist you in that task," as he says this the man appears to be pleading with Lelouch.

Lelouch raises his hand and signals for some of his men to come to him. The expression on the Afrikaners' faces is priceless.

"Dũng, take Ho Ta and Chu Van with you and dispose of this scum," Lelouch says that with as much scorn as he can.

The Honorary Britannia (Ten) does as he is told. However the Afrikaners attempt to protect themselves only to find several dozen rifles pointed at them. Most of those pointing the rifles are Britannians.

Dũng growls, "Get you hands off me. You rebellious scum. I am an Honorary Britannian in the service of his highness Lelouch vi Britannia. You are nothing but a Number," Dũng shakes his head, "No you are less than a Number."

Dũng hits the group's speaker and begins to drag him out. The others stand there in awe.

"Wait Dũng. I have a better idea. Take them all to the town square. We will let their countrymen deal with them."

"Yes your highness."

With that taken care of, Lelouch turns his attention to other matters.

"Ayame, continue to contact whatever is left of the government. There must be someone we can talk with. Also have someone take care of this head. Ask those bastards what they did with the body. If he was the president of South Africa, he deserves to have a proper funeral."

* * *

Once Dũng prepares everything, Lelouch comes out in the Mordred. No need to give anyone an easy target. The five Afrikaner men are shoved onto a platform. The crowd below is mostly black, but there are a few white mixed in. Lelouch wonders if that will be a problem.

"Now presenting his royal highness, the eleventh prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Lelouch vi Britannia."

Lelouch begins, "These men have confessed to the crime of murdering the president of South Africa, Walter Sisulu. However we will not judge or condemn them."

There are angry jeers from the crowd.

"But we will allow them to be judged by their own countrymen."

The five men are pushed out into the crowd. Lelouch's communicator begins to go off.

"Your highness."

"Yes Ayame."

"We have been contacted by the vice president and the foreign minister."

"Very well. Have them brought here."

Lelouch watches as the crowd tears apart the five men for a few moments before taking the Mordred back to his headquarters,

* * *

Ayame introduces Lelouch to their guests, "Your highness, this is vice president Oliver Tambo and foreign minister Nelson Mandela."

"Take a seat gentlemen that way we are all comfortable because if you stand then honor would dictate that I also stand."

Once seated Lelouch looks at the two men. Despite the fact that he could have them both killed neither seems too intimidated by him. They are probably more afraid of Kallen and Villetta sitting at his side.

"Gentlemen, as you can tell by looking at the situation, South Africa is defeated. My forces control the area south of the Orange River. As soon as my force in Maputo receives its orders, they will head for Pretoria. Even if the retreating EU forces stay it will only be a matter of time."

Oliver Tambo asks, "What is it that you want us to do, exactly?"

"Call for all South African forces to surrender and ask all EU forces to exit the country. Provisions will be provided to all who ask for them peacefully. As we speak supplies are being brought into Cape Town as well as medical staff. I would also like for you to ask for any doctors to volunteer their time. Any who participate will be greatly rewarded."

Nelson Mandela asks, "Your highness, is it possible for us to get similar terms to what Madagascar received?"

"At the moment, no. Madagascar was a necessity. However I can guarantee for the time being that very few Britannian settlements will be established here. If any they will most likely be established in Cape Town or along the coast. The interior will be left to native rule."

Both South African men are intrigued. Mandela continues, "What will Britannia do about the unrest that continues amongst the Afrikaners."

Lelouch grins, "Once the official and legal government of South Africa surrenders, any South African citizen still assisting the EU will be considered a rebel."

Ayame slides the official surrender document onto the table. Lelouch slides it across the table. The terms seem simple enough. Despite being a conquered nation, South Africa will be treated quite honorably be Lelouch.

Oliver Tambo sighs, "How do we know that we can trust you?"

"You have seen my army and seen the number of non-Britannians in it. A few non-Britannians are part of my royal guard. Issues such as race, nationality, ideology mean very little to me."

The man narrows his eyes and looks at Lelouch as if trying to look into his soul, "What does matter to you?"

"Loyalty and honor. Besides my wife would not allow me to lie."

The two South African men look over at Kallen and then back the document. They sign it and slide it over back towards Lelouch who also signs it.

Lelouch signals for something to be brought to him. Villetta brings Lelouch an unusual looking communicator.

"This is Major General Lelouch vi Britannia, Commander of the Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five. As of 11:30 AM local time June 14, 2016 Ascension Throne Britannia the government of South Africa has officially surrendered. All South African forces will be given until the end of the day to surrender. After that they will be considered rebels in conspiracy with a foreign power. Vice President Oliver Tambo and Foreign Minister Nelson Mandela will read the surrender terms"

Villetta and Midori begin to assist the men in working the communicator to announce the terms of the surrender. Lelouch exits the room and heads over to his room aboard the Excalibur to rest. Kallen and Ayame are waiting for him there. Lelouch nods towards them and lies down.

Kallen is trying not to glare at him.

"Do you plan on giving Japan such generous terms when you have to conquer it?"

Ayame looks at Kallen, "What do you mean? Has Lelouch been ordered to conquer Japan?"

Lelouch closes his eyes, "What makes you think that I will need to conquer Japan?"

"Shh. Be quiets. We's trying to sleep," Castor lies back down.

Lelouch opens his eyes and looks at Kallen and Ayame.

"We'll discuss that matter when we are done here. For now let's rest," Lelouch puts his arms out, "Is that fine with you, Kalli."

Kallen nods and lies down with twins who snuggle up next to her.

Castor begins to stroke Kallen's hair.

"I still say that sister Kallen is my mom."

Pollux sounding very sleepy answers with a yawn, "I like Milly better."

Ayame gives in and lies down next to Lelouch.

**

* * *

**

June 17, 2016

MM's EU force is still reeling because of Lelouch's latest move. It is a brilliant and calculating move. For now South Africa only has to expel the EU forces and allow Britannian forces to occupy Cape Town and a few other locations. In addition Britannia will help put down the Afrikaner revolt and drive out the EU forces that remain. MM has no choice but to accept the Afrikaner assistance even though it may lead to all of Africa surrendering to Britannia. Sometime during the night MM is able to convince certain South African officials to declare the surrender illegal because it is coerced. After a few days of confusion, a provisional government is formed in Pretoria. MM does not like the mix of people in the government, but at least a black man is nominally president. The former mayor of Pretoria is now President of South Africa or what is left of South Africa.

MM has orders from his superiors to hold South Africa no matter the cost. What they don't seem to understand is that Lelouch is throwing everything he has at MM and his force. Even though they are defending, Lelouch is much too strong. MM looks up and sees the Excalibur, the Avalon and the aptly named Apocalypse. MM considers the Greek origins of the word. Lelouch is definitely revealing a lot of himself.

'Field Marshal Maurice, our allies wish to discuss the course of today's action.'

MM can almost smell the distaste in the man's voice when he says our allies. To most men of Europe such things as racism or racial superiority are repulsive.

'I am on my way,' MM stops and looks up to the sky, 'What are those?' he asks as he points up.

Dropping from the almost impossible heights of the airships are dozens of knightmares. The knightmares do not seem to flying but falling.

'No one can survive that fall.'

The knightmares appear to be imitation Titans only smaller. The Apocalypse flies lower to release its knightmares. MM recognizes them as the knightmares of the royal knights and the Lucan. It is going to be another long day.

Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux are sitting with several monitors before them. Evelyn turns her microphone on.

"Titan minis activate. Let's finish these fools who dare challenge brother Lulu."

The twins nod in agreement.

Castor adds, "Like big sister Nunnallys says looks out fishes cuz Castor is coming."

Pollux retorts, "Ya witches, and Pollux is coming to kick butts."

"You said butts."

Evelyn shakes her head at her brothers' idea of a joke. Once more they are going to show the world what being a vi Britannia is all about.

* * *

Author's note: I guess Clovis is probably going to die since he is losing. Why do you people hate his good looks and charm?

Even though the chapter is called Rise of the Black Prince, I suppose in actuality it is the rise of the vi Britannias. There is a big secret about Lelouch's attack. It might seem like Lelouch is showing a lot of what he has but really it isn't. Also each of the vi Britannias has their own little thing. The twins do their repeating/name thing. Evelyn does her death glare and she's the cutest thing in the world. Nunnally says, "Watch out bitches, Nunnally is here." It's what happens when you watch too much hardcore Japanese rap.. Lelouch is semi-insane megalomaniac womanizer who is out to conquer the world or at least that's what he tells Kallen so she won't punch him in the face each time he looks at a girl. He tells her that that is his thing.

During his meeting with the members of the Pureblood and Purist faction, Lelouch geassed several members to attack Guinevere or the commander when he gave a specific order. He gave that order at the end of the chapter 50. It was also the order for his own troops to get ready for the attack. I don't think I have to explain what Order 66 means. He also ordered the Purists and Purebloods to forget about his visit. Lelouch knew that Guinevere would go to those groups as she seeks to make her claim for power and the throne.

Colonel Hillis and Lieutenant Hellerman are pilots who fly Lelouch's stealth planes. They have been introduced previously.

The Lucan isn't quite the Siegfried. It is kind of a prototype. VV gives Lelouch the plans several months before. He also gave Lelouch much of the Code R material. Jeremiah has already begun his transformation into a cyborg. This is what Kallen was alluding to at the beginning of chapter 51.

Lelouch's royal guard obviously includes those of his little siblings. Each of their royal knights selects about ten individuals to be members of the overall royal guard. At least two of those are Numbers who have been thoroughly interrogated by Lelouch. So out of the possible fifty or so vi Britannia royal guards, ten are Honorary Britannians (Numbers). This does not include people who act like royal guards/knights such as Jeremiah, Kewell, and Anya. Although Anya will probably be declared Euphemia's royal knight just before her marriage to Suzaku.


	54. The Rise of the Black Prince pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

Therefore one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skillful

Sun Tzu

...

Lies are bad. You shouldn't tell lies.

Little blonde haired girl  
The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

...

Like the measles, love is most dangerous when it comes late in life.

Lord Byron

**

* * *

**

June 16, 2016

The subject has been walking around for about a week. He has one mission to capture VV. Unfortunately his masters did not count on the fact that Area 10 is extremely loyal to Lelouch. Nevertheless he will accomplish his mission. If not for his masters, he would be dead. If he can't find VV, then at least he can have some fun.

* * *

Suzaku has been fighting all morning long. For almost two weeks, Schniezel's force has been occupying Alexandria. During that time Egypt joins the Middle East Federation, but still Schniezel maintains his force here. Then two days ago the Middle Eastern Federation request that Schniezel remove his force and to stop searching cargo ships using the Suez Canal. Schniezel politely declines and war is declared. The Middle Eastern Federation hopes to gain concessions from both the EU and Britannia. Suzaku wonders if they think that Britannia has concentrated its forces in the south because of what Lelouch is doing. Suzaku knows that Lelouch's force is not as large as it seems, but the enemy does not know that.

The EU must have been sneaking in knightmares overland for quite some time. Suzaku sees several of those Musketeers and Cossacks along with the Bamides that the M.E.F. uses. Further back Suzaku sees Burais and Burai Kais. He is pretty sure that he even sees a few Glasgows not Lelouch's upgraded Glasgow, but rather the old decrepit Glasgow that even the Knight Police no longer uses. The Musketeers are pretty solid having been based on Lelouch's Gloucester. They are an even match for the Io. It seems pretty obvious that the enemy wants to overwhelm the Britannian forces, but Suzaku in the Lancelot is too much for them. Suzaku is attacked by several Burai Kais and easily disposes of them. He begins to laugh.

Suzaku's nominal commander, although Suzaku has authority to move on his own, wants to know what is so funny.

"Is there something funny about the situation, Kururugi?"

Like most Britannians, the commander does not know how to deal with important non-Britannians especially one like Suzaku. Suzaku wonders if he did the right thing by taking Schniezel up on his offer. He is quite certain that Lelouch was preparing a knightmare just for him as a wedding gift. Now who knows what will happen with that. Suzaku could be down south with Lelouch or even better yet out west with Nunnally. The worst case scenario would have Suzaku doing knightmare tests in Japan or China. He hears that the Gekka is being improved everyday now that Rakshata is helping out with it. Suzaku also wonders about her involvement.

The commander is getting inpatient, "Well Kururugi."

Suzaku remembers why the commander called him.

"Yes well you see commander. Those knightmares I am fighting are Japanese. My family owns a large amount of stock in the company that produces them so each one I destroy or damage makes me money since they will have to buy new one or at least parts."

The commander mumbles something about honor and war profiteering. Suzaku smirks. It is pretty much as Suzaku stated. Despite being a late comer into the knightmare race, the Burai is probably the most prolific knightmare at least in terms of number produced throughout the world. This is because Japan will sell the Burai to just about anyone with money. Although that may stop soon due to the incident with Kallen's parents. Suzaku has heard that there is an investigation going on and that several senior military officers may lose their jobs or any chance at a promotion because of it.

Suzaku continues to slice through Burais, but the order to pull back is given by Schniezel. According to Euphemia, Schniezel is a better strategist than Lelouch so this must be part of his plan. Once back aboard the Damocles, Suzaku is summoned by Schniezel. Even though they will be brothers-in-law in a few months, Suzaku holds no illusions about the nature of their current relationship.

"Yes your highness, is there something you require of me."

Schniezel smiles at the Japanese boy's adherence to protocol. Most wouldn't bother dealing with non-Britannians. However Schniezel has been intrigued by the Japanese, ever since Lelouch, Nunnally, and Euphemia chose to stay there. Of course Lelouch fell in love with a half-Japanese girl. Schniezel begins to think of the concept of love. Luckily for him, Kannon makes up for his distraction.

"Here Kururugi look at this."

Suzaku takes the pictures from Schniezel's assistant. Suzaku is quite stunned to say the least.

"Are these ships flying?"

Kannon nods.

"How did Lelouch get them there? I mean," Suzaku pauses, "in my short stay in Area 10, I never saw anything like this. I never really saw much of anything. If any knows about this, it would be Kallen or Milly, perhaps Gino."

"I see."

Being near Cornelia's area, Gino is thoroughly interrogated about the situation when news of it reaches her ears and eyes. Not only that but she is reasonably amazed that Lelouch has given the Knights of the Round such a large force not to mention how he sent Milly and Nunnally with another substantial force to help Guinevere. Most of Africa will fall to Lelouch without him even taking half its territory.

Suzaku wonders if that is what Schniezel and Cornelia are worried about being upstaged by Lelouch. Schniezel recovers from his musings.

"Suzaku, prepare yourself to move out to a new location. Monica and Merlin have already been informed of the new situation. We must take stop the EU from bringing in troops overland. Odysseus has also been brought up to speed. His force will have to cover most of the Mediterranean Sea."

Suzaku nods, "Very well your highness I will prepare myself."

* * *

Cornelia is quite upset at how things have turned out. Lelouch has upstaged them all. He is supposed to hold the southern part of the continent while she and Guinevere attack along the coasts. In the north Schniezel and Odysseus have to simply keep the EU from re-supplying their forces over sea. However Lelouch somehow manages to disperse his force over a large area and brings the entire southern part of Africa to its knees. Not to mention the fact that while he is doing all of this; Guinevere is attacked by her own allies, Cornelia's force is stalled, Odysseus has barely managed to keep the enemy from taking Area 13, and Schniezel has angered the Middle Eastern Federation into declaring war on Britannia.

Not being part of her command not to mention being Knights of the Round, Luciano, Aphrodite, and Gino cannot be questioned as thoroughly as Cornelia wants. Although she is pretty sure that they know very little. Cornelia wants to send them back down to Lelouch; but he has given them new orders, and they are on the move once more. Cornelia wants to order them to come back when she receives some new information this morning. That morning she receives detailed reports of Lelouch launching three airships a few days ago. In the afternoon she receives news that there are two airships in the west. Cornelia has heard rumors that Milly and Kewell have taken over Guinevere's force. In total there are five airships amongst Lelouch's force not to mention this flying orange ball.

In the early evening Darlton returns from his task of escorting Lelouch's Knights of the Round towards the south. Cornelia has no doubt that they will then turn west and head for the center of the continent. Darlton seems quite anxious to give Cornelia his report and take his leave which Cornelia allows him to do. When she looks at his reports, she almost calls him back in to yell at him. It seems as if Lelouch has two more airships. Darlton sees the transformation himself, but he is unable to tell her about it immediately because of security. The sea ships transformed into two airships, and their remaining parts transformed into a large submarine. Cornelia wonders why even after two days of having declared war the Middle Eastern Federation isn't doing more to harass her force. Now she understands that it is most likely because of Lelouch's submarines that they have not. Another thing that Lelouch tells no one about.

* * *

Gino is quite uncomfortable as he flies through the air. Anya called him a few minutes ago to warn him not to harm her airship which Euphemia aptly named the Silencer. Gino's small groups of royal guards as well as his part of Lelouch's force are on board. He looks over at the airship carrying Luciano and Aphrodite. The airship is named the Apotheosis. Gino has to look up what that means. He also discovers that the ship belongs to the little vi Britannias' royal knights. Gino will have to continue serving with Lelouch until the emperor orders him to do something else. Gino will have to keep a closer eye on Lelouch though.

* * *

VV decides to take a day off and goes looking for CC. He finds her by using his nose. He also brings along his own lunch because sharing is a foreign concept to CC. They sit there quietly for quietly for a few minutes before VV decides to get back to work. Even though Euphemia and Carolina are temporary viceroy and sub-viceroy, VV is helping out. Of course Lelouch is allowing him to set up a lab. For now VV is also working with Cecile and Nina. Lloyd is in Britannia building things for Schniezel while Rakshata is in Japan. Both of them are on loan even if their current employers don't realize it.

Euphemia and Carolina are enjoying a nice morning out in the garden. Miss Lohmeyer has fallen ill. This being her first summer here in Area 10.

"So viceroy what should we do today?"

Euphie laughs, "Well sub-viceroy I was thinking that we change the world, but not too much I want to be done by lunchtime."

Both girls giggle at this. Lelouch has created an efficient bureaucracy that runs well despite his absence. It also helps that the economy is doing quite well because of all of Lelouch's factories in the area. Also of help is Lelouch's little friend, VV. The girls still aren't sure if VV is a child or one of those midget little people. He seems pretty smart though, and he absolutely hates lies. The girls continue to sip their tea when they hear a noise on the far side of the garden. They go over to see what it is.

"I wonder if Shirley is back."

"Maybe its Belle coming to visit."

Euphemia and Carolina reach the other side of the garden. There continues to be movement in the bushes.

"Shirley, is that you?"

Someone comes flying at them form the bushes. Euphemia manages to block the attack. Euphemia pushes Carolina back and looks at their attacker.

"Rivalz, is that you? What happened to you?"

Rivalz stands to his feet. There is a metal plate over his left eye, the eye that was damaged when Lelouch pushed him off the balcony. Other parts of his body are also replaced with metal and robotics.

"Like you don't know what Lelouch did to me."

Rivalz looks over at Carolina, "Who is this, another one of Lelouch's whores?"

Carolina gasps, but Euphemia gets in a fighting stance.

"Stand back Caro. I'll handle this punk."

Rivalz laughs, "You'll handle me."

Euphemia responds with a kick to Rivalz's face.

"You may be a cyborg, but you are still Rivalz."

Euphemia proceeds to attack Rivalz. Although her moves are better, Rivalz's new body gives him an advantage. After about ten minutes Euphemia is too tired to continue, and Rivalz is able to pin her to the ground.

"Get off her now."

Carolina is pointing a gun at the back of Rivalz's head. Rivalz gets off Euphemia but lunges at Carolina who manages to dodge his attacks. Rivalz groans because both girls are much more athletic than they seem. In a matter of seconds Euphemia is back up and attacking Rivalz. Despite the girls' constant attacks, Rivalz manages to get away.

"Just tell me were VV is, and I will leave you alone."

Euphemia looks confused, "Who is VV?"

Rivalz narrows his eyes, "Don't lie to me. Don't try to use your geass on me because it won't work."

"I don't know what you're talking about Dribbles or is it Nibbles?" Euphemia laughs as she says this.

Suddenly there is clapping coming from the behind Rivalz.

"Good show. Unfortunately for two of you, it is all ending here."

Standing behind Rivalz is a Chinese albino wearing heavy headphones.

Mao looks at Rivalz first, "Well this is an interesting cast of characters. For a moment I was able to read your mind but that went away," he turns to face the girls, "However the two of you are very interesting."

Euphie grits her teeth, "You're Mao."

Mao smiles, "So I see that the bastard told you about me. Now tell me where CC is."

Euphie smiles, "Why don't you just search for her."

Mao has been trying to do that but someone has clouded the vision and memories of those in the palace.

"Very well if you don't want to play nice. Then let's begin the fun. Let's start with you," he points at Euphemia, "The girl who wants to fuck her brother."

Euphie lowers her defenses and shakes her head.

"Don't deny it. Every night you listen to him fuck his wives and mistresses, and you wish it was you."

"That's not true. Me and Lulu are just."

"Are just what? Waiting for you to marry Suzaku that way you can have all the sex you want without consequences. Leaving poor Suzaku to what. Ah I see you want him to fall for that orange haired friend of yours or is it your little sister that you want to catch him with?"

Euphemia falls to the ground, "No, me and Lulu aren't. It's not true."

Carolina goes over to Euphie, "Just leave her alone, you freak."

"Ah what about you, Miss prim and proper noble. You want him too. In fact you wish that he would have fallen in love with you instead of that red headed demon. Yes you listen to him making love to his whores as well."

Carolina stands up and aims her gun at Mao.

"Shut up!"

"Why when there is so much more to say? Like the fact that you find Euphemia to be needy and obsessive about her brother."

Carolina fires at Mao, but she is too distraught to aim properly

"That was close, but don't worry it will be over soon."

Rivalz takes that as his cue to move forward. Even if he doesn't capture VV, taking away Euphemia and this other girl from Lelouch will be enough to satisfy his pride. Besides Rivalz can bring in the mind reader.

"That will be enough from the two of you."

Suddenly bullets begin to come from behind Carolina and Euphemia. Rivalz covers himself and wisely covers Mao as well. Rivalz looks over at their assailant.

"VV."

VV walks past Euphemia and Carolina.

"Stop trying to mind my mind, you nitwit. I'm a code bearer," VV shows everyone his code. He looks at Rivalz, "Madd picked a pretty shitty specimen for his experiment."

Rivalz rushes at VV. Even with his new body, he won't be able to hold up against the onslaught for much longer. Now that shots have been fired, it will be moments before the palace guards get here. Mao decides to wait a few moments before helping out Rivalz. If this VV is an immortal code bearer, he must know where CC is. But before Mao can move in, he is attacked from the side. Mao turns to face his attacker. Standing there is a Japanese woman.

"I will not let you harm Princess Euphemia," she turns to face the girls, "Miss Carolina, perhaps you should take the princess inside."

"Yes Miss Sayoko."

Sayoko proceeds to attack Mao. Despite all his bluster Mao really depends on being able to read people's minds in order to fight then, but Sayoko is not a normal person. As a child she was taught how to fight without thinking about it. All Mao is able to get from her mind is images of lakes and mountains. Mao is easily defeated by Sayoko. Just as Rivalz is defeated by VV. Both make a run for it. Even without VV, Rivalz still has the mind reader. His masters should be pleased with that. As they run away, Rivalz gets the scent of pizza. Unknowingly he runs towards the source and runs into a green haired woman.

Mao screams, "CC!"

Rivalz sees the code on her forehead and decides that she will do. He quickly injects her with the tranquilizer meant for VV.

Mao lets out a yell, "What did you do to CC?"

Before Rivalz can answer, Rolo comes in and knocks Mao out.

"Wait, don't kill him. He has an interesting geass. The master may want to use him."

Rolo shrugs and lifts Mao into Rivalz's shoulders.

"What about VV?"

Rivalz shakes his head, "Security has been alerted."

Rolo grimaces, "I should have gone in their myself."

Rivalz picks up CC as well. Rolo's plan wouldn't work because Rolo has a nasty habit of killing before getting any answers. If Rolo killed Euphemia and that other girl, then regardless of the consequences Lelouch would come for them all. Rivalz signals for Rolo to follow him.

"Let's just get out of here. Don't go out of your way to kill anyone. We don't want them to follow after us. After all VV is unaffected by your geass, and those girls probably have geass as well."

As they run out, Rolo is slowed by a feeling of despair and terror, and he falls down. Rivalz continues because he hears noise behind them. At least he is able to get something even if Rolo is lost.

VV and Euphemia find Rolo in almost a vegetative state.

"Euphie, release him from your geass. Its effects will keep him like this for a while."

VV begins to tie Rolo up.

**

* * *

**

June 17, 2016

Lelouch is preparing his final attack in South Africa. There is a small pocket of resistance. The South African Confederation has already informed him that it will surrender as soon as Pretoria falls. Lelouch smiles because other than a few attacks here and there, the South African Confederation barely saw any action. Lelouch looks down at his forces attacking. Lelouch made an offer to the South African Confederation a few days ago. Even though it is a long shot, he decides that it is the best course of action. He will leave most of the area free from Britannian hands except for a few mines and vacation spots.

The biggest secret is that Milly, Nunnally, and his assigned Knights of the Round took the majority of his troops. The ones that stayed with him are mostly in Cape Town. The only actually humans in Lelouch's current attack force are himself, Kallen, Villetta, Anya, Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, and Alice. Of course with everyone except for Villetta having a geass, it makes things quite a bit easier. Lelouch supposes that Jeremiah is also human, for the most part. The majority of his force is the remote control knightmares and tanks. This of course does not include the jet pilots and those manning the airships, but the latter group can hardly be considered soldiers. The attack begins early that morning south of Johannesburg. Once again the kids are working their magic. The enemy does not stand a chance against that sort of brilliance.

Lelouch also check the messages he receives from VV, Euphemia, and Carolina. It seems as if Mao, a cyborg Rivalz, and Rolo were in Area 10 trying to capture VV and CC. They got CC because the lazy, careless witch wasn't more careful. VV does manage to capture Rolo. Lelouch is going to have to get information from Rolo. If Lelouch cannot go to Area 10, then Rolo will have to be brought to him. Lelouch dispatches Jeremiah to attend to the Rolo situation as soon as he receives Euphemia's message. VV and Carolina's messages only confirm this instinct. Lelouch sends Kallen out to push the enemy. He instructs her to use her geass because GG and MM most likely have given geass to some of their troops.

* * *

The kids are guiding their tanks and knightmares towards the enemy knightmares. Hidden amongst their force is a surprise. One final surprise for the EU allied force.

"I'll make a memory of them

"Cuchuchuchuchu."

Evelyn scowls, "Would you two stop make that noise whenever Anya transforms."

The twins frown because they love making their transforming noise. They move the tanks and knightmares away from Anya and Chrysalis which has finished its transformation from tank to knightmare.

GG abandons her knightmare just before it is attacked by the tank-knightmare. Even with six days of training her EU geass contractees are useless. One of them isn't even able to go out today because his geass makes him insane. GG now remembers why they do not go around giving everyone geass. Even if she cannot be harmed, the amount of geass users takes a toll on her. It slows her down each time one of them does something. She can also feel what they feel as they die. Too bad the stupid Afrikaners are too stubborn Still she has managed to make her way through the Britannian lines. GG looks around and sees that Lelouch doesn't have much in the way of infantry.

"I though I told you to stay away."

That is the last thing that GG hears before falling asleep.

**

* * *

**

June 19, 2016

After Lelouch's force reaches the outskirts of Pretoria, the South African Confederation sends troops to its southern border. Having already surrendered Namibia, MM knows that those soldiers are there to entrap the EU force. His spies have informed him of the secret agreement between Lelouch and the SAC, however MM is prepared for this. He has sent his geass contractees to convince the SAC leaders and soldiers that they must continue the fight against Britannia. Even so MM knows that his favorite contractee will be too much for them. Unlike the other failures, Lelouch's geass is quite advanced. Not only that but he doesn't appear to show the slightest signs of dementia. Well other than marrying two very headstrong girls and having a harem full of similar girls. Not to mention the fact that he obviously has a hidden agenda that his father may not like. Other than that Lelouch is quite sane.

Now reinforced the EU allied force prepares to make a stand. Of course to get everyone of cooperate completely MM has to promise the Afrikaners a piece of land to call their own not to mention half of the profits from the diamond mines. Of course Lelouch is in control of said mines so that may be a moot point especially since the official government of South Africa has surrendered. Somehow a Russian contingent has managed to come down with their Cossacks. MM wonders how they will hold up against the Musketeer. More importantly how will they hold up against the Mordred, Guinevere and that orange ball? MM has spread his Panzer Hummels for maximum efficiency.

MM also does something that has everyone from South Africa, white or black, angry with him. Rather than evacuating Pretoria, MM has simply sends the refugees south. Those that want to join the EU allied force are allowed to, but those that don't are told to head south. MM is sure that Lelouch will not be prepared for such an event. It also allows MM to send spies to infiltrate. MM is also glad that he takes note of the soldiers that GG gives geass to. Unfortunately all those soldiers are EU soldiers not locals. MM is sure to keep an eye on them and has the ones that seem to lose control pulled away from the front.

* * *

GG feels a hand brushing across her cheek and another touching her thigh.

'Oh Maurice I knew that you would give in.'

GG hears a laugh that forces her eyes open. Standing in front of her grinning is Lelouch. She looks down and notices that she has been stripped of all her clothes and is in her underwear.

'Release me, you cretin!'

'Why, when you can be put to use here?'

GG continues to struggle but realizes that it is of no use.

'What do you want from me?'

Lelouch takes a seat directly in front of GG. He is staring at her. For some reason GG knows that he is not ogling her.

Lelouch sighs, 'Well you see I have a problem,' he stands up and walks around, "I have three geasses while Kallen only has two. Unfortunately none of them do what I need at the moment,' Lelouch sits back down, 'I can command people to do whatever I want them to do once. I can also see their future movements. Kallen can cancel any geass and both of us can make others see visions.'

"So?'

'You are dense, aren't you? I want you to grant Kallen a geass. Perhaps in the future you will grant Milly one as well. You did say that you wanted to see her.'

GG laughs, 'You expect me to grant your whores geass.'

Lelouch stand up and walks over to GG. He is practically on top of her.

'They aren't my whores. They're my wives,' Lelouch smiles, 'A whore does what you did with MM. You know give a little something to receive your own Musketeer. By the way thanks for the gift. The Musketeer you abandoned is almost in perfect condition. Not to mention the Panzer Hummels your line was supposed to defend.'

GG lowers her head.

'Don't worry I have defeated people much better than MM,' Lelouch begins to stroke her cheek, 'Once you are freed from this curse,' Lelouch begins to rub her right hand, "You will be free to do whatever you want. You can truly become the writer you always wanted to be. You can do anything you want. You can even return home to Jakarta. It is quite a beautiful city. I was there a few weeks ago.'

GG doesn't know why Lelouch's touch gets to her. Perhaps it is the lack of human contact. The tranquilizer still flowing through her body might have something to do with it. She wonders if Lelouch wants her body. Of course she will have to be tied up and guarded when they do it, but she wonders what kind of lover he is.

'Fine I will grant your lovers geass.'

Lelouch smiles and steps aside for Kallen to approach GG. After this GG is put in a sealed room. She wonders if she is in one of the airships. At least she is freed from the shackles and allowed to put some clothes on.

After leaving GG and Kallen, Lelouch to deal with Rolo who is being held in an adjacent room. As Lelouch nears the room's entrance he activates his third geass and waits for Kallen. When Kallen comes to Lelouch, he pulls her toward him and kisses her.

"So what is your geass?"

Kallen thinks about it.

"I can feel people's feelings."

Lelouch ponders this.

"It might be a good idea if we don't use this one too much. I think after a while you won't be able to differentiate between their feelings and your feelings."

Kallen nods, "Okay."

"But for now let's test it out," Lelouch looks at Kallen in the eyes, "Do not test it on those whose feelings we know."

Kallen sighs and nods again. She has trusted Lelouch for the past seven years.

"What does Rolo feel?"

Kallen looks into the room at Rolo.

"He feels that he has failed his father."

Lelouch looks at her.

"His father? Well we will have to see what that means," Before entering the room, Lelouch looks at Kallen one more time, "I want you to check on what Nagisa Chiba and Zhou Xianglin. I want to see if we can use them for anything."

Kallen doesn't say anything and just walks away. Lelouch activates his first geass and enters the room to question Rolo.

* * *

Gino, Luciano, and Aphrodite have just finished meeting with their subordinates. They will be putting the next part of Lelouch's plan into action. After the meeting Gino heads back to the Silencer. Aphrodite looks at him leave.

"Do you really think it is alright to put Gino in command of the operation?"

Luciano shrugs, "It's what his highness wants."

"I'm not questioning the prince, but aren't you ranked higher," Aphrodite puts her arms around Luciano, "Weren't you their commander back at West Point?"

Luciano grabs Aphrodite and places her in front of him.

"I trust Lelouch's judgment. Soon you'll learn to do the same."

Aphrodite pulls back from her lover. Did Luciano trust Lelouch with his life? Lelouch's accomplishments are pretty impressive. At West Point he never lost, at anything. In two weeks time he has conquered most of southern Africa with about half the soldiers that Cornelia has. Cornelia has only taken less than half the territory that Lelouch has. Not only that but she continues to ignore Lelouch's attempts at collaboration. Now with the war spreading to the Middle East Federation, Cornelia has sent a portion of her troops there.

Luciano sees that Aphrodite is thinking.

"As long as we stick to the plan everything will be fine."

Aphrodite laughs, "No plan survives contact with the enemy."

Now Luciano laughs and grins, "Don't worry. The plan accounts for the enemy. When the time comes, he will have about fifteen options for us. We just have to pick one because they will all work."

Aphrodite wonders why Luciano is so trusting of Lelouch.

"Come on, we should get some rest. It's going to be a long tomorrow."

Aphrodite grins, "Is that really what you want to do?"

Despite her uneasiness with the situation, Aphrodite still follows Luciano to his room.

* * *

Kallen goes over to find the girls in question. She finds everyone sitting around enjoying some time off. The last two days have been hectic with refugees from Pretoria coming south. Luckily the official South African government has been of aid not to mention the fact that Lelouch was not lying about the supplies coming in to Cape Town. There are a few still at work doing reconnaissance with the remote control Titan Minis. Since Titan Mini is about half the size of a normal knightmare and still has about the same amount of power, it is perfect for such a task.

Both girls of course know English/Britannian or else why would they be here. Of course it helps that Anya and Evelyn know quite a bit of Japanese not to mention that Ayame is fluent in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Who knows what over languages she knows? Kallen simply sits down without saying a word. The others glance at Kallen but go back to what they are doing. The twins are talking with their knights and Anya. Evelyn is telling them exactly what she and the twins do.

Kallen turns her geass on and scans the room. Despite Lelouch's request to ignore certain individuals, Kallen can't help it. She turns to face Lucretia, Sancia, and the twins. They are feeling pretty much what Kallen expects. She also makes note not to scan their feelings before going to bed because all she will be able to think about is how great Lelouch is. Alice and Dalque are thinking about Nunnally and Euphemia. Kallen now understands her geass a little better. She also wonders if it is not her multiple geasses working together. She has seen Lelouch do the same thing.

When Kallen scans Ayame, she finds confusion. It doesn't help that Kallen brought up the issue of Japan a few days ago. Kallen fears what Evelyn and Anya are feeling. She turns her attention to Xianglin first. Kallen figures that she will be the one whose feelings for Lelouch will be most helpful. The girl does wear a Black Knight uniform after all. She then turns her attention Major Chiba. Kallen figures that the cold Japanese woman will be more difficult to turn.

Lelouch walks into the room accompanied by Cecile and Villetta. Kallen nods to Lelouch who sits down besides her and puts his arms around her. Kallen scans the room. The overwhelming feeling from the others in the room is jealousy. The feeling increases when Lelouch leans in and whispers something in Kallen's ear. After this he leaves the room. Even though the others continue about their business, Kallen can feel their jealousy. It is a slight feeling in a few of them, but in others it is almost a suffocating feeling. Kallen searches some of them and discovers that they are not jealous of her relationship with Lelouch, but rather the fact that she is with someone that she loves and that loves her back. Kallen stands up and reminds the kids not to stay up too late. Once Kallen reaches Lelouch's room, she grabs him and kisses him.

After she pulls back, he asks, "Are you feeling alright?"

Kallen smiles and sits down.

"You are right about the fact of this power being too much for me."

Lelouch sits down besides her and puts his arm around her.

"I don't believe that is what I said."

Kallen sighs, "No but it is. The feelings of the others are overwhelming me. I think that I will be more careful with it."

Lelouch squeezes her tighter. Kallen sighs. Lelouch isn't always the most expressive lover. He is a bratty prince who is used to getting his way. He usually does even with her. He is careful not to ask her immediately what she got from the girls.

"I take it that you used the geass on everyone."

"Just about," Kallen leans into Lelouch and begins to play with his hair, "A few of them have minds that I would rather not see," She smiles at him and continues to stroke his hair, "Kind of like you."

Lelouch begins to kiss her neck.

"You don't need to read my feelings, my Kalli, for I am an open book to you."

That is not completely true. Kallen knows so much because Lelouch trusts her.

"Well Lucretia and Sancia, you probably already know about. Ayame feels frustrated because of the comment I made about Japan the other day."

Lelouch nods, "Yes that was very foolish."

"The others are also about what you would expect. Now Zhou Xianglin is quite taken by the manner in which you deal with those that you conquer," Kallen stands, "By the way she feels about you, it is obvious that you have already had her. She sees you as someone that can help free the Chinese Federation from the rule of the High Eunuchs."

Lelouch frowns, "You saw all of that."

Kallen nods, "Yes when I look a person in the eye my geass allows me to search their deepest feelings."

"I see and Chiba."

Kallen lets out a deep sigh, "You turned her on."

"What did you say?"

Kallen sighs once more and sits back down next to Lelouch.

"I said you turned her on. In fact you turned all of us on even the younger ones like Alice and Dalque."

"What do you mean?"

Kallen knocks on Lelouch's head.

"Hello Earth to Lulu. Nine days ago we were hundreds of miles to the south in Cape Town trying to hold onto our beachhead. Three week ago we were back in Area 10 planning this operation," Kallen begins to stroke his hair, "Now look where we are. In a few days because of your planning the entire southern part of Africa will be under your control."

"I see so is that the last person you used your geass on before coming here."

"Next to last. Before exiting I scanned Cecile," Kallen answers as she grins pushing Lelouch down.

"Wait Kalli, there is still something we need to do before we call it a night."

Kallen sighs, "Fine what do you want me to do."

"Cast your VV geass on Zhou Xianglin," Lelouch considers what to do, "Make her see visions of us helping the Chinese Empress."

Kallen asks, "Us not just you?"

"Yes, us. She has to be able to trust everyone."

"What are you going to do?"

Lelouch grins, "I am going to give Nagisa Chiba the night of her life."

Lelouch sits ups and puts his arms around Kallen.

"Don't worry. You'll get what you want."

That night is one of the wildest nights that Lelouch and Kallen have ever had. He is going to have to do something about this new geass of hers because it is already staring to change her, and she has only had it for a few hours. He worries that she will use her geass to scan Lucretia or Cecile's feelings for him every time she wants to get into the mood.

* * *

Something he is waiting for occurs so Lelouch decides to go for a little walk. Thanks to wise planning he doesn't have to walk for to reach what he is looking for. Since this is the most secure area aboard the battle ship, Lelouch's Chinese and Japanese observer's rooms are next door to his. Just to keep them secure. Lelouch wishes that he had Kallen's new geass because it would really help. He will just have to use is other skills.

"Can't sleep. Major Chiba?"

She looks at him. He supposes that he does not need Kallen's geass because he uses his future vision geass. He walks over to her. She is looking down into the knightmare hangar which is below.

"No, what about you, your highness?"

Lelouch shrugs, "I like to walk a little after," Lelouch pauses and blushes a little.

When Chiba figures out what he doesn't say, she turns red. Lelouch looks into her eyes and activates his VV geass on her once more. Suddenly images of the two of them making love flood Chiba's mind. Now she turns very red. Lelouch keeps looking down as technicians continue to work. Chiba stares at Lelouch who finally turns to face her. As he does Lelouch increases the intensity of his geass. He can tell that he is having an enormous effect on her. He quickly process two separate thoughts to determine Chiba's future reactions to his actions.

Chiba is having trouble standing being so close to Prince Lelouch. Ever since coming here to observe his army, she has found herself daydreaming and fantasizing about him. She decides to head back to her room before she does anything embarrassing in front of him. Only Lelouch stops her.

"Your highness."

Lelouch leans in to kiss her, and she responds. Lelouch pulls her in closer. Chiba lifts her legs and wraps them around Lelouch. He moves his hands down to hold her. After a few moments of this, Lelouch carries her over to her room.

* * *

Kallen wakes up and hears someone in the shower. After she and Lelouch make love, she falls asleep. She wonders if Lelouch is successful in his objective. She decides to go join him in the shower. Only she is too late.

"I can always take another way."

Kallen shoves him.

"I think that you need to get ready, commander."

Lelouch nods, "Whatever you say dear," he says as he leaves the room.

* * *

Nagisa Chiba wakes up from the most wonderful night of her life. She still isn't sure if it was real or just a dream. She decides to get up and prepare for the day when there is a knock on the door. She quickly puts a robe on to answer the door. Standing there is Ayame who is trying not to look Nagisa in the eye.

"Major Chiba, his highness thought that you might want to wear this for today's operation."

Ayame hands her a Black Knight's uniform and a knightmare flight suit. Nagisa takes them and quickly heads for the shower. It seems as if last night was very real, and Nagisa is finally getting her wish. They are going to let her pilot one of the new Bors knightmares.

* * *

For the past nine days Nunnally has been attacking with her force. Her job is simple. She is to keep the enemy occupied so that they may not reinforce any of the other fronts. For the moment her troops do not go more than a hundred miles from the ocean. After securing the border with what is now the Southern Africa Confederation, they settle into a static front. Nunnally allows Kewell to lead expeditions into enemy territory to keep them occupied.

With everything that has been going on the last week Cornelia decides to decrease her operations to the south and transfer troops to the north to deal with the Middle East Federation. In part Lelouch's operations to the south and west have made things a bit easier for Cornelia. She wonders what would have happened if the EU was able to give all their support to Cornelia's enemy. More importantly Cornelia wonders why the EU shows so much interest in Lelouch. As far as she knows, the EU has only dealt with Schniezel and herself. How is it possible that Lelouch could have gained such a reputation in such a short amount of time? Her thoughts are interrupted by Guilford.

"Your highness, we have received a call from the commander of the western force."

Cornelia sighs. She is in no mood to deal with her sister-in-law, but has no choice.

"Very well Guilford. Put the call through."

What Cornelia sees completely stuns her. Sitting is not Milly, but rather Nunnally.

"Good day Commander-general li Britannia. I will give you the report of what I have accomplished since taking over the command."

* * *

Author's note: With Lelouch's entrance into the knightmare race, Britannia doesn't make as many Glasgows or Sutherlands. The Io becomes the Britannian standard. Since Lelouch is the main producer he sells it to whoever wants it. He even creates modified versions for different tasks. Groups such as the Knight Police, fire departments, hospitals, etc. buy them.

A lot of people including myself are annoyed by the fact that Suzaku is so good piloting the Lancelot the VERY FIRST TIME he gets to pilot ANY KNIGHTMARE. At least Lelouch piloted the Ganymede, and Kallen must have practiced on the Glasgow several times. My Suzaku has already had lots of real and simulated combat experience. He has piloted a Glasgow, a Sutherland, the Titan, a Burai, a Burai Kai, and has his own Gekka. Now he is piloting the Lancelot, a knightmare that has kind of been tailored to his skills.

Lelouch borrows money from his little siblings to create the airships. Nunnally builds her own. Kallen builds hers and Milly's. Euphemia provides the funds for Anya's while the kids give money for the Irregular's airship. Lelouch also borrows money from Carolina. Not to mention the money from his investments, companies, and Kallen's inheritance. Did I mention that Kallen's dad is loaded?

Lelouch has plans for Zhou Xianglin and Nagisa Chiba. I have always planned for Chiba to join Lelouch's harem. The difficult part was to do it without the absolute obedience geass. He decides to use his geasses on her rather than to command her to fall for in love with him. She has slight feelings for him so he uses his VV geass to make her see fantasies and visions of him. He takes what she is already thinking and magnifies it. He also does this because those around him are hopeless romantics (Kallen, Nunnally, Evelyn). If they knew about her feelings for Tohdoh, they would have prevented Lelouch from doing what he does.

Euphemia has a geass as well. She has the ability to give people a sense of terror. It affects their senses so that she isn't the only object of their terror. Geass is the desire of one's heart so what Euphie wants the most is for people to be afraid of her. Lelouch and VV are creating their own version of the Geass Order with their own geass users. Kallen's third geass is a little tricky. It is not quite like Mao in that she doesn't hear immediate thoughts but rather feelings. She can also focus on what they feel about a certain thing or person such as how they feel about Lelouch.

* * *

A quick geass overview

Lelouch-1st from CC, absolute obedience, he can order someone to do something once. Can also make people his absolute slaves 2nd from MM. can see future movements and thoughts. As the power progresses, it takes into account any moves that Lelouch thinks about making. Once the power reaches its peak Lelouch can use it to see a person's timeline. Meaning he can see their past and can see their future under different circumstances 3rd from VV, can make others see visions and dreams. As the power progresses, Lelouch can be very specific about what he makes others see. It is also possible for this geass to drive its victim insane. The power draws from the person's emotions. In Nagisa Chiba's case, he is able to take her slight infatuation with him and turn it into lust.

Kallen- 1st from CC, geass canceller. Other's geasses have no effect on her. She can also cancel Lelouch's geass commands. As the power progresses she becomes like a code bearer having instant immunity to geass. 2nd from VV, exactly like Lelouch's third geass. She used it to make her grandfather a vegetable by taking his worst fears and making them real in his mind. 3rd from GG, can see or feel other's feelings. As the power progresses, Kallen can also affect the feelings of others.

Euphemia- From VV, geass of absolute terror  
Evelyn- from VV, exactly like Lelouch's first geass because what else would a little girl want.  
Castor- from VV, Can affect the senses of others. It affects all senses not just vision.  
Pollux- From VV, Just like Rolo's only for now without the problem of having his heart stopping

The Irregulars geass abilities are more or less a form of genetic manipulation. These are taken from the Code Geass Wikia page.  
Sancia-The order which accurately identifies the positions of targets within a given range and precisely calculates their probable movement trajectories based on all known variables  
Lucretia-The land which accurately maps three-dimensional terrain within a given range  
Dalque-The power which augments her physical strength by exaggerating the magnitude of macroscopic forces  
Alice-The speed which allows her to hyper accelerate all objects within a given radius by manipulating gravitational pull

Rolo- The ward of absolute suspension. Can freeze people within a certain range. The bigger the range and more people he uses it on, the more it affects him. Each time he uses his geass his heart also stops.  
Mao- can read the thoughts of others

Rivalz and Jeremiah have geass cancellers. Both Geass Orders (Charles/Colonel Madd and Lelouch/VV) also developing hand held geass cancellers.


	55. The Rise of the Black Prince pt 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'. As it turns out this chapter has very little Lelouch, but he is still responsible for everyone's actions. It is the final chapter in Lelouch's part of the African Invasion.

...

He who will not economize will have to agonize.

Confucius

...

War is not an adventure. It is a disease. It is like typhus.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

**

* * *

**

June 21, 2016

Being the first one on the attack, Suzaku's team is further south into the Arabian Peninsula than the others. He knows that if Lelouch was in Schniezel's place, they would be on their way north to attack the EU at its heart. Schniezel decides to attack through the Suez Canal and Sinai Peninsula. Suzaku knows that further down the coast are several of Cornelia's units. He wonders if Schniezel wants to meet with Cornelia face to face since that will provide a much more secure means of communication. Suzaku's force is leading the way so if any of Cornelia's forces are here, they will be the first to see them.

Suzaku asks, "What is the name of the town we are attacking?"

"I believe that it is called Jiddah sir."

Suzaku thinks about it. They are further south than he thought they were.

"I see. Has there been any sign of Princess Cornelia's forces?'

"There appears to be some scattered communications coming from the south, but it is very weak."

Suzaku wonders if why the communications are hazy. Cornelia's frontline forces should be near. He wonders if it is because of the sand or perhaps the signal is being jammed.

"Captain Stark, let's head in the direction of the signal. It is still early in the day."

* * *

Marika Soresi and Liliana Vergamon are stuck doing garrison duty in Area 15. Marika knows that it is because of her brother pulling some strings. When the orders come from Princess Cornelia to begin to head into the Arabian Peninsula, Marika convinces the base commandant to send them with the first attack wave. It helps that they have specialized Ios in part thanks to Marika's connections. They arrive last night and early in the morning they go out to attack. Being a 1st lieutenant Marika is in charge of her little group even though she has less experience than some of the others.

"Lieutenant Soresi, there seems to be some static coming from the north."

"What is the name of the town to our north?"

"Jiddah."

"We were told that the town was abandoned and that they were protecting their more ancient cities.

"It is possible that the signal could be from a Britannian source. The signals are on a Britannian channel. But from this distance, it is difficult to tell. "

Marika considers this, "If they are advance troops from Prince Schniezel, then we can join them. Perhaps they have come up with a better plan," Marika wonders if she went too far with that comment. However the corporal only grunts in return, "If they happen to be enemy forces, we will just have to defeat them."

"Yes ma'am!"

Marika smiles as her force pushes forward. At least they don't give her any other lieutenants or sergeants to deal with other than Liliana who is a 2nd lieutenant. Jiddah is quite a bit further north than Marika intended to go, but it is where they leave her team. To west the Britannian navy is battling naval forces from the EU and Middle Eastern Federation off the coast of Sudan. Marika wonders if perhaps Princess Cornelia and Prince Schniezel want to have a face to face conference to discuss what is going to the south. Before leaving Marika talks with a naval officer claiming to be from Lelouch's force. The officer claims that Lelouch's naval forces have wiped out all the enemy's naval forces in southern Africa and are beginning to come north.

The static from the north begins to clear up. Marika believes that the forces are Britannian. She begins to hear clear English. Although there is some accented English in there. The accent sounds familiar. But before Marika can think about it any further, her force is attacked. Even though they are ambushed their Ios are vastly superior to the enemy's knightmares. The Middle East Federation's Bamides are great for long distance attacks; however they use them in a very incorrect manner. Now Marika can see Burai and Burai Kais coming at them. Despite the Io's superiority, the enemy knightmares are quite numerous. Coming from out of Jiddah, Marika can see a strange white and gold knightmare. She wonders if that is the Musketeer or Cossack that they received briefings on.

* * *

As soon as Suzaku reaches Jiddah the static from the forces to the south begins to clear up. It is obvious that they are Britannian and in trouble. Suzaku pushes the Lancelot forward and tells the others to catch up. Someone in the enemy force must know Britannian battle tactics very well. They were obviously waiting to ambush Suzaku's force to the south of Jiddah when this other force came upon them. Once the ambush is sprung Suzaku's force would have no choice but to drop back into Jiddah where the locals would be ready to trap them. Suzaku can see some locals already preparing.

Suzaku destroys some the cannon that are being prepared. They are of an archaic nature. Suzaku wonders if they can even do any damage. Then he sees a few cannons stun an Io. One isn't enough to stop an Io, but several can stun one and leave it open for a bigger attack. Jiddah is a fairly large city, and they are only on the outskirts. In the distance Suzaku sees a few Gloucesters. They are most likely from Cornelia's force. He hears the name Lieutenant Soresi. He remembers that a Soresi is Lelouch's force, but he is a major. Suzaku wonders if it is his younger brother or sister. Suzaku strains his head to figure out who it is.

"Come on, Liliana. I want to see that white knightmare. It sort of looks like the Titan only white."

Liliana follows her friend and technically superior officer.

"Shouldn't we find out who it is first?"

Marika lips her lips at her friend's question.

"Only someone at the Knights of the Round level would have their own knightmare."

Liliana knows that Marika is right. In fact only the Knights of the Round, Princess Cornelia and Prince Lelouch's force have specialized individual knightmares.

"Just hail them and see who it is."

"Fine," Marika doesn't want to waste time so she hails over an open channel, "This is 1st lieutenant Marika Soresi of Princess Cornelia's advance force. You in the white knightmare, identify yourself."

Suzaku smacks his head. Of course Marika, she spent some time in the Lamperouge household.

"This is Suzaku Kururugi. I'm a member of Prince Schniezel's forward advance team. Our commander (nominally) is Captain James Stark."

Marika sighs and nods. It seems as if there is someone of a higher rank than her. She wonder what Suzaku Kururugi is doing out here. Now both forces at combining to drive the enemy back. Marika switches her communicator over to speak privately with Liliana.

"At least our knightmares are air conditioned. I would hate to be in the infantry."

Liliana agrees, "What were they thinking invading in the summer?"

"I don't know. Come on. We can't let those guys do better than us. We have a reputation to keep."

The two girls attack the enemy knightmares. After a few hours of attacking Marika and Captain Stark agree that is better if they stay south of Jiddah since Cornelia's forces are closer. In addition Schniezel has forces spread out from the Nile to the Euphrates. Most of the knightmare pilots stay aboard to take advantage of the air conditioning and in case of a counterattack from Middle Eastern Federation forces. Since Suzaku attends the meeting, Marika brings Liliana along to the conference. In the evening a few supply ships come ashore.

"Ah Lieutenant Soresi, it is a pleasure to see once more."

Marika looks up from what she is doing, "You're that naval officer I met back in Djibouti."

"Rear Admiral Stephen Fleding, at your service," he says with a bow.

"What sort of supplies do you have aboard?"

"We have energy fillers and other niceties such as showers and tents for officers. Who is ranking officer in this section?"

Marika looks unsure. She didn't want the responsibility of command. It seems as if Captain Stark is only nominally commander and that Suzaku is actually in charge of the force.

"Well Captain Stark is in charge of the contingent from Prince Schniezel, but I'm in charge of the group that came from Princess Cornelia."

"Ah I see. Are the two forces combining?"

"Yes some of the sergeants and corporals who are better at that sort of thing are planning things out. We may just end up staying separate."

"Very well then. I will look for Captain Stark, but you may have some of your own men procure any necessary items from us. You may also take advantage of the accommodations aboard my flagship."

Marika salutes and takes her leave. The first thing she does is run to get Liliana so that they may take a shower. She does remember to have someone get energy fillers and other supplies.

Suzaku is getting out of the shower. He is the first to greet Rear Admiral Stephen Fleding so he is the first one in the shower. According to the Admiral, Suzaku also gets to stay aboard the ship if he wishes and as does the Lancelot. Suzaku figures he will take advantage of this little glimpse of pleasure. His force has no real objective other than driving towards the south. Suzaku figures that the true objective is to secure a corridor so that Schniezel and Cornelia may speak face to face. He wonders which of the two asked for the meeting. As Suzaku thinks about this, he doesn't notice that his towel slips off.

Marika and Liliana are running towards the bathroom. It is their first opportunity to take a real shower in a few days. They are probably the only ones there and rush into the bathroom. As they enter the shower, they see a brown haired boy about their age standing there with nothing on. Marika quickly covers her eyes. Liliana sneaks a peek so Marika pulls her out of the room.

"We're sorry," Marika shouts.

Liliana smirks and whispers, "I'm not."

Suzaku is quite embarrassed when those two girls walk in on him. Aside from the fact that they are cute, the blonde one just seems to stare. He is seconds from jumping back into a shower when they finally leave the room. If Suzaku was more like Lelouch, he would have strutted in front of the girls and invited them in. If he was more like Rivalz or Gino then he probably would have jumped in to the shower. After getting dressed Suzaku exits and notices that the girls are not there. He shrugs his shoulders and heads for his quarters for the night. If he had waited and joined Lelouch, he would probably be sleeping in such luxurious accommodations every night.

* * *

Aboard the Excalibur, Lelouch looks out to the setting sun. In Area 10 it is already late into the night. In Britannia the sun will rise on a few hours. In the morning Lelouch has one more trick up his sleeve that he hopes will crush the final bit of resistance from the EU forces. For the most part the native forces have surrendered. Only MM, a few of his contractees, and people under the influence of their geasses remain. In 24 hours Lelouch plans to have MM in his possession. Unless if VV is lying about his intentions, that gives Lelouch a distinct advantage.

Lelouch is looking at a few reports coming in from the north. It seems as if Admiral Fleding has found some of Schniezel and Cornelia's forces. He is also lucky enough to find Suzaku and the Lancelot. Lelouch is surprised to find Kewell's sister, but he realizes that she must have been doing garrison duty when the order came from Cornelia to move north. To ease Kewell's mind, he will have to transfer her to his command. At the moment Lelouch's men are giving the Lancelot a refit. Of course Lelouch is quite interested in finding out about the Lancelot. He is making his way towards the bridge when he sees Kallen standing by one of the windows looking down.

"Kallen stop. You're only hurting yourself."

Kallen turns around with tears in her eyes. She can barely speak.

"I can't. Those people are suffering while we're up here in luxury."

Lelouch sighs and walks over to her. He puts his arms around her and kisses her forehead.

"Please Kalli stop using your geass to read these people. You're just hurting yourself."

Kallen nods and goes to her room. After a few moments of watching the refugees come south, Lelouch decides to join Kallen.

* * *

Suzaku sits down and sighs. He wonders if it is all right for him to be in here while the others are outside. Before settling in he makes sure that Captain Stark is setting up patrols for the night. He remembers Lelouch and Kallen doing that in Area 10 during the revolt a few years ago.

"Oh excuse me; we didn't know anyone was in here."

Suzaku looks up and sees the same two girls. Marika, he believes, has short brown hair in the back but with lengthy hair in front and blue eyes. Suzaku believes that the blonde hair green eyed girl's name is Liliana. She has the long hair all around. The two girls begin to leave.

"Wait, you don't have to leave. You can stay in here."

Normally in such situations Britannians soldier share rooms regardless of sex. That doesn't take into account the fact that both girls saw him naked. Suzaku notices that the blonde girl is staring at him. Both girls walk into the room timidly carrying their bags.

"I'm Suzaku Kururugi. You are Marika and Liliana, right?"

The two girls nod and seem nervous so Suzaku tries to break the ice.

"They have a TV here and some movies we can watch."

"Something scary," Liliana answers as she sits down on the couch.

As Suzaku puts the disk in the player, he notices that Liliana is pulling Marika towards where Suzaku is sitting. When Suzaku goes to sit down the girls part for him, and he ends up in between them. When the movie gets to the gory parts, both girls squeeze Suzaku who closes his eyes when the movie gets a little to bloody. Back in Japan Nunnally always made fun of Suzaku's reaction to people getting killed in movies. If Nunnally saw him now, she would probably kick his butt. As the credits role, both girls sit up straight.

Liliana ask, "So are you going to sleep here?"

Suzaku nods, "Well I was going to sleep here on the couch. It is more comfortable than the Lancelot or a tent. But you girls can sleep here if you want."

Marika answers, "We don't want to discomfort you. Besides we need to be near our troops."

Suzaku shakes his head, "No it's okay. Maybe I can find a cot somewhere."

Liliana smirks a little, "There's no need for that. You can just sleep in here. It's getting late perhaps we should all get some sleep."

Suzaku shrugs his shoulders, "Okay."

Suzaku begins to set himself up on the floor.

"Um Suzaku, don't turn around."

Suzaku keeps arranging his makeshift bed while maintaining his back to the girls who he assumes are undressing and putting on their sleepwear. He does manage to sneak a peek and notices that Liliana is smiling at him. He remembers that that is how it started with Shirley a while back. He sneaks a peek and then Shirley sneaks a peek. Things just escalated.

"Okay you can turn around now," Liliana proclaims.

Suzaku finishes what he is doing and then gets under his blankets. He notices that Marika is wearing the kind of pajamas that Nunnally and Alice used to wear during sleepovers. Liliana is wearing something that even Milly would be proud of. Both girls fill out their respective sleepwear.

Suzaku yawns, "Good night."

Being a quick and deep sleeper, Suzaku is out before the girls respond. During the night Liliana slides down to the floor next to Suzaku.

"Lilia, what are you doing?"

"He is so cute, Rika, and check out his body. It's so muscular. In a few years he'll be so dreamy."

"Isn't he getting married to Princess Euphemia?"

Liliana sighs as she feels other parts of Suzaku's body.

"That's what they say, but you know how those royals are. I hear Prince Lelouch has two wives and several mistresses already."

"Liliana Vergamon, you shouldn't talk that way about the royal family."

"Oh Rika, just come down here and feel him."

"No, now go to sleep."

"Fine, but I'm sleeping down here."

Suzaku wakes up and feels a little groggy. He knows that it is still early, but he must get up. Suzaku struggles to open his eyes. To his right he sees blonde hair and sexy lingerie and turns in the other direction. In the back of his head he wonders what Milly is doing here. On his left he sees brown hair and pajamas. This makes him smile. He wonders when Nunnally got so big and why her hair is darker.

"Hey kid what's up?"

Marika awakens on the floor besides Suzaku and notices that his face is moving towards hers. Despite her protestations, Liliana got her excited last night. She allows Suzaku's lips to meet hers. He puts his arms around her and pulls her in.

"Rika!"

Suzaku's eyes open when he hears Liliana's yell. He stands up quickly, but is tripped up by the fact that his shorts and boxers are down to his knees. Of course he loses his balance and falls on tops of Marika who despite not wanting to touch that last night finds it rubbing up against her. Marika helps Suzaku pull up his clothes and stand up. She tries her best not to stare at Suzaku's impressive gear. She is glaring daggers at Liliana who only shrugs her shoulders. The two girls sit there in silence as Suzaku packs up and runs out. The second he is out the door, Marika fling herself at Liliana.

"Lilia, what did you do last night?"

"He was so excited that I thought I would help him out. I wonder who he was dreaming about."

"Probably his future wife."

Liliana shakes her head, "Maybe but he looked at me and then turned away to face you. He seemed very happy to see you."

Marika sighs, "Let's just get ready for the day. They probably need to move these ships somewhere else. We also need to see if Princess Cornelia has tried to contact us."

Liliana sighs and both girls begin to pack up their things.

**

* * *

**

June 22, 2016

In the afternoon Cornelia arrives south of Jiddah. She is surprised to find that a few members of her force are in the area. She is pretty sure that she sent most of them along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The Britannian Navy assures her that the passage to here is safe. The surprises for her continue because Suzaku Kururugi appears to be actually in charge of the Schniezel's force. Cornelia is still unsure whether or not to take her future brother-in-law out to the desert somewhere and leave his body for the buzzards to eat. But she remembers that he is an excellent fighter and would probably defeat her in one on one combat. Even more surprisingly her force is lead by a lieutenant whose name she can't even remember until Guilford realizes that she is the younger sister of one of Lelouch's subordinates.

To the east is one of the Middle East Federation's holy cities. Cornelia is not sure whether they should attack it now or wait for reinforcements. She decides to wait for Schniezel and confer with him about their next move. Now that she thinks about it, there is an inherent silliness in her coming to see Schniezel in person rather than video conferencing with him. She wonders what the subject of the conversation will be. Both are quite proud of Lelouch. It is only the fact that their little brother's glory comes in part at their expense. Lelouch may acknowledge that his great victory came because of the assistance of others, but the media is already making him out to be a legend.

That damn reporter is already working on Lelouch's memoirs. He isn't even seventeen yet, and he is already working on his memoirs. Lelouch already has several nicknames given to him by allies and enemies. The Phantom Flash because of the speed at which he moves. Black Death since his knightmares are black and so are the uniforms of his troops. Milly is called the White Witch while Kallen has become the Red Demon. Anya is the silent assassin. Cornelia wonders if Lelouch grows up so fast because of the manner in which he was raised. At seventeen Cornelia was just finishing military academy and was only concerned with protecting Euphemia. Lelouch seems to have a different mindset because Nunnally, Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux all seem to be part of Lelouch's plan.

"Your highness, we have received a message from Prince Schniezel. He will arrive in a few minutes."

"Thank Guilford. Tell the men to prepare themselves."

Cornelia also prepares herself for Schniezel visit.

**

* * *

**

June 24, 2016

In accordance with Lelouch's orders, Gino splits his force. His part goes toward Lusaka while Luciano's part goes towards Harare. Aphrodite is leading a small force further south closer to Lelouch who is at Gaborone. Gino isn't very happy with the arrangement since it puts him far from Lelouch, but he can't complain because his mission is important. North of Gino's position are the many tributaries of the Congo River. He is glad that he isn't up there.

"Lord Weinberg, the operation is about to begin."

"Thank you. Will be there in a few moments."

Gino sighs and prepares himself.

* * *

MM has been eluding Lelouch for the past few days. There is very little left of his force. His geass contractees go overboard and drive his force almost to exhaustion. Now there is very little between Lelouch and the rest of Africa. MM wonders why his contractees have little effect on Lelouch's force. As MM sits in his Musketeer, that he may have to abandon if he wishes to escape back to Europe, he thinks about everything that has occurred since Lelouch began his invasion of South Africa a mere fourteen days ago. It hits him like a sack of bricks to the head, a feeling that he knows. All of Lelouch's knightmares and tanks are remote controlled. The few pilots in his force have geass. MM wonders if CC or VV gave Lelouch's force geass. It could have also been GG who MM now supposes has been captured by Lelouch. MM begins to hear on announcement being made over an open channel.

"There is a reward of one million Britannian pounds for the capture of E.U. Field Marshal Maurice Marcel also known as MM."

The message is repeated in French, Afrikaner, Swahili, and a dozen other African languages. For that sort of reward MM almost feels like turning himself in.

'Sir, it might be best if we made our exit. This part of the continent is lost. Perhaps later we may return when the natives have grown restless from Britannian rule.'

'You are probably right Gerard. Although we may have to make a few modifications to our Musketeers so that one realizes that it is us.'

'That has been taken care of sir. Lionel has discovered a group of non-commander model Musketeers.'

'Very well. Let's go.'

Several days later MM and his men are amongst several escaping EU forces gathering at the port of Namibe in southern Angola Despite complaints from Britannia, the EU forces are for the most part allowed to leave by the native governments and soldiers. The vast majority arrive in stolen vehicles. MM hopes that they have the decency to destroy their knightmares as he and his own men do. Several naval officers appear to be out looking for something or someone. MM supposes that they are attempting to organize the mob of men. MM and his force head over in their knightmares to help out. The naval officers appear to be looking for someone with rank.

'Who is in command of this group?'

MM can see several captains and majors looking at each other. He decides to identify himself. He opens the hatch to his knightmare.

'I'm Field Marshal Maurice Marcel, commander of the European Union's south African forces. I order you to allow me aboard you ship so that I may confer with my superiors in Paris.'

The shocked looks and whispers from the men on the ground confirm MM's claim. The naval captain has no choice but to do as MM commands. MM's guard is also allowed aboard the ship. MM assigns one of his colonels to begin the process of evacuating the soldiers before Britannian forces arrive. MM sits alone in the communications room. MM begins the process of communicating with his superiors. Once he is finished a sixty year old man appears on his screen. MM makes sure that they are alone.

'I told you that Lelouch was the more dangerous opponent. Even though you threw all those forces at Cornelia, the Eastern African Union will still surrender.'

The physically older man sighs, 'Yes, it seems so. Is there anything that can be done?'

MM shakes his head, "No, I was lucky to have gotten this far. He put a bounty on my head, one million pounds.'

'Interesting, I'm surprised you didn't have one of your men turn you in, and then plan a rescue.'

'They would have expected it. More importantly they are using massive amounts of remote controlled vehicles and knightmares.'

The older man frowns, 'And who taught them that trick?'

MM nods, 'Philippe, they use a radically different system then anything we could come up with.'

'What do you mean? I understand that they could have hidden them in the airships, but what else is different?'

'Children are running the systems.'

'Impossible! Children cannot run systems. There are too many things to consider that children could not be expected to grasp.'

'That would be true if you were speaking about normal children, but these are Britannian royal children. I think we know what they are capable of,' Philippe nods so MM continues, 'More importantly if you treat it as a video game, it is quite doable. It is also possible that all their frontline ground forces are remote controlled. This gives them freedom to move as they please with no repercussions. It also makes them immune to are special abilities.'

'I see. Just make sure that you return safely. I have been attempting to keep things under control here, but there is a limit to what my geass can do.'

MM laughs, 'No you mean that there is a limit to what you want to do with your geass there is a difference. I will be there in a day or two.'

With that MM signs off. During his conversation he is informed that the ship is preparing to set sail. MM goes to join his men over by their knightmares.

**

* * *

**

June 30, 2016

Lelouch is able to confirm that MM has escaped. A few bits of an intercepted communications authenticate this. It seems as if Lelouch will have to wait to capture MM. He will also have to rescue CC. Despite the failure to secure MM, Lelouch still has an advantage over his opponents, no matter who they may be. He also knows that Cornelia and Schniezel met a few days ago near the city of Jiddah on the Arabian Peninsula. By their most recent actions Lelouch assumes that they have decided to concentrate on Africa. With Africa being the main source of certain resources for the EU this is an intelligent strategy. Lelouch wonder if they are returning to Africa has anything to do with his success.

At the moment Lelouch is consolidating his hold on South Africa. Lelouch has Milly, Nunnally, and Kewell come to Pretoria while Gino, Luciano, and Aphrodite head north to take command of Lelouch's troops there. Villetta, Anya, and the Irregulars are leading forces to finish off the remaining troops of the South African Confederation. Presently Lelouch, Evelyn, and the twins are waiting for Nunnally and Milly to arrive well technically they are waiting for Kewell as well, but he isn't important.

Castor points to the sky, "Look it's Nunnally's spaceship," The twins call the airships spaceships.

Pollux begins to jump around, "Look there's Milly's Centipede."

Evelyn corrects him, "It's called the Ganymede like the knightmare that mother piloted."

Castor corrects her, "Sister Kallen's my mom."

Pollux adds, "I like Milly better."

Kallen and Villetta come over to join them. Lelouch pulls Kallen towards him. Once the two airships land, the ground crew gets to work. They have been practicing with the Avalon since Anya has the Excalibur. In a few days the Silencer and Apotheosis will come south to their owners. Gino, Luciano, and Aphrodite will have to work without them. As soon as Milly and Nunnally disembark the respective airships all three kids lose it and run at them.

"NUNNALLYS!"

"MILLY!"

Evelyn leaps at Nunnally causing her to fall down.

"Ugh Evie, get off me."

Milly manages to keep her balance despite the fact that both twins jump at her.

Villetta goes over to greet Kewell. Kallen helps Nunnally to her feet as Lelouch gets the twins off of Milly. As they stand there Lelouch gets a message from Anya stating that she is on heir way back. As soon as Anya and the Excalibur arrive, everybody goes aboard. As soon as Alice arrives Nunnally runs over to her. Since almost everyone is here, they decide to have a slumber party in Lelouch's room since it is the biggest. Of course they kick him out.

Lelouch is walking around the knightmare hangar. The Morgause and Callisto Mk III have just been brought aboard.

"Did you miss me?"

Lelouch turn and sees Milly standing there. He smirks, "What do you think?"

Milly put her hands on her hips.

"Kallen tells me that you have been enjoying yourself with your guests."

"I have been showing our observers some hospitality."

"Is that what they call it nowadays? Lelouch vi Britannia, what would your ancestors say about this?"

Lelouch grins, "That would depend on which ones you are talking about. Henry VIII would wonder why he didn't think of this idea. My grandfather would wonder why I'm yapping so fancified. My other grandfather would probably wonder when I am going to do to my father what he did to his."

By this time Lelouch has his arms around Milly.

"You know that no one can match your unique talents."

"That doesn't sound very romantic. In fact it sounds a little dirty."

Lelouch sighs and looks up at Nunnally watching them from above.

"Why aren't you at the slumber party?"

Nunnally smiles, "I saw Milly walk out, and I thought that she would come to look for you. I was expecting something a little more romantic between the two of you."

"Well you should see her bedroom."

"Eww! Lelouch, that's gross," Nunnally storms off, "Why don't boys get it?"

Lelouch looks confused, "What's her problem? I decorated your room while you were at the slumber party.'

Milly kisses Lelouch on the cheek.

"I know, honey, but Nunna is a little girl who expects romance in relationships. She will grow out of it. One day she will have her own relationships."

Lelouch covers his ears and begins to hum.

"Lalalala, can't hear you!"

Milly laughs and pulls him towards her room.

* * *

Colonel Madd has been experimenting with his two new subjects for two weeks. CC is quite an interesting specimen. Madd has dealt with CC before. It is her cells that power the Irregulars. Since VV is with Lelouch, those traitorous wenches will have plenty of the suppressants they need to stop the CC cells from taking over. Mao is quite annoying. They have to construct a larger geass canceller. However since it wastes too much energy, they usually just use smaller version of the geass canceller. Madd makes sure that he and his staff are always near the geass cancellers because Mao still has a little fight in him. Although threatening CC is an easy way to deal with Mao. Rolo finally reappears a few days ago. Just to be on the safe side Madd uses the geass canceller on Rolo to counterattack any geass that Lelouch and company may have placed on him.

At the moment they are taking a trip ordered by General Bartley. The obese general wants to use Mao and Rolo to ensure that peace is maintained throughout Area 11 so everyday Madd takes them through the city. Mao reads everyone's thoughts and if there is anyone that has threatening thoughts, Rolo takes care of them. They have been patrolling for almost two weeks and have found very little threats to Clovis. In fact most of the people seem to like Clovis or at least they don't want him dead.

"Do you see, Bartley? The people love your prince. Can we continue our work?"

"Very well, but we will still patrol a few times a week."

Madd sighs, "As long as it isn't everyday. We still have plenty of work to do."

**

* * *

**

July 15, 2016

For the past two weeks Lelouch has been meeting with officials from the Central African Federation, South African Confederation, Eastern African Union, and the Republic South Africa to finalize terms of surrender. The former two are becoming Areas 18 and 19. South Africa is being incorporated into Area 18 which covers southern Africa. The Eastern African Union is being added to Area 15. Troops are being sent in to garrison certain points which will develop into Britannian settlements. Since the area of conquest is so large, a few other points have to be discussed. Lelouch calls for Miss Lohmeyer to come help with the negotiations. Despite her stance on numbers and non-Britannians, Miss Lohmeyer is quite good with paperwork and negotiations. For the moment Lelouch will remain in Cape Town to oversee the construction of the Britannian settlement and the establishment of the Britannian administration throughout Africa.

Schniezel and Cornelia are in the north dealing with EU and Middle East Federation. They are having problems since many of the EU soldiers escaped from the south. Not to mention that many soldiers from other parts of the continent go north to continue the fight. A few of them are there because Lelouch suggests for them to head north to continue the fight. Lelouch wonders if there are any Chinese or rebels from Britannian areas assisting the EU.

With things settling down here in the southern part of Africa, Lelouch knows that it is about time to begin the next part of his plan. He must free CC. He probably also needs to ge Mao so that he isn't running around. Since VV created the geass cancellers being used by Colonel Madd and his group, Lelouch is at an advantage. The geass canceller isn't perfect. It has small glitch which VV knows so Lelouch is able to get around it.

He first questions Rolo regarding his mission and masters. Under the control of Lelouch's geass, he answers them with no problem. Lelouch then uses the geass canceller to not only cancel his geass but his father's geass as well. Using a technique that VV shows him, Lelouch casts two geasses on Rolo only the command geass will not be activated until the sensory one is taken off. He makes sure to test it a few times before sending Rolo away. So far he is quite happy with the results. Rolo has been sending him information about Colonel Madd's experiments and facilities. It also seems that Clovis has no idea what is truly going on, but their father may know.

It has been almost a month since Lelouch sends his Eleven operatives into hiding. He provides them with geass cancellers. Lelouch makes a few adjustments to the geass cancellers to make them seem like some other sort of electronic device. Like clockwork, Bartley or one of Clovis's other lackey takes Mao and possibly Rolo through the streets in a car. At first they go out twice or thrice a day that goes down to once a day after a week. Soon it becomes a few times a week, and now it is down to once or twice a week. It is possible that they are having Mao scan the city from the palace, but his reach is only 500 meters.

Lelouch makes a few calls to commence the next part of his operation. Soon he will begin the next part of ascension to power. The next step is one from which there is no turning back. If everything goes according to plan, Lelouch will be in control of all southeast Asia and southern Africa. He will have complete control of all those resources. He looks down at the chess board in his room. He lifts a black pawn and moves it to take a white pawn. There is no turning back now. The only open path is forward.

* * *

Author's note: Somebody asked for more Marika and Liliana so there you go. I was going to have Lelouch pull one more surprise but decided to save it for later. It is literally big. Like the rest of the world you'll have to wait for Lelouch's next big campaign to find out what it is.

Also the only current pairings that will remain until the end are Lelouch/Kallen/Milly, Jinta/Evelyn, and the twins. So just because people get together right doesn't mean that they will stay together. Keep that in mind.

The Clovis poll is back and will close in a few days probably before the next chapter is up because his fate might be determined in it. Remember that Clovis's death will affect those around him, but I have both scenarios planned out. The death scenario is the awesomest. Just remember the Euphemia is sub-viceroy of Area 11 and has the single scariest geass out there.

For anyone interested Edward won the Shirley poll so she will eventually end up with him. There is a bit of business for her to handle with someone else before that.

Whether Islam is in the Code Geass or not, Mecca is still an important city since the Kaaba predates the religion. Still I don't want to really insult anyone. But you would think that someone like Cornelia would make some sort of comment about gods.

The next chapter will probably return us back to Area 10 or at least let the main characters interact with each other.

The 'what story should I do next' poll will be back up in a few days. I added two more story concepts that I thought of while writing this story. I will probably start whatever story wins as this story winds down. I also thought of some more humor/parody stories to replace Late Night Rebellion with Zero. One is based on the show Survivor and the other parodies the show Behind the Music only with Code Geass characters.


	56. The Death of Innocence

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

If you haven't guessed it now, you jerks killed Clovis. LOL. I voted for him to die as well, but then again I know the consequences of my vote. The death scene will be first person from Clovis's POV. He will be speaking to the reader because it will be funnier that way.

...

There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly

Cicero

...

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.

Confucius

**

* * *

**

July 16, 2016

Lelouch sits up and sighs. Next to him is still sleeping is Milly. Lelouch pulls his laptop onto his lap and gets to work. Despite being here Cecile is keeping track of Nina and VV's research back in Area 10. Lelouch has access to the actual reports but prefers to read Cecile's concise paraphrasing. Lelouch feels Milly's arms wrap around him. She presses up against him and begins to kiss the back of his neck. He doesn't respond because he has lots to do. And he knows that the moment he looks at her, he won't be able to resist her urging that will take up all of the morning since Milly is quite energetic. Since Milly's return to Lelouch's bed a little over two weeks ago, things have returned to their pre-invasion status. Meaning that Kallen and Milly get Lelouch any night they want him. The others have to wait until they get tired of him, not likely, or Lelouch intervenes for them as he does often for Lucretia. After a few minutes Lelouch gives in to Milly. He actually needs to wait for others to act before he can move. Milly is a great way to keep himself occupier.

* * *

Clovis decides to speak to his people. First Bartley has to assure him that no one in the audience has any ill intentions towards him. Clovis wonders if it has to do with the fact that Colonel Madd and some of his people stole one of Lelouch's whores and attacked his palace. Clovis wonders how Lelouch got hold of the green haired woman. He wonders how many people know about her. He also wonders if Lelouch will do anything about it since his time in Africa is ending. He looks out at the crowd. There are several hundred soldiers between the crowd and Clovis. Before Clovis are the common Britannians and behind them are Elevens. Sitting comfortable in a building next to the crowd are several hundred of Area 11's nobles. In a grand show Clovis braves the heat. What no one can see is that his clothes are full of cooling agents. Clovis raises his hands to quiet the crowd.

"My dear people, Britannians and Honorary Britannians alike."

He figures that only Honorary Britannians would come to hear him speak. His area has one of the largest populations, per capita, of Honorary Britannians. He continues his speech.

Mao is sitting quietly in the background. His job is pretty easy. He is to periodically scan the crowd for anyone wanting to harm the stupid blonde twit. Fortunately the fat bald general affixes one of those geass canceling devices on the twit so that Mao isn't able to read his head. Mao has never in his entire life met someone so unimportant and ignorant yet so vain and full of himself. As Mao sits there he thinks that Lelouch is probably worth a billion Clovises. Then again a billion Clovises would amount to much. They would probably spend most of the day complimenting each other.

Mao wonders if Clovis even knows how to handle a gun or if he needs Bartley to hold it for him. Mao knows better than to make any insinuations about their relationship out loud. He quickly scans the crowd. No one out there outright hates Clovis. Most just find him annoying. The funny thing is that most of the annoyance comes from Britannians, but Mao could never tell them that. Then he gets hit with waves of hate directed straight at Clovis. Mao jumps up to warn them, but Clovis's stupid guards get in the way. Mao wonders where that stupid Bartley is at. Mao sees a figure that looks like a giant chess piece standing in the crowd as a missile slams below where Clovis is standing. Mao knows that they won't make the same mistake twice. He flings himself at Clovis who is still confused about everything.

Mao screams at him, "Get up you moron. Those aren't fireworks that your loving subjects are tossing at us. They're trying to kill you."

Bartley finally drags Clovis off the stage as more missiles hit it killing everyone not fast or smart enough to get off. Soon soldiers and knightmares pour into the area, but the culprits have made their exit. One of Clovis's soldiers brings an odd looking communicator which Mao instantly recognizes as a geass canceller. Bartley begins to drag Clovis to a waiting car. Mao runs to stop him, but is met by Clovis's royal guard. Mao scowls. For the second time in the span of ten minutes Clovis's royal guards stop Mao from saving his life. There is too much going on for Mao to be able to concentrate on all six of Clovis's guards.

Madd runs off the podium followed by Rolo. They run towards Clovis's limousine. Madd notices that Mao is trying to stop them from getting on. Damn Clovis and his stupid royal guard. Bartley is too distraught to provide any help. Madd does what he must do get them out of here alive. He signals for Rolo to take out Clovis's guards. Bartley is staring at them. The fat general is too stupid to realize what is going on and won't let go of Clovis. The idiot keeps walking towards the car. Luckily for them, Rivalz arrives just in time to take Clovis out of the way as the car explodes. Too bad Rivalz pulls Bartley out of the way as well. Being a colonel, Madd is able to take control and form some sort of plan to stop the rebels from taking Clovis.

Despite being able to hold onto Manila, for the most part Clovis's forces begin to lose. Clovis spends most of the day ranting about Lelouch taking his best men. Everyone in the room knows that that is not true. In fact Lelouch takes none of Clovis's troops. In his time as commander of Group Five, Lelouch has barely involved anybody from Area 11 in his plans. In fact Clovis might as well be declared the emperor of his tiny empire. There are a few incursions by Lelouch and others when it comes to the illegal drug trade, but other than that Area 11 is mostly left alone.

Bartley demands that Madd send Mao, Rivalz, and Rolo to take care of the problem. Madd laughs in the obese general's face. As if those three can solve the problem by themselves. The rebels obviously have some sort of geass canceller so Mao will be ineffective. Rivalz cannot be expected to take down all the rebels. Unfortunately Rolo's power has limitations. The best thing for them to do is to guard the palace grounds and to allow the military to do their job. Clovis has well over a hundred thousand soldiers not to mention the loyal Honorary Britannians, but this not enough for Clovis. Madd thinks that if Clovis has knightmares and the enemy has stick and rocks that somehow Clovis will still find a way to lose.

After calming Clovis down, General Bartley is able to get a handle on the situation. For the most part the rebels have left Manila. There are still a few flare ups here and there. In fact even out on the other islands Britannian forces are routing the rebels. The commanders on the outlying area are quite prepared. Still the situation looks bad because the rebels hit several important installations on Luzon. If the rebellion continues for much longer, it will gather more and more support. Soon the Honorary Britannians in the military will no longer be of any use. Bartley decides to make a choice. His priority is to protect Clovis and the Code R material. He makes the choice to keep the Honorary Britannians as far away from Clovis as possible.

**

* * *

**

July 20, 2016

It has been a month since Euphemia and Carolina deal with their attackers. Neither girl has quiet gotten over the event. After that day with the help of VV, the two girls confessed their feelings for Lelouch and settled any issues between them. Now they just have to tell Lelouch how they feel. At the moment they are keeping up on the news coming out of Area 11. According to the official reports things are going in Britannia's favor. However Euphemia's or more precisely Lelouch, VV, and Carolina's sources say that the rebels have hit a few key areas not to mention the fact that they have managed to elude Clovis for five days now.

At the moment Euphemia and Carolina are having a video conference with the Edward, Isabelle, and the Duke of Oregon, who happens to be Carolina, Edward, and Isabelle's uncle and the father of Miranda and Emily. VV is listening in on the conference but only Euphemia and Carolina can see him. Cassius and Annabel will be informed if they need to provide anything.

The Duke of Oregon begins, "Your highness, as sub-viceroy of Area 11, it is your responsibility to assist."

"But I don't know anything about."

VV holds up a paper that says take me with you.

"Your highness, I will provide you with some of the best troops I have," The Duke of Oregon appears to be thinking about something, "I shouldn't mention this, but Prince Lelouch left some of his better troops there in Area 10."

Euphemia nods, "Very well. I will have a conversation with the palace guard."

In the evening Euphemia discovers that Lelouch not only left quite a few of his best soldiers and pilots, but he also left a few Bors and Ios. That evening a very much welcomed surprise arrives in Area 10. As Euphemia and the soldiers prepare to board the transport planes, Anya arrives in the Silencer. Anya and the Chrysalis come flying down. Anya kneels before Euphemia.

"I and my airship are at your service, your highness."

Anya withdraws her sword from its scabbard. Euphemia nods and takes the sword from Anya. The soldiers stand in a circle around them as witnesses to what is about to occur. Euphemia officially knights Anya who is no longer wearing the uniform of the Black Knights, but rather a frilly pink and white uniform that signifies that she is now Euphemia's knight. After the ceremony, someone from the Silencer's crew brings Euphemia a box. Euphemia notices that the crew of the Silencer is wearing a less flamboyant version of Anya's uniform. Anya lifts the box towards Euphemia.

"What's this, Anya?"

"His highness thought that you should have this."

Euphemia opens the box and sees a more ornate version of Anya's uniform. Behind them the soldiers are boarding the knightmares onto the Silencer. A few will still aboard the planes. As soon as they are airborne, three smaller airships join them in the air. They are slightly smaller than the Silencer. The three smaller airships combine to form a larger one.

Anya whispers, "Apotheosis."

Euphemia comes onto the bridge and hears Anya's whisper.

"What was that Anya?"

"Nothing your highness. We await your order, milady."

Euphemia nods, and HER force moves towards Area 11. Euphemia looks down at her uniform. Her skirt and top are both white and tight matching military regulations. On the back of her top is pink dragon. She also has a white coat which has several different colored dragons on the back arrayed in a circle. Her cape is light pink with a dark pink dragon on it. Euphemia wonder why Lelouch chose her symbol to be a dragon. She smiles when the realization of what Lelouch has done. It is because dragons are the scariest creatures known to man. It is meant to be a joke.

Euphemia grins, "I'll show them who the joke is."

* * *

Suzaku wakes up and groans. He has been here in Area 15 for several days. Despite his injuries and the damage caused to the Lancelot, Lloyd seems quite pleased during his visit yesterday. Marika and Liliana aren't at all happy about being back on garrison duty, but at least they're alive. Yesterday Marika's soon to be sister-in-law visited Suzaku to thank him for saving Marika's life. Not that he wanted to see the cute brunette get hurt, but he was aiming for Princess Cornelia. In fact saving her probably saves his own life as well. With Cornelia safe, Guilford and Darlton can concentrate on defeating the enemy. Afterwards Guilford wants to petition the emperor to make Suzaku a lord and grant him many military honors; however, Darlton calms him down. It is decided to have the emperor decided Suzaku's reward even though technically Suzaku is not an imperial subject but will be soon with his marriage to Euphemia.

His sixteenth birthday was ten days ago. He spent it in a decent fashion. Nunnally and Alice come to visit him. He spends most of the day taking Nunnally through Cornelia's base. When Nunnally tells Cornelia and Schniezel of her intention to visit Suzaku on his birthday, it is decided that Suzaku will have to be transferred to Cornelia's command at least for a few days. Suzaku takes two days of leave to spend with Nunnally. Unfortunately their time ends and Suzaku has to go back up to the front. However quite fortunately for him, Liliana joins him since she doesn't have an overbearing brother. She gives Suzaku a very special birthday present. It is a few day after that that Suzaku becomes a hero.

-**July 15, 2016-**

Suzaku looks out at the enemy formations. He isn't quite sure whether to be thankful to be up north in the desert. Of course he could be down in the swampy land of the south. Here in northeast Sudan north of the Nile and its tributaries, the only problem is the heat and that is only a problem for the infantry who have to walk around in heavy cooling suits. Suzaku wonders if their enemies face the same sort of problems. He looks to his right and sees Liliana and her Io. They have spent the past two nights together.

A knightmare shows up on his scanner. It appears to be friendly, but he is still keeping an eye on the situation. The enemy has a few older Glasgows and has managed to rewire the IFF transponder on a few of them to make them look like friendly units, but advanced systems like the Lancelot can tell what type of knightmare is approaching. This one happens to be an Io. As it gets closer Suzaku can't help but notice the similarities between this Io and Liliana's Io which can only lead to one conclusion.

"Rika!" Liliana exclaims, "Is that you?"

"The one and only."

"What are you doing here?"

"I am bringing a message for Princess Cornelia."

Suzaku points towards Cornelia's position with the Lancelot. As he does he notices several explosions coming from the area. Cornelia is most likely alone watching the battle from above. After being transferred to Cornelia's command, Suzaku understands Marika's feelings. Despite having fought quite excellently on the Arabian peninsula, the three of them are nothing more than rearguards in Cornelia's mind. This does not deter Suzaku from rushing to save his soon to be sister-in-law.

"Marika, Liliana stay back a little while I investigate the situation."

But it is too late, both girls are ahead of Suzaku who hopes that Lloyd is happy with the data that he is about to receive. There are no Bamides or decrepit Glasgows here. There isn't even a Burai Kai. Attacking Cornelia's positions are Musketeers. The Musketeer is similar to the Gloucester making it a match for the Io. The Musketeers that Suzaku has seen are blue, but these have been painted brown to blend in. There only thing that makes them stick out is the white fleur-de-lis painted on their chest and cape.

Suzaku pushes the Lancelot through the air. It is a lot easier than trying to go by land. Suzaku wishes that Lelouch would share his flight systems. Lloyd knows a little about them, but according to him they were Cecile's project. He fires his slash harkens using the harken booster. It doesn't take Suzaku very long to figure out Lloyd's passwords. He supposes that hanging out with Lelouch makes him a faster thinker. His slash harkens catch four Musketeers that are attacking Marika. This catches them off balance and Suzaku is able to pull them down. Suzaku pulls out his MVS and dispatches the Musketeers.

"Thanks Suzaku."

Suzaku grunts, "Now will both of you stay back. I need to investigate the situation around Princess Cornelia."

Both girls stay behind Suzaku this time as he makes his way over to Cornelia's position. He finds her surrounded by Musketeers, but still very much in action. However the explosion takes out most of Cornelia's guard, and Guilford and Darlton are leading the attack so are not here. Cornelia's Gloucester has lost arm, and she is mostly just defending herself.

"Marika, you're going to have to drag back the princess. Liliana, follow me in."

Suzaku jumps in to defend Cornelia. He knows that he arrives just in time. He blocks and attack with his MVS.

Cornelia yells out furiously, "Kururugi, stand aside! I will defeat this swine with my bare hands if I have to!"

Suzaku sighs, "I'm sorry, your highness. Marika get ready."

Suzaku drives his MVS in Cornelia's Gloucester and pushes it back so that she ejects towards Marika. Several Musketeers jump at Marika only to be cut down by Suzaku.

"Liliana, help Marika take the princess back."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me. They'll probably go away once the princess is gone."

Marika and Liliana take Cornelia back to the base. During the entire trips Cornelia keeps demanding that one of them surrender their knightmare to her. After dropping the irate princess off, the two girls head back to Suzaku. They find him still battling the Musketeers who have not withdrawn. They are trying to decide how to attack.

"Well are you two girls going to help Kururugi or are you going to stand there and so nothing."

The two girls notice that Cornelia is back out in a Gloucester. It is just as ornate as hers. They wonder if she has many more in storage for just such an occasion. The three of them rush in to help Suzaku out. Despite the fact that he is battling half a dozen Musketeers, Suzaku manages to hold them off, but now the numbers game is getting to him. In fact the Lancelot is missing part of its left arm. As Cornelia and the two girls come in to help Suzaku, he falls back. Soon reinforcements from the base come forward to overwhelm the enemy. Suzaku manages to take the Lancelot back to the base where he collapses along with the knightmare. Suzaku is quickly taken to the medical center because of internal damage. When he wakes up it is the morning. He sees Marika half asleep beside him.

"How long have I been out?"

Marika is slightly startled, "Only for the night. The doctors are pretty mad that you didn't back off when we did."

Suzaku sits up and sighs. "I see. Did anything else happen?"

"Yes, Lloyd came by this morning to ask when you could go back out there since they finished the repairs on the Lancelot. The doctor shook his head and walked away."

Suzaku smiles. That seems just like Lloyd. Suzaku figures that Mariel probably had to drag him out of the medical center. Suzaku looks around and notes that this room is fancier than any room at the base medical center.

"Am I in a hospital?"

"Yes they took you to a hospital a few miles away from the front. Let me go get Lilia. She's been watching over you all night."

Before Suzaku can protest, Marika is off to get her friend. A few moments after she leaves, Lloyd steps into the room.

"Oh you're awake. So who do you feel?"

"I'm a little sore all over. Lloyd, I'm sorry about the Lancelot."

Lloyd waves him off. It isn't the 'don't worry about the knightmare, I'm just glad you are alive' kind of wave. It is more thank goodness you're alive this way I won't to find another pilot kind of wave. As Lloyd opens his mouth to speak, he visibly shudders. There is some yelling going on outside. The voice is very familiar. Lloyd goes to hide behind the curtain.

Into the room walks a cute adolescent girl with light brown hair in a black uniform. Behind her is a blonde hair girl wearing the same uniform only less ornate. Suzaku is in shock.

"Nunners, what are you doing here?"

Nunnally hops on the bed ignoring the nurse at the door. She straddles Suzaku, and her face is inches from his.

"I'm here to visit you, Suzu," Nunnallys frowns, "Only I thought that you would still be up at the front that way we could join you," Nunnally looks quite disappointed. Marika and Liliana walk into the room. Nunnally glances at them and smiles, "Are these the whores you cheating on me with?"

Marika and Liliana look appalled and shake their heads. Suzaku hugs Nunnally.

"Come on, kid. You know that no one can spare like you can."

Nunnally punches Suzaku in the stomach.

"Why is Lloyd hiding behind that curtain?"

"I think he is looking out the window for his ride."

Lloyd takes his cue.

"And there it is. Suzaku, I'll see you later."

Alice walks over and nudges Nunnally.

"What?"

"I don't think you're supposed to be on top of him like that."

"Why not he's my sparing partner? I have to make sure that all his parts work."

Everybody, including Suzaku, blushes at this comment.

...

That is a few days ago. Suzaku is able to walk around now. Despite his heroism, he is pulled from the front. He looks out the window and sees Nunnally and Alice having a sparing session. Since Nunnally's return, Liliana and Marika only visit occasionally. Of course Suzaku has only been here a few days. Marika and Liliana are back on garrison duty. Nunnally waves at him and runs into the building. Suzaku wonders how long she will remain here with him. He looks up to the sky and sees Nunnally's airship. As soon as

* * *

Lelouch is on his way to Area 10. Well technically he is on his to Area 11, but he isn't supposed to know that yet. For now Milly, Kallen, Jeremiah, and Kewell will remain in Cape Town. Nunnally and Alice are in Area 15 visiting Suzaku. The kids and their knights are already in Area 10 on their way to Area 11 with Euphemia. Lelouch knows that he has to stop in Area 10 to speak with Carolina. Traveling back to Area 10 with Lelouch are Villetta, Ayame, and Cecile. The first two follow him everywhere being his knight and secretary. The latter wants to view the data from the action in Area 11. Cecile leaves Nina back in Cape Town to monitor the action there in case there is any action.

They arrive in Area 10 about two hours after Euphemia's force leaves. For the most part Lelouch leaves his troops back in Africa. The crew at the airport has had some practice helping an airship land. Waiting for them is Carolina. Lelouch decides to meet her alone. Carolina appears teary eyed. Lelouch puts his arms around her and kisses her forehead.

"You know most girls would have left."

Carolina looks up at him.

"I'm not most girls."

"I guess so. Let's go. I'll explain what I can to you. I'm afraid that I have put your life at risk."

Carolina shrugs, "It's better than sitting around Pendragon or Edmonton."

Lelouch leads Carolina onto the Excalibur.

**

* * *

**

July 22, 2016

Euphemia's force arrives in the evening and gets to work. For the most part Clovis leaves them alone. He appears too shocked to do anything more than to nod at Euphemia's comments. She wonders if he is waiting for something else. After fighting for parts of three days, Euphemia decides to go see Clovis in Manila. Euphemia's force makes several interesting discoveries such as the fact that the EU is supporting the rebels. They know this because they encounter Musketeers and Panzer Hummels. Everybody wonders how they are able to get them down here.

Euphemia lands in Manila. She has to send some troops down on VTOLs to assist the ground crew who is not experienced in the docking of an airship. Once everything is secure Euphemia and Anya prepare to disembark. As they begin their decent from the Silencer, the rebels appear to have one last surprise and attack the viceroy's palace directly. Euphemia wonder why they wait until the Silencer makes its appearance in Manila. The other airship, the Apotheosis, is just reaching the outskirts of the city. It seems pretty silly for the rebels to wait for this moment. However Euphemia knows how to handle the situation.

"Anya, take care of it. I need to find Clovis and see if he is all right"

"Yes, your highness."

Anya goes up and disembarks in the Chrysalis. A squad of Bors follows after her. The Silencer follows through the air. Euphemia goes into the palace. The guards are stand at attention as Euphemia walks at them.

"Where is my brother?"

The guards look around nervously.

"Your highness, we are not at liberty to say."

"Why not? I need to ensure myself that my brother is not injured."

"He is with General Bartley so he is safe."

Euphemia frowns. Coming into the room is her royal guard. Since they are selected by Anya, Euphemia has complete trust in them.

"Since the viceroy has not made an appearance, I, Euphemia, li Britannia as sub-viceroy appointed by his majesty Emperor Charles zi Britannia, am taking control of Area 11 until such time as the saneness and subsistence of the viceroy can be proven. My personal royal knight, Lady Anya Alstriem, and the Duke of Oregon will take control of Area 11's military until the commanding general of Army Group Five, Lelouch vi Britannia, arrives or appoints someone."

Euphemia tries not to visibly catch her breath. While she and Anya don't command much respect, the Duke of Oregon does. One of the guards sighs and slightly turns his head towards the throne room. Euphemia sends a few royal guards in that direction. Despite the fact that Clovis has several thousand soldiers at his disposal, the majority are out on the other islands. At the moment Euphemia's force outnumbers Clovis's in Manila almost two to one. After securing the throne room, the royal guard motion for Euphemia to walk in. She leaves Clovis's guards to them.

Clovis's throne room is a cheap imitation of their father's. It is meant to intimidate but fails because of the person who sits on the throne. It is quite different from Lelouch's throne room which is decorated by Milly and Nunnally. Of course Clovis is like a chihuahua, a little aggressive barking thing that you can kick away while Lelouch is more like a lion as long you stay out of his area he won't kill you or send his harem after you. One of Euphemia's guards finds a secret door behind the throne.

"Wait for me here. Make sure that Clovis's people don't do anything stupid. Lelouch should be arriving soon."

"Yes your highness."

"Look for a control room. There are probably cameras everywhere."

Euphemia salutes and is on her way down the stairs. She carefully goes down the stairwell that appears behind the throne. Not surprisingly it is quite clean, neat, and well lit. Clovis has always been scared of the dark and dirt. Euphemia laughs a little when she thinks about Clovis. At the bottom of the stairs is a lab of sorts. It looks a bit like a cheap imitation of VV's lab in Area 10. Euphemia remembers that VV was previously involved in the Code R project. The room smells like it has been used recently.

"You shouldn't have come down here, Euphie."

Euphemia turns and sees Clovis and General Bartley stepping out of a room that appears to be behind the stairs. Soldiers come out from other rooms. This room must be the central lab and the others where they hold their prisoners and conduct the experiments.

"I'm sorry Euphie, but this is the end."

Euphemia grins, "Lelouch is going to squash you like a bug."

"Lelouch is in Africa. At the worst he is in Area 10. You death can be explained."

Euphemia's grin gets bigger.

"That's where you're wrong. Lulu is already here. His soldiers are taking over your area little by little."

Clovis waves her off.

"It doesn't matter."

He signals for his soldiers to fire at Euphemia who lets out a glass breaking, blood chilling scream. Then everything gets hazy for everyone in the room.

* * *

Castor, Pollux, Emily, and Miranda are aboard their airship, the Apotheosis; well technically it belongs to the Irregulars. Jinta and Evelyn are there as well somewhere. At the moment they are flying over Manila assisting Anya in putting out the last bits of rebellion within the city.

"One day Emily, I'll get my own spaceship, and I'll give you all the rides you want."

Emily smiles, "That's great Casto," she leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"What's going on here?" a voice booms from behind them.

Emily smiles and turns around.

"Daddy, you're here. This is a cool spaceship, huh."

The Duke of Oregon laughs as he lifts Emily up, "Yes it is dear," he looks down at Castor, "It's a pleasure to meet you once more, your highness. May I ask what you are doing here?"

Castor calmly answers, "Our knights needed to come help Sister Euphie so we came along. It's safe up here on the Pothenosis."

"Look Pollux, daddy's here."

Miranda runs up to her father. Castor and Pollux aren't so sure that it is such a good thing that their future father-in-law is here even though they have no idea why. After all none of Lelouch's father-in-laws hang around. Never mind that only Milly's dad is actually alive and Kallen's dad is in a coma.

Evelyn and Jinta walk into the room. Castor and Pollux sigh in relief because Evelyn will find a way to get their girlfriends' father off the airship. Evelyn's grin quickly dispels that theory.

"Oh you made it aboard, Lord Sforza. Did you suffer any difficulties?"

"No, I had very little trouble, your highness."

Being the Duke of Oregon and uncle to the Duchess of Alberta, Edmund Sforza has dealt with many members of royalty. After all his family is one of the first in the Empire to cross the North American continent. Due to their contributions in the retaking of Area 2 (Canada), the family is granted huge tracts of land in the west. For almost fifty years the territories of Oregon and Alberta are considered personal property of the family. His family is amongst the first to discover gold in Alaska and the Yukon. They are also responsible for driving the Russians out of North America. A minor branch in the family goes south and helps Britannia take the former Spanish colonies although they are no longer Sforzas and they are not given massive land grants.

He looks back at the three little royals and considers them. At Lelouch's age all Edmund could think of is girls and having fun although he attends West Point and has a small military career. It isn't until his marriage in his late twenties that he settles down. Although Lelouch and Nunnally are considered to have quite a lot of potential, it is the little three that are dangerous, and not just because the twins hang around Edmund's twins. He is glad that he doesn't have any little boys and that Evelyn is a girl. What makes them even scarier is that they realize the effect that they have on others.

Edmund does wonder if these little ones are participating in the battle somehow. They are obviously intelligent enough to recognize simple strategy. It dawns on him that there is a distinct possibility that Lelouch has created remote control knightmares and that the little ones control them. They don't even have to know what they are doing. Edmund stops his train of thought and looks back at all six kids standing on the bridge. No, they know what they are doing. They know that they are killing people.

"What's wrong, daddy?"

Edmund looks down at his daughters. Before he can answer the royal twins begin to jump up and down.

"It's big brother Lulu!"

"Yay brother Lulu is here to save the day."

* * *

After Euphie's scream I run away. Do I have to tell you why? There's a fucking dragon after me. Not just any dragon but a cute pink dragon. That's right I am being chased by a cute, pink fire breathing dragon. The dragon is carrying Euphie in its hand. Everybody knows that dragons love princesses. I don't why it is chasing after me. Do I look like the heroic type? It should wait for Lelouch who should be arriving in a few minutes. Euphie did scream. Lelouch is such a whipped sis-con. The dragon is lucky that Evelyn and Nunnally aren't here because then Lelouch would kill the dragon's entire family.

Of course when you consider who was in the room with me, then maybe the dragon has a point. That stupid Bartley probably shit in his pants when the dragon arrived. He acts tough but Bartley is worse than I am. For goodness sake the man is soldier. The others are of no help. They try to shoot the dragon, but it is too fast for them; and they end up shooting each other. Nobody heeds my warning about the dragon. They all just stand there like I'm the crazy one. The stupid dragon ignores them and runs after me.

I keep running. How do these damn soldiers do it? A few times someone tries to stop me, but I scream at them about the dragon. They keep looking at me like I'm crazy. Maybe I am. Who would expect a dragon in southeast Asia? It's not like this is medieval Europe. I see some knightmares in front of me, and I run towards them. Suddenly nets begin to fall around me. The damn dragon has managed to turn my own people against me. If I can only reach the knightmares, then I can become a hero. That will teach them. Who knows maybe people will rally to me and crown me emperor?

I leap towards the knightmares only to realize that I have made a huge mistake. As I fall from the palace, I manage to look up. There is no dragon only Euphie, sweet, beautiful Euphie. She did this to me. She killed me. Of course I would have killed her first for discovering my dirty secret. If Euphie has geass, the she already knows everything. I tried to get geass, but the green haired witch spat in my face. Colonel Madd was going to do some procedure to give us all geass, but it is too late.

As I fall I see the real monster arrive in his airship. Well he isn't my problem anymore. Too bad for Schniezel. We never stood a chance. I mean there are five of them. Euphie is pretty much an honorary vi Britannia. Not to mention his wives and lovers. By the time anyone realizes what hit them; it will be much too late. Well that's the end of the road for me. I hope there's something left of my body for the funeral.

* * *

Author's note: I have hinted that Nunnally and Suzaku like each other. Their relationship will grow despite Suzaku and Euphemia's marriage which will still happen. Although Lelouch had to convince me that it is still a good idea. From Nunnally's point of view Suzaku is already cheating on her Shirley which most everybody that cares knows about and now Marika and Liliana are hanging around Suzaku. So Nunnally is sticking by Suzaku's side until he either goes back up to the front or back to Japan. She has to protect what's hers. Remember that Nunnally is on Lelouch's side not matter what happens unless if he hurts the kids.

If you are wondering how or why Euphemia is so bold, she knows what her geass can do. She also expects Lelouch to arrive shortly. I have get Lelouch back in here somewhere because I think that we're forgetting how awesome he can be. When you look at it, Lelouch is very much like a lion. He can kill you, but he prefers to let his women handle things.


	57. Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ Lelouch and Kallen's VV geass is the one that affects other's visions and can make them daydream.

...

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,

Juliet  
Romeo and Juliet Act 2, scene 2

...

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

Confucius

**

* * *

**

July 22, 2016

Lelouch takes his time getting to Area 11. He waits for Euphemia and company to return to Manila. If things happen the way he expects them to happen, Clovis will be dead when they arrive. He just hopes that situation looks convincing. At the moment they are approaching the city of Manila. He sends Villetta down to investigate and to ensure that it is safe to land. It was a risky plan, but everything seems to have worked out. Lelouch's rebel friends started the rebellion with their attack on Clovis a week ago. They then hide for a few days while hitting important installations throughout Area 11. Other rebel groups take the opportunity to rise up and got promptly beat down. Then Lelouch's friends struck again just as Euphemia and Anya return to the capital. This final attack is directed at the palace complex. Everything goes according to plan. There are just a few loose ends.

Lelouch goes over to Carolina's room to wake her. She is lying down under the blankets. Lelouch sits down on her bed and begins to stroke her dark hair. After a few seconds she opens her eyes. She takes his hands in hers and sits up. They sit there for a few minutes in silence. The silence is broken by the opening of the door.

"Your highness."

"Yes, Ayame."

"Colonel Nu reports that it is safe to land. She also reports there is a situation on the ground is a bit unstable."

"I will be down shortly."

"Yes your highness."

Ayame leaves them alone once more.

"Let's go, Carolina. They are waiting for us."

* * *

"_Ichiro, are you looking at the data?"_

Ichiro sighs, _"Yes, Colonel. Everything is showing up on the monitors. In case you have forgotten, Rakshata is here as well."_

Naoto remembers Rakshata. How can he forget? Naoto just doesn't seem to have any luck with women or maybe just non-Japanese women. Back in Japan, Naoto is a raising star. It has been five days since the arrest of Colonel Kusakabe who is acquitted of conspiracy with foreign agents. However the Colonel and by extension the Japanese knightmare project is looked on upon with contempt. The Colonel is not allowed on the same base as any Japanese knightmare. He is sent to a base in Yokohama because they want to keep an eye on him, but at the same time don't want him nearby.

With the completion of the Gekka, Naoto and a few of his best pilots are sent to China to test it out. They spend two days testing it out against Burais, Burai Kais, and Gun Rus. They actually have to smuggle Rakshata with them, since she is technically supposed to be in India working on knightmares. In reality Naoto has no idea what she was doing before coming to Japan.

**Gekka  
**Characteristics  
Height: 4.45 meters  
Weight: 7.92 metric tons  
Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Design Features  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Back-inbuilt Chaff smoke Dispensing System

Armament  
1x Revolving Blade Sword  
1x Left Arm-mounted Custom Hand Gun  
1x Left Chest-mounted) Slash Harken

**Naoto's Gekka  
**Characteristics  
Height: 4.56 meters  
Weight: 7.95 metric tons  
Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Design Features  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Back-inbuilt Chaff smoke Dispensing System

Armament  
1x Revolving Blade Sword  
1x Left Arm-mounted Custom Hand Gun  
2x Chest-mounted Slash Harkens  
1x Right Arm-mounted Rocket Launcher

Naoto orders his men back to the hangar. Once there he dismisses them to their barracks. He stays for a few moments watching them put the knightmares away. Ichiro and Rakshata enter the room laughing. Naoto wonders how Ichiro does it. A few months ago while on vacation Ichiro also met someone. Naoto still doesn't know the details.

"_How did we do out there?"_

Rakshata ignores Naoto and walks over to ensure that her children are cared for properly.

"_It was a decent run sir."_

Naoto sighs, _"We need to do a few more test runs. We need to test it against real competition."_

Unbeknownst to him Naoto's wish is about to be answered. As Naoto and Ichiro stand there in silence watching them put away the Gekkas, several Chinese soldiers burst into the room. They head straight for Naoto and Ichiro.

One of them speaks in very poor Japanese, "_Who are Colonel Naoto?"_

Naoto groans because languages aren't that far apart for this soldier to screw it up this badly. Not to mention that both nations use the same name form. Naoto raises his hand and decides that it will be easier if he speaks in Chinese. His entire force is trilingual. Of course they speak Japanese while their other languages are English/Britannian, Chinese, French, or Russian. A few know a few other languages such as Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, or one of the other languages spoken throughout Southeast Asia. In Japan if one wants to advance, he must learn the languages of bigger countries.

'_I am Colonel Kouzuki. What do you gentlemen want?'_

'_Commander Li Xingke requests your presence in his office.'_

Naoto and Ichiro follow them. Naoto walks through the corridor to Xingke's office. Naoto looks around at the condition of the hallway as they walk though it. Several of the lights above are burned out leaving the room with just enough light so that they do not trip over themselves. The walls are painted in several different colors. Their offices are barely larger than a closet. This isn't the Naoto that grew up in a large manor thinking, but the Naoto who has spent the past six years in the military. There is a difference between superfluous comfort and necessities. Their hosts don't seem to know the difference. It is even more evident in their knightmares which are made of such cheap material not to mention that they are wired in a simple manner. Naoto is certain that he could gather some children that work at electronic stores and come up with something better.

Of course when they reach the office Xingke is not ready for them, but is discussing or better yet arguing with someone over the phone. Naoto smirks about this show of bad form. He whispers his children idea to Ichiro who begins to write it down. This action makes Xingke take notice of them, and he hangs up the phone.

"_Come in."_

There is nothing wrong with his Japanese. Naoto wonders what other languages this man must have learned in the service of his empress. He doesn't offer him a seat because there isn't any. Ichiro stays outside but within hearing distance. Naoto, being a good guest, speaks in Chinese, of course.

'_How may we help you commander.'_

Xingke continues in Japanese.

"_I have been ordered to ask you to assist us in putting down a rebellion that has broken out. It appears as if the rebels are receiving some sort of assistance from the EU."_

Naoto nods. To him it seems a little odd for the EU to be providing assistance to rebels in the Chinese Federation especially when they have their hands full with Britannia at the moment.

'_We would be honored to assist you, commander. Just tell us when and where.'_

"_The details are still being sent to me, but we will leave this afternoon."_

'_We will be ready.'_

Naoto turns and leaves the office. Ichiro is already waiting for him down the hall. For some reason Xingke distrusts Ichiro more than he does Naoto. He hears someone walking towards him, but in this dimly lit environment it is hard to tell. Naoto wonder if it is an assassin out to get him. From the shape of the person it is obviously a woman. Perhaps it is a sexy assassin, and Naoto can use his manly charms to convince her to change her lifestyle. He briefly chuckles but stops when he sees who it is.

"Zhou Xianglin."

She only slightly glances at him. Most likely to assure herself that he isn't someone dangerous. If she is here that must mean that Lelouch is probably in Area 10 or at least out of Africa. They walk back to the knightmare hangar is quiet. Luckily Ichiro heard Xingke asking for help and is able to give out the necessary orders. They technically leave that day, barely. Naoto figures that it is because they were still arguing over where to send them. The Chinese pilots flying their transport have loose tongues. Naoto overhears that there are numerous rebellions going on. There is a major one going on in the west and a minor one on the Korean peninsula. They are on there way towards the latter.

* * *

Carolina doesn't follow Lelouch into the palace, but goes over to the Apotheosis to check up on the kids. Lelouch walks through the halls of Clovis's place which as imitation of both Aries and Britannia Palace. Aesthetically speaking it trumps both palaces with its lush green acres and trees. The high ceiling and walls decorated with the finest tapestries and paintings give the throne room a lavish feel. Even Clovis's throne intimidates that is until you realize who the person sitting on it is. If Clovis would have brought his subjects into his palace and then throne room, Lelouch has not doubt that very few would have rebelled against him.

Outside he knows that the Duke of Oregon and Anya are handling what is left of the rebels, Eleven and Britannian. A few of Clovis's soldiers refuse to accept that Euphemia is in charge. Lelouch's superior numbers and the gradual return of the Honorary Britannian forces to the city put this rebellion down. A small portion of the Honorary Britannian soldiers either felt betrayed by Bartley's handling of them or were already working with some sort of resistance group.

After Lelouch disembarks, VV goes aboard the Excalibur to continue his work on doctoring the video from the palace. General Bartley will be made into a scapegoat. It will be simply a matter of changing a few things. Colonel Madd, Rolo, and Rivalz seem to have disappeared. In their haste they leave behind their two prisoners, CC and Mao. Lelouch is on his way down to secure them. Lelouch makes his way past the throne and down the stairs.

He supposes that at one time the downstairs area had a large geass canceller. The last rebel attack must have hit the power source to the basement level which appears to be different from the palace. Lelouch makes sure to give his royal guard hand held geass cancellers. He also gives the order that no one but himself, Villetta, or VV may come down here. At some point, he will have to extend the privilege to Euphemia and Anya, but for now they will have to stay away. Lelouch grins and turns off his geass canceller. He walks towards the room where Mao is being held. He hears a struggle coming from that room so he runs into it. He sees that Villetta does manage to get Mao to the floor, but during the struggle her geass canceller is broken.

"You want him, don't you?" Mao smirks, "Your prince that is. I can see it in the deepest recesses of your mind."

Villetta shakes her head. Lelouch quickly activates his geass canceller. It seems as Mao is quite a bit nastier than before. However he senses Lelouch's move.

"You aren't any different than the rest of them. You want her too."

Lelouch stays impassive.

"I mean you want fěnhóng sè de tóufǎ or should I say pinku no kami."

Behind Lelouch, Euphemia and Anya walk into the room. He can hear Carolina and the kids back by the stairwell. Villetta stands Mao up. He obviously doesn't want to cooperate. The look in Lelouch's eyes tells Mao what he wants to know. He walks over towards and slugs him in the gut. Mao doubles over in pain. Lelouch looks into Mao's eyes and activates his VV geass.

"Sweet dreams, Mao."

Lelouch jabs Mao with a tranquilizer.

"Have someone take Mao up to the Excalibur. VV is waiting for him there."

Lelouch looks at the room before him.

"Nobody," he looks back, "is to follow me into this room."

Lelouch quickly taps s few numbers on the keypad. He laughs because Clovis is so easy to figure out. The room is full of stainless steel tables and medical equipment. On the other end of the room in a large vat is what he is looking for. Lelouch begins the process of opening the vat. There are several others vats in the same room. A few are occupied. Lelouch is going to have to take his time to evaluate the situation. Lelouch doesn't keep the others out of the room to keep it secret from them, but because he doesn't want the involved in what is happening in this room. Despite his instructions Lelouch hears someone enter the room.

"You can come in Lucretia. I'm not mad."

The quiet blonde hair girl steps into the room. Sancia and Dalque step in slowly behind her. They are familiar with the set up of the room. It was in a room similar to this one that they gained their geass. Those experiments are also the cause of their personality, and in Dalque's case the reason her skin is dark. As the three girls look around the room with a mixture of horror, excitement, and fear, Lelouch pulls CC out of the vat.

"My knight in shining armor is here. What took you so long?"

"In case you forgot I was busy. Besides this is your fault for being so careless," Lelouch smirks, "How could you let Rivalz, of all people, capture you? Euphemia and Carolina almost fought him off on their own. They would have been successful if your little mind reader hadn't shown up," Lelouch turns his attention to the three Irregulars, "We're going to have to do something about him."

Lucretia squeals, "Brother Lulu, there are kids in here. We have to get them out."

Lucretia tries futilely to open the vats. She looks up at Lelouch teary eyed. Lelouch sighs and begins to open up all the vats. CC smirks at him and prepares for whatever comes out of the vats. Colonel Madd hasn't really worked with the girls inside the vats. Still they are dangerous. Lelouch looks back at everyone.

"Prepare you geass cancellers. We have no idea how they may react to being set free."

Lelouch looks at the labels on the vats. It seems as if Colonel Madd was trying to create a new set of Irregulars. Much to Lelouch's disgust the children being used are from his conquests. There are eight girls being held in this room. From what Lelouch can see on the monitors, they are only a last ditch effort by Colonel Madd to stop the rebellion. The girls only have a bit of CC's cells in them.

Lucretia kneels down and puts her arms out towards the girl in front of her. The little girl goes into Lucretia's arms which wrap around her. Lelouch sees something glimmer in the girl's hand. Lelouch catches the girl's hand as she raises it up. He pulls a little knife from her hand. The others girls look at him in amazement. Lelouch pushes the little girl back towards her companions. Lucretia pulls on Lelouch.

"Don't hurt them. They don't know what they are doing."

Lelouch nods and activates his VV geass. The girls back into a corner allowing Lelouch to come in and tranquilize them.

"Check their bodies for any explosives. After that we need to take them up to the Excalibur," Lelouch lets out a deep sigh, "We need to see if anything can be done for them."

Lucretia picks up the girl who tried to stab her. She looks over at CC who is the source of everyone in the room geass abilities and in a sense their suffering although Colonel Madd, VV, and the emperor are more fault.

"If you help, brother Lulu will get you some pizza."

CC knows a bribe when she hears one, but this one is too good to pass up. To prove her willingness to help, she picks up two girls and carries them out. It only takes them a few minutes to get the eight girls aboard the Excalibur. Lelouch stays down in the lab looking over the material. VV comes down to give Lelouch the final doctored version of the palace security film.

They also begin the process of taking everything out of the basement. The palace security cameras also film what is happening down in the basement which has how they knew that Euphemia was done here. That is how Lelouch is able to find the secret passages that Madd, Rivalz, and Rolo use to escape. Lelouch wonders where they are and where they may go. If Madd is in charge of this Geass Order, then he may be trouble. They will have to find another use for this basement. Lelouch still has to make his report to the emperor about the situation.

After they are done taking the equipment out, General Bartley and several of Clovis's other lackeys are brought down for interrogation. With its holding cells the basement is the ideal place to hold prisoners. Lelouch is sure to change the codes on all the doors. Being Bartley's superior, Lelouch interrogates him first. This first interrogation is just a ruse because there are innocent eyes. Lelouch allows his royal guard to 'convince' Bartley.

While this is going on Euphemia is on television asking for cooperation from the loyal subjects and informing everyone that the rebellion has been put down. After dealing with Bartley, Lelouch meets with his military people. With Bartley and Clovis out of the way, Lelouch will take full control of the military throughout southeast Asia. With this in mind Lelouch will begin to make changes in the personnel in charge of the area's military. Rather than each individual Area (10, 11, 12, 16, and 17) having its own commander and military, everything will be under Lelouch's control for the reasons of security and speed of course. The Chinese Federation and the EU provide aid for the rebels in Area 11.

"Your highness, with these changes, I would like to resign my position as commander of Area 17's forces."

Lelouch looks over at the Duke of Oregon and nods, "I was hoping that you would stay a bit longer, Lord Sforza. But if you wish to return to home, I see no reason to hold you back," Lelouch pauses, "However as a favor if you could hold your official resignation until I return from Britannia. I will have to escort Clovis's body to the homeland. I am also afraid that the emperor will want to meet with me and perhaps lavish me with rewards after the successful African campaign."

"Very well your highness. I will wait for your return."

Lelouch smiles, "If you wish to spend some time with daughters, you may do so now. There is really nothing else to discuss at the moment."

Lelouch dismisses everyone. Villetta stays to attend to her lord.

"Colonel Nu, make sure that the Apotheosis is out of range after Lord Sforza is on board. He must not know about my visit to General Bartley tonight."

"Yes your highness."

"It might make sense to have Anya move the Silencer as well. We can't have anyone get suspicious. Make sure that the kids and their knights are aboard the Apotheosis before it moves."

Villetta nods and leaves to attend to Lelouch's orders. Lelouch decides to pay a visit to VV. Even though this is his airship, Lelouch has to go through several layers of security to reach the room. In this highly protected section of the ship are VV's mobile lab, GG, and now the little replacement Irregulars. VV and his team are working on the little girls.

"What have you discovered about these girls?"

"They were only injected with small amounts of CC's cells. They won't suffer from the effects too much. We will keep them under observation just to be sure."

"What about GG?"

VV looks over at his fellow code bearer.

"Well she's still alive."

Lelouch smirks at VV's attempt to be funny.

"Yes well I was expecting her to still be alive."

VV grunts, "What did Bartley tell you?"

"Nothing yet. I will go down to interrogate him more thoroughly when everyone leaves."

Lelouch looks on as VV works.

"We will probably have to accompany Clovis's body back to the homeland so we will have to move this lab over to the Avalon or Apotheosis. It shouldn't be that difficult since it is on its own section. I guess I will leave you to your work."

* * *

After making sure that the twins and the Duke of Oregon are on the Apotheosis which is now at the edge of the settlement, Lelouch heads down to question Bartley. Some of Lelouch's men have been attempting to 'convince' General Bartley to talk. Lelouch taps a giant solider on the shoulder.

"Okay Alex that's enough."

"Okay boss."

Lelouch directs the mentally challenged towards his best friend and handler.

"Why don't you and Roy go get something to eat? Someone else will watch Bartley during the night."

Lelouch watches the two soldiers walk away. They are joined by the rest of their squad. All the men grew up with Alex and understand his situation. Without the other men, the giant would be useless and would mostly likely have ended up in a mental institution. That's just the way things are in Britannia. Someone who is a decent solider is tossed aside because he is not perfect. Of course Lelouch has to make certain concessions. Alex doesn't realize the power that Lelouch has. He just seems him as an important person amongst other important people so he gets away with calling Lelouch boss. It also means that his squad doesn't work with other squads so that there are no misunderstandings. Alex is relatively good with children. He is a favorite with the twins who love climbing over the almost seven foot man.

Lelouch enters the room. General Bartley glares up at him. This causes Lelouch to smirk and remove his contacts.

"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you to obey his every command."

In his exhausted state Bartley cannot resist Lelouch's geass not that it matters. He would have obeyed regardless.

"Yes, your highness."

"Now let's get to work."

Bartley tells Lelouch everything he wants to know and confesses to drugging Clovis causing him to go insane. After he assigns members of his royal guard to watch over Bartley and the other prisoners, Lelouch heads back to the Excalibur. The situation with Bartley can be addressed in the morning. On the way up Lelouch looks out towards the Britannian settlement. Above on opposite sides of the city are the Silencer and Apotheosis. It feels odd seeing them here when a few days ago they were back in Africa. With the arrival of soldiers and administrators from the homeland, in a few days Kallen and Milly will return home to Area 10. Jeremiah and Kewell may stay behind. Villetta may also need to return. Despite being viceroy of Area 10, Lelouch feels as if he needs to exert his interests over his conquests.

* * *

Lelouch enters the elevator on the Excalibur. Normally he has to go up a different elevator and through a few other levels security, but he overrides those systems and has the elevator take him straight to his floor. He slowly enters his room and heads straight to the bathroom. His weariness overtakes him as he slogs over to the bed so he doesn't notice who is lying there waiting for him.

"About time you show up, Lulu."

Lelouch sits up and stares at Euphemia who is wearing a sheer pink teddy. She puts her arms around him.

"Euphie, what are you doing?"

Euphie begins to kiss Lelouch's face. He does nothing to stop her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

She continues to assault his face with kisses. Lelouch puts his arms out to try to keep Euphie at a distance, but she slips into his arms and straddles him. She lays her head on his shoulder and puts his arms around her.

"Did you here how Suzaku saved Sister Cornelia?"

"Yes they told me about it. Nunnally and Alice went to visit him. She told me that he was in the hospital and that his actions salvaged Cornelia's attack."

Euphie considers the events of the last few days. Upon hearing of Suzaku actions and injury, she decides to continue towards Area 11 leaving her fiancé in to the company of her little sister. Most of the people involved in the situation know that the marriage between Suzaku and Euphemia is a sham. It is a marriage of convenience. A marriage that benefits both nations. They both agree to it because it gives them what they want. It lets them leave their homes. Even though Euphemia has been away from home for several years, Cornelia checks up on her constantly. For Suzaku it allows him to gain respect and glory.

"Do you think that what Suzaku did is enough to get us out of the marriage?"

Lelouch slides away from Euphie.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if Suzaku asks the emperor to cancel our marriage as a reward for saving sister Cornelia. I think she will agree to it, too."

Of course Cornelia will agree to the cancellation of Suzaku and Euphemia's marriage. She has been trying to convince Lelouch and Schniezel to side with her on this issue. The emperor would agree to the cancellation of the marriage if something suitable replaced it such as concessions from Japan. Suzaku would still want to marry a Britannian princess, but would have to wait several years to get the one he wants.

"No that won't do at all, Euphie. Your marriage must go through. To get what we all want. "

"But Lulu."

Before Euphie can continue, Lelouch kisses her on the lips and pushes her down on the bed. Lelouch looks into her azure eyes. She looks up at his amethyst eyes and then turns away.

"Lelouch, we can't. Not if you still want me to marry Suzaku."

Lelouch smiles, "Do you trust me, Euphie?"

"Yes," she answers slowly and trembling.

"If you trust me then you will let me do what I want."

Lelouch begins to slides his fingers from Euphie's chin down towards her bosom. Euphie grabs hold of his hands.

"I love you, Lelouch."

Euphie hugs Lelouch tightly. Lelouch grins and resumes his kissing.

* * *

In the morning Lelouch sits up and sighs. They more or less do everything but that because Euphie isn't ready. Lelouch also has no idea if the do some sort of virginity check Japan. Also Lelouch isn't really ready to do that with Euphie quite yet either. Euphie is lying there quite soundly asleep. Lelouch pulls out his laptop to check his messages. Like any good celebrity, Lelouch updates his status on Brit Book and Bribber. He also checks out the kids' Brit Tube pages to see their latest videos. As he sits there wasting time, he gets a message from Kallen.

"Hey my Kalli, how are you?"

Kallen yawns, "I'm awake."

Lelouch chuckles, "I can see that."

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too."

Kallen notices some movement beside Lelouch and her eyes narrow.

"Who is there with you?"

Lelouch brushes Euphie's hair.

"It's just Euphie. She's had a rough time here."

Kallen nods when she sees the pink hair. The only two options are Euphie and Anya. Lelouch wonders who Kallen didn't want to see in bed with him. She should have been expecting someone. He wonders if Kallen is more afraid of Carolina or Euphie.

"Lelouch, I'm on my way home. Milly is as well."

"Don't bother. Just come over to Area 11. We will be taking Clovis body back to Britannia as soon as they prepare his body."

Kallen nods, "Okay."

Lelouch grins, "So that means you'll be here by the end of the day."

This comment startles Kallen.

"How did you know? Did someone tell you when we left?"

Lelouch shakes his head.

"No, I just know how much you missed this."

Lelouch flexes for Kallen who begins to giggle. All the noise wakes up Euphie.

"Lulu, why are you up so early?"

Lelouch points at Kallen on his computer.

"Oh hey Kallen," Euphie yawns and fall back asleep. She is too tired to realize what is going on.

"I'll see you when you get here. I have to go down and take care of some unfinished business."

"Okay. See you when I get there."

Lelouch goes back to the palace where Bartley's confession is made known to all high level officials and officers. After making the necessary arrangements for his trip to Britannia, Lelouch convenes a meeting of all the high level people. To make things more comfortable they decide to have it over lunch.

"Very well I suppose that everyone has heard of General Bartley's confession."

The others nod.

"What are you going to do with him?" Euphie asks.

"I'm not sure."

Lord Sforza comments, "Your highness, have you consulted with the emperor? Surely he must have an opinion."

"His majesty is quite busy making preparations for Clovis's funeral."

That isn't true, but why would any one doubt Lelouch. He also hasn't contacted the emperor.

Carolina adds to her opinion to the unscripted meeting.

"As General Bartley's superior, don't you have the authority to punish him, your highness? Not to mention the fact that Euphie is now acting viceroy."

"What exactly do you want me to do? He has already been stripped of his rank and will most likely be shipped to a prison in the homeland."

One of Clovis's few surviving officials chimes in, "You must punish him in a manner worthy of his crime. The man is guilty of regicide. His punishment must be an example to others."

Lelouch was hoping that someone other than himself would come to this conclusion.

"I don't know if it is proper to do this."

Lord Sforza responds, "Your highness, General Bartley took an oath to Britannia and to Clovis. He has failed on both accounts. Since he is not of noble blood, then he may be judged solely by the military. You are the highest military official in the region."

Lelouch closes his eyes.

"Very well. Allow me some time to think about this before I make my decision," Lelouch turns to Euphie, "Euphie, go on television tonight and inform everyone that we will hold a funeral ceremony for Clovis tomorrow morning before taking his body back to Britannia. We need to continue to bring Area 11 back to order. I expect all officials to continue in their duties. My part of the meeting is adjourned. I'm sure the viceroy would like to continue discussing certain issues with some of you."

They all notice that he refers to Euphemia as the viceroy rather than sub-viceroy or acting viceroy. Lelouch leaves the meeting in the hands of Euphemia and makes his exit. Villetta follows him.

"Colonel Nu, as soon as my wives arrive, you will take the Excalibur and Ganymede back to Africa. Along with Jeremiah and Kewell you will see to it that things get done my way."

"Yes your highness and the other airships."

"The Avalon, Apotheosis, and Silencer will remain here to safeguard the region. The Boudicca should have enough room to hold us since we will only take our personal knightmares."

"As you wish your highness."

Lelouch goes up to the Excalibur to move some of his personal things and the Mordred. The Excalibur being the biggest airship and the one with the largest hangar isn't necessary for the trip to Britannia. It isn't really needed in southeast Asia. In Africa it is a symbol of fear. The others are spread out to show flexibility and quickness. The Boudicca is the smallest one so it is perfect for the trip to the homeland.

Kallen and Milly's arrival causes excitement amongst the kids, but not as much as Nunnally's a few hours later. Nunnally doesn't appear all too happy about the fact that Euphemia spent the night with Lelouch.

* * *

Lelouch is standing atop the Viceroy's palace in the garden which is reminiscent of the Aries Palace's garden. He is watching the Excalibur and the Ganymede leave. They leave a few hours later than he hoped because it took Milly some time to get her things off the Ganymede. Nunnally comes over to join Lelouch. Nobody not Euphie, not Kallen or even Evelyn interrupts Lelouch and Nunnally's alone time.

"Is this where it happened? Where brother Clovis fell?"

Lelouch shakes his head.

"No, it happened on one of the lower levels. How is Suzaku?"

"Suzu is fine. They didn't hit him. He just exhausted himself. Sister Cornelia said that he fended off half a dozen Musketeers."

Lelouch smiles, "Did Euphie ask you to be her maid of honor?"

Nunnally narrows her eyes and smiles.

"No, she asked Shirley. I merely get to hold the rings."

"So are you keeping the official ring and giving Euphie an imitation."

"No, I'm giving Suzu, my ring. I doubt Euphie will wear her wedding ring for very long. I doubt that the wedding will even happen. Sister Cornelia complained about it everyday"

Lelouch stands behind Nunnally and puts his arms around her. Nunnally appears to be considering asking something. Lelouch wonders if it has anything to do with his reward from the emperor. If Lelouch asked for Euphemia as a reward how could the emperor deny him. It would be up to Lelouch to settle things with Japan.

"Lelouch, I need you to get two girls away from Suzu."

The question surprises Lelouch a bit.

"Which two girls?"

"Marika Soresi and Liliana Vergamon."

"I'll see what I can do."

Nunnally sighs, "Lelouch, is this alright? Are we making the right choice?"

Lelouch kisses the top of her head and brushes her hair. He interlaces his hands into hers.

"Never forget our promise. We will make this world the kind of world that Evelyn and the twins can grow up in peace."

"I remember, but it seems like it will take some time."

"No matter how long it takes. We will accomplish it."

* * *

In the morning they all attend the funeral procession for Clovis. They also board the Boudicca to head back to Britannia. At the same time Bartley and his accomplices are executed. Since Bartley mentions his involvement in the project, Colonel Madd is also court martialed by Lelouch. His name is placed on the most wanted list. Now Lelouch will discover how far up this Code R goes. The Apotheosis and the Irregulars head west to watch over Area 17 while the Silencer stays in Area 11.

Since the Boudicca is Nunnally's ship, Lelouch allows her to take command. Kallen finds him staring out the rear window. She doesn't appear to happy about the fact that Carolina isn't on the Avalon heading back to Area 10 or it could be that she does not want to go back to Britannia.

"Do we have to take the body back personally?"

Lelouch smirks, "Yes besides it allows me to take advantage of the fact that Schniezel and Cornelia are still in Africa. I have set up a few appointments with some important people."

Kallen glares at Lelouch.

"You're meeting with these people not us, right?"

"Of course my Kalli. I wouldn't do that to you."

But he will do that to Carolina and Milly. Like usual Kallen and Milly don't want to leave Lelouch alone so they both spend the seventeen or so hours with him.

**

* * *

**

July 26, 2016

Schniezel finally has been able to get his hands on footage from Area 11. The palace footage is still being kept secret so all Schniezel can see is the footage from Clovis's speech the day the rebellion begins. Thankfully Kannon forwards it to the end when the initial attack happens. After the missiles miss Clovis the cameraman zooms in to see where the attack came from. Standing there is a figure wearing a black cape and helmet. From a certain point of view the figure looks a little like the king chess piece.

"Kannon, do an image check on this figure. I want to know if anything comes up."

"Yes your highness."

Schniezel looks down at his chessboard and moves a few pieces around. As always he is playing his mental chess game with his real opponent.

"So that was your move, Lelouch. I wonder how you will like my next move."

Kannon reenters the room.

"Your highness, we have established contact with Princess Cornelia. She states that she has very little time to spare."

"Thank you Kannon. I am quite sure that my sister will have no problem with our conversation, no matter how long it takes."

* * *

After Clovis's state funeral and the emperor's speech, everyone returns to Aries Palace. Marianne relishes the opportunity to interrogate Lelouch's girls. Unfortunately for her, they are not all here. Her children's knights are not here. According to Lelouch being in the safety of the homeland, there is no reason to bring them apart from the fact that they can see that Lelouch's will is followed elsewhere.

Marianne wonders if everyone is not underestimating her son. Of course they know of his intelligence and ability, but there is more much more to him than meets the eye. He is like one those robots that the twins keep talking about. He appears to be something benign, but is a really a wolf in sheep's clothing. No Marianne reconsiders that he is much more than that. There is nothing sheepish about Lelouch. There never has been. Even now hours after putting one of his beloved brothers in the ground, he is meeting with government officials. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Deputy Prime Minister as well as several members of the Parliament are meeting with Lelouch and several of his friends this afternoon.

After spending the morning dealing with Clovis's funeral, Lelouch spends the afternoon meeting with government officials. He has Milly, Carolina, and Nunnally have meetings of their own. In the evening he has an audience with the emperor. The throne room is empty save for the emperor on his throne and Bismarck at his side. In contrast to Clovis's or even Lelouch's throne rooms, the emperor's throne room is devoid of any decorations besides the room itself. The only décor of any kind are the columns and pillars throughout the room and of course the throne itself. The idea of this room is discomfort. The idea is to distress any who are before the emperor. To make the individual feel small in comparison to the man on the throne. Lelouch walks the last few steps before kneeling before the emperor.

"I have come as you requested, your majesty."

"Arise my son. You have done well. Where has your journey taken you?"

Lelouch remains kneeling but answers.

"From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it"

* * *

Author's note: If anyone can guess where Lelouch's final quote comes from, I can have him invade your country next or I can have Evelyn and the twins invade it. Like all of Lelouch's quotes, it has significance. Or I can make your handle be the twin's name for their Brit Tube account. Obviously Brit Book and Bribber are Facebook and Twitter.

Sorry about the slow updates. I know the general direction I want to go but not always the specifics of it. Clovis's death and its aftermath have always worried me. Since the beginning I have thought about the situation and now have to find a way to get past it.

If anyone is surprised by the Lelouch/Euphie stuff then you haven't been paying attention. Okay so the Suzaku-Euphemia wedding will still happen because it is the easiest path, but if enough people want it to not happen, I can cancel it. I already have reasons for the cancellation. I will probably do a poll. Just remember if they get married, they will never consummate their marriage in case anyone is worried about that.

Both the Area 11 and Chinese Federation rebellions are in fact caused by Lelouch. He provides both sets of rebels with captured Musketeers and Panzer Hummels as well as old Glasgows. He makes a few modifications to them so that it is no one discovers where they come from.

Unlike cannon in which Bartley was only accused of abandoning Clovis here he has confessed to being responsible for it indirectly. He confessed to genetically manipulating Clovis amongst others.

Did you know that fiancé is an engaged man and fiancée is an engaged woman? I had no idea that there was a difference.

I have decided that the Britannian government will be a combination of the UK and US governments. Parliament will be split into two houses. The House of Lords which still has quite a bit of power, but is under the control of various members of royalty. The Prime Minister and various other officials come from this house. The House of Commons is split into two different groups, the Senate and House of Representatives. This actually weakens the House of Commons since it is divided into many different factions. The House of Commons is controlled by various groups of lobbyists and businesses which in turn are controlled by members of the royal family. So basically the emperor, Lelouch, and Schniezel control Parliament.

Areas and their viceroys as of the end of chapter 58.

1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- temporary Nunnally vi Britannia sub Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010-Clovis la Britannia 2010-16, Euphemia li Britannia 2016-  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia sub Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16-temporarily Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-temporary Lelouch vi Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016


	58. Wait so who's getting married pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single

Quite a few people guessed where Lelouch's quote came from. What does it mean? You'll have to wait until the bottom author's note for my interpretation of it

...

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.

And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant, Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil? And still he holds fast his integrity, although thou moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.

Job 2: 1-3

...

An exert from Converters ™

Waldobot Prime: What is this marriage, you humans talk about?

Lulu Lamperouge: It's when two people decide to get together forever.

Waldobot Prime (looking confused): You mean they are fused together.

Lulu (Shaking his head): Well not quite. Humans can't be fused.

Nunners Lamperouge (holding back giggles): You know. It's when you love someone, and they love you back.

Waldobot Prime: Love? What is this love? I have heard Cece say that she loves pizza so will she marry it?

Lulu and Nunners laugh.

Nunners: No silly. You can't marry pizza. You marry a person that you love. Then you stay with them forever.

Converters ™  
Season 3 episode 4  
C & P Productions  
Soresi-Rosencrantz Entertaiment  
LL Entertainment Company  
2020 ATB

**

* * *

**

July 26, 2016

Lelouch walks the last few steps before kneeling before the emperor.

"I have come as you requested, your majesty."

"Arise my son. You have done well. Where has your journey taken you?"

Lelouch remains kneeling but answers.

"From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it"

Charles smiles at Lelouch's answer. So my son thinks himself to be the devil. He has no idea what it takes.

"Do you believe that the marriage between Suzaku and Euphemia is beneficial to Britannia?"

Lelouch considers the question.

"Is there something wrong with the deal, you majesty? The agreement is quite beneficial to Britannia."

Charles looks down at Lelouch.

"Oh is it. Even Schniezel agrees with Cornelia that the marriage is a sham and is of no benefit."

Lelouch finally stands.

"I only said that the marriage is beneficial to Britannia. Whether the participants are in love or not is of no concern," Lelouch smirks, "Of course Schniezel agrees with Cornelia. You know of it too, don't you father? The feelings that can develop between two siblings. Nevertheless after the marriage Britannia gets a larger portion of sakuradite than the Sakuradite Conference gives us. Apart from the benefit of having additional bases in Japan," Lelouch looks in Bismarck's direction, "I am surprised that Schniezel would give up the only pilot that makes his Lancelot work. Without Suzaku the Lancelot might as well be the Ganymede."

"Is it that why you want the marriage to go through yourself? Do you want to control a weapon such as Kururugi?"

"If I wanted to control Suzaku, I would ask for the engagement to be broken off and for Suzaku to marry Nunnally," Lelouch answers, "Wouldn't that make more sense?"

Charles decides to change the subject slightly.

"I don't believe that the Japanese are giving us enough in return for Euphemia."

"Is that so? What more can I possibly get from them? Besides their very lives.

Charles sneers, "That is exactly what I want. You must make Japan yours."

Lelouch twists his mouth, a very informal expression before the emperor. He wants to smirk at the emperor's order but holds back.

"I can do this in any manner of my choosing."

"Yes, but in two years either Japan is yours or you will be disinherited."

"I will not fail your majesty."

"There is more."

This comment catches Lelouch a bit off guard.

"Yes your majesty."

"We must strength the ties of the royal family to the powerful noble families that control much of Britannia."

Lelouch now knows where the emperor is going.

"With Clovis dead and Schniezel and Cornelia always fighting not to mention Odysseus's continuing mourning, there is only one logical choice."

"And that is your majesty?"

"You must marry someone from a powerful noble family"

Again Lelouch holds back a smirk. If the emperor really wants to mess with Lelouch, he would arrange marriages for Nunnally and Evelyn or he would select someone for Lelouch to marry. Leaving it in Lelouch's hands once more only invites trouble.

"As you wish your majesty. I will accomplish this mission with in a year."

With that Lelouch bows and exits the room. If the emperor thinks that Lelouch thinks about marriage as a mission, then he believes he has nothing to fear because Lelouch is quite prepared for this.

After Lelouch leaves, Charles exit's the throne room. Marianne is waiting for him smiling.

"How did my little Lelouch do?"

Charles grunts, "He isn't so little anymore."

"Pff. He will always be my little boy."

"I have given him his assignment. It will be up to him to accomplish it."

Marianne beams, "My little boy can do anything you set out for him. Now let's get you some dinner before you get grouchier."

"Yes he may do it. After Ragnarök, the world will need to be lead be someone strong. Someone who can control the consciousness of all humanity as they are bonded into one. But first he must be tried."

* * *

Lelouch exits Britannia Palace and heads down to Aries Villa. He looks out and down to the cit of Pendragon. Way down below and on the edge of the city are the low class commoners that drive this nation. No group of people is treated the worse by the nation that they love. Those low class commoners can hold onto the fact that at least their not numbers. In reality as long as long as the numbers stay out of the way and bow to Britannia, they can live a meager existence. Those that aren't Honorary Britannians don't really pay any taxes mostly because under the law they aren't really people. While the low and middle class of Britannians pay a large portion of their earnings in taxes. This is due to Britannia's flat tax which taxes everyone the same percentage. The super rich like those in the royal family and nobles like Kallen or Carolina barely feel the effects of the tax. Of course those taxes come back to pay the salaries and allowances of the members of the royal family so it isn't like the money actually goes anywhere.

Lelouch sees Kallen, Milly, Carolina, and Ayame sitting outside in the garden. Nunnally, Euphemia, and the kids are lying done on the grass. He moves towards the latter group not wanting to discuss his audience with the emperor with the former. He begins by tickling everyone. Eventually Nunnally manages to get up and on top of Lelouch. But even five on one, they are no match for Lelouch. That is until the other girls come over to help. Even then Kallen has to get violent to take Lelouch down. Afterwards they are all exhausted and collapse to the ground. Marianne, several servants, and guards come running out to see what the commotion is all about. Lelouch is the only one with enough energy to answer.

"It's fine mother. We are just having a little fun."

Marianne nods and goes back into the house. After Charles tells her the content of his meeting with Lelouch, she rushes to Aries to speak with her son, but it appears to be too late for that.

"Very well dear. Just be a little quieter."

Nunnally stands up and puts her hands on her hips as Lelouch adjusts the clothes on Evelyn and the twins.

"How did you do it, big brother?"

"Do what, Nunnally?"

"Fight us off like that. Back in Tokyo Alice and I could take down Suzu easily."

Lelouch smirks, "Maybe Mr. Kururugi was going easy on you."

Nunnally frowns, "What do you mean?"

Lelouch laughs, "Nothing. At West Point we were trained to fight a large number of people. This is nothing compared to what I faced there."

This pisses Euphemia off because her new moves were enough to hold off the cyborg Rivalz. She stands up and gets in a fighting stance.

"On your feet Lulu. We'll see who the best is."

Lelouch slowly stands up mocking Euphemia so she moves in for the attack. He dodges her attack and grabs her hand spinning her around. He lifts her up and gently places her on the ground in a very compromising position. She wraps her legs around him which causes him to grin.

"Now Nunnally, get him."

Lelouch easily fights off Euphemia's grip and moves out of the way as Nunnally comes flying in landing on Euphemia. Evelyn and the twins move in to attack, but it is only an excuse for them to lie down on top of Lelouch. Euphemia and Nunnally give up. After a few more minutes of this, Lelouch sends them all off to bed.

"Okay guys time to go to sleep."

The kids groan, but Milly and Kallen gather then up.

"I need to speak with Nunnally and Euphemia, alone."

This is a signal for the others to leave as well. Once everyone is gone, Lelouch lets out a sigh.

"What did the emperor say?" Euphemia asks.

"Nothing much."

"Did he say anything about my marriage to Suzaku?"

"He asked me what I thought about it. I told him that it is a good business arrangement for Britannia."

Both princesses nod. They know that the marriage is only a business deal for both sides.

"It does seem strange though."

Nunnally looks at Lelouch.

"What does big brother?"

"The fact that Schniezel is against the marriage."

Both princesses consider what this means.

"Do you think it is because he wants to get on sister Cornelia's good side?"

"I think so, Nunnally."

Euphemia looks out towards the palace.

"That doesn't seem like brother Schniezel. But he might want to get sister on his side if it ever comes to that."

Lelouch bites his lip.

"It does, but I still don't understand his opposition to the marriage. He stands to lose Suzaku if there is no marriage."

They stand thee confused until Nunnally comes up with a possible solution.

"Maybe he has a plan to solve the problem with Suzu."

Lelouch realizes that Nunnally may be right about this. It is possible for Schniezel to makes sort of deal that allows him to have Suzaku pilot the Lancelot without having the marriage go through. Lelouch will just have to convince Suzaku that marrying Euphemia is his best chance to be near Nunnally.

"According to Lloyd, Suzaku will be arriving soon. Nunnally, I need you work on him."

Nunnally nods, "Yes big brother."

"If the marriage falls through, then it will make my mission significantly more difficult."

Both girls look pensive as they have surrendered their lives to Lelouch's will.

"Don't worry I will make sure things turn out right. Now let's go inside."

They walk towards the palace both girls draped over Lelouch's arms. He promptly sends them to their rooms. Lelouch is expecting his mother to be waiting for him, but she is not there. He goes over to his bedroom. He forgets which of his wives is supposed to spend the night with him. As he enters the room, he hopes it isn't Kallen, but those hopes are dashed when he looks over towards the bed and sees Kallen in a sheer red teddy.

"Hi Lulu, do you like what you see?"

"Hey Kalli," Lelouch grins, "But it would be better if you took your clothes off."

Kallen frowns, "Do you have any idea how much this cost me?"

"Enough to feed the twins for a month."

Kallen laughs, "They do eat a lot, don't they?"

Lelouch pushes Kallen down onto the bed and kisses her.

"You look beautiful."

Lelouch continues his kissing. It buys him a few hours before he has to tell her about his meeting with the emperor not just the Japan business but also the part about him having to get married once more. She is not going to like his solution to that problem, the marriage one. The solution to the Japan problem has been in play for a few years. It has always been a sticking point in the relationship. If and when Britannia invades Japan, Lelouch must demand to lead the invasion.

In the morning everyone is downstairs eating breakfast. Those who live with Lelouch in Area 10 know that he likes breakfast to be quiet for the first few minutes as he gathers his thoughts for the day. However Marianne isn't aware of this.

"My, everyone is so quite this morning," she states looking towards Lelouch who looks up and gives his signal giving the others leave to speak.

Euphemia is the first to take advantage.

"Oh Suzaku sent me a message saying that he would be here today."

The others begin to speak excitedly about Suzaku and Euphemia's marriage. Lelouch excuses himself and leaves. They try not to look worried about the fact that he leaves his plate almost untouched. While not always a big eater, Lelouch tries to set the example at breakfast. A slight glance between Kallen and Nunnally tells the other that they need to have a talk after breakfast. Kallen slightly nudges Milly who nods. Marianne catches most of this.

"So what are you girls going to do today?"

Milly answers, "We were planning on taking Euphie out shopping. Maybe we can find a few bridesmaids' dresses. Nothing much just giving Lelouch some free time to take care of his business," Milly smiles, "He also said that you wanted to spend some time with the kids so we will take Nunnally with us so that she won't be a distraction."

On cue Nunnally grumbles about having to go.

Kallen responds to her grumbling, "Come on, Nunnally. It will be fun. In a few years you'll be planning your own wedding and we'll have to do this with you."

As breakfast continues, the twins talk excitedly about spending the day with Mama Marianne. After breakfast the girls go to get ready for their day. Marianne hands Kallen a sheet of paper.

"Kallen, can you be a dear and take this to Lelouch?"

Kallen takes the paper from her mother-in-law and smiles.

"Of course."

She can't help but look at the paper as she reaches Lelouch's room. In giant black bold letters are the words **MARRIAGE CANDIDATES**. Kallen stiffens as Lelouch takes the paper from her.

"Did my mother give this to you?"

Kallen slightly nods as Lelouch put his arms around her.

"You already have the solution to this problem, don't you?"

Lelouch only nods. A smirk or grin will earn him a slap.

"Yes so be nice to her. I will send someone to get Nunnally when Suzaku arrives."

Lelouch leaves the room and bumps into Carolina who looks down at the paper in Lelouch's hand.

"Um Lelouch, I'm here to see if Kallen is ready."

Carolina seems half excited, half worried. Lelouch looks at her.

"Is this your first time going into the city?"

Obviously this is not Carolina's first time in Pendragon, but she most likely has never traveled into the city or any crowded city.

Carolina nods, "Yes, it is a little embarrassing to say this, but I am quite excited about this trip."

Being royalty Lelouch has rarely ventured into the city, but his mother has a bit of wild side and took them to unusual places not to mention Schniezel's habit of taking little Lelouch to gambling establishments for nobles.

"Just make sure that Milly doesn't take you too far away from the palace. Sometimes I think that she has no idea how dangerous it is out there."

Before Carolina can bring up the list, Kallen steps out of the room.

"Lelouch dear, you are going to be late to your appointments."

She fixes Lelouch's collar and kisses him on the lips before walking away. Lelouch looks pensive and mumbles.

'Kallen can be a bitch sometimes.'

Carolina frowns, 'You shouldn't speak about your lovely wife in such a manner. Speaking of wives what is this?'

Lelouch's eyes open wide when Carolina takes the **MARRIAGE CANDIDATES** paper. Carolina smiles as her eyes go down the list.

'So Milly was right about this. Good my name is on there. Don't look confused. I am of noble birth. I know several languages including," Carolina smirks, _"this one Lelouch-sama."_

"_Good now. We can all say stuff around mom without her knowing."_

Lelouch and Carolina turn to face Nunnally and Evelyn standing there staring at them. Lelouch quickly takes the paper from Carolina and stuffs it in his pocket.

"What are you two up to?"

"We're here to get Carolina."

Nunnally pulls Carolina away. Evelyn squints her eyes and puffs her cheeks while looking at Lelouch.

"What is it Evie?"

"What were you two talking about?"

"Carolina has never been out into the city so we were discussing that," Lelouch glances down at his watch, "I should get going before it gets late."

Lelouch lifts Evelyn and takes her over to their mother. Lelouch gives his mother a peck on the cheek and leaves for his meetings.

Lelouch has several meeting before having to pick up Suzaku from the airport. He turns the TV on in the limousine to see if there is anything interesting going on. He sees several commercials for the latest Z-phone from the Orange Company and laughs as he looks down at his phone, the real latest Z-phone. Suddenly his phone rings. Lelouch smiles as he picks it up.

"Good day, Lady Rosencrantz."

Carmina laughs on the other end.

"Lady Rosencrantz is my mother, Lulu."

"Hello Carmina, how my I help you today?"

"Ah your highness, it is I who is doing you the favor. I have your packages for you. They are not very happy about it."

Lelouch didn't expect Marika and Liliana to be transferred so soon. He put the request in that night that Nunnally asks for it. He didn't expect Cornelia to give in so soon. That is if the garrison commandant bothered asking her for permission. From what Lelouch gathers the two girls are a pain in the ass to the entire garrison because of their desire to go to the front. Lelouch had been expecting to have to bargain with his older sister for the girls. Lelouch decides to change the subject.

"Did Kewell ask you to marry him or do I have to do it myself?"

Carmina giggles, "If I had known that I could be a princess I would have tried harder. Alas, he did asked me." Carmina sounds pained.

"Good. When will you be arriving?"

"In a few hours. We just left Honolulu."

Lelouch thinks about it for a moment.

"Wait, you aren't traveling with Suzaku are you?"

"Yes we are. I thought that it would make things easier."

Lelouch now has to explain why Suzaku traveled with Marika and Liliana on an all day flight to Nunnally.

"Yes, I suppose it does. I will see you when you arrive. Remember if you need anything for the wedding besides the groom, don't hesitate to ask."

Lelouch hangs up and looks back down at his mother's marriage candidate list. He gives the list a once over before disposing of it. He heads over to his meetings before heading over to the airport to pick up Suzaku. He decides to leave Marika and Liliana with Carmina for now. He will assign them tasks later. For the moment he has to deal with Suzaku.

Lelouch smiles, "Suzaku, it is so nice to see you again."

Suzaku smirks at the comment. It isn't that he dislikes Lelouch. He just dislikes Lelouch's manner, Lelouch's way of treating those around him as pieces for his game.

"Don't worry; I will go through with the marriage. I have been having conversations with Nunners. It is the best thing to do, for now."

Lelouch silently nods his head. They have spoken about the subject in the past. While it is possible for Lelouch to arrange s marriage between Suzaku and Nunnally in a few years, Lelouch has not reason to do such a thing. Lelouch explains his plan to those that it matters to. Suzaku and Euphemia will get married. Lelouch gets to have Euphemia. Suzaku and Nunnally can begin their courtship in peace. In a few years Suzaku will have to prove himself once more. With this he will be able to ask for a divorce and marry Nunnally. This also assumes that Lelouch will be in a position to make this happen. Suddenly the car stops and Lelouch makes his exit.

"I'm glad that you see things my way. Now here is your reward."

Nunnally comes jumping into the car.

"Suzu, you're here. I have the whole day planned out well what's left of it anyways."

Nunnally begins to explain her itinerary to Suzaku as she gets comfortable on his lap.

Lelouch has to prepare himself for his next audience with the emperor. This one will have a less formal setting but is still as important. Before attending the meeting he has to assure himself of one small issue. It will not be easy. At least that is what he believes. Lelouch enters the restaurant where the other girls are having lunch. He sees them in the distance and can tell that they see him. He simply takes Nunnally's seat which is besides Euphemia who smiles and looks at Lelouch.

"Lulu, let me see this list that Lady Marianne gave you."

Lelouch smirks coyly and points at Carolina.

"There it is."

Kallen flings some of her food at Lelouch.

"That was the worst proposal I have ever heard."

Euphemia looks horrified.

"Lulu, was that a marriage proposal to Carolina?"

Lelouch slides a small case across the table.

"No this is."

Carolina opens the case and pulls out the ring. Underneath the ring holder is a piece of paper which she puts away.

Euphemia continues her grumbling.

"This isn't very romantic."

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders.

"Who has time to be romantic?" Lelouch stands up, "I will leave the details to you."

After Lelouch leaves, the others girls glance at Carolina putting on her engagement ring. She can tell that Milly and Euphemia seem the most disturbed by this. Kallen smiles as she takes Carolina's hand and looks down at the ring. A small crowd gathers around them because a few people recognize Lelouch. Everyone gasps at the ring.

As Lelouch leaves the restaurant, he knows that he is going to have to make it up to Carolina with something more formal, but at least she seems receptive to the idea. Now he can inform the emperor of this. He hopes that the gossips will get the word out before Lelouch can tell his parents about his decision. Before his meeting with the emperor, he has a video conference with Jeremiah about the situation in Africa. He also sends his congratulations to Kewell.

Lelouch is meeting the emperor in the Exelica Garden. Once again the only other person there is Bismarck. Lelouch can tell by the emperor's slight smirk that the gossip has reached his ears and most likely his mother's as well. Despite seeming like such a tough, callous, indifferent person in public and to his children, Lelouch has seen his father in private with his mother and knows that the man has a soft side. A stupid man would go as far as to say that the emperor is a whipped man. Lelouch is not a stupid man. He bows as he approaches the emperor. Lelouch reminds himself that when he is emperor, he will not make his children go through this.

"I am here as you requested, your majesty."

The emperor signals for Lelouch to rise. He does so slowly. Lelouch is wearing his ceremonial military uniform and despite being in the presence of the emperor, he is allowed to bring his sword. Lelouch dresses in this manner to remind the emperor of his accomplishments and the fact that there is still a war going on while one of Britannia's best generals stands here in Pendragon. After a few minutes of silence the emperor decides to speak.

"I am sure you have heard that Schniezel is negotiating peace with the EU and what is left of Africa."

"Is that wise, your majesty?"

They know that this is how Schniezel plays the game. Little by little he chips away at the EU. After a few months of war, he seeks to negotiate a cease fire. The emperor begins to walk so obviously Lelouch follows him.

"Do you have another solution?"

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders.

"I will accede to the experience of Schniezel and Cornelia."

"Very well. Now we will get to the reason for our meeting, your reward for your victories."

"Yes, your majesty."

"We will allow you to make suggestions."

Lelouch pauses for a moment and continues. He was not expecting the emperor to give him the option of choosing his reward.

"If that is what your majesty wishes. I wish to marry Carolina Sforza, the Duchess of Alberta. I believe that it is in concurrence with our last meeting."

The emperor nods and continues to walk. He is about to signal for Bismarck when he notices that Lelouch is not following him.

"I also wish to be the decision maker when it comes to the marriages of my younger siblings. I believe that my own choices for marriage prove that I am a good judge in choosing suitable partners."

The request stuns the emperor for a moment. Lelouch is hoping for just such reaction. His mother will not be happy with this request. Lelouch can see a slight smirk on his father's face. Lelouch's statement is not a lie. His marriages to Kallen and Milly have pushed Britannia far ahead in the technology race. His marriage to Carolina will give the royal family even more control of the economy particularly the agricultural sector

"Very well, but that includes Euphemia."

"As you wish your majesty."

"So you will go forward with her marriage to Kururugi."

Lelouch nods, "The contracts have been signed. The marriage has been approved by both sides. The marriage was announced several months ago as was the wedding date. I see no reason to back out now."

The emperor waves at Lelouch giving him permission to leave. Lelouch bows and leaves. Lelouch wasn't expecting the meeting to go so easy. It almost seems like he used his geass on his father. Of course now Cornelia will be upset because he will choose to push Euphemia's marriage forward. However that doesn't bother because Lelouch has other things to deal with.

* * *

During their week stay in Pendragon Marianne avoids Lelouch for the most part. She is not happy with what the emperor has given Lelouch. Unfortunately for Lelouch, Schniezel has negotiated a cease fire with the EU and being one of the commanders, Lelouch is forced to participate in a victory parade. It is a part of Deithard's plan to make Lelouch the accessible hero. Lelouch and company slip out of Pendragon a few hours before Schniezel and Cornelia arrive.

On the way back to Area 10, Lelouch is having a video conference with Jeremiah, Villetta, Kewell, and Carmina. They are discussing the situation in Africa as well as Kewell and Carmina's upcoming wedding. Lelouch is looking at down at his calendar.

"Wait Mina, did you say August 18?"

"Yes, your Luluness."

Lelouch scowls, "I have to attend the Sakuradite Conference as Britannia's official representative."

"We can move the date. I think that August 18 is too soon anyways."

"No leave it."

"Your highness, your presence will."

"My presence will take attention away from the bride and groom. I will send Nunnally and Milly as my representatives. You can of course borrow Milly to plan the wedding. I will warn you that she will plan the biggest wedding the history of mankind times three if you let her."

Milly is grumbling about how every bride deserves to be worshipped on her special day.

Carmina nods, "Very well your grand Luluness, but now you owe me."

Lelouch mockingly scoffs at this, "I am paying for the wedding after all."

"Humph that's not enough."

Lelouch begins grumbling. Jeremiah puts an end to the back and forth between Lelouch and Carmina.

"Now we know Prince Lelouch's weakness,"

"What cute girls?" Carmina preens.

Kewell has his own take on the situation.

"What spoiled nobles?"

"Hey you're supposed to be on my side."

"Oh sorry honey. I forgot."

"I'll forgive you this time."

Lelouch sighs, "I'll see you in a few days. Milly is already planning the wedding as we speak."

Lelouch cuts the connection and closes his eyes. Truth be told he would rather attend the wedding than the Sakuradite Conference. At least he gets to take Kallen to the conference.

**

* * *

**

August 20, 2016 ATB

Lelouch is leaving the Sakuradite Conference. He is accompanied by Kallen, Anya, Sancia, and Lucretia. The others are at Kewell and Carmina's wedding in Area 10. Lelouch assigns Marika and Liliana to serve as Kallen and Milly's personal guards respectively. Of course Marika has to attend her brother's wedding, and Lelouch's other siblings are there as well so Lelouch borrows a few of their knights and leaves his to attend her friend's wedding.

Lelouch's notices Kallen looking out the window. Her brother attends the conference as a representative of Japan. Kallen is sitting on the opposite side of the car with Sancia while Lucretia and Anya sit by Lelouch.

"Did you talk to him?" Lucretia asks, "Did you talk to your brother?"

Kallen shakes her head.

"No, I didn't have the opportunity."

Lucretia frowns, "Maybe big brother Lelouch can set up a meeting."

Lelouch kisses Lucretia on the forehead.

"Don't worry about it. Kallen can handle this."

Lucretia feels satisfied and snuggles up to Lelouch.

That night Lelouch and Kallen are lying in bed. Lelouch is rubbing Kallen's stomach.

"Maybe we should have a baby."

Kallen smacks him on the head.

"Sure and who's going to take care of it."

Lelouch sits up.

"Hey I didn't do such a bad job with Evelyn and the twins. Here check out their Brit Tube page."

Lelouch brings over his laptop on goes to the twins' Brit Tube page. There are several videos of the cartoon lady's (Carmina) wedding.

Lelouch quickly closes his laptop after the first video.

"Okay never mind that."

Kallen giggles, "Having a baby isn't such a bad idea. I hope by the time that it is born, mom and dad are awake."

They kiss for a few moments before engaging in the necessary activities to produce a baby.

* * *

It has been two months since Kusakabe is demoted. Oh they don't call it a demotion since he is still a colonel, but he isn't stupid. He is in charge of a third rate garrison in Yokohama. Someone like him isn't even told about the Sakuradite Conference. He has to see the highlights on TV. He turns it just in time to see Naoto slightly snubbing his sister.

"_That's telling her, Kouzuki."_

After hearing the report on the Sakuradite Conference, Kusakabe goes to turn off the TV, but stops when he hears the next headline.

"_On the heels of the Sakuradite Conference, it has been reported that Foreign Minister Sawasaki Atsushi has resigned from his post. With the earlier resignation of Suzumiya Keisuke, the last anti-Britannian member of the Kururugi cabinet has resigned. The Kururugi administration has denied that he was forced out."_

Kusakabe turns the TV off.

"_Bullshit. Damn that Kururugi. We might as well be a part of Britannia," _Kusakabe sighs.

He still has a few important friends that will help him. He just has to find an event to make a big splash.

**

* * *

**

Saturday, November 5, 2016 ATB, Tokyo, Japan

Suzaku and Euphemia's wedding is a combination of Japanese and Britannian customs. The groom and groomsmen are wearing traditional Japanese clothes while the bride and bridesmaids are wearing dresses. Schniezel and Cornelia attend to give Euphemia away. Lelouch, Gino, and the sons of other important Japanese government officials serve as groomsmen. Shirley, Nunnally, Kaguya, and the daughters of important Japanese officials serve as bridesmaids. Kallen and Milly are in Area 10 for obvious reasons.

As Lelouch walks down with Shirley, he can't help but notice how beautiful she looks. However Nunnally's glare from the front turns Lelouch's thoughts to something else. Those who aren't standing now stand for the bride. Anya wanted to walk Euphemia down alone since she is her knight, but Lelouch manages to talk her out of it. Anya agrees and now is standing on the side taking pictures. Cornelia and Schniezel walk in front of Euphemia sort of shielding her from those in the front. Cornelia and Schniezel are both ignoring Lelouch who could care less. Lelouch tries to avoid looking at Euphemia as she walks up to Suzaku. He lets out a small sigh as the ceremony begins.

* * *

Author's note: So I was originally going the three weddings this chapter (Carmina, Euphemia, Carolina), but the thing with Lelouch and the emperor took a lot of space. I was still going to squeeze them in, but I figured that some people would get pissed if I only gave Carolina's wedding a paragraph. I will develop Lelouch's relationship with her in the next chapter. Isn't Lelouch romantic? If you are unsatisfied with Lelouch's proposal, does anyone remember how he proposed to Kallen or Milly? I'm pretty sure it was something like. We need to get married or the emperor is going to disown me.

Despite the fact that the Suzaku/Euphemia wedding lost in the poll, I still went with it because the poll was close enough. I would like to know why people voted the way they voted. Sometimes I think that people are influenced by the late 20th/early 21st century way of thinking about marriage. At times it is hard for people to really visualize what an arranged marriage is like. Or do you people just dislike the pairing.

Charles ordered Lelouch to make Japan his. He didn't say anything about conquering it. Just in case you are wondering. If you live in Japan, prepare to be toyed with emotionally. Lelouch is going to make you his bitch and you're going to love it. It goes without saying that this will eventually be extended to the rest of the world.

Lelouch had to have gotten his gambling habit and knowledge of how to do it from somewhere. Schniezel makes the most sense. Either that or some crazy uncle. Hooray for crazy uncles.

The quote as noted above is from the book of Job. The same sequence except for the ending takes place in chapter 1 as well. Despite knowing the answer God asks Satan where he is coming from because he wants to hear it in Satan's own words. The same applies to Charles and Lelouch. Having spoken to a deceased Clovis over in the Thought Elevator, Charles has an idea of what Lelouch is doing, but wants to hear him say it. Lelouch chooses to quote Satan because the name means adversary. In other words Lelouch is confessing to his father that he is his adversary. I can also mean accuser but adversary is the best meaning here. I think we know that Lelouch has no problem with being identified as a demon if it means that those he loves will live in peace. Ironically as we see from Charles and Marianne's conversation, Charles also sees himself as the adversary of the gods of this world. So from Charles's point of view Lelouch is the Job figure of his world. Someone who will be unfairly judged but will thrive after Ragnarök is complete.

If anyone is wondering about Charles's character, let me say that he is losing his mind. He is also messing with everyone else by giving Lelouch more or less what he wants. I am about a year away from cannon. By this time Charles was already withdrawing from the world. He just needed to find CC and gain control of the other Thought Elevators to activate Ragnarök. In this story he doesn't even have VV. Although he does have Marianne but while not a perfect mother, she still worries about her children so in a way her loyalties are divided. Charles is withdrawing to find a way to activate Ragnarök without having any code bearers. Also by this time it is more or less becoming evident that Lelouch and Schniezel will battle for throne whether or not Charles is dead. At this point it is too late to simply put Lelouch and Schniezel down without fracturing Britannia.

Pendragon is shown a few times during the series. At first it is hard to tell what you are looking at. But when you compare it to the aerial pictures of the Tokyo settlement, then it makes sense. Pendragon is a series of plates at the center and top of which is Saint Darwin Street. This is where the palaces to the royal family are located. Below this section are probably the houses and businesses of those that deal with the royal family as well as military installations. This pattern continues further down the plates and away from the center until you get the section where the lower classes live. In Area settlements, outside of the plates are the ghettos. This gives most settlements a square or rectangular shape. The only comparison I can think of, although there may be others, is Midgar from Final Fantasy VII.

An image on the Code Geass Wikia page shows that the Palace may be as high as a mountain and reaches into the clouds. It's a little hard to tell. There is also separation from the actual city of Pendragon. If you feel like looking at the picture, here is two links to where it is located.

.com/wiki/Holy_Britannian_Empire  
.com/wiki/Pendragon

If you have been reading each chapter until the end, then you know sometimes I talk about other animes that I watch down here. I recently watched Guren Lagan. I caught it on Syfy a few weeks again. Then I found out my brother has Netflix which has several animes on it so at first I watched the episodes of Guren Lagan that I had missed. Then I got bored so I watched the entire series. They have Code Geass but you can only get the DVD, you can't watch it online. I don't want to give away much of the plot, but I see a similarity between what the Anti-spiral race does to itself and Ragnarök. Both are instances in which there is no advancement for the race and one consciousness controls the group. I actually got the part about Lelouch ruling after Ragnarök from what Bismarck told Schniezel as the emperor is trying to activate it. The Guren Lagan Anti-Spiral thing gave me a visual of what it would be like after Ragnarök and all humans are merged as one with no advancement possible. The only problem I really had with it was what happens to some characters namely Simon and Yoko at the end.


	59. Wait so who's getting married pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

I didn't mention it but the Sakuradite Conference did take place in Japan. This becomes important for obvious reasons. To answer a question from a reviewer, can Lelouch be any more awesome? I think he can.

...

A man in love is not complete until he is married. Then he is finished.  
Zsa Zsa Gabor

...

A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy.  
George Jean Nathan

**

* * *

**

Saturday, November 5, 2016 ATB, Tokyo, Japan

Cornelia is dancing with Lelouch at the moment. She can't help but notice how much he has grown since the last time she saw him which was at his wedding to Miss Ashford only a few months ago. It could also be that they have spent so little time together these past few years. Cornelia tries not to seem unhappy about the arrangement. Everything seems just too perfect. Lelouch has not avoided Euphemia. Suzaku has not avoided Cornelia or any of the other girls here. Everybody dances. Everybody seems happy, a little too happy. Cornelia sighs as the song ends. Lelouch is nothing but polite and courteous to her. Almost like he is trying to court her. Cornelia wonders if Lelouch planned his dances out. He seems to be dividing his time between Nunnally, Carolina Sforza, and Shirley Fennette for the most part.

Cornelia decides to test her theory by keeping Lelouch for another dance. Lelouch doesn't make an effort to leave. Cornelia keeps scanning the room. Suzaku and Euphemia are sitting at their table talking with Schniezel and Merlin Suzerain, the Knight of Two. She sees her brother, Edward, dancing with Miss Fennette. The Knight of Twelve, Gino Weinberg is dancing with Miss Sforza. Cornelia scans the room and sees her little siblings' knights around the room. They all seem very observant. She wonders where Jeremiah is. She has not seen him in several months. After the song ends, Cornelia releases Lelouch who immediately walks over to Nunnally for a dance. Cornelia wonders what they are talking about.

Cornelia walks over to Guilford. She keeps looking around and sees a few Japanese soldiers. Two, a colonel and lieutenant, stand out in particular. Cornelia looks at the colonel because he looks familiar. Schniezel walks over and distracts Cornelia.

"Looking at the potential competition sister," Schniezel jests.

Cornelia shakes her head.

"That colonel look familiar."

"Which one?"

Cornelia points at who she is talking about.

"Oh that one that is because he is our dear brother's brother-in-law."

Guilford tries not to spit out his drink.

"You mean that man is Lord Stadtfeld's son."

Schniezel nods. Cornelia ponders the situation.

"I wonder how much damage our sister-in-law would do if she was on the other side."

Schniezel wonders the same things. If not for the constant warring with the EU that is part of Schniezel's overall strategy to defeat them, Japan and its supply of sakuradite would long have been conquered by Britannia. It also helps that the Kururugi administration has given in to Britannia's constant demands.

* * *

After dancing with Nunnally, Lelouch decides to take a break. He looks around for someone in particular. Once he finds his objective he walks in that direction. Lelouch's walk takes him out to a balcony.

"_Colonel Kouzuki, Lieutenant Futaba, it is a pleasure to find you well," _Lelouch smirks as he says this.

He can even see the look of disgust on Ichiro's face.

Naoto tries to ignore Lelouch, but he is blocking the way out.

Lelouch continues, _"Colonel Futaba, I hope that your family is doing well."_

Naoto responds to this, _"Watch out, Ichiro. This bastard might want to steal your sisters."_

Lelouch grins, _"How do you know I haven't already?"_

Which of course Lelouch has but Naoto does not need to know that. Since the Japanese soldiers stay quiet, Lelouch continues.

"_Kallen sends her regards," _Lelouch begins to rub his stomach, _"She was unable to come for obvious reasons."_

Lelouch stops just short of saying that Naoto is about to become an uncle, maybe. Naoto grinds his teeth,

"_If you weren't a prince"_

"_If I wasn't a prince, what. You would still get your assed kicked."_

Naoto looks like nothing will stop him from knocking Lelouch out or at least attempting it.

"Lelouch, that will be quite enough."

Naoto notices Cornelia at the entrance to the balcony.

_"No it isn't. I have not yet begun," _Lelouch ignores his older sister, "_Perhaps we can settle this with knightmares. My Io versus your Gekka. Can you set something up Lieutenant Futaba?"_

Ichiro nods, _"Yes your highness I will set something up." _

Cornelia feels someone behind her. She sees the five vi Britannia knights standing there.

"Your highness, it is time."

"Very well Lucretia. I will be there in a few moments," Lelouch turns to face Naoto and sneers as he walks past Cornelia ignoring her.

"Lucretia, is the car here?"

"Yes your highness, the vehicle if waiting outside to transport you home."

"Take the kids and Nunnally down to the car. I will assist Anya in securing Suzaku and Euphemia."

The five vi Britannia knights go to secure the four younger vi Britannias with relative ease, well relative for the vi Britannias. Cornelia is looking pensive as she comes over to Lelouch .

"Are you going back to Area 10 already? I would have thought that you would at least let the newlyweds spend a night here."

Lelouch looks at Cornelia confused.

"What are you talking about? We are staying here for a few days. Did you forget that we own a house here? Milly's grandparents still run Ashford Academy here not to mention the fact that Kallen still has a house here. In case you are wondering that is where the newlyweds are spending the night."

This is not entirely true but Lelouch knows Cornelia's plans and the fact that she does not have time to stay here another day.

"I see."

"Do you want to spend the night, sister? You can always leave in the morning."

Cornelia thinks about it.

"I'm afraid I cannot stay another day. We are only at ceasefire with the EU. Tensions are still high with the Middle East Federation and what is left of the North Africa League," Cornelia leans in and whispers, "If I were you, I would prepare to mobilize my troops once more."

Before Lelouch can respond, Schniezel comes over to take Cornelia away.

"Cornelia, are you ready to depart?"

Lelouch responds, "I can take my big sister in a few minutes. Surely the plane will not be ready by the time you arrive. It will only be a few minutes more. There are a few things that I would like to speak with her about. I can provide her with transportation to the airport."

Schniezel looks unsure.

"We really need to return."

"If it is a problem then perhaps, Cornelia can travel back in the Boudicca."

Schniezel slightly frowns before recovering and smiling.

"No, that will not be necessary. I will make certain that the jet waits for Cornelia. We also have many things to discuss on our trip."

With that Schniezel leaves. Lucretia and Sancia come back for Lelouch.

"Your highness, Lady Alstriem has informed us that the newlyweds are on the way."

"Thank you Sancia," Lelouch turns his attention to Cornelia, "We can discuss the matter on the way to the airport, sister."

Cornelia takes Lelouch's outstretched arm and allows him to lead her to his car. Sancia, Lucretia, and Guilford follow. Once everyone is in the car, Lelouch's two knights begin to work a series of controls. Cornelia now has no doubt that all five vi Britannia knights as well as Euphemia's all work for Lelouch. Lelouch puts on some odd looking gloves and activates a map that appears in the center of the car. Lelouch uses the gloves to manipulate the map around as Sancia and Lucretia continue to work some controls.

"Ah here it is!" Lelouch exclaims as he brings up the Middle East Federation, "Are these numbers up to date?"

Sancia answers, "Yes your highness,"

"Very well then." Lelouch brings up another map of northwest Africa. "As you probably know there have been skirmishes every day with the what is left of the North African League and West African Union which have combined for defense purposes. The Middle East Federation has held back, but appears to be gathering troops for an attack."

Cornelia and Guilford appear pensive. The always ready bespectacled knight is taking notes.

"Our conquests in the central and south Africa are still unruly, and the EU is still able to get supplies to the few local rebel militias. I believe that the Chinese Federation is also assisting the Middle East Federation. It benefits them to keep us occupied."

"What do you suggest?"

"Before we move on to the EU proper, we need to finish off Africa. Schniezel will most likely continue working here in the west. His current strategy of divide and conquer, war and peace won't work. I doubt if they would go for any peace overtures once war is declared," Lelouch pauses for effect, "We will need to finish them off and then turn our attention to Europe."

Cornelia looks at the maps and sees the troop movements. Darlton stayed behind in Area 15 to guard against any possible attacks.

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

"If we wait until summer again, our forces will have to fight in heat that many of them are not accustomed to. Attacking over the next several months gives us an element of surprise. I have been studying the ceasefire agreement, and it plainly excludes the EU's allies so we are a liberty to strike at them. This will, of course, force the EU to come to their rescue."

"Yes this puts in a similar situation."

"Not quite. I am working on a solution."

"We have reached the airport, your highnesses."

"Thank you Lucretia.."

Cornelia looks intrigued and almost decides to stay.

"Very well Lelouch. Send me any further recommendations you may have," Guilford steps out to secure the area for Cornelia who stays seated for a moment. "You will take care of Euphie, wont you Lelouch?"

Lelouch smiles, "Of course, she is my little sister as well."

Lelouch gives Cornelia a peck on the cheek as she exits the car. As Cornelia walks towards the jet, Lucretia hands her a USB storage drive and a note. Cornelia didn't even notice when the quiet blonde leave the car. She notices that Sancia is also out of car looking around. Both girls easily match Guilford's intensity. Once Cornelia is aboard the jet, the car drives off.

* * *

Kusakabe scowls at the missed opportunity. Kururugi's wedding to the Britannian princess is the prefect time to strike. The only problem is that he has no idea where it is being held. When he does find out where it is being held, it is too late. He also discovers that Naoto is at the wedding. As much as he wants to hurt Britannia, he doesn't want to hurt Naoto's career. The others, he could care less about. He will have to bide his time until another opportunity presents itself.

* * *

Suzaku is traveling alone to the 'Lamperouge' household. He spending the night in the guest house which is bit of a misnomer since it is a pretty big building. Suzaku wonders why Lelouch had it built. Suzaku tries not to make too much noise as he enters the house. He wonders where Euphemia is. More importantly he wonders where Nunnally is, but that question is answered as he enters the main bedroom.

"Nunn-Nunnally, what are you doing here?"

Nunnally grins, "I'm here to keep you company Suzu."

Suzaku tries not to look too much at Nunnally who is wearing something a little risqué for her age. Nunnally notices that Suzaku is avoiding looking at her.

"Do you like what I'm wearing, Suzu? Milly bought it for me."

Suzaku sighs, "You look cute."

Nunnally frowns, "That's it. I think I look sexy."

Suzaku keeps reminding himself that Nunnally is only thirteen and off limits.

"Your brother is going to kill me if he knows that you are here."

Nunnally shakes her head and moves closer to Suzaku.

"Don't worry about him. He is quite preoccupied at the moment."

Then Suzaku remembers the actual danger.

"Forget Lelouch, where's Alice?"

Suzaku begins to look around for Nunnally's knight who like Anya takes her job quite seriously. Nunnally smiles as she leans into Suzaku.

"Don't worry about Alice. She knows how much this means to me," Nunnally begins to move her fingers up Suzaku's chest. "She knows how much you mean to me."

"Nunners, please."

Nunnally turns her face up towards Suzaku's.

"Don't you feel the same way?"

"Nunnally, you're too young."

"I know but I'll always be yours, Suzu. You'll wait for me, won't you?"

Suzaku as no idea how Lelouch is going to pull this off, but he promised that Suzaku will get to have Nunnally when she is of age. It is part of Lelouch's deal with the emperor who none of the vi Britannias call father.

"I'll try my best, Nunners."

"That will do."

Nunnally releases Suzaku from her intoxicating grip. Not only did Milly buy her new sleepwear, but she must have gotten her some perfume.

Nunnally walks towards the bed but spins around before reaching it.

"Very well sir. We will seal the deal with a fight."

Suzaku blinks and looks down at his and then Nunnally's clothes.

"We should probably change first."

Nunnally smirks, "Why are you afraid of me?"

Suzaku shakes his head.

"No but Alice will definitely kill me if I fight you while you are wearing that."

"Damn right, I'll will."

Suzaku isn't surprised that Alice is nearby.

"Alice, I told you to wait in the other room!" Nunnally exclaims.

"I brought you and your lover," Alice snickers, "some clothes to fight in."

Alice hands them their clothes and directs Suzaku to the bathroom so that he can change. Once Nunnally is ready, Suzaku steps out of the bathroom. Alice acts as their referee.

Later that night an exhausted Suzaku is lying with Nunnally on his side. Alice decides that they are both to tired to try anything. Suzaku figures that Alice is more afraid of Nunnally trying something than she is of Suzaku.

* * *

Euphie is still in her wedding dress. After leaving the reception she and Suzaku came to Stadtfeld manor. Suzaku leaves a few minutes after they arrive. She doesn't know where he is going. Euphemia sighs as she consider what just occurred. She wonders what things would have been like if she had given Suzaku a chance from the beginning. Although then she would have to compete with Nunnally for his attentions and that would get vicious. She stops those thoughts because she is utterly happy with how things turn out. She is free from any political machinations, and she gets to preserve Suzaku for Nunnally. Euphie sighs as she spins around remembering the songs from the wedding. Because it is her wedding, they allow her to sip a little wine. As Euphie spins, she bumps into something or more precisely someone. She figures it is most likely Anya.

"Sorry Anya."

Euphie looks over at who she runs into and is surprised a little.

"Lulu, what are you doing here?"

Lelouch smiles as she puts his arms around Euphie.

"Why, I am here to help you celebrate your wedding night."

Lelouch kisses Euphie on the head and carries her to the bed.

"Lulu, how did you get past Anya? She can get pretty feisty."

"I bribed her with candy," Lelouch laughs, "Euphie, Anya works for me."

Lelouch lays Euphie down on the bed.

"Anything else you want to say or ask before we get started."

Euphie gasps as Lelouch begins to kiss her. She manages to get something out.

"Wait Lulu," Euphie pauses and whimpers, "Go easy on me."

Later that night an exhausted Lelouch is holding Euphie in his arms contemplating what he just did.

"There is no turning back now."

* * *

In the morning Euphie gets up a little sore from the previous night's activities. She heads for the shower. Luckily the guest bedroom where they spent the night has an adjacent one. She wonders if anyone slept in Kallen's room. She is pretty sure that Lelouch did not come alone. He probably brought along a few subordinates. It is even possible that he brought the kids with him. Euphie skips along the hallway towards the living room. She sees Lucretia and Sancia sitting at a table eating breakfast. Lelouch and Anya are sitting on a couch. She is playing with some new electronic toy. It is most likely Lelouch's bribe from last night. Lelouch is sitting there working on his laptop. He signals for Euphie to sit down beside him. Euphie lays her head down next to Lelouch. She looks at his screen. Everything is in Japanese.

"What are you looking at, Lulu?"

"I'm looking over my Japanese companies."

Euphie looks a little confused.

"I thought you were going to sell them."

Lelouch smirks and strokes Euphie's hair.

"Silly Euphie. Of course I did, but then I bought different ones."

"Oh I see."

Lelouch bends down and kisses Euphie's forehead.

"I am not Cornelia, Euphie. I know that you are very capable."

Euphie puts her arms around Lelouch.

"I know Lulu."

Lelouch gets serious.

"But for know we will not create the Special Administrative Zone of Manila. We will wait until things are right for that."

Euphie sits up and notices that Anya stops typing on her little gadget.

Lelouch ignores their silent communication and continues his work.

"Don't worry, Anya didn't say a word. I figured it out on my own," Lelouch pauses to find the right words, "Let's just say that it is in your nature to try something like this."

Then Lelouch pulls out a paper with the headline in big bold letters saying: **AREA 11: SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE ZONE OF MANILA.**

"Be careful where you leave your paperwork. Next time it might be someone other than Evelyn or Nunnally that finds it."

Euphie takes the paper and wants to argue with Lelouch about it but realizes that it will do no good because he has made up his mind about the subject. Euphie lies back down. Later in the day they head over to the Lamperouge house where the others are waiting.

**

* * *

**

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 ATB, Tokyo, Japan

It takes a few days for Naoto to clear the knightmare duel between Lelouch and himself. They head over to the knightmare training ground. Lelouch brings everyone over to see the duel. To make sure that things are acceptable, both sides are allowed to inspect the other's knightmare. Naoto sends Tohdoh and Senba to look at the Io. Villetta is their guide. Lelouch sends Sancia and Lucretia to look over the Gekka. Ichiro is their guide. He really wants to send in Evelyn and the twins but knows that the Japanese will perceive that as an insult.

Naoto nervously walks over to his Gekka.

_"What do you think, Ichiro? Do you think I stand a chance?"_

Ichiro looks over at Lelouch who is discussing something with the female member of the Four Holy Swords.

_"Sir, if you last more than five minutes, it will because he is toying with you. If you last twenty minutes, then it is because you have skill. I doubt you will allow yourself to last that long."_

Ichiro smirks and walks away. Naoto sighs and goes up into his Gekka.

Tohdoh is inspecting the prince's Io and notices that there are a lot of controls. He turns to a technician who he hopes speaks Japanese

"_Why are there so many controls in here?"_

The technician looks in there and pushes a button.

"_There you go sir. Things are in the basic arrangement now. From what I hear the prince likes things to be complicated so the knightmare manufacturers made these extra controls. They really don't do much except give him greater control over every little detail of the knightmare." _

"_Are all his knightmare like this?"_

The technician looks pensive.

"_I suppose so. I have only worked with the Ios here in Tokyo."_

Tohdoh thanks the man and goes to join the others in the viewing area. He sees is compatriots standing to the side while the Britannians take the best seats. It makes sense since they are children. For some reason Suzaku is not sitting with his bride but is instead sitting with her little sister. Tohdoh remembers that they were sparing partners back when Suzaku was his student. The new Misses Kururugi and one of the other Britannian girls are settling the children down. The other Britannians are behind them. The little black haired princess, the scary one as Senba calls her, is grumbling about something. Tohdoh leans in to listen because she is speaking in very understandable Japanese.

"_Why don't they put someone good out there against big brother?"_

The little twins agree.

Urabe sneers, _"Who would you rather see out there?"_

Evelyn points in Suzaku and Nunnally's direction. Everyone thinks that she means Suzaku, but of course she doesn't.

"_Sister Nunnally."_

The twins agree with her. Even Suzaku slightly nods his head at the suggestion.

Urabe scoffs, _"So you think Kouzuki has no chance. That it will be over quickly."_

The kids giggle a little. This time the other Britannians and Suzaku join them. Tohdoh looks down at as the final preparations are being made.

"_What do you think will happen?"_

This time Nunnally answers, _"Sensei Tohdoh if it was you or one of your subordinates, brother would defeat you quickly,"_ Nunnally points out to the Gekka, _"But him, big brother will toy with him until he decides that Colonel Kouzuki has been humiliated enough."_

**Naoto's Gekka  
**Characteristics  
Height: 4.56 meters  
Weight: 7.95 metric tons  
Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Design Features:  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Back-inbuilt Chaff smoke Dispensing System

Armament:  
1x Revolving Blade Sword  
1x Left Arm-mounted Custom Hand Gun  
2x Chest-mounted Slash Harkens  
1x Right Arm-mounted Rocket Launcher

**Fourth generation Io  
**(this means that it is the fourth generation of Ios in production not that it is a fourth generation knightmare)

**General characteristics  
**Height**:** 5.14 meters  
Weigh**t:** 7.45 metric tones  
Power Source**:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
Color: black

**Design Features  
**Cockpit ejection system  
Factsphere sensor  
Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament  
**4x Slash Harken (2 shoulder mounted, 2 hip mounted)  
2x chest mounted Missile Launcher  
1x Torso-mounted antipersonnel machine gun  
2 x Stun Tonfa  
1x maser vibration sword

**Optional Armaments  
**2x Assault Rifle  
1x Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle  
Multiplex Chaos Mine(s)

Naoto looks over the specs of the two knightmares. For the most part they are pretty even. There are two differences: the Io is taller but the Gekka is slightly heavier. The Io also has a slightly bigger armament. Naoto moves in slowly hoping that Lelouch makes the first move which he does.

Lelouch notices that Naoto is holding back waiting for him to attack first. A wish which he kindly obliges by firing his assault rifle. Lelouch moves in to corner Naoto but the Japanese soldier moves the Gekka quickly out of the way. Lelouch uses his MVS to hack at the Naoto's left arm disabling the hand gun. Naoto quickly responds by firing a slash harken at Lelouch's MVS. Lelouch's transfers power to his left arm and catches the slash harken breaking it.

Suzaku and the others continue to watch as Lelouch toys with Naoto. Suzaku tries not to appear to unhappy about the fact Edward and Shirley are getting close. He had been hoping that the orangette would help him pass the time while he waits for Nunnally to come of age. Now it seems as certain busybodies are playing matchmaker. After about five or so minutes Lelouch puts Naoto out of his misery. It seems as if Naoto did get a few good hits despite the fact that he is going against one of the best knightmare pilots in the world. Suzaku notices that the Holy Swords are in awe at Lelouch's dismantling of Naoto. Suzaku notices that Tohdoh is looking at him so he turns to face him.

"_Suzaku, how many knightmares can he take down by himself?"_

Suzaku ignores the fact that Tohdoh just called him by his first name and concentrates on the question which has many factors to it. He decides to answer the question in the manner that his sensei wants it answered.

"_Lelouch could crush anyone you put before him. No weapon is a match for the one he has in his head. As for number of knightmares. In the Mordred probably a had dozen or so."_

Tohdoh nods as the other Britannians go to congratulate Lelouch.

**

* * *

**

Saturday, December 17, 2016 ATB, Duchy of Alberta, in the outskirts of Calgary

Despite Lelouch's advice, Schniezel and Cornelia are waiting to attack. Either that or they are simply keeping Lelouch out of their planning. At the moment he and the kids are visiting Carolina's home. Kallen and Milly wisely decide to stay home in Area 10 while Jeremiah and Kewell are still representing Lelouch in Area 18 (southern Africa). Carmina wisely takes the opportunity to visit Pendragon where the weather is reasonable at this time of year. Euphemia and Anya are still in Area 11 behaving at the moment. Suzaku continues to run tests in the Lancelot.

"It is sooooo boring here," complains Nunnally for the millionth time.

"I heard you the first billion times Nunnally," Lelouch responds.

"Well it is."

The kids ignore Nunnally because they are having fun with the friends. Ayame is bundled up in the corner. After two years in Area 10, the western Area 2 weather is quite a shock.

"I don't know if it's boring but is sure is cold. Couldn't we have visited in the summer."

Nunnally shakes her head.

"No I bet it is still boring then."

Lelouch doesn't disagree but rather continues his work. If Schniezel and Cornelia don't want to do what needs to be done, Lelouch will go to the emperor himself. Although he will wait until after New Years for that. Another reason why they are here is because Carolina turned over the planning of their wedding to Milly who wants them out of the country. So they have been here for two weeks and everyone is anxious to return home.

"We are returning on Monday so you only have to put up with a few more days."

Nunnally continues her grumbling.

**

* * *

**

February 14, 2017

, **Saigon Palace, Area 10**

Lelouch is actually glad that it is all over. Milly decides to move Carolina's wedding to her birthday which happens to fall on Valentine's Day. It happens to fall on a Tuesday which of course doesn't matter to Milly. Everyone that matters is there for the wedding. The participants are almost the same ones from Suzaku and Euphemia's wedding except for the Japanese government official's children and Edward, Isabelle, Luciano, and Aphrodite take their place Not that any of that matters because according to Milly the only thing that matters on the wedding day is the bride. Carolina dress is traditional. It happens to be the dress worn by her grandmother (also the grandmother of Edward, Isabelle, Miranda, and Emily). For Lelouch there are other more important matters to worry about beyond this marriage.

Suzaku steps out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. By some miracle Lelouch and Carolina have snuck off, leaving the others to the whims of Milly's insanity. Since it is Tuesday, the kids including Nunnally are sent to bed early. Suzaku notices that there is someone else out on the balcony. He wonders who it is and moves slowly until he sees the orange hair.

"Oh Shirley, it's you."

Shirley turns around smiles at Suzaku.

"Are you tired of the party too?"

Suzaku simply nods. He approaches the orangette and puts his arms around her. Shirley sighs and pushes Suzaku away.

"Please Suzaku, we can't because…"

Suzaku scowls, "Because you're dating Edward."

Shirley shakes her head.

"No, it isn't that. Let's not forget about the fact that you're married to Euphie."

Suzaku lick is lips.

"Come one Shirley. You know as well as I do that my marriage is about business. Euphie and I don't love each other. We never did."

Shirley know all of this but things have changed since she and Suzaku last spent time together.

"Suzaku, things have changed."

"One thing hasn't changed."

Suzaku puts his arms around Shirley once more and kisses her. After the kiss, Shirley tries a different tactic.

"Suzaku, what about, Nunna?"

"She knows that I have needs. She won't mind if we do it just this one time. After tomorrow, I am leaving for the front. The emperor has finally decided to allow Lelouch in on the war with the EU and its allies."

"But Lelouch just got married."

Suzaku shrugs his shoulders.

"That kind of stuff doesn't matter to the emperor. Lelouch is off to the front just like the rest of us."

Shirley looks pensive, and Suzaku takes the opportunity to put his arms around Shirley one more.

"Just leave your door open if you want to remember old times."

Suzaku leaves Shirley alone on the balcony thinking about everything. While she has gone out on a few dates with Edward, there really isn't anything there because Edward is so shy. One last fling with Suzaku can't hurt.

* * *

**March 3, 2017**

Lelouch and Carolina's honeymoon is spent aboard the Excalibur. She knows relatively what she has gotten herself into. Despite the emperor's orders, the majority of Lelouch's force is still in southern Africa. Even Suzaku and the Lancelot have not seen action. Lelouch spends most of his time in meeting planning theoretical attacks and counterattacks. Things are not perfect but at least Carolina has Lelouch all to herself. The others are back in Saigon.

...

Shirley is walking aimlessly around Saigon Palace. Since Lelouch and Carolina's wedding and Suzaku's departure, Shirley and Edward have resumed their dating. Shirley wonders where it will all lead to. At the moment Shirley has a bigger concern because she is late. Not late to a meeting but rather late in the girl way. She isn't sure what to do about it. Her first instinct is to leave, but she knows that Milly will want her to stay. Not paying attention to where she is going, Shirley bumps in to someone.

"Hu-hu Hi Shirley."

Shirley smiles, "Hello Edward."

"How are you?"

Shirley sighs and sits down.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

"Oh about what?"

"I was thinking of leaving,"

"Why!" Edward yelps.

Shirley is a little taken back by Edwards's tone shrugs her shoulders.

"Everyone is nice but, I just don't fit in here."

"I thought that things were going well. I thought that we were getting along."

Shirley tries not to let her emotions get the best of her but fails slightly. Edward notices Shirley holding back tears as she rests a hand over her stomach. He sits down beside her.

"Shirley, what's wrong? You can tell me."

Shirley shakes her head.

"Edward, just forget about me. I'm no good for you. I"

Edward stops Shirley from continuing by kissing her.

"Shirley, I think that I love, love."

Edward begins to inhale and exhale rather harshly. Over in the next room Isabelle and both sets of twins are watching. Isabelle scowls because her brother can't finish what he is trying to say.

"Darn I was on my way to bring Edward his inhaler when he bumped into Shirley."

Miranda winks at Pollux who activates his geass and takes the inhaler from Isabelle and wisely puts in Shirley's hand.

Edward is looking frantically for his inhaler when he sees it in Shirley's hand. Shirley notices the inhaler in her hand.

"How did this get here?"

Edward takes the inhaler and uses it.

"Shirley, I think I love you and well."

Edward begins to look for something. Shirley takes the inhaler and begins use it because she thinks that she knows what Edward is about to ask. Edward begins to look for something in his jacket.

Isabelle scowls once more because she has what Edward needs, again. Pollux sighs and takes the box from Isabelle's hand to Edward's. Pollux kicks Edward in the knee and scurries out of the room.

After Pollux releases his geass, Edward feels the pain from the kick and drops to his knee. He wonders how the box got into his hand. He gathers himself and lifts up the box just as Milly, Kallen, Nunnally, and Evelyn enter the room. Meanwhile still in the next room Castor focused his geass on Shirley, and she begins to see images of her wonderful life with Edward. Shirley responds before Edward can even ask.

"Yes Edward, I will marry you."

All the other girls cheer as Shirley takes the ring from Edward and places it on her hand. Isabelle comes in to the room feigning surprise at the turn of events. Evelyn slips out to check up on the twins who are being praised by the girlfriends for their aid. Evelyn smirks when she sees her little brothers. Her smirk dissipates when Ayame and Jinta arrive because Evelyn runs towards Jinta.

Once everyone settles down, they begin to discuss a celebration to announce the wedding. Of course Milly volunteers her talents and Lelouch's money for everything. Edward and Shirley agree to keep everything low key. Someone remembers to inform Lelouch and Carolina about the engagement. Both of them promise to return for wedding not matter when it takes place.

**

* * *

**

Monday, March 19, 2017

Edward and Shirley's wedding takes place two weeks after his proposal. Lelouch and Carolina return to participate while Suzaku and the Lancelot are sent to Area 15 to prepare for an attack. Lelouch still has no orders from either Cornelia, Schniezel, or the emperor. Nevertheless Lelouch will take the opportunity to make his own action. He uses the wedding as an excuse to return to Area 10 and pick up a few extra soldiers and resources. On his way back in a few days Lelouch will open several new fronts in the war.

"Your highness."

"Yes Ayame."

"The packages have arrived, and your appointment is here."

"Thank Ayame. I will meet my guest out in the garden."

The packages are part of Lelouch's plan to open up the war with the EU by bringing in a new ally. Lelouch's appointment has to do with the current front in Africa and the Middle East. Despite Cornelia and Schniezel's best efforts, they have yet to make things decisive. In fact it is possible that Britannia may even lose land. Lelouch's guest is someone from Area 6 who has come up with a solution to the problem that knightmares encounter in the desert. Lelouch's small sample of experience in North Africa several years ago gives him a bit of respect for the desert. The Middle East Federation's knightmares although bulky are created with the idea of desert travel. Lelouch looks over at the Six. The man's request to patent his invention has been held back because of his social standing (nationality). Obviously he is an Honorary Britannian or Lelouch would have never been able to find out about his idea much less meet him.

"Very well Mr. Diaz. What is this sand panel that you have created?"

* * *

Author's note: Despite the fact that Lelouch is going to the Middle East Federation, Japan will come into play starting next chapter. The actual weddings are not as important as the people who got married. All four wedding that took place during the last two chapters will have consequences.

My original plan for Shirley was much more painful, but a few things got in the way. The most of important of these being that Lelouch got married to Kallen, Milly, and Carolina about a year earlier than I originally planned so there was no chance for any Lelouch/Shirley interaction. There is just too much going on around Lelouch, and Shirley really never stood a chance to be with Lelouch. Kallen and Milly are at least started out nobles. The others that will eventually be in Lelouch's harem also had advantages that Shirley could not get past. The biggest one being that she really had no time to connect with Lelouch. By the time Shirley met Lelouch, he is already beginning to like Kallen and his mother is beginning to set him up with Milly. After a year he leaves and when he returns his connections with Kallen and Milly are deeper. By then any chance of Shirley being with Lelouch as anything more than a mistress is gone. Even this soon evaporates when it is obvious that Lelouch has plenty of girls around him including Euphemia. When I finish I will go into greater detail about what I did and what I originally planned.

Let's talk about Rise of the Black Prince genetics. First in a situation that can happen in the real world when a sibling and a cousin of a couple get married. For example the husband's brother marries the wife's cousin. In this situation the children of said couples are both first and second cousins. However here because of an peculiarity no matter who Edward and Isabelle marry, their children will always be the first and second cousins of Lelouch and Carolina's children. Since Edward and Isabelle are Lelouch's half siblings and Carolina's cousins. Normally your sibling's cousins are also your cousins but not in this case.

The next part has a bit of a spoiler that I have been heavily alluding to for many chapters. Since both sets of twins (Castor/ Pollux and Emily/Miranda) are identical apart from being double first cousins, their children would also be genetically siblings. This happens because identical twins have the same genetic makeup. Those children will also be first and second cousins to Lelouch and Carolina's kids.

Of course there are two children who by a twist of fate don't end up related. You'll have to see who I'm talking about in a few chapters. Then there is also the greatest child that will be born in this story besides Evelyn. We'll see him in the next few chapters as well.

Character ages at the end of 2016 ATB

Lelouch vi Britannia 17, Jeremiah Gottwald 28, Kewell Soresi 26, Schniezel el Britannia 26, Suzaku Kururugi 16, Gino Weinberg 16, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia 4, Lloyd Apslund 29, Naoto Kouzuki 26, Deithard Reid 31, Luciano Bradley 21, Odysseus eu Britannia 32, Kyoshiro Tohdoh 37, Colonel Kusakabe 39, Ichiro Futaba 23, Jinta Futaba 7, Li Xingke 22, Bismarck Waldstein 39, Merlin Suzerain 35, Clovis la Britannia 24, Gilbert GP Guilford 27, Kannon Maldini 28, Ryoga Senba 40, Kosetsu Urabe 30, Asahina Shogo 29, Kaname Ohgi 26, Shinichiro Tamaki 24, Hong Gu 34, Conrad Keyshavrin 31, Thorin Odinus 27, Amadeus Doedilus 25, Maximus va Britannia 24, Cassius ru Britannia 23, Octavius ka Britannia 20, Theseus ju Britannia 19, Luther ti Britannia 17, Edward vu Britannia 17

Marianne vi Britannia 37, Kallen Stadtfeld 16, Milly Ashford 17, Nunnally vi Britannia 13, Evelyn vi Britannia 6, Euphemia li Britannia 16, Anya Alstriem 14,Villetta Nu 26, Cecile Croomy 24, Ayame Futaba 17, Lucretia 17, Sancia 18, Alice 13, Dalque 16, Zhou Xianglin 19, Kaguya Sumeragi 13, Cornelia li Britannia 27, Rakshata Chawla 28, Nonette Enngream 29, Sora Cummins 15, Nina Einstein 17, Shirley Fennette 17, Nagisa Chiba 29, Marika Soresi 17, Liliana Vergamon 17, Sayoko Shinozaki 24, Dorothea Ernst 31, Salacia Ravenguard 20, Monica Kruszewski 21, Aphrodite Venitus 22, Mariel Labie 19, Tianzi (Jiang Lihua) 11, Guinevere su Britannia 30, Annabel pe Britannia 15, Karine le Britannia 14, Isabelle vu Britannia 14, Victoria ka Britannia 14, Gwendolyn ti Britannia 13, Regina ha Britannia 13, Selene ge Britannia 13


	60. Countdown to Zero

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

EUS means European Union ship. RFS means Russian Federation ship. The Kempeitai is the Japanese military police. The individual soldiers are called kempei. A Tai-i is a captain. A Taisa is a colonel. Since the military doesn't like them all that much, they don't get Gekkas but Burai Kais.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined. 

...

One week, seven days, one hundred sixty-eight hours, ten thousand eighty minutes, six hundred four thousand eight hundred seconds. When you truly consider it, it is not a large amount of time, but a great man will take advantage of any time he is given. The true measurement of man is that he can make the impossible happen no matter the amount of time. A legendary man will make time stop to accomplish his goals.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

...

How many men can say they changed the course of the world in a week? How many men can say they changed the course of the world in their lifetime? If I lived a hundred lifetimes, I will never accomplish what my big brother has done in his one. Nevertheless I will strive to do what I can. It is all I can do. I can only be me.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

**

* * *

**

7

**Thursday March 22, 2017, aboard the _EUS/RFS Alexander Kerensky _off the coast of Sakhalin Island**

The mostly Russian crew of the EU's Pacific fleet is angry about their inactivity.

"If only these Japanese were not Britannian puppets, we would be on our way south to crush the damn Black Prince himself."

The others nod in agreement at their captain's comment. The few Russian forces that make it to southern Africa in the previous year's conflict with Britannia do not get to fight with Lelouch's force.

"I wish we could just shove these damn Japanese aside and push south to take on Britannia."

"That wish has been heard."

The EU sailors turn and see a helmeted costumed figure standing there. They notice that he looks a bit like a chess piece with a cape. Before they can respond to the intruder, they observe that part of glass shield of the helmet opens up. They notice a red bird sigil in his eye that entrances them as the costumed figure begins to give them an order.

**

* * *

**

**6**

**Friday, March 23, 2017, Cape Town Settlement, Area 18**

Lelouch is in Area 18 (South Africa) making final adjustments to the force that will be traveling with him north. The important issue is to leave enough troops in Africa to take care of any trouble from the Numbers. The other issue is to leave a commander who will not agitate the Numbers, but can deal with any problems. Lelouch is scanning the news when he finds what he is looking for. It seems as if the first part of the plan is going off without a hitch. He just has to rely on the other 'actors' to play their parts. In Lelouch's plan things don't have to be perfect, but certain conditions must be met.

"Your highness."

"Yes Colonel Nu."

"Your wife is calling you."

Lelouch sighs, "Does she have any idea where I am?"

Villetta smirks, "What do you mean, your highness?"

Lelouch sighs once more and takes the call from Kallen.

"Hello my Kalli."

Lelouch has learned not to make any fat jokes about Kallen who is about five months pregnant.

"Lulu, I'm hungry. I want something spicy."

"Kallen, do you have any idea where I am?"

Kalli pouts, "I can wait," With that she hangs up, leaving Lelouch to stare a blank screen.

Lelouch scowls slightly, "Colonel Nu, prepare the Excalibur for a trip to Area 10. At any rate there is not much for us to do here. I have assigned the commanders their duties. Now we must wait for orders. I would rather do it at home."

Lelouch decides to rest on his way to Area 10. He will have to be prepared for any situation and needs his rest.

**

* * *

**

5

**Saturday, March 24, 2017, Casablanca, Area 14**

Schniezel is not at all pleased with the events of the last few days. Yesterday several Russian warships attacked Japan's northern territories. There have been calls from just about everyone in Japan to declare war on Russia and the EU. The worst thing is that Schniezel and Cornelia are both stuck here in Africa plotting to take out the EU's allies. This leaves very few viable options to assist the Japanese if they decide to declare war.

The other issue that annoys Schniezel is that Lelouch refuses to release any portion of his force to his or Cornelia's command. The emperor does nothing about it. According to Bismarck Waldstein the troops are Lelouch's to do with as he pleases for the sake of the Empire. There is one last thing bothering Schniezel, but he will look into that at a later time

"Kannon, call the generals. We need to confirm the final attack plans."

"Yes your highness."

Schniezel needs to make things decisive on his end that way Lelouch will have to come to Cornelia's aid while Schniezel moves on to the EU proper. Now Lelouch isn't even in Africa but back in Area 10 picking up more troops for his expected offensive against the Middle East Federation.

Cornelia has been trying to get Lelouch to take part in her attack, but both the emperor and Schniezel deny her request. She has no idea why. She knows the impatience of her little brother and knows that he will make a move, permission or not.

Lelouch arrives in Area 10 and makes Kallen's special late night snack for her. Once she is satisfied Lelouch moves on the next part of the plan.

**

* * *

**

4

**Sunday, March 25, 2017, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan**

Naoto is not happy with his current assignment. Due to both the decisions of the Kururugi administration and the attack by several Russian ships on the Northern Territories, protests begin everywhere. But only in Shinjuku are they on the verge of getting violent. With Generals Katase and Tohdoh in meetings deciding what to do about the Russian attacks, Naoto is actually in charge of the situation despite the fact some general is nominally in command.

"_Kouzuki, I am going back to the main base. It appears as if the rabble is going to calm down."_

Naoto nods, _"Yes general."_

Naoto decides to head back himself. He informs the squad leaders. He hopes that nothing happens because he is not in the mood to kill any Japanese. On his way back Naoto sees several protesters holding signs while others have sticks and rocks. The knightmare corps is ordered to only fire if they are fired upon. Ichiro is waiting for Naoto back at the base. There is someone familiar standing beside him.

"_Colonel Kusakabe, They said you were on vacation," _Naoto states as he salutes.

Kusakabe grins, _"I am on vacation. Can't you tell by my clothes? You no longer need to salute me because we are of the same rank."_

Naoto lowers his hand and sighs. He looks out towards the row of knightmares protecting the base, his base. Beyond that are protesters now beginning to dissipate. It seems that many have grown tired; however Naoto notices something odd in the way they are leaving. It almost seems as they are afraid of something. Before Naoto can send someone to investigate, a sergeant comes running towards them.

"_Colonel," _the sergeant pauses as he gasps for air, _"someone has stolen some."_

Naoto signals for Ichiro to find out what the man is trying to say. After a few seconds, Ichiro comes over to Naoto who simply nods.

"_Colonel Kouzuki, it seems as if some group or groups of protesters have stolen several Burais and tanks. There is even the fear that they may have stolen chemical weaponry."_

Naoto curses under his breath.

"_You seem pretty calm about it, Ichiro."_

"_Colonel?" _Ichiro asks quizzically.

Kusakabe lets out a vociferous laugh.

"_Calm, look at him, Kouzuki. He can barely stand straight. If he sounds calm, it is because he has done his job and now it is your turn, Colonel."_

Naoto realizes that Kusakabe is correct. He is here because of his knowledge of knightmares. Now this issue will be settled in knightmare combat.

"_Ichiro, prepare the brigade and send out the infantry with gas masks to clear the civilians."_

"_Yes sir."_

Naoto looks over at Shinjuku.

"_I've always hated this place."_

Kusakabe smiles, _"It has its positives. I'll leave to your work and continue my vacation."_

Naoto boards his Gekka and prepares for the upcoming battle. As he leaves the forward base, he notices why the crowd dispersed a few minutes ago. A few left for good, but many stay to fight. Naoto can see several older Glasgows and Burais lining up.

"_This is Colonel Kouzuki Naoto of the Japanese United Armed Forces, Knightmare Corps, Division 1, Brigade A. In the name of the government of Japan, I order all those in the stolen knightmares to disembark them and surrender. You have five minutes before we commence our attack."_

Naoto doesn't have to wait five minutes for an answer. About ninety seconds after Naoto's ultimatum, the protesters no make that rebels begin their attack.

Naoto sighs, _"This is your last warning. Cease and desist or you will be annihilated."_

When the rebels don't stop, Naoto gives the order to attack. The Gekka Brigade makes short work of the rebels. There can be no other ending. The Gekka pilots are trained soldiers while the rebels may have an ex-soldier or two but most likely have never trained with a knightmare. Naoto does want to fight his fellow Japanese but now like most of his men, his blood is up, and he will see this through. He notices a few of the rebel knightmares running away.

"_Suzumiya, Ootori take your squads and follow those rebels running away. The rest of us will finish up here and join you."_

Naoto charges ahead after taking care of the initial rebel attack. He leaves behind a small squad under Ichiro's control.

"_Ichiro, I am leaving Squad G under your command, but stay back in the base. We need someone to relay what is happening up here back to the general."_

"_Yes sir."_

Naoto leads the majority of his brigade forward.

"_Colonel."_

"_Yes, Captain Suzumiya."_

"_We have received word that Brigades B and C were also attacked and are now heading in roughly the same direction we are."_

"_Thank you, Captain."_

Naoto considers the situation. These rebels must have planned this for quite some time even then they would need help from someone on the inside. Naoto tries to think of reasons why the rebels would lead them all to the same point. His first thought would be so that the rebels can release poison gas if indeed they did steal some as well. Only that would probably also kill a few rebels. Not to mention the fact that Gekkas come with filters, and all Japanese soldiers carry as masks. Knightmare pilots also have the option of carrying additional oxygen tanks with them. Naoto can only think of one more possible scenario.

"_EVEYONE PULL BACK NOW!" _Naoto screams hoping that those not in his brigade will listen as well.

A few begin to pull back, but it is too late. Ichiro contacts Naoto as they pull back.

"_Colonel, I am calling to inform you that Major General Suoh is dead. Do you read me, colonel?"_

Naoto lowers his head.

"_Yes Ichiro, I read you. We will finish off here before heading back," _Naoto contacts those around him and sighs, _"Certain events have taken place back at the main base. We must finish off the rebel scum before we report back."_

Naoto and the others finish off the remaining rebels. They also discover that the rebels did not steal any poison gas, but they did take several large containers that can be used to store poison gas. After securing the area, Naoto returns to base to find out what happened. As Naoto reaches the base, he sees that Kempeitai are arresting Colonel Kusakabe. Not surprisingly they are lead by the same Tai-i who arrested the colonel last summer. Naoto quickly disembarks.

"_What is going on here?"_

The Tai-i sighs, _"Colonel Kusakabe is being arrested for conspiracy against the government of Japan."_

Naoto stands there stunned as they take away a stunned Colonel Kusakabe. Ichiro stands to the side holding a phone.

"_Sir. Colonel Kouzuki."_

"_Yes lieutenant."_

"_Army headquarters is calling about your report."_

Naoto nods and takes the phone.

"_This is Colonel Kouzuki."_

The man on the other side sounds apprehensive.

"_Yes Colonel, due to the tragic circumstances, you have been appointed the brevet rank of brigadier general. Did you hear me, colonel?"_

"_Yes, yes."_

With that the man hangs up. Ichiro takes the phone from Naoto.

"_Colonel, shall we begin with your report of the battle?"_

"_Yes Ichiro and from now on it is brigadier general."_

Ichiro nods and smiles, _"Yes general sir."_

Naoto looks down at Ichiro.

"_Don't worry. I'll get you a higher rank as well."_

Naoto and Ichiro head back to see what can be done. They have to work well into the night. Apart from investigating what lead to the general's death, Naoto also has to make sure that everyone in the Knightmare Corps returns. He has to assign someone to get reports from the knightmares and pilots. With the shortage of experienced men, the Knightmare Corps is commanded by a brigadier general rather than a lieutenant or major general. This puts Naoto in charge of the entire Japanese Knightmares Corps, both the fighting and research divisions. Naoto wonders if that is why the man who informed him of his promotion was upset. Naoto is probably the first general in many decades who never attended a military academy.

It is well after midnight when Naoto and Ichiro finish their report and get to work on getting their thoughts together for their testimony in the defense of Colonel Kusakabe. As they work, the phone rings.

"_This is Brigadier General Kouzuki's office, Captain Futaba speaking."_

Naoto manages to get Ichiro a non brevet promotion to captain for all his hard work over the years. Ichiro yawns as he hands Naoto the phone.

"_General, it is for you."_

Naoto takes the phone and yawns himself before answering.

"_This is General Kouzuki."_

Naoto smiles because saying that will never get old or so he thinks.

"_So they promoted you to general. Well now your nephew won't have to be ashamed of his uncle."_

Naoto instantly recognizes the voice and grinds his teeth.

"_What do you want, you bastard?"_

"_Oh I'm the bastard says the guy whose career is built upon the suffering of his own people. What was the name of that captain who served as General Katase's assistant. You know, the one that got injured and allowed you to be promoted. What about all the men who have died during your training runs? Or the poor brigadier general who served as your figurehead in the Knightmare Corps. Let us not forget about Colonel Kusakabe who has now been arrested twice while you move up the ladder."_

"_Don't worry about the Colonel. I am working on getting him freed as we speak."_

There is a laugh on the other side of the line.

"_Don't bother. The colonel will be a scapegoat for all those who see things his way."_

Naoto stares at the phone as the line goes dead.

"_Ichiro, did you trace it?"_

"_Yes sir. The location is here in Tokyo."_

"_Where at? Is it my dad's house?"_

"_No sir. The call came from Shinjuku."_

Naoto stares at Ichiro. There is no way that Naoto will be able to after the little Brit bastard now. Not that anyone will believe that a Britannian prince is in Shinjuku especially not today. Naoto grimaces and gets back to work. Wherever the little bastard is, it will have to wait. Colonel Kusakabe's trial will most likely begin in a few days, at the most a week so there is very little time to help him.

**

* * *

**

3

Monday, March 26, 2017, Saigon Palace, Saigon, Area 10

Edward and Shirley spend a week on their honeymoon, but are now back home. Edward is down in Area 17 getting things ready for Shirley who is in Area 10 gathering her things. The suddenness of Edward's proposal and the speed in which Milly planned the wedding gave Shirley very little time to pack anything up. At the moment Shirley is having breakfast with Milly. The kids are at school. Kallen now about five months pregnant is with Lelouch aboard the Excalibur. Carolina is most likely sleeping in. Euphemia and Anya are in Area 11. All the knights are running errands for Lelouch. This includes Marika and Liliana who Lelouch has assigned to Kallen and Milly. So it is just Milly and Shirley eating breakfast.

"Can you pass the sugar," slight pause for effect, "Princess Shirley?"

Shirley giggles, "Why certainly, Princess Milly."

Shirley feels a bit odd begin called a princess. At least Milly was born noble and spent time around Lelouch and Nunnally in her youth. Shirley remembers the reaction of Edward's mom when she discovers that Shirley's parents are commoners. If Carolina does not stand up for her, Shirley probably would have run away. Shirley wants to ask Milly something but feels a little embarrassed to do it.

"Um Milly, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Shirley, go ahead."

"Well it's a little embarrassing, but are all guys um. You know big down there."

Milly thinks about it.

"Well the only one I have seen these last few years is Lelouch's. The last time I saw someone else's was when I was a little girl. Back then I didn't think about that sort of thing," Milly leans in to whisper, "But from what I've seen on the internet, Lelouch is significantly large."

"What are you two talking about?" asks the all too familiar voice of a teenage princess.

Shirley and Milly try not to look frightened as they turn to face Nunnally who skips over to them. Shirley and Milly are both thinking of something to say to Nunnally who makes her own conclusions.

"Are you two talking about boys?"

Shirley sighs in relief and responds, "That's right, Nunna. We are just talking about boys."

"What about boys? Are you talking about the size of their penises or is it penii? That's one word I'm not sure about."

Milly gasps for air. The last thing she needs is for Lelouch to walk in as they discuss penises with Nunnally. Normally Milly isn't afraid of Lelouch but this is a sensitive subject that he wants to discuss with his little siblings when he feels they are ready. Since neither Milly nor Shirley respond, Nunnally continues.

"Well from what I have seen on the internet Suzu is pretty big, but I think that big brother is even bigger."

The two princess consorts are stunned. Only Milly is able to speak.

"How do you know Nunnally?"

"Sometime when they fight boys get excited, and you know their parts grow. Then when you're fighting sometimes your hands slip and you touch that area."

Shirley finally recovers, "Nunnally, what are you saying?"

"What? I thought we were talking about boys. Then there was this one time when Suzu and I were training and had to change in the same room."

"What I mean is how do you know about boys getting excited?"

"Oh that," Nunnally pulls out a pamphlet which Milly instantly recognizes, "They gave us this at school."

Milly takes the pamphlet, "Nunnally, why are you going to school?"

Nunnally grunts, "Because big brother says that we have to set an example to everyone in Area 10 so the four of us have to go to school. At least he lets Alice go with me for now. That's where we learned about sex, and they gave us these pamphlets."

Milly knows all about the sexual education programs of Area 10. She also knows about the Area law that requires everyone under the age of 18 to attend school. She never thought that Lelouch would force his little siblings to attend.

Nunnally continues her subject from before, "Where was I?"

Before she can continue, there are heavy footsteps coming from outside the room. Only one person walks through the house like that. Of course it is Lelouch who steps into the room not paying attention to his surroundings. He finally notices the three girls sitting at the table.

"Hey, what are you girls doing?"

Nunnally opens her mouth to speak but is stopped by Milly.

"Oh you know just girl stuff. We were just leaving. We don't want to bother you with it."

Lelouch shakes his head, "Don't worry about me. I just came to make sure that the kids are off to school."

Nunnally is struggling to get out of Milly's grasp. She is waving the pamphlet in her flaying arms. Milly reaches for it causing Lelouch to smile. Lelouch begins to walk away but stops just before reaching the door. He has something in his hands.

"You know Milly dear, your people did a good job with this sexual education pamphlet," Lelouch's smirk is visible, "Nunnally and Alice were telling me all about it the other day. The other girls seem excited about it as well."

Lelouch leaves the room so Nunnally continues her talk about boys until it is time for her to go to school.

Lelouch goes to Kallen aboard the Excalibur, but not before getting her what she craves.

"Here you are, my Kalli."

Kallen takes what Lelouch brings her and stuffs it into her mouth, "Thank you," she somehow manages to say in between bites.

Lelouch kisses her forehead, "Anything for my Kalli."

Kallen sighs, "Ah thank you sweetheart. Can you massage my feet? They hurt so much. I don't know what I am going to do when you leave."

Lelouch lets out a chuckle, "I will have Marika take massage classes."

Kallen smiles as Lelouch gets to work on her feet.

"About that. I think it would be a good idea if you took those girls with you."

Lelouch stops for a bit, "Really."

Kallen taps him on the head, "Don't stop."

Lelouch gets back to work. Once he is done Kallen falls asleep so Lelouch has to carry her to their bed.

**

* * *

**

2

Tuesday, March 27, 2017, Addis Abba, Area 15

Suzaku is sitting in the barracks in Area 15 waiting for a chance to get out to the front. There isn't much for him to do. According to Nunnally, Lelouch is working on getting to the front himself.

"Lord Kururugi, there is a call for you."

Suzaku turns towards the lieutenant that is his babysitter in Area 15.

"This is Kururugi."

"Ah Kururugi, good man. Do you want to see some action?"

The voice sounds a little familiar to Suzaku, but he can't quite place it.

"Lord Gottwald! Um yes sir. I am ready to move."

Suzaku can image the grin on the other man's face.

"Good, you passed the first test. Just follow the instructions being sent to the Lancelot. Since you are under the command of General vi Britannia, no one can stop you from leaving the base. If you need to bring that annoying earl and his crew, you may."

The line goes dead leaving Suzaku to ponder the situation. The only way for him to gain any modicum of glory is to attach himself to Lelouch. The move also has other key consequences most of them good. Suzaku goes to receive the instructions from the Lancelot. A few hours later, the Boudicca picks Suzaku and crew up.

**

* * *

**

1

Wednesday, March 28, 2017, Manila settlement, Area 11

Euphemia and Anya are at the airport waiting for Shirley to arrive. Shirley is on her way down to Area 17 and decides to make a stop in Area 11 to visit Euphemia. She is aboard the Ganymede which is staying in Area 17 as a deterrent to any rebel or foreign attacks. Not that there is much in the way of either down here. As Shirley approaches them, Euphemia feels a slight blush come over her face. The day before Euphemia is quite occupied with someone when Shirley calls to inform her of the visit. That someone she is occupied with decides to answer the phone and forces Euphemia to have a conversation with Shirley while they are engaged in certain physical actions.

"Shirley," Euphemia says as she hugs her friend tightly.

"Euphie, please. You're squeezing too tightly."

"Oh sorry Shirley."

Euphemia notices that Shirley is being a little careful with her stomach.

"Shall we go inside, your highness?" Euphemia asks in her serious voice.

Shirley can't help but giggle a little. It will take come time for Shirley to think of herself as a princess.

"Yes let us go inside," Shirley answers.

Anya follows them from behind. With the suddenness of Edward's proposal and their marriage, there is no time to assign Shirley her own royal guard. For now she is using some of Lelouch's. Anya can hear Euphemia talking about all the girly princess things they can do. Anya sighs because it is going to be a very long day. At least she gets to leave in the morning because Lelouch is preparing his attack, and Anya will take a part in it.

**

* * *

**

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**Thursday March 29, 2017, Tokyo, Japan**

Suzaku and the others are preparing for Lelouch's attack of the Middle East Federation along the southern Arabian peninsula. He gathers all the important members of his force for a little speech. It is not much only final instructions. After Lelouch is done, everyone boards their knightmares. During the last few months in Area 10, the Lancelot has been upgraded with flight capabilities. Lelouch finishes his talk and heads back to the bridge. He will not participate in the initial attack.

Cornelia and Schniezel have differing opinions in regards to Lelouch's attack of the Middle East Federation. With another strong force attacking the enemy from the southeast, it will fall within months if not weeks. Nothing yet has come of the issue between Russia/EU and Japan. That may take some time to develop. However Cornelia receives confirmation that Lelouch is indeed south of the Arabian peninsula ready to attack.

Naoto and Ichiro are watching the convoy taking Colonel Kusakabe to his court martial on television. They are making a production out of it. Colonel Kusakabe is not well liked by the Japanese public. During Japan's last war, then Major Kusakabe orders soldiers to open fire upon several protestors. Not to mention his unpopular views on civilians in the first place. Not that the deceased general was any better. He was also part of the same massacre. His views were even more radical even by the standards of Colonel Kusakabe. Many times it was whispered that the deceased general wanted Japan to become a military or imperial dictatorship. No one in Japan would adhere to such a thing nowadays. This thought makes Naoto think about the constant victories that keep Genbu Kururugi in power as prime minister, a position he has held for almost ten years. Naoto will have to look it up, but that is probably a record in parliamentary politics.

Naoto scowls, _"I can't watch this crap anymore. Change the channel."_

Ichiro stands there impassively, _"There is nothing else on unless you want to watch anime."_

Naoto sighs as they drone on about Kusakabe's supposed crimes. Now he was supposed to have convinced the general who more or less took his position to massacre the protestors. When the general refused, Kusakabe had him taken out. Naoto looks on at the crowd that has gathered to see Kusakabe paraded before seeing the military judge.

"_Ichiro, do you still have the location of the call from the other day?"_

"_Of course sir."_

Naoto nods, _"Very well. Gather the brigade; we are going on a mission."_

Naoto turns the television off and heads for the knightmare hangar. Once the brigade is gathered Naoto assigns them different tasks. He does not want to be caught off-guard by a remaining rebel forces. He doubts that they will find who he is looking for, but hopes that they will find something. They move through Shinjuku with ease. The place resembles a ghetto these days with all the abandoned buildings. There has been talk of rebuilding several blocks but as far as Naoto knows nothing has come of it.

"_General, it is the building ahead of us."_

Naoto nods. Normally Ichiro does not come out with the brigade, but he knows enough about knightmares to handle the situation.

"_Suzumiya, Ootori have your squads keep a perimeter as we search the building."_

On the way there Naoto sees several hundred people exiting the buildings. They don't look dangerous but rather worried. Naoto enters the room in question with about ten men all with their weapons drawn. They hear voices but see no one. One of Naoto's men notices that the buildings are running on generators. Naoto carefully moves towards the voices which happen to be speaking Japanese. He cannot quite make out what they are saying. Naoto enters the final room which contains no one but does have a television. He is not amused by what is on. One of the more derisive channels covering Colonel Kusakabe's court martial. Naoto is about to turn it off and head out when several things happen.

Several explosions rock the area around Naoto. The buildings surrounding them begin to fall.

"_ICHIRO! What the hell is going in out there!"_

"_Sir several buildings have been destroyed."_

"_I can see that. Do we know why?"_

"_Sir from the looks of it, this appears to be a planned demolition."_

"_A planned demolition."_

"_Sir do you want me to find someone who knows what happened?"_

Naoto does not pay attention to Ichiro's final request or any of his subsequent attempts to contact him because Naoto is focused on the television. Stopping the procession of Burai Kais and tanks is massive truck. It appears like any normal Japanese transportation vehicle.

"_Ichiro, we have to head back. We have to head back now."_

"_Sir like I was telling you, it will be difficult because of all the rubble."_

Naoto punches the wall as the troops transporting Kusakabe stop. The weasel of colonel in charge of the group halts the procession. Suddenly the screen goes blank and a countdown begins. When it reaches zero, it pauses for a moment before returning back to the scene. Standing atop the truck is a costumed figure. The figure has a black cape with gold trim and purple pants also with gold trim. From this angle Naoto notices that the inside of the cape is red. The figure is wearing a black helmet with a glass plate covering the face.

"_Ichiro, I will head back myself." _

Naoto begins to exit the room as the costumed figure admits that he is the one that murdered the general.

* * *

Kusakabe can't believe how they are treating him. They are parading him down the street like a common criminal. No it is even worse than that. He is one of the few people in the military to actual have successful combat experience. During Japan's last war, only he and Tohdoh had any success. Of course that war led to Japan getting rid of the monarchy and becoming a democracy. Now the military is subservient to the government only they are allowed to try their own people. The convoy taking him to his trial stops in the middle of the city. Kusakabe looks around and sees that the crowd is still being held back. He knows that he is not popular because of his actions and ideas. Despite being responsible for the death of hundreds of protesting civilians during Japan's last war over fifteen years ago, he is only reprimanded. Eventually he is even promoted up to full colonel and allowed to begin the knightmare project.

The convoy stops because there is a giant military style truck in their way. The truck can be used to transport pretty much anything. Kusakabe hopes that it is the start of the military takeover but is disappointed and then frightened when he sees the hazardous materials logo on the side of the truck.

"_Get us out of here you fool!" _Kusakabe yells at the Taisa (Kempeitai colonel) who is charge of transporting him.

The man scoffs at the request and ignores him. At least he doesn't have anyone hit Kusakabe. They are after all in a very visible location, and Japan is still a democracy. Kusakabe scowls at the situation knowing that it might earn him a beating later. Suddenly a costumed masked figure appears atop the truck.

The Taisa stares at the masked figure for a moment before asking, "_And who or what or you?"_

"_I am Zero,"_ the figure responds.

"_Zero? As in nothing?" _the Taisa laughs, _"Very well then we will go past you as if you were nothing."_

"_Will you continue along your path carrying an innocent man?"_

The Taisa growls, _"This man is not innocent. If he did not commit this crime, there are plenty that he has committed. Enough to imprison him for a lifetime. Now out of the way or you will join him."_

The Taisa signals for the Burai Kais in his company to surround Zero and his transportation.

"_I see but I have proof that Kusakabe did not murder General Suoh because I did."_

Before the Taisa can respond to this Zero raises his hands, and the screens in the building above and those that appear on the side of the truck begin to show the last moment of the life of General Suoh. The scenes are not very flattering to the general. He begins to beg for his life even going as far as to offer Zero sexual favors for sparing his life. Kusakabe knows that it is not a coincidence that they stopped near building with giant television screens.

The Taisa stays silent unsure of what to do. Zero continues, "_However General Suoh was not innocent."_

Now footage of General Suoh contemplating the massacre of the at the time peaceful protestors in Shinjuku. Naoto's voice is heard disagreeing and convincing the general to wait. Then the general's war crimes for Japan's previous war are shown. Kusakabe is all too familiar with them since he was also responsible for them. Zero raises his hand and the video stops.

"_I have dealt with one man responsible for the slaughter of innocent civilians. Now I will deal with another."_

Zero points at Kusakabe. The Taisa shakes his head, _"No, Japan is a democracy. We will deal with the situation in a courtroom," _The Taisa look back at the truck," _Are you going to threaten us with that poison gas truck? Wouldn't you die as well since you are closer to it?"_

Zero taps his helmet, _"That is the last resort. Why not just release him and allow the people to deal with him?" _Zero raises his hand once more and another video is shown, "_Do you really believe in democracy, Colonel Hitachiin?"_

This video shows the Taisa complaining about Japan's democracy. The Taisa and the Kempei stand still as several men in ninja attire release Colonel Kusakabe who comes peacefully despite the fact that Zero just said the Kusakabe would be the next to die.

"_ZERO, I will stop you!" _screams a familiar voice as a Gekka jumps through the air towards Zero.

* * *

Naoto is rushing to the scene in his Gekka. After his duel with Lelouch, he has the engineers make a few changes to the way power is distributed throughout the knightmare. Now he has greater control of the power systems. He pushes the Gekka to its limits.

"_General, what are you going to do when you get there?"_

"_I don't know. Ichiro. I'll think of something along the way."_

"_That's what I was afraid of."_

"_Are you watching this on your screen?"_

"_Yes sir. Suzumiya's squad is coming after you. Ootori is investigating what happened back there."_

"_No time to talk Ichiro because here I come," _Naoto launches his Gekka through the air at Zero, _"ZERO, I will stop you!" _

Moments before Naoto reaches Zero, the back compartment of the truck opens with an explosion and gas begins to spread causing the crowd to panic and disperse. The Kempei finally begin to move and notice the gas. This causes them to flee as well.

Naoto scowls, "_Cowards, can't you tell by the color that it is merely smoke."_

From the smoke a knightmare stands up and attacks Naoto.

"_Damn, how did these people get ahold of Gekka?"_

Naoto sees Zero and his gang of ninjas scurrying away. Whoever is in the Gekka is a very good pilot and knows the knightmare well because he matches Naoto's every move.

Naoto smiles because the members of his brigade arrive, _"I don't know who you are, but it is over."_

"_Do you really think so?" _the other pilot laughs as several explosions begin to tear up the street stopping the members of Naoto's brigade from reaching him.

Naoto notices that the Taisa is slumping on the floor. The man does not appear dead or even hurt.

"_I say we have about five minutes before your friends can reach us General Kouzuki. Shall we?"_

Naoto responds by charging in to attack.

It only takes Ichiro and the rest of the brigade about three minutes to get across the chasm in the street. When the reach the other side the see two Gekkas battling.

"_Oh shit," _Captain Suzumiya exclaims, _"Which one is the general?"_

Ichiro considers the situation, _"Fire at the one with the least amount of damage."_

"_You can't be serious. The General would tear apart anyone in a Gekka. I mean it is his knightmare." _

"_Fine I'll do it."_

Ichiro launches several missiles which his target expertly dodges.

"_Well Kouzuki, it seems as if your friends are here so let's end this."_

Naoto's knightmare is destroyed causing him to eject.

"_Captain Futaba, perhaps you should stay back while we handle this."_

Ichiro pulls his knightmare back and watches Suzumiya's squad go forward and get destroyed one by one. There are only a few knightmare pilots in the world capable of such a thing. By this time the military as a whole is moving and several tanks, APCs and infantrymen begin to fill the area. Ichiro lunges at the still standing rebellious Gekka only to be cut down. As Ichiro escapes his Gekka, he can see the other one explode. For a few seconds Ichiro is confused by his surroundings but notices someone moving on the ground away from the scene.

Ichiro looks around. He imagines this is what a battleground looks like. He never imagined seeing such a scene in downtown Tokyo. The Taisa is pushing Colonel Kusakabe. The other kempei have fled the scene. From what Ichiro can see most if not all of the civilians manage to escape. It is only the military which suffers casualties, both physically and to their pride.

"_You, you are the assistant to that fool Kouzuki. I am placing you under arrest."_

Ichiro notices that the Taisa is staring straight at him. Ichiro ignores him and looks at the carnage caused by who he believes is Lelouch. Can Suzaku be correct? Is it possible for the prince to defeat entire squads of knightmare pilots on his own? Of course it is. He just did it by using a knightmare he is not familiar with. Ichiro shudders at the thought of the Prince in his own knightmare.

"_Did you here me, captain? I said you are under arrest. If it hadn't been for you and your men rushing in, none of this would have happened_."

Ichiro turns back and glares at the Taisa.

"_I am afraid that you are incorrect Colonel Hitachiin. Under the Japanese military law 1.16, I am placing you under arrest. Now release your prisoner to my custody."_

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"_You allowed your personal feelings to get in the way of a simple court martial that is what caused this. Not to mention the fact that you almost allowed an accused murderer to escape. Then you allowed a confessed murderer to escape along with his accomplices. I saw you on the ground huddled up in a ball. It was General Kouzuki's appearance that allowed us to even keep Colonel Kusakabe," _by this time the remaining members of the knightmare brigade make their way to Ichiro's location, _" Do I even have to mention the civilians that your actions endangered. Now Colonel will you surrender peacefully or will we have to take you by force."_

Ichiro snaps his fingers and a VTOL lands a few meters behind them. He directs his two prisoners in that direction.

...

Sitting in his escape pod Naoto begins to laugh loudly and madly. Those that go to help him out are stunned and frightened. Suddenly Naoto gets serious.

"You may have started this, but I will finish it."

* * *

Author's note: Obviously cannon Milly would not mind enlightening Nunnally about sex. She would probably feel some sort of responsibility to do it. That is not the case here. Milly is a bit frightened of Lelouch. Kallen is a little scared of Lelouch normally but pregnant Kallen would spit in the emperor's face.

I should do a version of this chapter solely from Lelouch and Jeremiah's point of view to show the crazy exhausting nature of their adventures. If you really want to know how he did it all, you have to remember who has what type of geass because that is so important for this chapter. Then again there is also Anya's geass. I don't think I have specified what it is. You will see what exactly happened the last day in the next chapter or at least who is responsible for what. I will say that Lelouch is responsible for all that happened in Japan, and that he was not obviously in the Zero costume . The little details will be given in the next chapter. As will Lelouch's method for accomplishing his mission.

Canonically Zero is created by Lelouch for protection. The protection of himself and those that are important to him. Zero, much like Lelouch Lamperouge and finally Lelouch vi Britannia, is a tool that he uses to accomplish his goals. In a sense they are all a part of him but not his complete self. He needs the three to survive. Here he will use Zero to accomplish much of the same objectives but on a much larger scale. Zero will not only be used as a tool against Britannia but against the world.


	61. The next step

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

I guess I wasn't the only person confused by the last chapter. Certain writers would have an omake where Lelouch and pregnant Kallen explain the last chapter but that isn't my style. Is it weird that I kept writing democrazy instead of democracy last chapter? Basically life got in the way of this chapter. Not that I have much of a life, but the little I do have all decided to spring up this week.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined.

...

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.

...

For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards.

Sun Tzu

**

* * *

**

Thursday March 29, 2017-aboard the Excalibur south of the Arabian Peninsula

After helping Lelouch's force gain control of certain key points, Lucretia comes back to the Excalibur. Villetta and Jeremiah are coordinating the forces on the ground and air. Lucretia decides that now is a good time to visit Lelouch since all the other girls are back in Areas 10 or 11. She heads for his room. She is one of the few people who knows the code that opens the door.

"Brother Lulu, I'm here."

Lucretia bursts into the room and notices that she forgot about Ayame who is easy to forget because she is so quiet. Lucretia is even more surprised at what she sees on the bed. Kallen is lying there, eating of course. Nunnally has her head on Kallen's stomach. She sits up when Lucretia comes into the room.

"Hey Lucretia, are you here to feel sister Kallen's stomach? The baby kicks, I think," Nunnally lays her head back down, "Or it might just be sister Kallen's stomach."

Kallen grumbles, "Hey don't make fun of my baby."

Nunnally gets up, "I'm not. I'm making fun of your fat stomach."

"You little brat."

Lucretia is getting impatient waiting for Lelouch.

"Um where is the prince?"

Nunnally shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. Probably somewhere misbehaving."

Kallen grunts, "Probably in Japan causing trouble for my brother. If he is, he better bring me back something spicy to eat."

Lucretia shakes her head, "But he was just out there a few hours ago."

Nunnally hops on the bed and poses much like Lelouch does. Kallen sits up, and Lelouch appears where Nunnally is.

"Lucretia, get Kallen something spicy to eat."

Immediately something clicks in Lucretia's head.

"Yes sir, brother Lulu."

As Lucretia reaches the door, she realizes that Lelouch is not there, but whatever Kallen and Nunnally do is pretty convincing. She turns around and sees 'Lelouch' sitting down now.

"How did you do that?" Lucretia asks.

Kallen answers as she deactivates her geass, "Geass of course."

"But his voice. Your geass can't make Nunnally sound like him."

Nunnally holds up an electronic recorder, "Of course not, that's why big brother gave us this. He recorded several messages on this."

Kallen groans, "I thought that thing was a voice changer," Kallen thinks about it, "Hey that means that that jerk left that message about Lucretia getting me something to eat on there," Kallen begins to cry, "Oh my Lulu is so sweet. He is always thinking about me even when he is blowing things up thousands of miles away."

The other girls wisely make their exit. Ayame and Lucretia quickly leave. Nunnally carefully closes the door and backs up slowly bumping into someone.

"Hey Nunners, I didn't know you were still here."

Nunnally freezes, "Oh hey Suzu, how are you?"

Kallen's crying is loud enough to be heard outside making Suzaku pause a bit.

"Is that Kallen?"

Nunnally nods, "Oh yeah. She is upset at big brother because he called her fat in front of all of us. You know how insensitive he can be."

Suzaku shrugs his shoulders, "I guess."

"Come on Suzu, I challenge you to a round on the simulator."

Suzaku yawns, "Sorry Nunners but I have to be up early. Today was just for show. Tomorrow we will begin for real."

Nunnallys smirks, "So you're chicken. I knew it," Nunnally feigns being distraught, "I knew you weren't man enough to handle me. I wonder if Gino is man enough."

The mention of the blonde boy makes Suzaku narrow his eyes. Being a Britannian noble and Knight of the Round, Gino would make a perfect match for Nunnally.

"Fine one round. Winner gets whatever they want from the loser."

Nunnally grins, "We have a deal."

**

* * *

**

Tokyo Bay

"Sanderson, Goodley is the transport ready"

"Yes your highness. Lieutenant Hellerman is waiting for us."

"Very well."

* * *

Zero and his accomplices are entering their transport. Zero removes his helmet to reveal the cybernetic face of Jeremiah Gottwald. He goes to another room to get out of the Zero outfit. His accomplices remove their ninja costumes.

"We's the best ninjas in the world, hee-ya!" Castor exclaims.

Pollux agrees, "Ya, we kick butts."

Evelyn doesn't say much as she takes off her ninja clothes. She looks around and wonders about something.

"I wonder what happened to those other ninja guys?"

"They have been taken care of."

The three little vi Britannias look up to see Lelouch.

"Hey it's big brother."

"Come on guys, we have to get going. We still have to get out of here."

The kids nods and follow Lelouch. Once they are settled in, Lelouch signals for submarine to begin its exit. He thinks about his actions over the past week. Going from Area 18 to Northern Japan back to Area 18 then to Area 10 from there to Japan back to Area 10 and finally back to Japan. Now he is on his way over to join the fight with the Middle East Federation where his force is already attacking. Once they are away from Japan, Lelouch boards a jet that will take him to join his force quickly. The kids continue on their trip down to visit Euphie in Area 11 and then to visit Edward, Isabelle, Emily, and Miranda in Area 17. Lelouch dozes off as Lieutenant Hellerman takes him and Jeremiah through Chinese territory.

Jeremiah tries looking out of the plane but notices that everything is passing by very fast. Not that he can see much being this high over the ground.

"Is it safe passing over the Chinese Federation?"

"Normally no but at this altitude and with this jet, they won't be able to track us," Lieutenant Hellerman responds.

Jeremiah still looks a little worried.

"Don't worry sir. I have taken this trip a few times so I know that they can't track us. Or at least that they have no idea what we are."

This does a little to ease Jeremiah's concerns. He does notice that Lelouch is completely out and decides to sleep himself.

* * *

Naoto is still wondering what the hell just happened. Everything is so mixed up and jumbled. The first thing that he needs to find out is why those buildings in Shinjuku are demolished. Even more importantly is how Zero got to kill the general and film it. Despite all the damage caused, parading Colonel Kusakabe through the city and the aftermath causes quite an embarrassing situation for the Kempeitai. Naoto's entire brigade is busy filing reports so Naoto has to do his own work.

Along with all the paperwork are interrogations. Most of Naoto's are unsatisfactory mostly because he has to be careful about what he says about his theories about Lelouch being in Japan. The rising sun hitting his eyes reminds Naoto how little sleep his gotten this past week. Naoto thinks about things and has an idea. He quickly gets his phone and dials a number he has never dialed but has thought about calling a few times. The phone rings a few times before it is answered.

"_Hello."_

Naoto stays quiet.

"_Hello, is anyone there? I can hear you breathing."_

Naoto whispers, _"Kallen."_

"_Who is this? Naoto, is it you?"_

"_Yes."_

Kallen sighs, _"Oh why didn't you say anything?" _Kallen's voice sounds a bit more cheerful.

"_Kallen, can I ask why are you speaking Japanese?"_

"_Huh, what's wrong with Japanese? It's how I always speak."_

Naoto shrugs his shoulders, _"I just thought that you would. Never mind."_

"_Is there a reason why you called so early in the morning?"_

"_Is your husband there with you?"_

"_Probably, who has time for him? Hey do you want to talk to my baby? Here let me pass him the phone."_

Naoto hears silence for a few moments.

"_Kallen, Kallen!"_

Naoto hears noise on the other side.

"_Hey don't yell. It disturbs the baby."_

Naoto sighs, _"Kallen, is your husband there?"_

Kallen grumbles, _"Yes, Here let me toss him the phone."_

Naoto hears the phone bouncing around followed by some yelling. He instantly recognizes the Brit bastard's voice.

"_This is Lelouch. What do you want?"_

Naoto growls, _"Did you have fun tearing up Tokyo, you little bastard?"_

"_You don't watch the news much, do you? Because I have been attacking the Middle East Federation since yesterday. If you want proof, you can ask to read Major Chiba's report. She is observing my army once more. Now that is one good looking woman."_

The final sentence is said in a whisper but Naoto can hear Kallen yelling on the other side of the line. Naoto is going to have to check up on the report. Major Chiba would not lie about Lelouch being there. The person who Naoto fought and lost to in the Gekka has to be Lelouch. No one else is that skilled. But if Major Chiba's report collaborates what Lelouch is saying, then who was in Japan.

"_Um Naoto, I have to go. Someone is getting overly sensitive. I mean I have an invasion to attend to."_

Naoto sighs as the line goes dead. He closes his eyes and feels someone standing over him.

"_Yes Ichiro."_

"_General, we have discovered what happened over Shinjuku," _Naoto nods so Ichiro continues, _"It seems that a developer has been trying to demolish those buildings for months, but the squatters refused to move out. The local police refused to provide much help," _Ichiro pauses and hands Naoto a few papers, _"It seems that someone approved for a brigade to assist the man in tossing out the squatters. The earlier protests in Shinjuku are also related to this."_

"_That doesn't quite explain why the buildings were destroyed."_

"_Yes general, you see the demolition crew set the charges several weeks ago and were simply waiting for the military to come."_

Naoto sighs, _"But why last night? Who was supposed to help them clear the squatters?"_

Ichiro points at the paper in Naoto's hand. Naoto looks down at it.

"_This paper says that we were supposed to go."_

"_Yes sir, we were scheduled to go today and assist them in tossing out the squatters. A warning went out through the ghetto to warn the residents of the buildings"_

Naoto begins to rub his head. This was all too much for him.

"_Why didn't anyone tell us about this?"_

Before Ichiro can begin to speculate about the situation, someone calls for Naoto.

"_Keep looking into this Ichiro. The other issues, I suspect, will be left to others. And make sure that all the knightmares are back in the hangar and that repairs are underway."_

"_Yes sir."_

* * *

Tohdoh sees what the others see. What they see is a Gekka rise from the smoke and defeats the best knightmare pilots in Japan. The fact that someone can pilot a Japanese knightmare as well as those that have been working with those same knightmares is quite worrisome. Tohdoh thinks about everything and can't help think that someone is pulling the strings. Tohdoh shudders at the thought that he is a puppet or even worse a pawn in someone's game.

"_General Tohdoh."_

"_Yes."_

"_We have called Brigadier Kouzuki."_

"_Very well. Do you have a copy of his report?"_

"_Well no, actually general, you have it right here."_

The lieutenant flips through Tohdoh's papers and finds a copy of Kouzuki's report. The lieutenant looks quizzical about something.

"_Is something wrong lieutenant?"_

"_No general, well. It is just that General Kouzuki feels that the cause of this event is his brother-in-law but we have researched and discovered that General Kouzuki is neither married nor does he have any sister or brothers for that matter so he can't possibly have a brother-in-law."_

Tohdoh considers the situation. It is quite possible that someone changed records to make it appear as if Kouzuki is an only child.

"_I will deal with the situation."_

The lieutenant salutes and leaves Tohdoh to his thoughts. The past week seems almost surreal. Tohdoh will have look into Major Chiba's reports regarding the movements of Lelouch vi Britannia.

* * *

Several explosions are heard throughout as are several squeals.

"That's another one for my Lulu."

Nobody disagrees with the pregnant Kallen mostly because they don't want to end of on the wrong end of one of her crazy tirades. There only person that seems to be able to control her is Lelouch. Things most likely aren't going to improve with the arrival of Milly and Carolina. The kids are also set to arrive in a few days.

Lloyd and Cecile enter the bridge of the Excalibur. They have been working with the prototype sand panel. The sand panel isn't new in itself. It has been in use on certain vehicles in the more mountainous regions of Area 6 not to mention the fact that the Middle Eastern Federation uses something similar on their Bamides. This is, however, the first time Britannia uses such an invention on a knightmare. Lloyd volunteers the Lancelot and consequently Suzaku for the experiment. Since Schniezel is hundreds of miles away, he cannot object to having his investment harmed by something experimental. Lloyd's assistant, Mariel Labie, isn't so sure.

"Lloyd, are you sure that Prince Schniezel approves of the changes to the Lancelot?"

"I don't think that he would mind since Prince Lelouch offered to reimburse any damage caused to the Lancelot. Besides this is an opportunity to do something that will help Britannia win this war."

There is a reason why Lelouch has such great success in southern Africa while Cornelia and Schniezel struggle in the north. A large part of it is because Britannian forces have problems moving through the desert. Even though both Cornelia and Schniezel move along the Arabian peninsula, nothing came of those attacks. In fact those gains are lost almost immediately. Mariel appears to be ready to continue the argument when the door opens once more, and Nunnally enters the room. This makes Mariel stay quiet because for some reason Nunnally does not like her at all. Nunnally takes her seat on the Excalibur's throne.

"Dr. Croomy."

Cecile prefers to be called by her professional title rather than her social one.

"Yes your highness."

"The Boudicca is being prepared as you instructed to return you to Area 10. Although I doubt that my brother likes the idea of you leaving, but I suppose you have work to attend to," Nunnally doesn't seem happy as she says this.

Cecile smiles, "Yes your highness. I think you will be quite pleased with what we are working on."

With that Cecile leaves the Excalibur. However everyone's attention to turns to Kallen who lets out a yell.

"Damn those bullies teaming up against my Lulu," Kallen begins to swing at imaginary enemies, "Take that you meanies."

Nunnally shakes her head. Normally Kallen comes in one variety, strong and smart, but pregnant Kallen comes in millions of forms. There's cranky Kallen, the Kallen that seems more like Euphie or Lucretia, crazy Kallen, happy Kallen, etc, etc. Nunnally can go on for days describing the many moods of pregnant Kallen.

Lelouch calls up to the Excalibur, "Muscat is secure. We will move on to the next objective."

The crew of the Excalibur gets to work on Lelouch's order. Down below the fighting continues, but it is mostly small skirmishes.

* * *

It takes Suzaku a few minutes to get used to the sand panel. He isn't sure how to feel about being a guinea pig. Around him is a small force of tanks and knightmares. This region seems to be the least protected in the Middle East Federation who must have believed that Lelouch would attack from Area 15. This thought is being aided by the fact that Lelouch's fleet is off the coast of east Africa. Suzaku glides effortlessly using the sand panel as he helps take down the final Bamide. With their final knightmare defeated the locals begin to surrender.

Schniezel looks down at a map. His strategy for this war is simple. His force will attack the northern coast of Africa while Lelouch and Cornelia go up both coasts of the Red Sea. Once this is complete, Schniezel and Cornelia will move north into Europe while Lelouch moves east to finish off the Middle Eastern Federation. It will take time, but they will accomplish it. There also seems to be something going on in Japan, but Schniezel has other issues to worry about.

"Kannon, give the force commander leave to attack when he is ready."

"Yes your highness."

Schniezel looks down at his map. Yes everything will go according to plan this time.

**

* * *

**

Friday, April 13, 2017 Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia

"Your majesty, things seem to be going according to plan."

Charles looks down from his throne at his most trusted knight.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, Prince Lelouch is taking both sides of the Arabian peninsula. It will only be a matter of time before the Middle East Federation falls."

The emperor signals for the Knight of One to exit the throne room. Once he is out of the room, someone else enters from behind the throne.

"So it seems like my little boy is doing well."

The emperor looks over at his companion, "I suppose he is."

Marianne grunts, "Is that all you can say? He is making Schniezel and Cornelia look like amateurs," slight pauses, "again. "

This time the emperor grunts, "I suppose he is."

Marianne smirks and walks away. The emperor does not question Marianne's devotion to the plan, but at time she can be difficult to work with because she goes through motherly moments.

* * *

Shinichiro Tamaki is walking down the street kicking a can. He can see construction crews working on several building in downtown Tokyo. After all craziness with the military and that Zero guy a few weeks ago, things are settling down. Several of the construction workers jeer at Tamaki. He knows them because up until a week ago he is one of them. But his asshole boss fires him for being lazy and now Tamaki is without a job again. Tamaki knows that he is unique; a jack of all trades really. Over the years he has worked several different jobs. All of them hopefully building up his future in politics, but none of that pans out. Of course he blames the damn Kururugi administration and their lackeys.

Tamaki is informed. He watches the news. Every election the prognosticators say that Kururugi and the Liberal Democratic Party are going down, but every election they manage to win. In fact every election they seem to be getting closer and closer to have an absolute majority. Tamaki wonders how they do it because there are constant protests about the government especially here in Tokyo. The events in Shinjuku two weeks ago are a result of a protest gone bad. Tamaki knows because he is there. Then what starts out as a peaceful protest because something completely different when a few knightmares and weapons are stolen.

Tamaki knows that he is lucky to have escaped with his life and freedom. In part it is the reason why he lost his job. His work supervisor recognizes him as one of the ones that got violent at Shinjuku and tries to use blackmail. Tamaki refuses and is now unemployed. He does a few odd jobs here and there mostly for minor members of the mob. However all that doesn't stop him from enjoying a night out with his friends. He slips into the bar and sees his friends sitting in their usual spot. As usual he is the last one. He doesn't quite remember where he met them all, but Ohgi, Kouzuki, Sugiyama, Minami, and Yoshida are the best friends Tamaki has. Well they are the only friends Tamaki has but that is another story. Of course there is also Inoue who is always hanging out around them. That chick has probably been with every guy here.

"_Oh it looks like it's Tamaki's turn to buy the round," _an already drunk Yoshida states.

Everybody agrees with him so Tamaki orders pulling out a small wad money. Business is good this week. That's all it takes for Inoue to come over and sit on Tamaki's lap.

Ohgi shakes his head, _"And I thought you didn't have a job, Tamaki."_

Tamaki shrugs, "_Something came up, but I still need something permanent."_

"_Do you?" _Kouzuki asks.

"_Ya, the construction thing fell through because of that asshole foreman. I just need to find something better."_

The others at the table agree.

"_It seems like all the jobs are getting outsourced or are union," _Sugiyama says.

Minami agrees, _"Ya I'm lucky that my brother-in-law has an electronics shop."_

"_You know if you guys are lucky for something better, I think I might have something," _Kouzuki adds.

Tamaki takes a gulp of beer, _"Are you serious?"_

Kouzuki nods, _"We are opening a new plant just outside of town and need workers. _

"_How many do you need?"_

"_Well it is going to be a full factory so a few hundred. We are building it from the ground up so we are going to need people to help with that as well. Just drop by the office and I'll have Ichiro set you guys up."_

The others cheer. Inoue asks about Ichiro since he usually doesn't hang out with the others so she hasn't had a crack at him.

"_By the way, general, where is your assistant? He never comes here with you."_

"_Oh, I guess he is probably visiting his family. He has sisters and a brother somewhere. We finally have a few days off so he is probably visiting them."_

They continue drinking. Tamaki is glad that he came to the bar rather than going out to vandalize with his old gang.

* * *

Suzaku is standing before the ruined husk of the city of Nassiriya. The stink of the city is getting to him. His previous experience with war does not prepare him for this. Now he has plenty of practice with Lelouch's war tactics. Early in this conflict Lelouch makes peace with local rulers who for the most part don't really care who is above them. For many of the villages along the southern Arabian peninsula Britannia might as well be on Mars. Suzaku doubts that any Britannian officials will care about those people.

At the same time that Lelouch is pushing through the Arabian peninsula, Schniezel and Cornelia are moving through northern Africa. Depending on how Lelouch moves, it is possible that all through will meet on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea near Jerusalem or Damascus. While Lelouch is in control of the eastern portion of his force, Jeremiah is in control of the western portion going up the Red Sea. Among Jeremiah's tasks are to finish off the pirates being supported by the Middle East Federation. Suzaku knows the area Jeremiah is attacking because he was there last year. It seems odd that Lelouch does not even send Marika or Liliana in that direction especially since Nunnally does not seem to like the two girls.

Suzaku slices through another tank. The worst part of it is that the enemy does not even have the proper weapons to out up a good fight. Their tanks and giant Bamides may work in the open desert but here in an urban setting, the knightmare is king. Not only do knightmares especially newer models trump most weaponry in a city, Lelouch's strategic and tactical mind is more than a match for anyone.

* * *

Lelouch is standing at the edge of the city as his force of knightmares and light tanks moves in. The Excalibur, Avalon, and Ganymede hover ominously above. The Silencer is back in southeast Asia. The Apocalypse and Apotheosis are on the other side of the Arabian peninsula. The Boudicca was in Area 10 and is now on its way to deliver a special package. Lelouch looks over the horizon and sees smoke rising from the city. Unlike certain area down south, Lelouch cannot simply go around. He must defeat the enemy before he gets to Baghdad. Already the Middle East Federation and the EU are screaming their heads off about the oil well fires that Lelouch refuses to quell. Never mind the fact that they started them to slow down Lelouch. War is not always as easy as one thinks. Lelouch does dispatch a team to take care of the fires since there may be a need for that oil in the future.

Lelouch looks over at the knightmare beside him, _"Do you want go down, Major Chiba?"_

Nagisa Chiba looks down at the Britannian force finishing off the resistance from the local forces.

She smiles, _"Not today your highness. I am only here to observe."_

Lelouch chuckles, _"If you were only here to observe, you would be above like Xianglin."_

Nagisa stays quiet as Lelouch continues to order his troops forward. She notices that something is going on with the Britannian troops. She tries to listen in but struggles with the Britannian (English) being spoken. Since the prince and his entire family speak Japanese, Nagisa has become lazy in her assignment. There are other factors involved in this such as the luxury aboard the Excalibur. The fighting down below almost seems like a normal day job with such luxury. Nagisa begins to pay attention when she recognizes the voice of Suzaku Kururugi who is treated like a captain by Prince Lelouch and his force.

"Calm down Suzaku. What is it that you see?" Lelouch asks.

"There is a group of knightmares coming down from the north."

Lelouch looks at his monitors. Too bad that he sent Sancia and Lucretia west with Jeremiah because they would be perfect for this situation.

"Suzaku, drop back through the city and come here. We will meet them here."

"Are you sure that is necessary?" Suzaku pauses, "We have lost some good men taking the city."

Lelouch considers Suzaku's statement. While it is true that there were many losses in taking the city, it makes more sense to do this now.

"Yes Suzaku come back. If you stay in that forward position, the remnants in the city will attack you from behind. I am already sending the special forces into the city to harass the enemy as they move through it."

"As you wish, sir," Suzaku says grudgingly.

Lelouch shakes his head. His new brother-in-law has a lot to learn about war. One of the most important lessons that Lelouch learns at West Point is to defeat the enemy rather than worrying about land. Once the special forces reach their objectives, Lelouch gets his first visual look at the enemy and smiles.

"Cossacks."

Then he sees something else come up behind the Russian knightmares. It is similar to the other EU sixth generation knightmares (Musketeer and Cossack) in that it appears similar to the Gloucester, but it is painted black and appears to be more heavily armored.

"What are those?" Lloyd asks from the Excalibur.

Lelouch answers, "Those are Panthers. They are German knightmares."

The EU's system of government has several advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that the EU is actually several nations that have united to form one meaning that each nation has its own industry and research. This means that unlike Britannia or the Chinese Federation which have only a few research teams, the EU has several dozen research teams. Both the Cossack and the Panther take on the look and feel of their homelands. They are both tough looking and seem well insulated.

* * *

"Milly, this crazy."

Milly sighs, "You can turn back if you want, but I have a job to do."

Carolina cannot believe that she is convinced to join Milly's special force. Milly begins to set her force up. Milly's force is full of knightmare snipers. Carolina being a noble knows how to handle a weapon. It takes a few hours of practice to learn to do it in a knightmare. Milly's white Morgause blends nicely amongst the rubble. Her force is made up of Bors knightmare that are copies of the Morgause. Carolina is amazed at the way Milly moves her group of knightmares around. Even more the manner in which the pilots obey her with no questions. It is more than her being a princess. The pilots trust her with their lives.

Beside Carolina are Milly's bodyguard, Liliana, and her own bodyguard, a quiet nondescript captain. Carolina is certain that her bodyguard is quite capable.

"Princess Carolina, perhaps it is best if we stay behind."

Carolina thinks about it, "No, those that stay behind have to maintain those positions once the snipers are done with their task. Besides I am capable enough to be a sniper and run."

"As you wish your highness."

Carolina sets up next to Milly. Their bodyguards stand behind them in defensive positions. They have to wait for Lelouch's order to fire.

* * *

Marika is quite unsure about her position. Since Princess Kallen is pregnant and since Marika is her personal bodyguard, Kallen allows Marika to pilot the Guinevere. The only problem is that the quiet temperamental Kallen keeps forgetting that and keeps asking who is piloting her knightmare. Finally Prince Lelouch has enough of this.

"Kallen, stop distracting Marika. You know you let her pilot the knightmare now shut up."

Kallen grumbles something about Lelouch getting her spicy food. Lelouch gives the order for the attack to begin.

"Colonel Ashford (Milly's codename), you may begin when you are ready, "Lelouch moves the Mordred forward, "Major Chiba, unless you are going to fight, I suggest that you go back into the Excalibur. The EU forces won't care where you are from."

Lelouch stands in the center and front of his force. No one questions this decision. He can hear Lloyd going crazy about the data gathering potential. The enemy knightmares stall as Milly and her snipers begin their assault. Lelouch can see several tanks and artillery pieces come out from the city.

"They must have been hiding those. Captain Soresi, take your force and take care of those."

Marika stutters a bit, "Yes general sir."

Those in Lelouch's force learn quickly to call him by his military title rather than his social one. In Lelouch's case that means general rather than prince or your highness.

Marika moves forward to take out the enemy. It takes a while to get used to the Guinevere. It is unlike other knightmares since it is made especially for Princess Kallen. Marika and her team quickly dispatch the enemy, but she notices the point of the attack. Several dozen enemy knightmares come at her team which only has about ten knightmares.

"Maintain your position. We are the personal guard of Princess consort Kallen kou Britannia. We will show them our mettle."

"Damn right, you will," Kallen screams from above. Kallen switches to a calm sweet voice, "And then get me something spicy to eat."

Lelouch leads the rest of his force forward to attack. He jumps over Marika's team and attacks several knightmares on his own.

"Ya that's my Lulu."

Immediately the enemy is drawn to the Mordred. Lelouch puts away his VARIS gun and pulls out his MVS sword. Lelouch slashes at the nearest knightmare. The enemy begins to pull back when Lelouch arrives. He wonders why at first until he sees several more knightmares coming behind the Panthers and Cossacks.

"Musketeers."

Lelouch looks on. If the elite French knightmares are here that means that the elite EU knightmare pilots are also here. Lelouch can see Panzer Hummels setting up back in the city.

'Boujour Volte Altesse.'

Lelouch smirks at the voice. Only one person in the EU would dare even address Lelouch.

"MM."

"Good day your highness. It's a nice day to be out and about, eh."

Lelouch chuckles, "If you say so. Are you going to surrender or am I going to have to drag your body out of your knightmare?"

MM laughs, "I think that you may find it the other way around today, your highness."

"You think so. Well then I think that I will have to correct your way of thinking."

Milly's special forces begin to come out of the city attacking the EU forces from behind. MM grunts as he orders the Panzer Hummels to turn their attention to Milly's team who wisely take to the air. He instantly recognizes the Morgause.

"It seems as you are prepared for everything, your highness."

Lelouch grins, "That is nothing. Just wait for Act Two."

Lelouch uses his MVS to point to the sky where the Excalibur, Ganymede, and Avalon are taking positions over the city. Taking their positions in the sky is the Boudicca. MM looks up in confusion because he is certain that the smaller airship is not supposed to be here. He only has a few moments to think about the situation because the airship opens up revealing a glowing purple light that decimates the area.

"Allow me to introduce to you knightmare frame Chrysalis and the hadron cannon," Lelouch states as a strange looking knightmare disembarks from the Boudicca which continues on its path along the battlefield.

* * *

Suzaku is still inside the city fighting the enemy. He decides to keep his team inside the city to make the counterattack easier. Most of Suzaku's team is hit by fire from the Panzer Hummels before Milly's team takes them out. It seems pretty obvious that the enemy strategy is to capture one of customized seventh generation knightmares. Suzaku swings his MVS at the enemy knightmares as they try to surround him. Suzaku is going to have to do something he does not want to do. Ask for help. Suzaku toys with communication button for a few moments before deciding that he can't hold off the enemy for much longer. Suzaku does manage to dispose some of the Cossacks and Panthers but once Musketeers arrive, they are too good for him.

"_Damn these guys are good."_

Suzaku does not expect for the enemy pilots to be this good. From the looks of things it seems as if help will not arrive in time. Suddenly there is loud yell over an open channel that jars Suzaku.

"Look out bitches, because Nunnally is here. Hey Suzu, need some help."

* * *

Author's note: I love writing that last line.

Here's a question. Is pregnant Kallen faking or is that really how she acts when pregnant? Kallen is going to be quite a bit smarter than her cannon counterpart mostly because she hasn't been filled with hate and thoughts of revenge for seven years. It is also a product of her spending those seven years with Lelouch.

Does any mind that I made Inoue a bit of a whore?

I decided that Britannia uses Sakuradite instead of fossil fuels but other nations still use oil and stuff for certain things. Besides fossil fuels have some fun destructive properties.

Excalibur-Lelouch-  
Avalon-Kallen-Marika  
Ganymede-Milly-Liliana  
Boudicca-Nunnally  
Apocalypse-Royal Knights (Jeremiah, Villetta, Kewell)  
Apotheosis-Royal Knights (Irregulars)  
Silencer-Royal Knights (Anya)-Area 11

**Known Areas and their viceroys  
**1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Nunnally vi Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010-Euphemia li Britannia sub Isabelle vu Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia sub Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16-temporarily Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016- temporarily Lelouch vi Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016  
20 Northern Africa 2017  
21 Middle East Federation 2017


	62. Nightmare for Nunnally

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This chapter will flashback to the process of building a knightmare for Nunnally. I apologize for taking so long to write this chapter.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined.

* * *

Nunnally vi Britannia is easily one of the best, if not the best knightmare pilot, of this or any age. Very few can match her speed or strength. When taken in combination her skill makes her unstoppable.

James kou Britannia  
Age of Knightmares  
Neo Pendragon Press 2057 ATB

...

An exert from Converters:

Schnozeltron stares down at Nunners standing beside the damaged body of Waldobot Prime and her brother, Lulu.

"What are you going to do, human?"

Nunners slips a bit as she raises a giant gun that he instantly recognizes as a miniature of his own cannon. Nunners spits on the ground.

"I'm taking charge, you dirty bastard."

Converters ™  
Season 6 episode 13 "Nunners takes charge"  
C & P Productions  
LL Entertainment Company  
2023 ATB

* * *

**Friday, April 13, 2017 **

Suzaku is still inside the city fighting the enemy. He decides to keep his team inside the city to make the counterattack easier. Most of Suzaku's team is hit by fire from the Panzer Hummels before Milly's team takes them out. It seems pretty obvious that the enemy strategy is to capture one of customized seventh generation knightmares. Suzaku swings his MVS at the enemy knightmares as they try to surround him. Suzaku is going to have to do something he does not want to do. Ask for help. Suzaku toys with communication button for a few moments before deciding that he can't hold off the enemy for much longer. Suzaku does manage to dispose some of the Cossacks and Panthers but once Musketeers arrive, they are too good for him.

"_Damn these guys are good."_

Suzaku does not expect for the enemy pilots to be this good. From the looks of things it seems as if help will not arrive in time. Suddenly there is loud yell over an open channel that jars Suzaku.

"Look out bitches, because Nunnally is here," A pink and white knightmare similar to the Lancelot lands near Suzaku, "Hey Suzu, need some help."

"Nunners, is that you?"

"Darn right it's me. I can't let these jerks take advantage of my Suzu."

Behind Nunnally are two purple and pink knightmares. One of them is that transforming one, the Chrysalis. The other one he is not familiar with. Not that it matters because along with Nunnally, the two other knightmares are saving Suzaku's ass by destroying the enemy knightmares. Suzaku hears the monotone voice of Anya over the intercom. The other girl's voice is a bit familiar. Suzaku knows that it isn't Alice because she would be ridiculing Suzaku. Besides the fact that Alice is hundreds of miles away. She kind of sounds like that girl whose dad helped Lelouch make knightmares. Suzaku doesn't have much time to think because his attacked by several more knightmares who are unlucky enough to get blasted by the Chrysalis.

Nunnally yells, "Good job, Sora."

The Chrysalis bows, a very unnatural thing for a knightmare to do.

"Thank you, your highness. I am just trying not to get killed out here."

Nunnally scoffs at that comment, "Hmph. I think it's time we show these guys whose boss. Team Nunnally assemble."

This comment makes Suzaku stop, "What do you mean Team Nunnally? I am in charge of this area."

"Sorry Suzu, but I am going to have to invoke Britannian Revised Laws and Statutes section 1.1.6. 'At any time a member of the royal family may take control of a section of military for an undetermined period of time.'" Nunnally pauses for a bit, "You may not be as cute as Alice, but you will have to do for now."

Anya has a solution to this problem, "We can pretend that he is his cousin, Kaguya."

Suzaku groans, but Nunnally agrees with Anya, "See now Anya is a solution oriented person. Alright Anya, Sora stay at the rear. Kagy, you're up front with me. "

While they are arguing back and forth about this issue, several more enemy knightmares attack their position.

* * *

After Sora and the Chrysalis attack MM's force of Musketeers, Lelouch moves to attack, but the Musketeers pull back.

"Looks like you win today, you highness, but things are only beginning."

The Musketeers exit the battle with the help of a smokescreen.

"Don't follow them," Lelouch orders, "Captain Soresi, continue to reform the knightmares. We will enter the city en masse."

"Yes general sir."

Lelouch continues to observe the battlefield as his force organizes itself for an attack. He listens in on the conversations going on between his soldiers and finds something interesting.

"Damn Nunnally."

Lelouch rushes off to his sister's location. When he arrives, he hears Suzaku and Nunnally arguing about some mundane issue. He arrives just in time and jumps right in to attack. Lelouch slices through a Musketeer and turns to face the others.

"Maybe you should be concentrating on the enemy instead of arguing over whether or not to call Suzaku, Kaguya."

Nunnally grunts, "We're on it."

Lelouch points his MVS at one of the enemy knightmares.

"In case you haven't noticed the enemy is trying to capture the Lancelot."

Nunnally looks up and notices that there is an unusually large number of enemy knightmares.

"Holy crap! When did all those guys get here?"

Lelouch smirks, "Don't worry about them," he states as he places his MVS on the Mordred's shoulder, "I can take care of them. Just go back and join Marika and the rest of the force."

"No way big brother. We're staying here to help you."

Lelouch ignores her, "Captain Alstriem, make sure that Princess Nunnally is safely aboard the Boudicca. She has done enough for today."

Anya and Sora grab Nunnally's knightmare and begin to drag it back.

As Suzaku watches them pull Nunnally back, he can see the enemy knightmares surrounding him and Lelouch.

"What now, your highness."

Lelouch yawns, "Now we destroy all these bastards."

Suzaku blinks because there must be at least a dozen knightmares left.

"Are serious? What about the others?"

Lelouch ignores Suzaku.

"Captain Soresi, begin the attack on the city. I want every piece of enemy machinery captured or destroyed."

"Yes general sir. Do you need any assistance over there?"

"No Marika, we're fine. Just do as I ordered."

The enemy knightmares begin to circle around them. Lelouch notes that most of them are Cossacks. Lelouch flips his communicator to an open channel.

"Are you cowards going to attack? Or am I going to have to begin myself?"

Lelouch can hear the enemy knightmare pilots all cursing at him in Russian. He doesn't quite understand it all, but is sounds pretty nasty.

"I guess the only thing left to say is checkmate, eh."

Suzaku is confused at Lelouch's comment, but his confusion quickly vanishes when the enemy knightmares begin to go down. Suddenly the Morgause appears impaling an enemy knightmare with its MVS.

"Hello Lulu dear. Am I on time?"

Suzaku can feel Milly's smug smile. He can hear Kallen cheering her on from above.

"Close enough. Let's go. We still have work to do."

* * *

Cecile and Lloyd are watching the battle from above with more than a passing interest. Their creations are out there battling with the enemy. Despite the previous orders from Lelouch, Nunnally is allowed to return to the battle. Cecile still remembers the day that Lelouch asks her to build a knightmare for his little sister.

- **August 23, 2016**-

After leaving the Sakuradite Conference, Lelouch gathers his research and development team together. Cecile begins her presentation on the current generation of knightmares and the possible adaptations and additions. When she is done, Lelouch dismisses everyone.

"Dr. Croomy, can I have a moment of your time?"

Cecile continues to put her things away but smiles, "Of course your highness."

Lelouch waits for her to finish, "I, personally, want to thank you for everything your team has accomplished this past year."

Cecile nods and has an idea where this is going. Despite being employer and employee, she and the prince share a much deeper and closer relationship.

"Thank you, your highness."

Of course that is something that he could have said in front of everyone. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't have to compliment Cecile's work to get what he wants.

"I think that it is time that we move forward with some of Nina's projects."

Again something that could have been said while the others are here. Not that it matters because it is part of the game that the prince likes to play. He wants his women to be the ones that ask for it so Cecile only nods as she moves towards the still seated prince.

"I also would like for you to begin building a knightmare for Nunnally."

This causes Cecile to pause, "Your highness, isn't she a little young? She is only thirteen years old."

Lelouch smirks and shakes his head, "No, she is only twelve. She will be thirteen in a few months. Besides Alice isn't any older neither is Anya," Lelouch stands, "You don't have to begin this instant, but finishing some time next year would be appreciated."

With that Lelouch exits the room leaving Cecile to ponder the situation. Cecile remembers when discussing possible Lancelot pilots with Lloyd, Princess Nunnally's name comes up quite a bit. Cecile decides to get to work immediately. Within minutes she has the entire research and development team including VV working on various projects.

...

-present-

"Those are interesting knightmares, Cecile."

Cecile looks down and the battle and notices her latest creations. Not all of them came out her mind, but she is responsible for their creation.

"Kick their butts, Nunnally!" Kallen screams.

Nina shakes her head because Kallen is just as loud as she was all those years when they attended Ashford Academy in Tokyo. The battle continues to go in Lelouch's favor despite the entrance of the EU knightmares into the battle. However the introduction of the newly created knightmares gives Lelouch a distinct advantage.

"Those are interesting knightmares, Dr. Croomy," Nina comments, "What they called?"

Nina has been working on her own projects so does not know what Cecile has been working on.

Cecile answers, "Princess Nunnally's knightmare is called the Ganymede Princess. Lady Alstriem's knightmare is named the Iseult. The prince selected the names."

Nina nods. Despite not being involved in the knightmare projects themselves, she is partly responsible for Nunnally amongst others being able to pilot knightmares in battle. As anyone with half a brain knows, you just don't put a thirteen year old girl in an experimental knightmare even one as overly aggressive as Nunnally. Certain steps must be taken to take advantage of Nunnally's strengths and weakness. Her major weakness of course being that she is only a thirteen year old girl therefore she does not possess the physical tools to withstand the pounding a knightmare pilot takes. Perhaps in a few years she would be more than capable, but royal children are quite impatient.

**- November 19, 2016-**

Nina is taking a break from her work and steps outside to get some fresh air. She bumps into Cecile who is also taking a break.

"Oh Dr. Croomy, I didn't know you were out here."

Cecile smiles, "I'm just taking a break. How are your projects going?"

Nina shrugs her shoulders, "Well enough, I suppose. How are the new knightmares coming along?" Nina asks.

It isn't a secret that new knightmares are being built, but who the pilots are is a bit of an unknown.

Cecile sighs a bit forcefully, "They are fine. It is just that their pilots are a bit eccentric and underdeveloped for the knightmare's specs."

Nina carefully considers the situation, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Unless you have a way to make Princess Nunnally or Lady Alstriem physically stronger, I don't know if anyone can do much. Perhaps we will just have to wait a few years," Cecile sighs as she says this because she is really hoping to please Lelouch on this issue.

"Well we do have something that might be able to help," Nina states gingerly, "We have been working on several power suit concepts. We have even tested a few, but well," Nina pauses for a few moments, "You see all of our test subjects have been soldiers. To see their full potential we really want to test this on someone a bit weaker. Perhaps in the future on someone paralyzed."

"So you have one of these power suits finished."

Nina nods, "Yes several. We are beginning to work on lighter models. Prince Lelouch wants to know if it is possible to equip all knightmare pilots with power suits. He thinks it will give us an advantage. Because even if their knightmares are destroyed, our pilots will not be out of the battle."

"I see. I will send the princess over to you whenever you are ready."

"Okay let me think. We can be ready tomorrow afternoon."

Cecile smiles because it will be nice to get Nunnally out of her hair for a few days. She can probably send Evelyn and the twins over as well. She tries not to show too much giddiness in her answer.

"Very well Nina. I shall send them over tomorrow. Now I must be getting back to work."

* * *

Lelouch is directing the retaking of Nassiriya. Quite a few officers including Suzaku are not happy about having to retake the city hours after having fought for it once. They see the necessity of taking the city. They just do not understand the need for abandoning it once the EU knightmares show up. It could also be the fact that Nunnally keeps screaming at people over the communicators so much so that they have change channels often. The retaking of the city seems to stun the locals who are hoping to drive the Britannians back. However Lelouch does not allow that to happen, his relentless attack demoralize the city's defenders. Apart from the knightmares now going through the city, several tanks and remote control knightmares (Mordred and Titan Minis) are now entering the city. In the air, jets are constantly bombing what is left of the enemy.

"Colonel Hillis, take your squadron and harass the escaping enemy."

"Yes general sir."

Nunnally has the Boudicca dock with the Excalibur that way she can join Lelouch's meetings. Once in the meeting room, she looks down at the city. Smoke is still rising from several fires throughout, and she can see numerous patrols all over. Luckily for those present, Kallen does not attend the meeting.

Lelouch begins the meeting, "Once the city is secure, we will continue along the Euphrates River," Lelouch brings up a map of the area. "We also have a force at Al Amarah under General Upson. It is encountering less resistance. They will go up along the Tigris River. The EU and Middle East Federation have set up many fortifications from here to Baghdad. We will simply bypass them and head straight for capital."

This comment causes stirring and murmuring amongst those at the meeting.

Lelouch continues, "We will continue with the air strikes. Colonel Ashford (Milly), prepare you team for strikes at the fortifications. Nothing major. We just want them to believe and attack is imminent," Lelouch grins.

Milly nods, "Yes sir."

"The Excalibur and Avalon will head straight for Bagdad while the Ganymede, Boudicca, and Silencer stay back and attack the fortifications. We have just received a message from Jeremiah. They are in Tabuk, and will head for Aqaba tomorrow. He hopes to reach Jerusalem and Amman at the same time that we reach Baghdad. We will be able to communicate with Jeremiah's group for the night," Lelouch glances at Nunnally as he says this, "That is all. Orders will be sent to corps, division, and brigade commanders later tonight. Colonel Stadtfeld (Kallen) is working on them."

* * *

Nunnally does not waste a second and calls Alice the moment Lelouch signals the meeting's end. Only Alice is still in her meeting so Nunnally takes the opportunity to head over to the knightmare hangar. Several technicians are working on her knightmare, the Ganymede Princess. Anya and Sora are also there looking over their knightmares. Like Nunnally, the other girls are also keeping their power suits on. The suits come in different settings. One gives you extra power. The other one works to strengthen the user by acting as weight system. In sense both work to make the user stronger. Nunnally's phone rings as she is looking over the footage of her battles.

"Nunners here."

"Hey Nunnally, We're done with our meetings."

Nunnally lets out a yell that causes slight tremors throughout the world, "ALICE!"

"You don't have yell. I can hear you just fine."

"Sorry Alice but I miss you."

"I miss you too."

"Big brother let me go out today. He gave me my own group."

"Just be careful."

"You be careful too, Alice."

* * *

Lloyd is looking at the data from both the knightmares and power suits. He is mildly surprised to find that Princess Nunnally and her little friends are doing so well. It is not an easy task to find someone to pilot a specialized knightmare. The mass production models almost anyone can pilot, but the specialized knightmares require someone with a unique set of skills. Add to that fact the difficulty of the power suit and you have some very unique individuals. Despite being mostly in the loop on things, Lloyd does not know the extent of the power suit program. It is probably better this way.

* * *

Jeremiah looks down at his maps. They have come so far in so little time. But he knows that once they reach the major cities in the north, things will get more difficult. He will allow most of his troops to rest for a day before heading north. The setting sun also forces Cornelia from continuing. However given that she is already in Alexandria, there is nothing wrong with stopping and redirecting her troops. Schniezel is in Benghazi and does not like the look of things. Many in the Pendragon Press are calling for his removal as operation commander. They want to replace him with Cornelia or even someone else like Lelouch. Schniezel smirks at that thought. While both are capable neither one is able to grasp the political implications of their moves. Schniezel looks down at his chessboard where he plays his imaginary game. He moves a few pieces and decides to move on to the next stage of his plan.

* * *

Lelouch heads to his room after a long day. What he finds there disturbs him a little.

"Kallen, I told you to stop watching soap operas. You are emotional enough as it is."

Lelouch goes to turn off the television and notices that Kallen is watching anime.

"Are you watching Ouran High School Host Club and crying?"

Kallen sobs, "Yes because they aren't letting Honey-senpai eat any sweets. And I'm not emotional, I'm pregnant."

Lelouch smirks, "No you aren't pregnant, you're just bloated. It must have been something you ate."

Kallen throws a pillow at Lelouch who pretends that it really hurts him. Kallen speaks to her baby.

"That's your daddy, sweetheart, but I think we should replace him with someone more manly."

Lelouch stands and poses, "But where are you going to find someone as manly as this."

The door opens and Milly and Carolina walk into the room.

"Are we interrupting something?"

Lelouch nods, "Yes I was about to beat Kallen for questioning my manhood."

Milly pushes him out of the way.

"Well do it later because tonight is girls' night," Milly grins and glances at Lelouch, "Unless you want to stay here for some girly stuff and a chick flick."

Lelouch shakes his head, "I think I'll go over and do some simulation sparing with Nunnally."

"Yes that means I don't have to do this girly stuff." Nunnally states as she enters the room.

"Of course you can stay, Nunnally. You stay here and do girly things. I'll just go down and let Lloyd run some experiments on me."

Lelouch exits his room as the other girls come in. He heads down for the knightmare hangar. He decides to look for Cecile.

* * *

**Sunday, April 15, 2017**

Nunnally's team is getting ready to attack their first fortress. It doesn't look that heavily guarded, but Anya notes that they may be hiding under the ground. Not that it matters because they are not taking the fort. Their objective is make the enemy think an attack is coming. Sora prepares her hadron cannons for attack. Anya stays back with Nunnally.

"Get ready Anya. After Sora blasts these bastards, we're moving in to attack."

Anya nods and prepares her knightmare for the attack. In addition to the Chrysalis's hadron cannons, the Boudicca is also bombarding the enemy with heavy fire. On the other side of the fort, the Excalibur and Avalon are also firing upon the fort. After Nunnally's signal, the remote controlled mini Titans and Mordred will be unleashed on the enemy.

"Let's go team," Nunnally commands as she reads Lelouch's instructions. While she feels she is a better knightmare pilot, she knows that her big brother is the superior strategist, "Team A move forward with Anya. Team B maintain your positions with me. Team C, see if you can circle around along the right side of the fort. Sora, stay back and provide cover."

Even though Nunnally wants to get involved in the action, she understands her brother's concern. There is no need for her to endanger herself in a meaningless battle. Not that the battle isn't necessary in the long run, but it is useless for Nunnally to put herself in danger. Lelouch's concerns and Anya's theory at the enemy are confirmed within minutes. As soon as Anya's team lands they are met with heavy cannon fire. Despite the fact that the exterior of the fort is destroyed, there seems to be a solid structure below.

"Team B move in to assist Team A. Team C pull back and take reserve positions."

There is a bit of grumbling from Team C because they managed to breach the fort. Luckily for Nunnally the team's lieutenant understands Lelouch's intent and forces them to pull back but not before leaving a surprise in the fort.

"Your highness, I believe it is time to pull back completely."

Nunnally orders her force to retreat. As the last knightmare enters the Boudicca, a large explosion destroys a large portion of the fort exposing the interior. Nunnally marvels at what she sees. Anya is composed enough to order the bombing of the fort and for a force of remote control knightmares to be sent in. Nunnally keeps looking on as the rest of Lelouch's plan unfolds.

Evelyn and the twins are aboard the Excalibur controlling their remote control knightmares when they see a large explosion coming from Nunnally's sector. After ensuring that their big sister is uninjured, they take advantage of the opening in the fort's defenses. Their strategy is simple. Instead of using their remote control knightmares to fight with the enemy, they simply have to cause as much damage as possible.

Lelouch and Kallen are looking down at the fort being destroyed. It is their fourth fort since leaving Nassiriya two days ago. There are dozens more scattered between their location and Baghdad. Lelouch shakes his head at the foolishness of his enemies. He decides to use the captured enemy knightmares and Glasgows loaded with explosives to attack the forts. He even has Cecile's team build a few imitations Bamides. Although that tactic may only work a few times. Lelouch presses his army forward.

* * *

**Friday April 20, 2017, Baghdad, Middle East Federation**

MM is quite displeased with the situation. He advised the Middle East Federation to withdraw their troops to Baghdad for one big battle with Lelouch. Along the way MM would lead some EU troops in harassment raids against Lelouch. But they didn't listen. Standing on the brink of defeat, they turn to MM to solve their problems.

'Damn these bastards. Do they have any idea who they are fighting against?'

Not only do they not listen to MM but they do the complete opposite. They spread their forces down the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers along several forts hoping to slow Lelouch down. Those attempts fail because he refuses to expend time to take the forts. Instead he chooses to simply bombard the forts and send remote control knightmares loaded with explosives into them. It is a sound strategy even though technically Lelouch is surrounded; he holds the advantage of having lost very few troops. For the

Then of course there is Jeremiah Gottwald's siege of Jerusalem. Cornelia li Britannia's surprise attacks on Jaffa and Beirut make it impossible to send reinforcements south or east. Not to mention Schniezel el Britannia's naval action from North Africa. Coupled with Merlin Suzerain's attack of Malta and Luciano Bradley's bloody raids along southern Spain all leave the Middle East Federation on their own. The EU is beginning to worry about itself and has very little men and material to send to the Middle East Federation. At the moment the EU Central Council is deciding what course of action to take next.

At the moment the Middle East Federation leaders have all fled to Kirkuk. If needed, they will flee further north to the EU. There are also discussions about Iran or members of the Turkic Federation joining the war. Although those are long shots because it may lead to Chinese Federation joining the war on Britannia's side.

'Field Marshal Maurice, the Britannians are setting up for an attack.'

'Thank you Captain. Have the men prepare for battle.'

* * *

Marika sits in the Guinevere aboard the Avalon waiting for the attack to commence. Despite being Princess Kallen's royal guard, she is finding herself out fighting everyday. The princess states that someone has to keep the honor of her force. Her best friend is assigned to Princess Milly who is getting her team of snipers and sharpshooters ready above in the Ganymede. Marika marvels at the specialization of each airship. The Excalibur and Avalon are created to carry knightmares out to the front. They have large knightmare hangars and heavy cannon along the front and sides. The Ganymede is created with the idea of carrying snipers and sharpshooters. It has an area for them to get clear shots at the enemy. It also has the capability to fly higher than the other airships.

The Silencer although aptly named for Anya's quietness is also named because it is the quietest of the airships. Marika is told that the material is soundproof or sound absorbent. Then there is the little Boudicca. Princess Nunnally selected the name and size of her knightmare. While all the airships have a form of the blaze luminous shield system, the Boudicca, because of its size, is the only one that has it over the entire ship. Marika hears that they are still working on perfecting it though. The other two airships, The Apotheosis and Apocalypse, Marika does not know much about because she has not seen them in action. Marika waits for her orders to attack.

"Captain Soresi, order the first wave to attack."

* * *

Lelouch is looking down at his map as he orders Marika to commence the battle. With Iran declaring neutrality and removing its soldiers from the border, nothing can stop Lelouch from taking the Middle East Federation. He divides his force up so that the city will fall in one large strike. With all the other attacks the majority of the enemy troops are local. Lelouch would rather not have to destroy the city and kill its inhabitants since that will require him to use a lot of manpower. He cannot simply bypass Baghdad like he does with the forts. For this battle he holds Nunnally back.

* * *

Nunnally is sitting on her throne looking quite gloomy. She understands her brother's reasoning for keeping her back but sending Anya and Sora forward. Much to Nunnally's surprise the enemy is deploying in the manner that Lelouch expects. If things go according to Lelouch's plan, Nunnally won't have much to do today. As Nunnally sits there sulking, the door to the bridge opens. Much to Nunnally's surprise Evelyn and the twins enter.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Evelyn grins, "Big brother sent us over here to give you some orders."

Nunnally looks over at the quizzically and wonders why Lelouch just didn't giver her orders over the communicator or send her a message. It must be something that he does not others to know.

"Well what are they?"

Evelyn walks over and whispers into Nunnally's ear. Nunnally's smile gets bigger and bigger. Nunnally quickly looks at several maps on her monitor.

"I see. I like that plan. Very well then captain take us to Point 5E and begin to transfer reserve power to the blaze luminous shields."

"Yes, your highness."

Nunnally reaches over and puts her gloves on.

"It's time to show these bastard who they are messing with."

Nunnally exits the bridge and heads down to the knightmare hangar. Evelyn takes her place on the throne. The twins sit down beside her. They crack their little knuckles.

"Very well. Let's get started.

Nunnally boards her knightmare and waits for Lelouch's orders

"All right then I'm taking charge here."

* * *

Author's note: The chapter came out slowly but the ending sets up where I want to go from here.

The power suit concept comes from the Suzaku of the counterattack manga and from something else I am working on. It is more of an exoskeleton suit rather than an Iron Man suit. There are full sized power suits which may come later. The suits also have camouflage capabilities. Anya's knightmare (Iseult) is not like her cannon Mordred but is a lighter knightmare to knightmare combat model.

Why is a ship's control room called the bridge? It is the only definition of the word that does not mean linking or connecting.


	63. Battle for Baghdad

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

"_Japanese is in italics." 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' "Russian is underlined." "_Arabic is underlined and in italics." _

Yay someone answered my question about the bridge of ship. This chapter will be mostly battle-centric. We may get to see what CC and others are doing. We also get the first real glimpse of evil Lelouch here. The battle POV will move around quite a bit. I want to thank Slices who gave me some authentic contemporary and older Arabic names. Arabic names will be in simple form meaning first and last name. I think this will make it easier to remember those that survive the next few chapters.

Milly's royal guard led by Liliana Vergamon specializes in sniper and special force missions. Kallen's royal guard led by Marika Soresi specializes in knightmare to knightmare combat. Carolina's royal guard protects the palace. The vi Britannia knights and royal guards specialize in command and strategy.  
…

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, anti Britannian activist  
…

I don't believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone are guilty of the war. Oh, no, the little man is just as keen, otherwise the people of the world would have risen in revolt long ago! There is an urge and rage in people to destroy, to kill, to murder, and until all mankind, without exception, undergoes a great change, wars will be waged, everything that has been built up, cultivated and grown, will be destroyed and disfigured, after which mankind will have to begin all over again.

Anne Frank, German political activist

* * *

**6:30 am Friday April 20, 2017, Baghdad, Middle East Federation**

Carolina is sitting on the throne on the Excalibur's bridge. Kallen and Evelyn, the throne's usual occupants, are somewhere else. One look at the conditions on the bridge will lead someone to believe that a monumental battle is not about to take place. There is a buffet set out, and many of the airship's staff are talking and laughing. Carolina continues to look down as both sides of the battle prepare. Ayame brings her some food.

"You should eat something, your highness."

Carolina takes the plate and looks around. Lelouch's Japanese and Chinese observers also have no choice but to watch the battle from the bridge. He has forbidden them from leaving the bridge. There is not much for her to do since Lelouch is out in the Mordred, Kallen is aboard the Avalon, and Milly is aboard the Ganymede. Evelyn and the twins are aboard the Ganymede with Nunnally. Even Cecile, Nina, and that mad man Lloyd are down in the knightmare hangar helping launch the knightmares. All Carolina can do is sit and wait.

* * *

Nagisa Chiba understands the reason why she is being forced to watch the battle from the Excalibur's bridge, but she still does not like it. At the moment there is nothing much going. Both sides are still prodding and getting a feel for each other. She looks around the bridge and sees Zhou Xianglin speaking with the solider that is in charge of the bridge's communications. She is most likely trying to get some information about the prince's location. The person that intrigues Chiba the most is not the gloomy looking princess on the throne, but rather the quiet Japanese girl who serves as the prince's assistant. According to what she is told, they met her during their time in Japan. Since the girl's only family is her little brother, they bring them along. Still the situation is to say the least interesting.

* * *

Kallen is sitting on her throne aboard the Avalon. Even though she cannot go out in the Guinevere, she can still help can commanding her airship which at the moment is near the rear of Lelouch's formation beside the Ganymede. The Excalibur and Silencer are in the front with the Boudicca in between the four other airships. The Avalon and Ganymede are tasked with stopping the troops in the destroyed southern forts from coming north to aid the Baghdad force. Kallen doesn't understand a lot of strategy, but she knows enough to her job.

"Your highness, our scouts report that there is some movement coming from the south."

"Thank you, captain. Make sure that the Ganymede is informed of this."

Kallen begins to give orders to her units. Despite being the foremost expert on the offensive "lightning war" concept that does not mean that Lelouch is not ready to play a little defense. In spite of being only here for a day, Lelouch's engineers managed to dig several defense rings south of the city. They also take advantage of several existing tunnels. They have also placed several cannons and tanks hidden underground. They have lined the road with heavy explosives. Nina is with Kallen, and she has created a few surprises for the enemy. It is going to be a long day for both sides.

* * *

Milly is lining up her knightmares for an ambush on the enemy. Poor schmucks have no idea what is going to happen to them. She can hear members of her team whispering prayers moments before their attack begins. High above the Ganymede looms ominously with the Avalon a few miles to the east. There are numerous VTOLs and floating knightmares between them. Below the two airships are rows of tanks and knightmares. Further north are the Silencer and Excalibur with their units getting ready to attack Baghdad. Milly is several miles south of her airship hiding in the sand. Her entire sniper team (royal guard) is ready to fire as soon as the order is given.

Milly sighs, "Thank goodness that our knightmares have air conditioning."

The others mumble in agreement as their communicators come to life. It is the moment millions of people in the area have been waiting for.

"This is Major General Lelouch vi Britannia, commander of the Britannian Unified Armed Forces Group Five, commander of the African and western Asian liberation army. The enemy has refused our offer of surrender. It is our duty to make them see the error of their ways. "

That is the signal for Lelouch's entire force to open fire on the enemy. Milly's team wisely uses tunnels dug by the enemy fir traveling underground. They prudently only use a small portion that they checked for explosives beforehand. Milly's team goes into radio silence as they begin their different operations around the enemy.

* * *

Lelouch is looking down as his attack begins. The defenders of Baghdad have had almost a month to prepare defenses. Even with though the artillery barrage does little to budge the defenders, Lelouch has plenty of surprises for the enemy.

"Team Alpha, move into position."

Here is a bit of trivia that most of the world does not know. You don't actually have to know what you are doing to pilot a knightmare. Lelouch discovers this during his invasion of southeast Asia. Of course most people might wonder why anyone would put an untrained person in a knightmare, but Lelouch discovers that a person under the influence of geass can do some pretty amazing things in a knightmare. Geass slaves make for the ultimate fighters because the only thing that gets in their way is death. Even though MM is immune to geass, and some in his force have geass, this does not mean that they can't be stopped by those under the control of Lelouch's geass. To combat this VV creates some interesting items for Lelouch to use. Lelouch smirks as he prepares for the next part of his plan.

"Team Alpha, move forward."

* * *

CC is quite content eating pizza while watching VV create some stuff for Lelouch.

"Looks like I have to go for another pizza."

CC looks to see if anyone else reacts to her statement. Almost on cue Mao stands up almost tripping over himself to get CC her pizza. VV grunts as he watched the Chinese albino run off to get CC her pizza.

"I don't know why Lelouch bothers keeping the two of you around. You eat hundreds of pounds worth of pizza a day and that one," VV pauses looking for how best to describe Mao, "Let us just say that he is a few eggs short of the dozen."

CC grunts as she stands up and walks seductively towards VV.

"I have other uses. Not that you would anything about that."

VV grumbles and continues his work. Mao comes running into the room carrying CC's pizzas.

"Thank you, Mao. See VV, my Mao is useful."

Mao shoots VV a venomous glance, but quickly returns his attention to CC. What Mao desires the most is to take VV's code and spend eternity with CC; however, several things prevent this. The first being that Evelyn has geassed Mao to not take anyone's code. Second that Mao wears a device that sends electric current through his body if he gets within ten feet of VV or GG, although he does not know about her. If those do not deter Mao, VV carries several guns and grenades on his body.

Mao continues to stare worshipfully at CC as she eats her pizza. He notices that something is slightly off about her.

"CC, my love is something wrong."

CC feels a sensation going through her body as she lets go of her pizza. VV notices CC drop to the ground. But before he can find out what is wrong, his body goes numb and he drops to his knees. Both of them are clutching at their code.

"Damn I didn't expect Lelouch to be this far along," CC states as she manages to regain her composure.

VV shakes his head, "No it isn't just him. The others are also."

VV stops because he notices the expression on Mao's face when CC mentions Lelouch. It would be quite unforgivable if somehow the raven haired prince masters his geass and takes VV's code. What the childlike mind reader does not know is that there is another code bearer much closer to Lelouch.

* * *

MM regains his senses, 'Damn who knew that the little Britannian brat was so far along,' The danger to MM is even greater now, 'No matter how advanced his geass is. If he wants this code, he will have to come and get it.'

MM continues the assault on the Britannian forces.

* * *

"Come on Weinberg. You've made us wait long enough."

Gino pushes his knightmare forward. Traveling with Nonette isn't the easiest thing in the world. Nobody expects Lelouch to come this far so quickly, again.

"Lady Enngream, wait. We must exchange out energy fillers before heading into the battle."

"Fine but I want to get up there and see what my Epona can do. Too bad we couldn't go over with Nelly, but I suppose that little Lulu will do."

Gino groans, "You know he isn't so little anymore. I have heard rumors that one of his wives is pregnant."

Nonette giggles, "I've heard the same rumors. I wonder which one it is. It's probably that red head. From what I've seen those two can't keep their hands off each other."

Gino doesn't say anything. Nonette has some idea that Gino once harbored slight feelings for Kallen. Gino looks ahead after having is energy filler changed. He sees the edge of the battle. On the way north Gino and Nonette see many things: burnt-out cities, destroyed forts, etc.

"That battle looks funny."

"What are you babbling about Weinberg?"

"I don't know. Something just feels odd. "

Nonette laughs, "You didn't expect Lulu to do things conventionally, did you? Let's go."

* * *

Marika is waiting for the enemy to reach her position. Princess Milly's special forces team has done its job by attacking the enemy from its forward positions. What is left of the enemy is staggering towards Marika's force. The Guinevere's silver right claw is dangling ready to get into the action. It is almost as if the knightmare itself is anxious to do its job. Marika puts her hands on the Guinevere's controls as the enemy continues to move forward. Marika waits a few seconds to ensure that the enemy is in the appropriate location before she gives the order.

"Now!"

Marika slams her right claw into the dirt and activates the radiate wave to full capacity. Several explosions take the enemy down. Marika's force moves into to finish them off. The defenders of Baghdad built several defensive rings and tunnels. Their intended purpose is to get behind the Britannian forces attacking the city, but the tunnels are quickly discovered. Britannian forces take over the tunnels outside the city and simply cave-in the sections that go into the city.

Marika glides over the ground towards an enemy knightmare. Aside from their bulky Bamides, the Middle East Federation is also using various types of older knightmares including Panzer Hummels, Glasgows, and Burais. These knightmare are no match for the Io. They are less of a match against the new Bors knightmares. Marika effortlessly hacks away at several downed knightmare to ensure that they are down permanently. Behind her in the city itself she can hear constant firing. It won't be long before the city is in ruins.

* * *

Nothing, not Nassiriya, not even the taking of the forts, prepares Suzaku for Baghdad. In a sense it is as if the world has gone mad. Suzaku supposes that the only saving grace is that Lelouch leaves the north side of the city open so that civilians can leave. Although Suzaku thinks it is most likely done in hope that the civilians will slow down the retreating army. Suzaku wonders how many civilians are actually leaving the city. Lelouch gives a warning on his way north that anyone caught between cities will be treated as an enemy combatant. They find a few stragglers here and there. For the most part they are left alone or at least that is what Suzaku can see. He is not exactly privy to every decision that Lelouch makes, and why he makes it. For the moment he is waiting along with others as Lelouch's remote control knightmares push into the city.

This does not mean that Suzaku is just standing around. Several enemy knightmares and tanks can out to attack. Suzaku and his team are forced to deal with them. Behind Suzaku are the Boudicca and Nunnally. He can just imagine her pacing around trying to deal with the boredom. Suzaku notices the signal is given for the forces in the south to attack the enemy. All Suzaku can do is wait for his own orders to attack.

* * *

Lelouch looks on as his geassed slaves push their knightmares forward. They manage to do much more damage than he expects. He wisely sends them in amongst the remote controlled knightmares. Very few know about the geass slaves in the knightmares. Their orders are quite simple. They are to get through to the other side of the city regardless of the obstacles. Lelouch prepares to send the rest of his force into the city. He closes his eyes as he prepares to give the next set of orders.

"Nunnally, it is time."

* * *

Gino and Nonette reach the enemy's rear. What they find shocks them. Lelouch sets several rings of explosives along the ground. Gino thinks about it and realizes that it may have been the enemy who set the explosives up and that Lelouch may have just taken advantage of it. Gino sees several people staggering away form the battle. Gino can see the exhaustion in their eyes. It becomes even worse when they see the force gathering behind Gino and Nonette.

"Looks like these guys are the troops from the forts."

"You're probably right," Nonette responds, "Just look at their eyes. It almost makes you feel sorry for them."

Gino sees the Guinevere tearing apart several knightmares. Gino remembers the time Lelouch led his friends and subordinates to victory in a knightmare battle against Britannia's best pilots. Then Lelouch knew he was going to win. Lelouch always wins. It isn't so much that he is that good. He just hates losing.

"He knows we are coming."

Nonette grunts, "Of course he knows. He asked for us personally."

Gino shakes his head, "No, he knows that we are here now. He knows that we would do everything we could to get here for the battle."

"So what you're saying is that we're just puppets and he's the puppet master," Nonette laughs a little as she says this, but she realizes that Gino has a point. Their entrance into the battle will tip the scales decisively towards Lelouch. Although a little tired from their travel, their troops are still fresh, "No matter what Lelouch plans, it is still out duty to aid him so prepare the troops for battle."

Gino begins to assign tasks to his section of the force when he notices that the ground in front of them is moving.

"Prepare your rifles."

A single white knightmare blasts out of the sand. It is quickly followed by similar looking knightmares. The dozen or so knightmares line up ready to attack the enemy. One of them turns its attention to Gino's group. Soon the first knightmare which appears to be the leader turns to face Gino who know recognizes the knightmare as the Morgause.

"Holy shit, it's Milly."

Milly growls, "That's her royal highness Princess Camilla Millicent ash Britannia to you, Knight of Twelve."

"Colonel Ashford, we must get moving."

"I know Liliana. I know," Milly turns to face Gino, "Lelouch prepared some instructions for you, Gino. I am sending them over."

With that Milly rejoins her force and moves forward.

"Hey Weinberg, what was that about?"

Gino begins to send Lelouch's instructions to Nonette.

"I see so he planned this far ahead," Nonette sighs, "Well we can't disappoint then, can we?"

Gino grimaces a bit, "I guess we can't. Captain, prepare the troops for battle."

* * *

**12:00 pm **

MM likes the situation less now than he did a few hours ago. Lelouch is able to get more out of his remote controlled knightmares then even the worst case scenario envisioned. That isn't even the worse thing the defenders have to face. Lelouch's stealth bombers are able to reach heights that seem impossible. The first time something crashed well behind their lines they shrugged it off as some shrapnel, but it keeps happening. Then they realize that the Britannians are bombing them from unimaginable heights. This compounds the problem because anything being dropped from that height is dangerous enough, but the fact that they are dropping bombs makes things worse. Then come the suicide bombers.

'Field Marshal Maurice! Field Marshal Maurice!'

'What is it, captain?' MM asks looking over at his assistant. The man really needs to learn to calm down.

'Sir, our friends have decided to attack.'

'Damn,' MM spends the next few moments cursing in every language that he knows which after two hundred years of existence is quite a few, 'Contact them now.'

'I have already done so sir.'

MM takes the communicator from his assistant, however, it is of no use to him because they speaking very rapidly in Arabic.

'Find me a translator,' Someone, a lieutenant, gets shoved towards MM who quickly turns up the volume, 'Well what are they saying.'

MM has to wait a few seconds before the man responds, 'They appear to be angry about something.'

MM crosses his arms and taps impatiently, 'I figured as much, but what would make them go out in divergence to the plan.'

'It is hard to make out. They are saying something about bodies,' the lieutenant shakes his head, 'They want the head of Lelouch vi Britannia. I would hate to be in his shoes at the moment.'

MM grimaces at this comment. He would very much like to be in Lelouch's shoes at the moment hovering over the battle choosing when and where to strike.

'Field Marshal, look at these,' MM's assistant calls out to him.

When MM sees the pictures and video, he dismisses everyone but his assistant.

'Prepare the troops for a counter-attack. Our allies have left us with no other option,' MM waits for the others to leave before turning to his assistant, 'What are these?'

'They are pictures and video taken this morning.'

MM considers what he is looking at, 'You mean to tell me that there were people in those knightmare during the first attack wave.'

'Yes sir. What I can gather from the various reports is that they are/were under the control of something.'

'You mean he,' MM stops not wanting to say the word geass. MM contemplates the fact that Lelouch sent geass slaves forward in what amounts to a suicide attack. As MM reflects on the situation, he ears rumbling outside his office, 'What now?' A few scared lieutenants are standing around. MM growls at them, 'Well what is it?'

'Sir one of the airships is heading straight for us.'

MM looks at one of the monitors. Just as the lieutenant stated one of the airships, the smallest one, is heading in their general direction.

'I want all our remaining forces to target that airship,' MM growls, 'Looks like the black prince wants to get cocky on us.'

Nunnally is sitting in her knightmare (Ganymede Princess) as the Boudicca flies straight into the enemy. During the months before the war, they tested the blaze luminous system of the airship. Now is the real test but just in case the pilots have permission to take the Boudicca away if things begin to get dangerous. Like the other knightmare pilots Nunnally is waiting for opportunity to fire. The sections of the blaze luminous will disable for a few moments giving them an opportunity to get a few shots off. The disabling system runs on algorithmic calculations that make Nunnally's head spin so she doesn't bother thinking about it. To make things even more harassing for the enemy, the kids release their remote control knightmares.

MM looks on as his entire force is firing quite unsuccessfully against the airship. It does not take them long to rid themselves of the remote control knightmares. Still he cannot believe that Lelouch is able to develop a shield system to protect an entire airship even a smaller one.

'Keep firing. That thing has to run out of power some time.'

To make matters worse small portions of the shield disable allowing those inside to fire out MM's force. There seems to be no pattern to it.

'Field Marshal Maurice!'

MM sighs as he taps his communicator, 'What now?'

'Sir the Mordred, Morgause, and Guinevere have appeared at the front. They are routing our allies.'

'Damn.'

In his haste to take down this airship, MM forgets all about his allies.

'There is more, sir. Sporadic communications from the southern forces say that a second Britannian force is coming north. Sections of it may be engaging our troops south of the city.'

MM can only say one thing, 'Damn.'

MM can't think of anything worse. His hope is that the forces from the forts gather and come north. This way Lelouch's force will be outnumbered and surrounded. Even without this additional force Lelouch is dealing with MM's plan. MM looks up at the little airship flying away. On its way out it doesn't even bother shooting or dropping any bombs as if saying that MM and his force are not worth the time. MM has no choice but to engage Lelouch's force in the hope that they manage to capture someone important.

'Let's go. We have business with a prince.'

* * *

Lelouch watches the battle unfold. The troops coming up north from the forts are too anxious to get into the battle and fall for Lelouch's trap. They go straight into several landmines and ignore part of Milly's force underground. So rather than trapping Lelouch, it is his enemy that is trapped. Compounded with the fact that Gino and Nonette arrive just in time to join the attack. Milly rips through the tattered and torn enemy and pushes north to join Lelouch. Now all five airships as well as most of Lelouch's army is engaging what is left of the Baghdad defend force.

In addition to Lelouch's plan working, an unexpected development occurs. It seems as if some of the native defenders of Baghdad recognize a few of Lelouch's geass slaves. This causes the forces of the Middle East Federation to attack Lelouch rather than waiting for him. Lelouch personally meets this attack. Unlike at Nassiriya, Lelouch has no plans to hold his troops back. They will take Bagdad today or never. Lelouch slices through several knightmares.

"Pathetic."

Again the Middle East Federation is overpowered when it comes to knightmares. The bulky Bamides fail them once more when it comes to defending a city. They have no choice but to use a motley assortment of Glasgows, Burais, and several knightmares made from spare parts. These are no match for Lelouch's force of seventh generation knightmares.

"Let's finish these guys off."

Suzaku is busy destroying several knightmares. This time his force is under the direct control of Lelouch. A few of the stupider ones think it an honor to be under the direct control of a prince. The others realize that Lelouch just wants to keep the Lancelot nearby. Suzaku finishes off another Burai when several slash harkens lash out at him. He manages to evade them. He looks over at his attackers and notices that they are EU knightmares.

"Looks like things are about to get interesting," Suzaku says as he lunges towards the enemy.

* * *

Kallen is looking down at the battle. It is mostly going as Lelouch plans. The troops coming north from the forts rush into the battle falling into Lelouch's trap. In disarray they fall victim to Marika and Milly's attacks. Inside the city Lelouch's remote control knightmares do more damage than anticipated. A few of these knightmares are actually piloted by geassed slaves. This leads to an unexpected occurrence. It seems that a few of the geassed slaves have friends or relatives amongst the soldiers protecting Baghdad who recognize them. This causes the native forces to attack with no regard to conditions or plan. One could almost say that Lelouch plans for this to happen.

While all of this is going on, the bombing of the city does not stop. For several months before the invasion and during the invasion, they constantly test the abilities of the bombers. If you consider that it is stressful enough getting bombed, consider how it feels when you cannot reach the bomber or see it on your radar. But Lelouch's plan involves much more than that because apart from conventional bombs, he also uses several crueler ones. You simply take several hundred smaller bombs and wrap some nails around them. Then you detonate it about a hundred feet in the air. It causes havoc amongst infantry. While nails and smaller shrapnel cannot do major damage to knightmares, they can get lodge in vital parts. Of course that is not the end of it. Over the course of the last month, not to mention in past wars, Lelouch captures several enemy knightmares. What happens when you load those knightmares with explosives and drop them from impossible heights? The enemy becomes afraid. What happens when you stick a few geass slaves in them and have them fire before committing suicide by exploding the very knightmares they are falling in? The answer is absolute fear and anger. Then there is the suicide bombing. Kallen thinks of the Japanese word for this (kamikaze).

The next part of Lelouch's plan involves sending the Boudicca into the middle of the enemy force. With its blaze luminous the Boudicca is impossible to take down. It only remains down there for a few minutes, but that is enough to distract a large portion of the enemy force in particular the EU contingent. This allows Lelouch to finish off the overly aggressive native forces. Not that they stood much of a chance before since they are using older knightmare that are no match for what Lelouch has. Kallen's stomach begins grumbling so she takes a break from the battle.

* * *

Lelouch cannot believe that things have gone according to plan. An old saying states that no plan survives contact with the enemy which is true even in this battle. Lelouch does not expect most of the native forces to break ranks and attack. This makes things so much easier for him especially after Gino and Nonette arrive.

"Suzaku, push ahead and keep the enemy from retreating."

"But I thought you wanted to keep the north open."

"That is no longer beneficial. We will crush out enemy here in the city. Do as you are ordered or I will send someone else."

Suzaku responds grudgingly, "I'll take care of it."

Lelouch smiles as he sees MM's squad of Musketeers coming towards him.

MM sends his force directly at the Mordred, but the Lancelot and its squad intercepts them. The Lancelot does not stay and fight; however, it does its job because the Mordred retreats to the Excalibur.

'Ah Field Marshal Maurice, I'm afraid that this time it is I who must say good bye.' Lelouch says condescendingly.

MM notices that most of Lelouch's force has also gone aboard the Excalibur. He is about to order his troops to fire at the airship when his assistant calls him.

'Field Marshal Maurice, we have a problem.'

'What is it?'

'The Lancelot is leading a force that appears to positioning itself along our possible escape route. In addition the little airship is also there and is releasing its knightmares and tanks. The city is also being surrounded by hundreds of VTOLs.'

'Damn.'

MM does not have very much time to think about his next move. With Lelouch now moving to surround the city perhaps now is a good time to escape.

'Order the retreat. Take everything that is salvageable. Leave behind any wounded that are incapable of fighting.'

'Sir that.'

'Just order it. We will keep the Britannians occupied as you pull back.'

Under normal circumstances MM will stay and fight, but Lelouch is making is painfully obvious that he wants to decimate his enemy's capacity to fight. It certainly seems as if he is willing to destroy the city of Baghdad to accomplish his goal. There is no doubt now that the Middle East Federation will fall. The last communication from Damascus states that Jerusalem is being attacked. MM's own sources inform him that something very bad is happening in the city. For now MM can only run to fight another day. Without a doubt his allies will not want to leave since most of them are Baghdad natives. But MM has no choice, he cannot risk the entire operation out of concern for one city.

* * *

"Damn that Suzaku," Lelouch slams his fist down, "Perhaps it would have been better if I lead the operation myself."

Suzaku does not do a good job stopping the retreating forces. Lelouch continues to look on as Marika leads the destruction of what is left of the city's defenders. The five airships are now hovering over the city together as groups of VTOLs and knightmares patrol the city. Lelouch feels two slender arms wrap around him.

"Today was very boring, you know."

Lelouch sighs, "Was it?"

"Yes, the only person for me to speak with was Ayame."

"If you want, I can threaten some of the soldiers to spend time with you. Or if you want maybe someone from the kitchen staff. Helga, the cook, can speak for hours about her son Raymond, the artist," Lelouch does air quotes as he says the artist, "Gene, the engineer guy down in the knightmare hangar, likes to talk his stamp collection."

Carolina shoves Lelouch, "That is not what I mean."

Carolina sticks her tongue out at Lelouch who quickly catches it and retorts, "That is very unladylike young Miss Sforza."

Carolina frees her tongue, "I can do whatever I want because I'm a princess."

Lelouch sighs, "I wish I was a princess and could do whatever I want."

Carolina giggles and slides onto the bed signaling for Lelouch to come with her. Lelouch obediently follows her.

* * *

Nonette and Gino are staring as Kallen pigs out. Nunnally is off to the side telling both Suzaku and Alice (via teleconference) about her badass moves. Milly is directing her staff (and some of Kallen and Lelouch's staffs) in filling out her paperwork. Marika and Liliana are unwinding from their long day. Sure they wanted combat duty but serving under Lelouch in particular under Kallen and Milly is a lot of work. Neither girl will quit because they want to show their families that they can handle the load.

Kallen reaches over towards Gino's plate. Her cheeks are stuffed.

"Are you going to eat that, Gino?" Gino shakes his head so Kallen takes his food, "I have to eat enough for me and my baby."

Gino nods because Kallen always eats enough for two people. Now pregnant she appears to be eating enough for four people. Nonette looks around and notices that Lelouch has not made an appearance.

"Where is Lelouch?" Nonette asks.

Gino looks around and notices that Carolina not here either.

Kallen swallows and stops eating long enough to answer.

"Lulu is with Carolina. It's her night to be with him. If you need something to do for tomorrow, then you have to talk with Nunnally or Milly because they know what is going on," Kallen lets out a loud burp, "Excuse me. I think it's time for me to sleep."

Gino and Nonette choose to go over to Nunnally who has Suzaku in some sort of wrestling hold. When she sees them, she releases the Japanese boy.

"So what's up? You guys want to kick butt tomorrow then sign up with Team Nunnally."

Nunnally hands them Team Nunnally applications.

Nonette answers, "Yes I think we will go with you tomorrow."

Nunnally smiles, "Good. Now I think everybody should get some rest."

* * *

**11:30 pm Friday April 20, 2017, 30 miles northwest of Baghdad, Middle East Federation**

MM and what is left of his force are sitting several miles north of Baghdad. They are outside of artillery range, but well within the range of Britannia's bombers. They are contemplating their next move. Originally the plan calls for a withdraw to Kirkuk and if need be to Al Mawsil. Of course the native forces were hoping to defeat Lelouch before he gets to Baghdad and drive him out. MM knows better. Now he is wondering if perhaps a better plan for the EU is to withdraw up the Euphrates River towards Halab in northern Syria and prepare for the defense of Anatolia. It seems like a drastic move, but MM needs to be in an area where he can control the situation. It seems as if Lelouch will be occupied in Baghdad for a few days enabling MM to think about the situation.

* * *

**5:00 am, Saturday, April 21, 2017, 30 miles northwest of Baghdad, Middle East Federation (between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers)**

MM is sitting half asleep. Despite his body not needing sleep, every once in a while MM dozes off. With the relative quietness of the camp he falls asleep, but it is probably time for him to get up and prepare for his day. MM quickly rushes out upon hearing lots of commotion outside. MM heads to the communications tent.

'Sir the two smaller airships are heading in our general direction.'

MM sighs, 'Order a full retreat. I am afraid we will have to leave behind any civilians who cannot fight.'

'Sir that order will not please the natives."

MM scowls, 'I do not care. Either they obey or we leave them behind as well.'

MM exits the tent and heads for his knightmare.

**9:00 am **

The last few hours have not been pleasant. As MM's assistant predicted the local soldiers stay to protect the civilians. Most of them are killed. A few are captured. MM does not want to think about their fate, however, he has other things on his mind at the moment. MM is hoping to fight the Lancelot instead he has to put up with a pink and white knightmare with a mouthy pilot.

'Damn why doesn't this kid just shut up?'

"What was that Frenchy? Talk so the rest of us can understand you," his enemy responds.

"You should be more respectful of your elders, child."

MM's opponent scoffs, "I only respect those who can put up a decent fight."

MM dodges a slash attempt. He has spent most of the last hour dodging his opponent.

"Well you can least tell me your name."

"What for? We won't be fighting much longer."

MM just dodges another attack but can't stop his opponent from smashing an MVS down on his left arm destroying it.

'Damn.'

MM keeps backing off. His regenerative abilities are the only thing keeping him alive because his opponent is relentless. Slash harkens wrap around MM's legs tripping him. MM's opponent quickly jumps on top of him jabbing his knightmare with its MVS.

"Looks like I got my prize," MM's opponent declares laughingly, "I guess I should tell you my name before I drag you out of your knightmare. I am Nunnally vi Britannia, and I know who you are."

MM grimaces at the name. He has no idea who this girl is, but the name vi Britannia has an obvious meaning. He decides that the only way out of this is to blow up his knightmare. Hopefully one of his men will be able to pick up his body. Before MM can push the button his opponent backs away and several explosions occur in the air above MM.

'What is that?'

MM looks up and sees three knightmares similar to the German Panther but with a few adaptations. Behind them is a large force. MM's opponent continues to back up most likely considering what to do next.

"Team Nunnally, pull back. We have accomplished what we set out to do."

MM sighs in relief as the Britannian forces withdraw. He turns to face his saviors.

'Who might you be?'

MM hears some Arabic banter that is too quick for him to follow. At least that is what he believes it to be, however it sounds more refined more ancient than the local language.

'My name is Ali Fayez. My brother Khalid is our leader.'

'You are from the Kirkuk defense force.'

'Yes. Perhaps it would be better if we pull back.'

"Yes that is a good idea.'

What remains of MM's force and its civilian followers retreat now under protection of the Kirkuk defense force. It is obvious that the little Britannian princess is correct in her assessment of the situation. What is left of the Baghdad defense force is in shambles and disoriented. If not for the timely arrival of the Kirkuk defense force, MM would be a Britannian prisoner. MM wonders if Lelouch plans for this as well. MM is taken to the converted Bamide that Khalid Fayez uses as a mobile base. His Musketeer is going to have to be scrapped for parts. He has his assistant look up information on Nunnally vi Britannia. MM walks into a conference room with his two most useful geass contractees (of his soldiers). He looks at the three men sitting at the table.

'Allow me to introduce myself. I am General Khalid Fayez.'

MM smiles, _"It is a pleasure to meet you. General Khalid Fayez. I am Field Marshal Maurice Marcel."_

All eyes turn to MM. When you live a few hundred years, learning a new language is quite easy and useful. He can speak Arabic, but he really can't understand that well. MM can speak for hour upon hour about the corruption of the French language over the years. MM notices something odd about the three. He can't quite put his finger on it, but these brothers do no seem to brotherly. No the relationship is similar to that of a geass contract. MM can see that they are looking at him and his subordinates in the same manner. MM's assistant walks into the room and hands MM a few papers before scurrying out of the room. MM wonders about his assistant for a moment, but his attention is quickly drawn to the papers.

'This can't be real?'

'Sir, what is it?'

MM shows everyone the reports that his assistant brought.

'What does this mean? 'Khalid Fayez asks as he looks over the reports.

'Nunnally vi Britannia is the pilot I battled this morning.'

The Fayez brothers look down at the reports.

'But it says here that she is only thirteen!" exclaims Mohammed who has been quiet until now.

Khalid raises his hand to quiet his brothers down.

'Nunnally vi Britannia that means she is the daughter of Marianne vi Britannia also know as Marianne the Flash,' The other Fayez brothers murmur in the background, 'Given her pedigree I do not doubt this girls abilities. My spies have brought some interesting Britannian projects to my attention.'

MM is handed several reports about Lelouch's power suit project. He nods, 'I know about these, but I never imagined he would use such a thing on his little sister. Perhaps my spies are not as good as I assumed.'

Khalid frowns at this comment, "Or perhaps he is only allowing us to see what he wants us to see.'

MM considers this. Lelouch has multiple geasses and CC, but is it possible that he has more than that. Several months after she disappears it is obvious that Lelouch has GG. Is it possible that she has given geass to members of Lelouch's force? In CC's case MM know that the green haired witch will only give geass to those that can help her. What else is the raven haired prince hiding? This is something that they will have to uncover. For now they can only keeping moving north.

* * *

"Your highness."

Euphemia turns and answers, "Yes."

"There seems to be something going on in the village up ahead."

"Put it on my monitor."

Euphemia looks at her monitor and sees a village aflame.

"I thought that there was not any fighting along our route."

"I believe that the fighting is further north then we expected; however according to our scouts, the attackers appear to be bandits."

"Very well. Drive the bandits away and land the airship. I want to ensure that the villagers are safe.

Within the hour Euphemia is on the ground surrounded by her royal guard. She slowly approaches the village. A few feet away she can see children playing despite the recent bandit attack and not to mention the fact that Lelouch is to the southwest in Baghdad. Euphemia's aim is to surprise whatever enemies are present between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Ar Ramadi is her projected target. Euphemia pushes ahead of her royal guard towards a little girl hugging the legs of what may be her older sister. Euphemia takes a loaf of bread from one of her guards and puts it out.

"_Are you hungry?" _Euphemia has been practicing her Arabic. After learning Japanese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog, Arabic isn't that difficult. She takes a bite of the bread, _"Here have some. We have enough for everyone."_

The little girl timidly takes the bread and giggles. With the bread in her hands the little girl runs off to join the other children. Within minutes others from the village are making a line to get food from the Britannian soldiers. Euphemia looks on smiling. She turns her attention to the northeast where she assumes Lelouch is fighting.

"I'm coming, my Lulu."

* * *

Author's note: Lelouch calls his army the African and western Asia liberation army because he is an arrogant Britannian or something like that. The geassed slaves are people that Lelouch has picked up from his conquests (Indonesians, Malaysians, Africans, Arabs) or just people that were unlucky to cross him (Britannians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Australians, etc). There are more of them hidden throughout.

Since I wrote different sections at different times on different days, I forgot that I kept having characters think about Lelouch's plan. Why is Euphemia in the middle of the Syrian Desert rather than in Area 11? You will discover next chapter which will give us the point of view of Lelouch's other force being led by Jeremiah and Villetta.

The Fayez brothers, as noted by MM, are not brothers. Those are not even their real names. Fayez means winner. Khalid means eternal or immortal. Ali means greatest or exalted. Mohammed means praised. So their names actually have a simple meaning not one that is implied.

Euphie has her own airship now apart from Anya's Silencer. I still don't have a name for it, but it will probably end up as something cute. Airships are now being mass produced although Lelouch maintains a monopoly on their production. He has ones for Cornelia, Luciano, Gino, and Nonette. Charles and Schniezel are building their own.

**Ganymede Princess **

**General characteristics**

**Height:** 4.75 meters

**Weight:** 7.02 metric tons

**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive,Energy Filler

**Color: **white and pink

**Design Features**

Blaze Luminous

Cockpit Ejection System

Factsphere Sensor

Landspinner Propulsion System

**Armament**

2x wrist mounted slash harkens

2x hip mounted slash harkens

2x maser vibrations swords

VARIS gun

Multiple chaos mines


	64. Battle of the mind

[Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined. _Arabic is underlined and in italics. _

This chapter has very little Lelouch in it until the end. It is the first time that we get into the heads of Jeremiah, Villetta, the Irregulars, Guilford and Darlton.

...

Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.

Otto Von Bismarck

...

When the rich wage war, it's the poor who

Paul Sartre

* * *

**1:30 pm Friday April 20, 2017, Jerusalem, Middle East Federation**

Jeremiah can only stare as the city of Jerusalem burns. In the week since leaving Tabuk, his force meets little resistance. It seems as if the Middle East Federation withdraws all their troops and puts them before Jerusalem. It is in contrast to the strategy they use against Price Lelouch. Jeremiah feels almost insulted that the enemy does not consider him to be a threat. Whether they do a few weeks ago, they certainly do now. Jeremiah's force quickly takes care of any hit and run attacks through the desert. Cornelia's coastal attacks at first confined to Jaffa and Beirut have now expanded to Gaza and Haifa. Although not as brilliant a strategist as her brothers, Princess Cornelia knows what needs to be done.

The current situation is due to a bold strike by Kewell. Noticing that the enemy is guarding its left flank quite strongly, Kewell surmises that something important is in that direction. Early in the morning he sets out with a small strike force including the Irregulars. Kewell is correct in his assumption because on the enemy's left is a supply depot. Rather than allow Britannian forces capture the depot, the enemy decides to take what they can and destroy the rest. Unfortunately the explosion causes fire throughout the city. There is very little to do. A quick message from Princess Cornelia orders Jeremiah to not assist the natives in stopping the fires. She does not say anything about a cease fire which Jeremiah does negotiate. Jeremiah does what he can to keep the fires from spreading towards his own forces.

"General Gottwald," for this invasion Lelouch secures the rank of brigadier general for Jeremiah.

"Yes Colonel Nu."

"Princess Cornelia has left Gaza and is now at Hebron."

Jeremiah nods. Being nineteen miles south of Jerusalem, Hebron is where the fight begins. Jeremiah's force travels through the desert meeting only light resistance but at Hebron the native forces begin to attack. The five miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem can only be described as hell on earth. The defenders do everything they can to harass Britannian forces. Despite Cornelia's coastal attacks, the native forces throw everything they have at Jeremiah. However it is not enough because the Irregulars abilities are too much for the enemy to handle. Sancia and Lucretia help map out and predict the enemy's movements while Alice and Dalque move in to take them out. Jeremiah wonders what changes Princess Cornelia will make to Lelouch's plan.

* * *

Lucretia is taking a break from the battle. This morning's events are still fresh in her mind. Nothing compares to what they have experienced these last few days. After some initial fighting along the southern and western coast of the Arabian Peninsula, things become relatively easy once they pass Tabuk, however at Hebron things become much more difficult. What Lucretia wants to do more than anything is to rush out and help put out the fires, but Princess Cornelia orders them to allow the natives to take care of it so she has no choice but to stay aboard the Apotheosis.

She should probably be in meetings dealing with the next step in the battle, but she just wants to forget about everything for a moment. She wonders what Lelouch is doing at the moment. The latest reports indicate that he is attacking Baghdad. With the help of the Irregulars, Lelouch can obliterate the enemy; however Jeremiah will have problems moving up the coast. Of course that is not how things are because Lucretia is here in Jerusalem not Baghdad. Lucretia feels a buzzing in her pocket. She quickly gets her phone out and sees a message from Sancia. It seems she wants to gather everyone for Princess Cornelia's arrival.

* * *

**3:30 pm Friday April 20, 2017, south of Jerusalem, Middle East Federation**

Gilbert G. P. Guilford has been soldier for his entire adult life and a few years before that. In that time he sees and experiences many things. He has been involved in heavy fighting. Things like corpses, blood, etc do not bother him in the slightest, but the scene when they reach Hebron is enough to startle him. He notices his princess is staring as well. There are bodies everywhere. It is obvious that Jeremiah does not assign anyone to take care of the bodies at least not the native ones. Guilford can feel the glares from the few civilians on the ground who are dragging the around dead bodies. If not for Princess Cornelia's orders, Guilford would be teaching them a lesson for daring to look at his princess in that manner.

"Let the dead bury their dead."

Guilford looks over at his princess, "Your highness."

Cornelia sighs and closes her eyes, "Nothing. I wonder what Euphie would think of all of this."

Guilford tries not to look at her because she knows that no matter he says she will be angry.

"The latest information we have on the princess is that she joined Gottwald as far south as Jiddah."

Cornelia stays quiet. Euphemia's arrival to the war zone is one of the reasons why Cornelia is not speaking with Lelouch despite the need to coordinate. She allows Darlton to handle the matter.

"Have you contacted Gottwald?"

"Yes, your highness. I spoke with Colonel Nu. They know we are coming and are preparing for us."

"Very well."

Cornelia is trying to concentrate on the battle. At least for the rest of the day, she will have to abide by Gottwald's ceasefire. The politics of the Middle East Federation are complicated more so now with the loss of Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. According to several reports what is left of the Middle East Federation is divided in to three factions or sections: Damascus, Amman, and Baghdad. In the former two the civilian government, which is in shambles, still hold sway while in the latter the military is in complete control. Cornelia will have to wait until morning to attack. This gives her the evening to decide what to do Gottwald's force. She is still undecided about whether to unite it with her own force or to keep it independent. Cornelia decides to rest for a few minutes as her transport makes its way to Gottwald's headquarters. She can see several airships in the distance. She has heard rumors of Lelouch building newer airships. As Cornelia closes her eyes to rest for a moment, there are several explosions up ahead which jar her eyes back open.

"Guilford, prepare the troops for action. I will investigate what is going on."

Cornelia does not wait for her knight's answer but goes ahead in a Gloucester. Predictably he rushes after her after relaying a few quick orders. Within minutes Cornelia is at Gottwald's headquarters; however things are hectic as they are responding to what appears to be an attack. Having been in a battle earlier during the day Gottwald's force is quick to respond. Cornelia is in awe of the rapidness and fluidness that they respond to the attack.

* * *

Alice is sitting in her knightmare finishing a snack when the first attack comes.

"Right on time."

Alice quickly dodges the attack and prepares to counterattack.

"Lucretia, are you up? I need to see what's going on out there.'

"I'm on it Alice. Sancia is already sending out the remote control Bors. Just stay back and wait for your chance."

Alice moves her knightmare back as Dalque and the Bors come up to her position. The two girls wait as the Sancia and Lucretia bring up all the knightmares.

Sancia begins to give out orders, "Dalque, take out the building at Point 5. Alice, go to Point 3-B and wait for my signal."

"Alright."

Both girls are followed by a group of knightmares. In addition to their own knightmares having conduits that help facilitate their geass abilities, their remote control Bors are adapted to react to their thoughts. This makes Sancia and Lucretia particularly dangerous since both girls remain in the back mapping out the terrain and the enemy's movement. The knightmares simply move to do the girls' biding with only the slightest though.

Alice takes control of her group of knightmares and spreads them out. Alice waits for Sancia's orders. Then she will activate her geass across her knightmares for a precision strike. Alice notices that Dalque is having too much fun because several buildings around Point 5 begin to go down. Alice now sees Sancia's plan with more clarity. The tumbling building is supposed to send the enemy towards Alice. She hopes that Dalque's eagerness to destroy does not ruin the plan. Alice waits as the enemy staggers over in their outdated knightmares. Alice activates her geass and moves her knightmares in to attack. Within seconds the battle is over. Alice looks over at the damage inflicted to her knightmares.

"Not too bad. I'll have to send a few back for repairs but that will have to wait."

Alice moves her knightmares forward following Lucretia's maps. She notices that Dalque is doing the same thing.

"Just a few more to go."

* * *

Cornelia realizes that she can do nothing about the attack and searches for Gottwald. She finds him and Colonel Nu having a heated video conference with someone.

"Mr. Al-Asad, it does not matter whether you or any anyone in your command structure ordered this attack. Do keep in mind that we will respond."

Gottwald cuts the connection. He glances over at Cornelia.

"Your highness, it's a pleasure to see once again."

Despite that Gottwald's manner and word choice are correct, Cornelia feels like the man does not want her there. This is not the same Jeremiah Gottwald who once was an Aries Palace guard. In the past he was more respectful not to mention less cybernetic. Lelouch mentioned that Gottwald was involved in some sort of accident and underwent an experimental procedure. Guilford lightly taps Cornelia.

"Your highness."

Cornelia looks up and notices that all eyes are on her.

"It will take a few hours for the rest of my force to get here until then you may continue with your counterattack."

Cornelia prepares to head back and rejoin her force, but she remembers something important.

"Can you tell Euphemia that I want to her to go back with me?"

Colonel Nu answers, "Your highness, didn't anyone tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Princess Euphemia left us some time ago."

Cornelia is mildly shocked, "Where did she go?" she asks hoping the answer is Britannia or at least Area 11, but the look in the eyes of Nu and Gottwald say something different.

"She went east to join Prince Lelouch."

Cornelia says nothing more as she exits the room.

* * *

After helping the villagers, Euphemia decides to continue on her journey. She is looking forward to her meeting with Lelouch. Of course not to mention missing out on a meeting with Cornelia. She hopes to arrive in a few days. She doesn't want to push her troops too hard.

* * *

**10:30 pm Friday April 20, 2017, Jerusalem, Middle East Federation**

Sporadic fighting continues throughout the city. Cornelia can only watch from behind aboard her new airship, the Nike. According to Colonel Nu, Lelouch names it after the Greek goddess of victory. Cornelia notices that none of Lelouch's airships are the same size. Each one has an obvious characteristic that differentiates it from the others. She assigns shifts for night watch duty. Her force will attack towards its left while Gottwald will stay to the right. With the pressure that Darlton and others are applying along the coast, the city will fall in the morning.

Lucretia is the last Irregular to arrive in their room. They each have rooms higher on the airship but since a battle is going on, they stay near the knightmare hangar and their GX-01 Alphas. In the morning they will renew the attack. She yawns as she snuggles in between Sancia and Alice.

**6:30 am Saturday April 20, 2017, **

Cornelia is out before the sun hoping to find something to fight. What she finds disappoints her. There is some resistance but nothing organized.

Cornelia scowls, "Cowards."

Earlier in the morning General Alex leaves Jaffa and heads in this general direction and finds the same lack of resistance. Reports from further north indicate that the enemy is withdrawing to Damascus and Amman. The latest word from Darlton in Beirut is that he may have to evacuate. Cornelia does not want to think about having to retake that city. Cornelia will have to conference with Gottwald and see if she can talk with Lelouch about the next course of action. The Middle East Federation is unraveling. Now Britannia will have to take advantage of it.

* * *

Jeremiah receives reports that the enemy has abandoned the city and sends scouts to ensure that this is so.

"If they have abandoned the city, we will have to continue north."

Villetta looks at him, "What about the city? What will Princess Cornelia say?"

Jeremiah grins, "We have orders from the prince to continue north to Damascus once Jerusalem falls. That is our next move. We will head north towards," Jeremiah looks at a map, "Jericho. That is the town that our contacts indicated."

"What are their names?"

"Zeid Al-Majalieh and Mikhaeel Al-Athma."

"I hope that the meeting is worth the trouble because if Princess Cornelia finds out."

Jeremiah outs his finger to his mouth, "These contacts were provided by the Prince. He would not lead us astray."

Villetta nods. She still does not understand why Prince Lelouch chose her as his knight when it is painfully obvious that he does not need one. However since he is not yet eighteen, it is his right as a prince to have a knight. If he was a princess, then the situation would be different. Not that Villetta minds the honor, but it comes with several hassles. Most of her former colleagues think that she is the prince's lover to have attainted such an honor not that Villetta would mind such a thing. Unlike Jeremiah, she does not solely serve the prince for the honor of it. Serving the prince has accelerated her career and gained her a noble title. Villetta goes to make the necessary preparations for their next move.

Much to Cornelia's dismay, Lelouch's orders to Gottwald are to simply allow her to take control of the situation in Jerusalem and to press on towards Damascus. Despite her higher rank, she does not countermand that order or perhaps it is because of her higher rank that she must stay behind and organize the area for Britannian rule. Not that there is any need for her to stay because Gottwald has assigned people to take care of those tasks. Either way the city is not centrally located to be the capital of the area. It will still be a major Britannian settlement. Perhaps the older eastern portion of the city can be razed to provide room for the settlement since it is in shambles. Those are thoughts for another time Cornelia organizes her force to push through the city and head north to meet with Darlton.

* * *

Sancia is sitting on the bridge of the Apotheosis as it nears Jericho. General Gottwald and Colonel Nu are meeting with some officials to see if something can be done to end the war. Despite the fact that most of its territory and important cities are lost, the Middle East Federation does not give in. Sancia hopes that the meeting results in some sort of resolution. Along with her "sisters", she has long given up hope of having a peaceful and independent life. Even though she has faith in Lelouch, she knows that there is only so much that can be done about their condition and situation. She wonders if Lelouch will start a coup if the emperor requests that the Irregulars or any of his younger siblings return to Pendragon.

"Colonel."

Sancia's attention is drawn to the soldier calling for her.

"Yes, captain?"

"Colonel Nu requests your presence."

Sancia grins, "I will be down in a few moments."

With that the soldier leaves. Sancia wonders why Colonel Nu didn't just send her a message or inform her earlier. Villetta Nu has never enjoyed the presence of the Irregulars. She feels that working with members of the Britannian Special Honorary Foreign Legion is beneath her. After all these years of being the prince's subordinate the dark skinned woman still retains some of her Britannian prejudices. While both have the same ranks (colonel and royal knight), Villetta is older and serves the more important prince. Even so Lucretia and Alice probably have more influence since they are closer to Lelouch and Nunnally respectively although Dalque seems to be quite close to her lady (Evelyn). Sancia signals for the other Irregulars to follow her. Even though Villetta does not like them, Jeremiah at least understands Lelouch's trust in them that will have to do for now.

* * *

Jeremiah looks down at his list of the structure of the Middle East Federation leaders as they now stand. Since Britannian forces have divided the country up, the leaders are regional and no one yet has the power to take control of what is left of the country.

Middle East Federation leaders  
(Iraq) Khalid Fayez, Mohammad Fayez, Ali Fayez  
(Syria) Samir Al-Asad, Hafez Al-Asad, Mikhaeel Al-Athma, Ahmad Al-Rifa'i  
(Jordan) Zeid Al-Majalieh, Yasser Batayneh, Obayi Al-Majali

The failure of his meeting with Zeid Al-Majalieh and Mikhaeel Al-Athma will consequences. His hope is that they will see the futility of continuing to fight. Jeremiah hopes that his prince is having better luck trying to convince those in the east to surrender. Despite Britannia's edge in manpower and technology, their enemies refuse to accept the inevitable.

* * *

Darlton is fighting for his life in the ruined city of Beirut. He dodges several missile attacks. Despite Britannia's technological edge, the enemy has a lot to throw in his direction. For every Britannian knightmare, the enemy seems to have for or five. Darlton stabs his lance into an enemy. As he pulls it out, he quickly pulls out his rifle and fires at another enemy knightmare.

"Damn there is just too many of them."

Darlton does not want to evacuate since it puts a Britannian army north of Damascus. If Beirut is lost the enemy will be able to focus their attention on the south. Luckily for Darlton his entire force is made up of veterans who have seen many battles.

"General Darlton, we have just received word from Princess Cornelia."

"About time," Darlton mutters. Unlike Guilford, Darlton does not treat his princess like she is the air he breathes, "Well what did she say?"

"It seems as if the enemy has abandoned Jerusalem and is heading north."

"When did this happen?"

"Sometime during the night."

Darlton thinks about it, "That may explain why our enemy is being so aggressive today. They are getting reinforcements. Did the princess say anything else?"

"She is on her way here. Gottwald is attacking Amman and then Damascus."

Darlton smirks, "I suppose she wants us to beat him there. Very well then. I want our entire force to focus on breaking through the enemy line. If Princes Cornelia is on her way, we will meet her halfway."

With about only a hundred-fifty miles separating them, it should realistically take an hour or two for them to meet, but it definitely won't be that easy. The attacks on Beirut are most likely to keep Darlton from being able to see the enemy's formations in front of Damascus. Darlton rethinks his strategy.

"Captain on second thought; prepare the troops to head due east. We will come at Damascus from the north."

"Yes sir."

"Make sure that General Alex down in Haifa knows what we are planning."

"Sir, such a communication may be intercepted."

Darlton grins, "It may, however, that will benefit us. The enemy knows our aim. What does it matter if they know that this particular force is attacking from the north."

Darlton prepares himself for the next part of his attack. If he is successful in attacking Damascus from the north, it will aid Gottwald attacking from the south and Princess Cornelia attacking from the southwest.

* * *

**Sunday, April 22, 2017, Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

The emperor is listening to several generals drone on about the situation in the Middle East Federation. Things are going better than planned. He smiles inside as he watches his children bring him loser to his goal. One by one all the thought elevators around the world are coming under the control of Britannia. Of course Lelouch is holding onto the two code bearers necessary to make Ragnarok work. What seems impossible a few years ago is now becoming a reality. In a matter of years Schniezel, Cornelia, and Lelouch will conquer the world securing the thought elevators. With that taken care of, Charles must simply take VV and CC from Lelouch. If need be he will use the little ones as hostages. Yes everything is falling into place.

**Samarra, Middle East Federation**

MM is preparing for his next move. The majority of his force is south of his location along a lake that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Lelouch's next move seems obvious. He will probably choose to attack Kirkuk and then Mosul finishing off what is left of the Middle East Federation's forces. MM must choose between aiding his allies or pulling back for the defense of Europe. Although given his current location he will have to travel a great distance to command his own troops unless he wants to be under the command of Russians or Greeks.

Another option is one that neither he nor his allies wish to think about is requesting Iranian aid. Russians are bad enough without having to deal with the Middle East Federation's eastern neighbor. At this point Iranian interference will only cause Lelouch to get angry. MM can feel it. The Britannian brat is holding back. MM goes back to his reports. Despite outnumbering Lelouch in total soldiers, the black prince has a knightmare and material edge that makes up for the lack of soldiers.

'Field Marshal.'

MM turns to face his assistant, 'Yes.'

'Sir there is a second Britannian force.'

MM sighs and looks over at his map. He knows about the force brought up by the Knights of the Round. It seems rather than joining Lelouch, they will form their own force. Lelouch may use this force to pin them here in Samarra while he moves north to Kirkuk and Mosul. It is a sound strategy which is why MM has Khalid Fayez evacuate the remaining leaders west.

'Where is the force forming?'

MM's assistant shakes his head, 'No sir. It is a completely different force coming from the west. Several reports have them near Ar Ramadi.'

MM looks at his maps, 'Ar Ramadi that is over on the Euphrates,' MM begins to consider all the possible plans running through his head, 'How big is the second force?'

'At the moment it contains one airship and several VTOLs.'

MM nods. It is a small force, but it can grow. MM looks at the reports the force is actually heading towards the north of Ar Ramadi.

'That's it the little bastard is not even going to bother with Kirkuk.'

MM's assistant appears confused 'Sir, isn't their aim to destroy the native forces?'

'Yes that's what I thought, but why bother going through that when they can surround us and pin us in Kirkuk. If he simply heads north, it allows us an escape route. But this second force can slip around us attacking Mosul as Lelouch moves on Kirkuk.'

'Sir that is a brilliant strategy on their part.'

MM nods and grins, 'Yes whoever thought of it is nothing less than a military genius, but we will have surprise for them.'

* * *

Euphemia sighs as her airship nears its destination. Over the past two days, she stops in as many villages possible. At each one she goes down and talks to the villagers herself. She tries to remember all their names.

"Let me see there was Gibraeel, Ahmed, Salam, Mikhaeel, Abdul, Sara, Dim, Jumana, Sireen, Khadra, Sumaiya, and Zarqa."

She sighs because she may never see any of those people. In a way she envies their simple lives. Her own life becomes infinitely more complicated a few weeks ago before this war with the Middle East Federation begins. Euphemia turns to the captain who is charge of her airship.

"Captain, aren't we supposed to be south of the city."

"Yes your highness. Unfortunately the desert was not kind to our tracking instruments. We had no idea of our exact location until we reached a major city."

"Very well. Send word to my brother of my arrival. I am certain that he is expecting it."

"As you wish your highness, I think that it would also be advantages for us to send scouts out to investigate the area. It may prove useful to his highness the prince should he choose to head in this direction."

"I leave it to your discretion."

Euphemia sighs and wonders if she should have just gone north with Gino and Nonette. Either way she is within hours of reaching Lelouch.

* * *

Cornelia looks over at Damascus which is now surrounded by Britannian forces. Not that she minds the quick movement, but there is something odd about Gottwald's force. They move through the enemy too quickly. Cornelia does not have time to go with casualty reports or soldier list. She just has to trust in Lelouch. After all he seems to have settled down with his family. The slight rebelliousness from a few years ago appears to be gone and replaced with a desire to protect those around him. Cornelia sees the smoke rising from deep in the city. It looks as if Gottwald's force manages to get inside the city. Cornelia signals for her attack to begin. She is the last one in because Darlton is attacking already.

* * *

Schniezel looks at Lelouch and Cornelia's progress. At first he wants to go east with them to direct the attack, but he chooses to remain in Benghazi. After a few days there he moves west backs towards Tripoli and eventually Tunis. Near the site of the ancient city of Carthage, Schniezel plans his invasion of Europe. He finds it ironic that Europe's downfall is being planned in a city destroyed by one its ancient powers by a descendent of an exiled ruling class. The exile of the English monarchy led to the eventual downfall of all European monarchies and the rise of the Britannian one. Coupled with certain other events, Britannia's rise is caused by the desire of its rulers to never be defeated in a major war again. Schniezel clears his head and returns to this maps. He begins to plot possible landing sites.

* * *

Lelouch sighs as he slowly makes his way north. His original plan calls for him to chase after the enemy to Kirkuk and then Mosul. However the arrival of a portion of the Kirkuk defense force changes that plan. Now MM sits at Samarra with a restocked and re-supplied army. This is one of the reasons why Lelouch has chosen to rest a few days. He also needs to gain complete control of Baghdad because the city has a central location that will be important once the conquest is complete. With Cornelia and Darlton now attacking Damascus, Lelouch will have to hurry. Lelouch is moving his force in Euphie's general direction. He still has not received confirmation that she is in Ar Ramadi, but he knows that she is nearby.

Lelouch begins to consider other matters. Over the past two days they have had several skirmishes with the enemy. Lelouch is used to the geass abilities of those that serve under MM, but some of the new enemies have abilities Lelouch is not familiar with. Information Lelouch is able to gather from conversations with VV, CC and MM leads him to the conclusion that there are no more than ten code bearers. There are most likely only seven or eight. Mao mentions something about an old Chinese legend about eight immortal warriors. The Chinese albino has proven useful in a few ways. Lelouch considers that he has CC, VV, and GG. Before him is MM. That leaves four other possibilities. Lelouch surmises that at the moment there is no African code bearer. Either that such a person chooses not to get involved. It is possible that there are Chinese and European code bearers. Now Lelouch surmises that there is possibly an Arabic code bearer. Although unlike MM that person only controls a portion of his country.

As Lelouch thinks about these things, several alarms begin to go off. He quickly rushes down to the knightmare hangar figuring that it is probably an enemy attack. He sees Cecile preparing several knightmares for launch.

"Cecile, what's going on?'

She turns and looks at Lelouch cautiously, "Your highness, it seems as if the enemy is attacking Princess Euphemia's force."

Lelouch looks at her incredulously. Only one word escapes his mouth, "Fuck."

He should have seen this happening. To his enemy Euphie's small force looks dangerous because of its location. Lelouch should have gone out to meet her as soon as she comes close. Now she is in danger.

"Prepare the Mordred. Tell Nonette and Gino to continue north to Kirkuk. Have Milly and Anya take positions between the enemy's current location and Samarra. Have Kallen and Nunnally come up behind us. The administrative force is already taking control of the city so we are not needed."

Lelouch quickly changes into his flight suit and heads out.

"I'm coming, Euphie. Just hold on."

* * *

MM sends messages back to Khalid Fayez who is inspecting the defenses of Kirkuk and attack is more successful than he imagines it could be. It is a dangerous gamble, but a good one if it pays off. Not only are they stopping the force that MM believes is going to swing north to attack Mosul while Lelouch attacks Kirkuk, but now in Ar Ramadi MM will force Lelouch to divide his force. MM begins to plan his strategy.

MM contacts his assistant, 'By the way what is the name of the commander we are facing.'

'Let me see, sir. That airship belongs to Euphemia Britannia.'

MM wonders about this. That is certainly not the name you think about when you think about great Britannian leaders. Then it hits MM what the pink haired princess is doing out here.

'Oh no.'

But it is too late to think about pulling back,

'Field Marshal Maurice! Field Marshal Maurice!'

MM does not respond because he can see it. The Mordred is tearing through his troops. Not far behind it are several other knightmares, but the Mordred contains the most dangerous foe. MM hears a yell that he will never forget.

"EUPHIE!"

For the second time in as many years, Lelouch vi Britannia causes MM to feel despair. This time there is no way out. MM knows that that one word is the cause of his demise. The end of the two century life of Maurice Marcel.

* * *

Author's note: This chapter contains a few small things that will have big consequences later on. Depending on how the early part of the next chapter goes, we may return to Japan in the next chapter. Lelouch continues the process of screwing with the minds and hearts of the Japanese people.

Villetta's comments/thoughts do not mean that she wants to be with Lelouch. Only that she would not be adverse if he were to proposition her. She knows that she cannot compete with Kallen, Milly or Carolina not to mention Nunnally, Euphemia, Evelyn, etc for Lelouch's love or attention. But the benefits of being Lelouch's wife/mistress outweigh the disadvantages. Even so other than having a personal relationship, Villetta receives everything that Kallen and Milly get, personalized knightmare and airship, as well as a personal guard.

There is a poll regarding CC on my profile.


	65. Battle of the heart

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined. _Arabic is underlined and in italics. _

This chapter contains a large section detailing MM's past including how he gains his geass and code.

...

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.

To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle.

Confucius

...

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.  
Mahatma Gandhi

* * *

**Sunday, April 22, 2017, Saigon, Area 10**

VV continues his experiments. Some are approved by Lelouch while others are ones he would rather not know about. Of course VV's research is important in producing weapons and devices to counteract geass. At the moment CC and Mao are somewhere else so VV gets some peace and quiet.

"Well if it isn't little Victor zi Britannia."

VV turns to face the speaker who appears to be a balding middle aged man, "What do you want?"

"Oh I'm just here to visit. By the way where is CC?"

VV grunts, "She's probably with her little pet."

"He is not my pet," CC looks at their guest, "What do you want?"

The man laughs, "Is that all you two can say? Why, I'm just here to visit."

VV grunts once more, "Whatever you are doing here, you had better not let the guards catch you, XX."

"I do not intend to be caught. After all these years do you really think that I am so foolish. Besides unlike the likes of you I still retain my geass."

VV holds a collar like device, "Everyone in the palace except for CC's pet wears something like this. If you are not careful, you will get caught."

"I see those are some interesting things you are working on."

XX walks over and begins to play with some of VV's inventions. VV gently elbows him in the groin.

"Do not touch anything."

"Ah come on. It isn't any fair that Britannia gets to have all the cool toys."

VV scoffs, "It isn't my fault that we have all the geniuses."

XX laughs, "Yes it runs in the family doesn't it," XX takes a seat next to CC, "By the way have you heard from that nephew of yours. He seems to be quite successful at the moment."

"It isn't secure to send us any information. Besides the new does a decent job of informing us," VV responds sarcastically because everyone knows that the royal family controls the media.

"I see," XX responds but begins to feel an odd sensation before he can say anything else, "What the hell is going on?" He notices that CC and VV are in the same trance like state, "It isn't possible for him to have gotten this strong so soon. It should take years," XX quickly gets up and leaves the palace.

Once she recovers, CC grimaces, "Damn now I have to rely on the little red head."

VV remains silent considering what just occurred. Things will likely become more interesting now.

* * *

**Sunday, April 22, 2017, Ar Ramadi, Middle East Federation**

Euphemia has been arguing with the captain of her guard and Miss Lohmeyer who somehow manages to come on this trip. Euphemia wants to continue on course and meet with Lelouch on the east bank of the Euphrates, but there are several reports that a large enemy force is heading in their direction.

"Major Hedley, I will only say this one more time. We will continue east and cross the Euphrates. My brother is waiting for me. If I do not arrive in time, heads will roll."

She does not have to specify who will pay for her tardiness. Because Anya takes Euphemia's royal guard with her on the Silencer, Cornelia chooses a new one for her. If they are approved by Cornelia, then they must come from noble families and have some sort of military background.

"Captain Maxwell, make sure that the airship continues on course."

Euphemia is able to snag a few people from the Silencer. One of which is Captain Maxwell, the main pilot. The others are mostly cooks and maids. Euphemia glares at the irritated major.

"Besides is this not what you want, I chance to engage the enemy."

Major Hedley does not answer. Of course this is what he wants. This is what any military man would want. He does not however want to be a subordinate to such a useless princess. He will have to make his own opportunity.

Euphemia sits on her throne looking over her available troops. She also has an advanced force that Lelouch sent north to scout the enemy at her disposal. As a backup Euphemia also has her own specialized knightmare that she will use if she needs to. She hopes it doesn't come to that. She is still comfortable around her new royal guard. She isn't sure they can all be trusted.

* * *

MM sits there thinking about what is happening. All the contemplation makes him think about the past.

**May 20, 1755, Paris, France (1810 ATB)**

The noble house of Lorraine is celebrating the birth of a child, a son, who they name Maurice. The child immediately gains favor amongst those in the court. Even King Louis XV admire the child's precociousness. The child is too young to remember the humiliation of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and the loss of his father. This event causes the child to become interested in the military. At a young age the child is sent to a military academy not to learn but so that others may take control of his inheritance. However once the child turns sixteen years, he takes control of his family. By this time the child is now a man and becomes embroiled in a new adventure.

**January 12, 1778 (1833 ATB)**

Maurice did not think that war is going to be like this. He is standing on a ship near Boston harbor freezing. Though France does not have a formal alliance with the American rebels, it does nothing to stop interested parties from lending a hand. After the British are defeated at Saratoga, France is itching to get involved in a situation that will lead to the defeat of their old enemy. However things do not go as Maurice hopes. The British manage to gain the upper hand on the rebels. Within a few years the war is over, and the rebel leaders are put to death. Only Benjamin Franklin and Benedict Arnold escape that fate because of their betrayal to the rebel cause.

Despite all this Maurice serves his king, now Louis XVI. During this year the royal couple consummate their marriage and the queen becomes pregnant. Being near the same age and noble, Maurice holds many parities in honor of the royal couple. Maurice is also marries someone from another noble house. His new wife becomes a favorite at court. However due to the British defeat of the rebels, the war continues for several years. Because of his military background and nobility Maurice is put in charge of several forces that harass the British from Haiti and Louisiana. Despite his successes against the British force, Maurice is forced to return to France in 1789 (1844)because of a revolt against the crown.

By 1793 (1848) things reach a boiling point. Early in the year the king is executed, however Maurice aids the queen and her children from such a fate. A quick kiss of gratitude told Maurice that all the rumors about her are false. Either that or the queen is a great actress. Maurice turns down the offer to go with them to Austria instead chooses to return to Paris to avenge the death of his family, but he promises the queen that he will see them again. Maurice gathers a force and marches on Paris, however betrayals amongst his own men doomed him from the beginning, Maurice is defeated by the Jacobins. Now running for his life Maurice stumbles into an abandoned church. Unfortunately Maurice is discovered and the church is bombarded. What happens next changes Maurice's life forever that is if you want to call an accumulation of existence a life. Maurice is out of breath from running when he hears something stirring besides him.

'Who goes there? Answer me!'

'Do you want to live? Do you have a reason for living?'

Maurice walks towards the voice despite the fact that everything around him is being destroyed.

'Yes I have a reason to live. Revenge that is reason enough to live at least a few more years.'

'I offer you power, a contract. If you agree to the contract, you will live as human, but different from other humans. A different source, a different time, a different life… The power of the King will make you isolated.'

The figure approaches Maurice who begins to se various images throughout time. Maurice sees the man living throughout the centuries.

'Impossible that means you have lived hundreds of years.'

'Do you accept the contract? Are you prepared to live as a demon, an outcast?'

Maurice nods, 'I accept the contract. Let the man formally known as Maurice of Loraine become Maurice Diable, the Dragon. It is I who will judge the world.'

Maurice dusts himself off and steps out of the ruins. Before him are a dozen soldiers with muskets and behind them are half dozen cannons.

'Are you Maurice of Loraine, the traitor to the revolution?'

Maurice grins, 'I am afraid that the man you are looking for died inside buried under the rubble. I am the Dragon.'

The men look at Maurice in awe of his audacity. As they raised their muskets to fire at Maurice, something overcomes them, and they fire upon each other. Maurice moves in quickly and finishes off those that are still alive. Maurice considers this new power of his.

'Not bad, however, I must use this cautiously. Such a power must have consequences.'

Maurice leaves France having avenged his family. He wanders for a few months before making his way to Austria where his former queen is with her family. In time they become lovers. Maurice spends the next few years bouncing around Europe causing trouble for the French Revolutionaries. He meets many people in his travels including Ludwig von Beethoven, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Friedrich von Schiller.

In late 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte takes control of France. Maurice returns to see what the Corsican will do. Maurice knows a little about the man having met him in the army. Maurice's inclusion in Napoleon's high council and military gives the illusion that the Bourbons accede to Napoleon's taking control. Maurice uses his power to assist Napoleon in his early victories. After Napoleon's coronation, Maurice returns to Austria to confirm that his lover's descendants are still in line to the throne. After months of negotiations Maurice is able to work a deal with Napoleon. For the next few years, Maurice has to balance his patriotism, his lover, and his emperor.

* * *

**October 20, 1805 (1860 ATB)**

The indecisive battle of Battle of Cape Finisterre leaves Napoleon with little hope of invading England, but Maurice thinks he can turn things around. Maurice is on his way to Cadiz to take control of the fleet from Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve who rather than return to Boulogne chooses to head south to Spain. He has an odd feeling about this trip. He hopes that Napoleon is patient enough to wait for the fleet. Maurice sits on the dock watching the ships prepare for the return trip north when he feels someone or something creep up beside him.

'So how do you like the power I gave you.'

Maurice turns to face the voice, 'It's you. I thought you were.'

'Dead,' the man smirks and turns to face the ships, 'Well?'

Maurice sighs, 'It is quite useful. After a few years, it became quite difficult, but I managed to get it under control.'

'I see so you have mastered the ability.'

Maurice is a little confused, 'I suppose I have. Is that the point of it? I have a few questions.'

'In time you will learn many things because soon you will have nothing but time.'

Maurice feels a strange sensation overcome him similar to the one he feels when he gains his power. When Maurice regains his senses, he notices that the man is gone. He decides to forget about it and goes to make sure that the ships are ready to leave in the morning. He decides not to send anyone after the man assuming that he is long gone.

'General Maurice, the British have been sighted heading in this direction.'

Maurice grins, 'Then we are quite fortunate at having the enemy come at us rather than having to chase after them.'

Maurice knows that the problem in a naval battle will be similar to the one his faces in land battles. How does he get close enough to the enemy but away from his men to use his power? He cannot order the ship's captain to head straight at the enemy. From what Maurice understand about naval battle, they usually just stand in line and fire at each other until one side breaks. This definitely benefits the defenders so that is what the French-Spanish forces will do. As Maurice contemplates his course of action, fate turns to his favor. Rather than having their ships parallel to the French-Spanish fleet, the British turn their ships in a perpendicular direction. The British fleet is separated into two perpendicular columns, one of which is heading in Maurice's direction.

After being swept up in the beauty of the moment, Maurice activates his power, and all hell breaks loose aboard the British ships. Maurice feels that somehow his power is greater now than it is before. As he carefully orders his ship to slither its way through the British fleet, he activates his power. In few hours the British fleet is in shambles. Maurice sends his reserves after a few stragglers that get away amongst them the British flagship with Admiral Nelson. Later during the day a few soldiers find the body of the man who gave Maurice his power. He apparently commits suicide by jumping off a tall building. The event shakes Maurice for a few moments.

Maurice immediately sends a messenger to Paris to inform Napoleon. Maurice continues to organize the fleet and his small force for the trip north. What Maurice does not know is that Napoleon is leading his Grande Armee towards the east, and the previous day defeats the Russians and Austrians at Ulm. In mid-November when Maurice takes the fleet north, Napoleon is on his towards Austerlitz and glory. By the time Maurice arrives in Boulogne, he is too late to do anything to anything about the battle between France, Russia, and Austria. Not to mention the fact that somehow Villeneuve is given credit for victory at Trafalgar. For the moment Maurice is cut off from his family, but he makes sure that Napoleon remembers their agreement.

After the victory at Austerlitz, Napoleon comes west to prepare for the invasion of England. Since Trafalgar, Maurice leads the French navy in raids against England and its navy. It is only a matter of time until the invasion begins. Maurice makes secret alliances with several rebellions groups on the British Isles before the invasion.

* * *

**January 3, 1806, London, England**

Thirty-two days after what many consider his greatest victory, Napoleon Bonaparte stands on the River Thames moving towards a burning Tower of London. Despite their best efforts Elizabeth III eludes them. Maurice stands ashore in the ruins of what once was a great city. In a matter of hours the city will be nothing but ruins if Napoleon has his way. Maurice moves quickly to preserve what is left of the city before it burned. Despite his French patriotism and general hatred for all things English, Maurice does not wish for such a great city to go down. It helps that most of the soldiers on land were a loyal to Maurice as Napoleon. Many know about the arguments the two have engaged in over the years.

Maurice hears footsteps behind him and the cocking of a gun. It fires before he has a chance to move out of the way. Maurice crumples to the ground. As he lies there he can see that his most loyal men have also been taken out. Standing above him is Napoleon,

'Bonaparte, you fiend.'

'I am sorry, Maurice, but you are a relic of the past. A man of your intelligence and ability should be leading instead you choose to be tied down to that Austrian woman. But I always look towards the future. Au revoir, Maurice. You will be forever remembered as a great leader and a noble Frenchman.'

Maurice feels his eyelids getting heavy as Napoleon walks away. He can still hear talking getting fainter.

'This is an interesting power, Mr.'

'Fayez. I am Khalid Fayez.'

'Mr. Fayez, shall we continue our discussion while we return to France? This island is quite boorish and depressing. My men should be able to finish off the English.'

Maurice's eyes close for what he believes the last time.

* * *

'Why do we have to drag this stiff around?'

'The emperor wants him transported back to France. Must be some important fellow. Just look at his clothes.'

The first man grumbles about the Revolution taking care of all that business. Maurice opens his eyes and begins to struggle causing the two men to drop him.

'What the hell is going on here?' the first man asks, 'Someone must be playing a joke on us.'

The second man answers, 'No, I checked the body myself. He had no pulse.'

Maurice stands up and quickly checks his wound which mysteriously is gone.

'No, it can't be. I saw the wound with my own eyes. You're supposed to be dead.'

Maurice is speechless and does not understand what is going on.

The first man raises a gun, 'If he's supposed to be dead, then we better kill him.'

Maurice feels a bullet rip through his chest, but for some reason he does not fall instead he staggers for a moment before rushing at the two men. The moment Maurice touches them, they go limp. Maurice stares at his hands and at the wound in his chest which already beginning to heal. He hears voices and hides. Maurice spends the next few months wandering around Great Britain causing trouble for the French occupation forces. He manages to contact many of his most loyal supporters.

'What now, General Maurice?'

Maurice considers the question, 'We must fight that usurper Bonaparte.'

'Are we to return the rightful king?'

This is the issue at hand. The heir to Louis XVI is his son who is hiding with his mother in Austria.

'I'm sure you know, sir, that the boy has a sizeable following.'

Maurice know this fact after all he has been the boy's stepfather for over a decade. Of course.

'The time is not right to do anything in France. Bonaparte is too popular because of his victories. Perhaps we can bring them here. How are the conditions on this island and Ireland?'

Maurice's man all laugh, 'Sir the island is a mess. Ireland is a bit more stable because the majority nobles fled there. Bonaparte probably wishes that you had lost at Trafalgar. Because then eh wouldn't have to put up with this island '

Maurice begins to pace around, 'We will use this island as our base to harass Bonaparte and his follower. Never forget men that we are not loyal to any emperor or sovereign king nor are we loyal to the Republic rather we are loyal to France. Vive la France!'

"Vive la France!'

* * *

**June 18, 1815 (1870 ATB)**

In the almost decade after his "death" Maurice does all he can to harass Napoleon. As time passes he forms geass contracts with his men. Despite the invasion and eviction of the queen, the British Isles are unruly as ever. Maurice and his men are able to establish some sort of government. After all they had a form of parliamentary government before and most of those leaders stay. Regardless of his loss in Russia and his exile to Elba, Napoleon is still strong. Because of the work Maurice does to rebuild the islands, the British Isles send a substantial force to assist the continental allies.

Even in the weakened condition of his army Napoleon manages to defeat the Austrians at Strasbourg, but now he faces the combined forces of the Prussians and English at Waterloo. The Russians are waiting in Warsaw to make their move. Like most western Europeans, Maurice has little respect for them. He knows they are just waiting to pick up the pieces. From Maurice's observations the last few years, it is obvious that Napoleon has geass but not his subordinates. This fact puts Maurice in a much stronger position because several of his men have geass. Maurice bids his time during the battle. He has spent fifteen years studying Napoleon's every move.

Maurice is able to lead the allied forces in victory against Napoleon. Now he is blending in with the retreating French forces to get close to Napoleon. All it takes is getting the uniform from a high ranking general and his horse. Maurice is slowly making his way forward towards Napoleon's carriage. Instead of simply killing him, Maurice decides to do something more interesting. He simply gets someone to poison Napoleon. Well it is not quite that simple because it requires a little geassing here and there. With that out of the way Maurice spends the next hundred years guiding Europe towards true democracy. Of course he is not the only one that helps with this. Not to mention the fact that he has to erase his name and contributions from history. During that time he also meets the seven other code bearers.

* * *

**Sunday, April 22, 2017, Ar Ramadi, Middle East Federation**

Euphemia sees a large force coming straight at her airship. In spite of her desire to stay out of the battle, she realizes that she has no other choice. Euphemia's force, even with the addition of a small forward force from Lelouch, is small and no match for their opponent. The enemy is wisely moving to block her path to Lelouch. Euphemia must make a choice. She knows that Lelouch will risk everything to ensure her safety which at the moment is not certain. She must choose whether to keep retreating or to go out and face the enemy. Euphemia chooses the latter. After leaving instructions with the bridge crew, she heads to the knightmare hangar where she is met by members of her royal guard.

"Your highness, what are you planning on doing?" the captain of her guard asks.

Euphemia moves past her guard, "I am going out. We are all going out to fight."

The captain manages to keep his composure, "Your highness, you cannot go out. We don't have sufficient knightmares. Please return to the bridge where it is safe."

Euphemia continues walking towards a closed section of the knightmare hangar and opens a door revealing a pink knightmare.

"I will go in that. It is my personal knightmare."

Her royal guard stand in awe because they had no idea that Euphemia has her own knightmare.

"Your highness, what is that?"

Euphemia smiles, "Allow me to introduce knightmare frame, Freyja. Now board a knightmare unless you are afraid."

She doesn't wait for them. She goes into a nearby room and changes into her flight power suit. Within minutes she is in her knightmare and out of the airship. Her knightmare has only been around since January so she has been practicing since then. It is Cecile's answer to the Lancelot with a few adaptations. Since her royal guard is new, they don't know about it.

She now has a clear view of the enemy force. The force is substantially larger than hers. It feels like they are trying to kill an ant with a sledgehammer. Euphemia wonder if they think that her force is much more important and bigger than it actually is. Despite being outnumbered well over ten to one, Euphemia's force is performing quite well. She wonders if they are waiting for the counterattack that is not going to happen. She sees groups of enemy knightmares poking the ground as if searching for something. She wonders if Lelouch has something to do with that. It seems like a Lelouch plan to hide knightmares underground waiting for the enemy to go past them so they can attack from behind. The enemy also has to worry about Lelouch attacking them from behind. There are several reports that Lelouch is heading in this direction quickly.

Euphemia li Britannia is not exactly a great strategist, but she understands the basics. Being related to Britannia's best probably rubs off on her. She will never be the best, but she will try her best. She notices that more Bors and Gloucesters are coming from her airship. It appears that everyone follows her out.

"Very well. We just have to stay alive until Lelouch comes for us."

Euphemia looks over at her monitors. Her knightmare and airship come with special features that help her analyze the battlefield. She is sure that if Lelouch knew that this could happen, Euphemia would still be back in west or in Area 11. She lets her equipment do its work in suggesting a course of action.

"Everyone follow plan alpha theta delta six," Euphemia allows everyone to get into position, "Captain, move the airship out of reach of enemy cannon fire."

Euphemia looks at her force and notices that the captain of her guard is not out there. Not that he matters since he appears to be incapable of following her lead out here. She receives confirmation that Lelouch is attacking the rear and side of her enemy, but he is still miles away. Fortunately for Euphemia, she is not across the Euphrates so does not to worry about her land forces. She can already see portions of the enemy force moving over to face the threat from Lelouch, but that does not mean that Euphemia is free from danger. She moves forward to engage an enemy knightmare.

"Here we go. All units engage the enemy."

"Yes your highness."

Euphemia moves her knightmare forward and attacks an enemy knightmare which is terribly outdated. Euphemia's force has no problems with their initial attack, however she can see newer knightmares coming towards her.

"Those must be the lighter Panthers that the new reports spoke about. Well we'll have to deal with them as well."

Euphemia dodges a slash harken and fires one of her own at her opponents rifle. She quickly moves in and takes it out with her MVS. Her actions and knightmare attract the attention of several enemy units.

"Come on you jerks. I'll show everyone you can't mess with the Euphinator."

She puts away her MVS as four enemy units surround her. She fires her slash harkens disabling them of their weapons. She pulls out the rifles and fires away.

"Here's a trick I learned from my Lulu."

Euphemia catches an enemy unit with a slash harken launching her knightmare over it causing the enemy to tip over. While in the air she keeps firing away. As soon as she lands Euphemia puts her rifles away and withdraws her twin MVS and charges the remaining units. In a matter of minutes she is standing alone above several destroyed knightmares.

"That takes care of that. Now onto the rest of them and then Lulu."

Suddenly there is a loud explosion in the air. Euphemia quickly looks up and sees her airship on fire.

"Captain Maxwell, what happened?"

She quickly turns and flies towards the airship.

"Captain Maxwell."

"Your highness, I'm sorry," the captain is breathing heavily, "The major has gone mad and is setting off explosions throughout the airship."

The connection is cut so she switches to a channel that can be heard throughout her entire force.

"Everyone return to the Aphrodite and help rescue whoever we can."

"It is too late. They're all going to die."

"Major Hedley, what are you doing?"

"I could be leading troops in battle for the glory of Britannia instead I'm stuck here acting as the babysitter for this spoiled brat."

"Major Hedley."

"Well I'll show them. This will teach them to that I am to be reckoned with. There she is, the little brat."

By now Euphemia is directly in front of her airship. She is going to try to distract the major for a few minutes while others help with the extraction of the non-combatants aboard the airship.

"Major Hedley, I order you cease what you are doing and assist in the removal of everyone from the airship."

"Now she is ordering me around. Listen here you little bitch."

There are noises of a struggle and gunfire. There is another explosion and the airship tilts and begins moving towards the ground. Before Euphemia can move her knightmare to help out, she is attacked from behind. She quickly turns to face her opponents.

"You are Euphemia li Britannia?" a heavily accented voice asks.

"Yes and what of it."

"I see. Then you will have to come with us."

Euphemia scoffs as she charges the enemy, "You will have to capture me."

"That is not wise, your highness. In a few minutes that airship will crash and the survivors will be helpless against us."

Euphemia cringes, "You wouldn't dare. Those people are civilians."

"They are enemies combatants as far as we are concerned. If you surrender, we will allow them to be rescued."

Euphemia considers the offer. She has to make eye contact with people to activate her geass. Her enemies accent tells her that he must be form the EU because she knows what the local accent sounds like. Before she can decide several explosions send the Aphrodite crashing over the enemy units. Euphemia barely moves out of the way. She can only stare as her airship crushes her opponents who are unlucky enough to be too slow to move out of the way. A few transports manage to make it off, but she knows that the majority of the people will not.

Euphemia is floating above looking down in disbelief. She will have to act fast to save her crew. Suddenly a single Gloucester flies at her with its lance out.

"You will pay for my disgrace you little brat."

Euphemia withdraws her MVS. She simply slashes the lance away and stabs down through the cockpit not allowing Major Hedley to escape.

"Take that you stupid jerk."

Suddenly Euphemia is hit by a wave of despair and visions.

"What is this? I can't move."

* * *

Kallen forces the Avalon to fly quickly after Lelouch. For Euphie, Lelouch is capable of almost anything. MM is probably lucky that he does not attack Nunnally or the kids because then everyone in the enemy force will pay. Kallen has Marika go out in the Guinevere as soon as they sight enemy forces.

"Oh no!" Kallen exclaims when she sees Euphie's airship going down. She sees a pink knightmare floating above the wreckage and sighs, "It looks like Euphie is safe."

However not everyone sees this in particular one geass wielding raven haired, amethyst eyed prince. A feeling of despair comes over Kallen. She notices that everyone is frozen as well.

"What is this feeling? Is this Lelouch's geass? But that's impossible, we all have geass cancellers."

* * *

Khalid Fayez is approaching his allies from the rear when an unusual sensation overcomes him.

"_Stop! Do not go any further."_

Khalid looks ahead and sees complete confusion amongst is allies.

"_Sir, we must go and aid our allies. Together we can crush the Britannians."_

"_No, it is too late. We cannot win this battle. Order the men to retreat to Mosul. Send word that Kirkuk is to be abandoned. Those Knights of the Round are probably on their way in that direction."_

If Khalid is correct, the best knightmare pilot on Earth just got more dangerous.

* * *

XX carefully makes his way out of Saigon Palace.

"Those fools have created a monster. They have no idea what will be the consequence."

* * *

Naoto is in the northern territories watching for any Russian incursions. He knows it will not be long before Japan declares war on the EU in particular on Russia. Naoto is a little anxious to see what the Gekka can do in a real battle. He isn't all that excited about assisting Lelouch by dividing the EU's attention, but he doesn't have much of a choice. Naoto sighs and heads to his knightmare to get ready for a patrol.

* * *

MM is lying in this destroyed knightmare. For the first time in over two hundred years MM is slightly afraid at the sight of his own blood. Hovering above him is the Mordred. His own troops are in confusion. MM supposes that it is because they have lost their geass abilities and Lelouch's geass is overpowering them. He notices the raven haired prince calmly walking over to him. The Britannian brat has no idea how safe he actually is. MM remembers how powerful his own geass the day he gains his code. Of course he has no idea that he is a code bearer at the time. By now Lelouch is standing over him. He appears to be quite shocked at MM's appearance.

'Well your highness. It appears as if things have come full circle,' MM inadvertently slips back into an older style of French. He points to his chest and then to his knightmare. He begins to breathe heavily and suddenly stops.

Lelouch walks over and notices that MM's code is no longer on his chest. Lelouch notices several knightmares including the Guinevere behind him. In the distance he can Euphie's knightmare, the Freyja, providing cover for those stranded on the ground.

"Looks like Euphie is safe."

"Your highness, are you all right?" Marika asks.

Lelouch ignores her as he consider what just occurred. For a few moments his geass becomes unstoppable and freezes everyone on the battlefield. MM's code is gone, and he has bleed to death. There is only one consequence of this.

Lelouch begins to laugh hysterically frightening allies and enemies alike.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

* * *

Author's note: The MM background stuff was actually the easy part since I love history. I wasn't sure about what else to include. I thought about including background information on the other code bearers but changed my mind. I was also going to have MM attack Nunnally and the kids but then I had Euphie come in. MM's lover/queen is Marie Antoinette.

Euphemia isn't suddenly a kick-ass knightmare pilot. She has been practicing. The Freyja isn't just a pink version of the Lancelot. It is a knightmare especially designed for her so she can handle it. She is also wearing a power suit just like Nunnally and Anya.

XX is not the first code bearer. He is just the oldest, although CC may dispute this. He also brings our code bearer total to six with possibly two more to go. Khalid Fayez has been around since the 1700's. He makes a geass contract with Napoleon as a sort of French-Arabian pact. Even with geass Napoleon is no match for MM who as a code bearer controls more than one geass because of his loyal contractees.

When a code bearer loses his code, all his geass contracts are cancelled. Those people lose that particular geass.


	66. Return Home

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined. _Arabic is underlined and in italics. _

We have a few months time skip as there is no need to drag the war out any longer, and there are other important matters to attend to. I had the idea for the beginning of this chapter a few months ago. I should have mentioned this before but after conquering Louisiana Territory and the Latin America, Britannia probably changed the name of certain things like New Orleans, Mexico City etc. New Orleans will be known as Elizabethtown since Elizabeth III was queen during its conquest. Mexico City will be known as Britannia City. Pretty much any place with a French name is going to be changed. Things with Spanish names depend an certain factors. I tried to go back and see when exactly I got Kallen pregnant but couldn't find a definitive date. I will say sometime after Suzaku and Euphemia's wedding in November.

...

Waldobot Prime: These little humans are quite helpless.

Nunners Lamperouge: Ya and they cry a lot too.

Converters ™  
Season 4 episode 6 "New additions"  
C & P Productions  
LL Entertainment Company

...

A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it.  
Frank A. Clark

...

A hug is like a boomerang - you get it back right away.  
Bill Keane

* * *

**Sunday, July 15, 2017 ATB**

"Welcome to another edition of Inside Pendragon brought to you by the Britannian Broadcasting Company. I am your moderator, James Joseph Callahan. With us today from the New York Times is Robert Smalley. From the Elizabethtown Daily Sentinel is Derrick Johnson. From the Los Angeles Tribune William Plashke. From the Pendragon Daily Inquisitor is Stephen Stewart. Finally from the Britannian United Armed Forces general staff, Brigadier General Roger Mortimer."

The five men finish their introductions.

Mr. Callahan begins, "Very well, let us begin with the conquest of the Middle East Federation. As of this moment there are a few rebel groups hiding out in the desert, but for the most part coordinated resistance is no more. Who should the credit go to? There are several candidates. "

Mr. Johnson goes first, "Yes James, first let me say that the highest honors should go to our emperor who knows who to put into place and when and where," The other men nod at the comment, "I have recently returned from a trip to Tripoli and interviewed Prince Schniezel. Everything seems to have gone exactly as the prince laid out in his plan."

Mr. Plashke interrupts, "I don't meant to interrupt, but I must point out that Princess Cornelia and Prince Lelouch have proven themselves in the past. I doubt that Prince Schniezel is responsible for their success."

The six men go back and forth discussing the merits of Schniezel, Lelouch, and Cornelia. Deithard Reid smiles as the program continues. This is all part of his plan to make Lelouch a household name. It is a myth amongst Britannian nobles that the strongest rise to the top and take the throne. It helps out, but it is not the only factor. Deithard learns this from his mentor almost. Almost two decades ago Charles zi Britannia with the help of his knight Bismarck Waldstein and newest consort Marianne vi Britannia nee Ashford nee Vinette-Lamperouge takes the throne in a violent manner. However this isn't all he needs to be secure, he needs something to make him seem legitimate. Deithard's mentor leads several members of the media in support of the new emperor.

Deithard's goal isn't to make Lelouch known, but to make it a contest between Lelouch, Cornelia, and Schniezel. Once things all settled, Deithard will choose the winning side. At this point the world will be under the control of the winner. There are those that support Odysseus, Guinevere, Euphemia, or even Karine, but those supporters are only nobles who want to control things from behind the throne. To compete for the throne, a contender needs support from nobles, the media, the military, and commoners. Because of their successes the former three have the support of all these groups. It is only a matter of time before one of them puts it all together and ousts their father. It may even be a combination of the three.

* * *

Lelouch is staring at Kallen's belly.

"When is this thing going to pop out?"

"That thing is your child."

"Eh, probably."

Kallen smacks Lelouch with a pillow.

"You jerk."

Lelouch stands and looks pensive. Kallen notices this.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just hate waiting."

After his defeat of the EU-Middle East Federation forces north of Baghdad, Lelouch sweeps north crushing all opposition. Cornelia does the same after taking Damascus. Now they both wait in the mountains of eastern Anatolia for Schniezel to prepare his own invasion of Europe. Obviously Schniezel expects Lelouch and Cornelia to struggle, but Lelouch has the advantage in any battle with his geass users and his many technological inventions and devices. Lelouch's destruction of the Allied army at Ar-Ramadi has many side effects. Cornelia and Lelouch are able to capture many of the political leaders, and Iran declares it neutrality. To prove the latter Lelouch forces Iran to surrender the city of Tabriz as collateral. Taking into account Darlton's invasion of Cyprus a few weeks ago, now Lelouch and Cornelia have several positions to invade Europe from. Cornelia is preparing her army to move west towards Istanbul while Lelouch prepares to either along the Black Sea or Caspian Sea or both.

Lelouch sits back down and pulls out MM's memoirs and diary that he took from his knightmare after taking his code. He begins to flip through it.

"Have you deciphered any more of this?"

Kallen nods, "A little. Not all of it is in French. There is some Latin and Spanish in there as well. There is also some odd mix of French and English," Kallen smiles, "I call it Frenglish," Now she sighs, "I don't why you don't have Carolina translate this. I know that she knows all these languages even the older English and French that he uses in these early chapters."

Lelouch shakes his head, "I don't want to get her involved in this."

"Too late, she is already involved. Simply by marrying you, she has become attached to your rise or fall. Even if you never consummated your marriage and lived apart, other nobles will still hold it against her."

Lelouch scowls, "Fine! I will have her translate."

Kallen pulls Lelouch towards her.

"Good but do it another day."

* * *

For the first time in several decades Khalid Fayez has no army or at least not an official one. With the loss of the Euphrates, Tigris, Jordan, and Nile valleys, the Middle East Federation is no more. There are bits and pieces still not under direct Britannian control, but they are not enough to cause trouble. The smartest thing for him to wait until Lelouch vi Britannia leaves the area. It will allow Khalid's contractees to move freely. Khalid is in Istanbul attempting to figure out what to do next. The Turks do not want help protecting their country. Well that isn't entirely true since they are a part of the EU which now has over a million troops stationed in the area. Khalid goes over to where his Arab contingent is being housed. On his way there he runs into the former assistant of Field Marshal Maurice Marcel.

'Ah captain a pleasure to see you once.'

The captain answers back frigidly, 'I wonder if I can say the same.'

Khalid looks at the captain with a bit of confusion.

'Is that so? Is there a reason for this hostility?'

The captain leans so that only Khalid can hear him, 'I know what you are, Khalid Fayez. I know what power you have.'

Khalid smiles, 'I see that your master did not keep in in the dark on such matters.'

'No he did not,' the captain grins, 'You know my master was there in England when you aided Napoleon Bonaparte. I suppose that Lelouch vi Britannia knows about this as well.'

'What do you mean?'

"My master kept memoirs and a diary with his person at all times. During battle he carried such things in his knightmare. After the battle I searched the ruins of my master's knightmare and did not find these documents.'

'You mean to say that the enemy is in possession of these items. What purpose would they serve? How or why would the enemy know to search for such things?'

'I am afraid that I do not know the answer to such things. But look at the time, I must be going.'

After the captain leaves, Mohammed joins his brother.

"_Do you want me to get one of the truth seekers to follow him, brother?"_

Khalid shakes his head, _"No, there is no need at the moment. I will think about the issue. We must find a way to return to the front whether Lelouch vi Britannia is there or not. We cannot allow Britannia to take over the world because then all will be lost."_

* * *

**Sunday, July 22, 2017 ATB**

Lelouch looks down at the list: XX, CC, Choekyi Gyaltsen, Khalid Fayez, Nikolai Sevastopol, GG VV, and Lelouch vi Britannia. It seems as if MM plans on having Lelouch replace him. The list also catalogs the last known location of the eight code bearers. It is quite accurate from what Lelouch can tell. There are also several sections that detail how MM met each code bearer and portions of their history that he could piece together. Of course more importantly the alias they have gone by and are going by at the moment. The two that seem the most important at the moment are Khalid Fayez and Nikolai Sevastopol. According to MM's writing these two men along with himself are responsible for much of the happenings during the Napoleonic wars. It is MM and Khalid Fayez who aid Napoleon in defeating the English and driving the royal family to North America. Nikolai Sevastopol is responsible for Napoleon's failure in Russia while MM aids in Napoleon's final defeat. Lelouch looks down at his watch.

"Looks like our guests are right on time."

* * *

Gino and Nonette are on their way to Lelouch's headquarters located in the city of Van. Cornelia and Jeremiah's forces are spread out between in Adana, Gaziantep, and Diyarbakir. At the moment they are stationed in Tabriz keeping both Iran and Russia in check, but now they need to have a face to face conference with Lelouch on their next step. The next part of the strategy will decide the fate of Anatolia. At the moment the Middel East Federation is no more. Several governments in exile exist in Russia, Turkey, Iran, Paris, and London. They suppose that the last one is meant to insult Britannia. Either way Britannia holds all the cards and territory. Lelouch sets the time and date for their meeting. They just have to arrive on time. It seems like an important day because there is lots of commotion.

"I wonder what Lelouch is planning on doing?" Gino asks.

Nonette does not answer, but looks over. It certainly appears like Lelouch is planning on something. An attack is not out of the question since their own force is on constant alert, it would only take a short message to get them moving. They both notice that the reconstruction of the Aphrodite is complete with a new pink paint job. There appear to be several unknown airships. The airship completely changes the nature of Britannia's attack. Now Britannia's forces fly above the enemy choosing when and where to attack. Nonette and Gino land near the other airships.

Gino begins to stutter, "No way that is, that is the Galahad. What is it doing here?"

Nonette spots the Knight of One's personal knightmare being unloaded. Beside it are the Pelleas and Andraste, the knightmares of the Knights of Four and Five.

"I guess we are having company," she calmly answers despite the fact that she is seething inside.

Once their airship is secure, Nonette and Gino quickly exit. They find Lelouch walking around calmly with Bismarck Waldstein and Empress Marianne. The raven haired prince has a slight smirk on his face like he planned all this. Gino has always tries to be a good friend, but Lelouch has other plans.

"I'm telling you, Alice. I don't like this one bit. Not only is the Pirate Knight here but so is mom. Something is smells and it isn't the twins."

Gino turns to face Nunnally and her knight walking towards the direction of her brother and mother. It only takes a moment for him to figure out that the Pirate Knight is the Knight of One. If not for his military career, Bismarck Waldstein could make a fortune portraying roguish characters in movies. The princess and her knight simply nod at Gino and Nonette.

"Nonnie's here."

"Look it's Nonnie."

Before she can respond the twins tackle Nonette. Gino gets punched in the leg by Evelyn.

"Good morning, Lord Weinberg."

Behind the three kids are their knights followed closely by Kallen, Milly, Carolina, Euphemia, and Anya. Because of her condition, Kallen is traveling one of those little scooters that handicapped people use to do their shopping. It obviously has some adaptations to it. Lloyd or Cecile must have gone into complete mad scientist mode because Gino is sure that the scooter has weapons. Behind them are two girls that Gino slightly recognizes. Behind all of them are Jeremiah, Villetta, Cornelia, and Guilford. Now Gino is certain that Lelouch timed this down to the second.

"Castor, Pollux get off Nonette this instant."

The twins groan a little, "Yes Sister Kallen. We was just having some fun with Nonnie"

"Are you alright, Lady Enneagram?"

Nonette stand and begins to fix her clothes.

"I am fine, your highness."

"Sister Kallen, we's tired of walking can we bring out scooters."

Gino isn't sure which of the twins is talking. He still doesn't understand why they dress in identical clothes.

Kallen looks back, "It's too late now. You can't go back because Lulu and the others are waiting for you."

The twins smile mischievously and pull out remote controls, "Check this out," Within seconds two little scooters come over. The twins cartwheel onto their scooters which keep moving towards Lelouch. Once there the twins immediately attempt to tackle Bismarck.

"Shows offs," Evelyn scoffs.

Soon everyone reaches Lelouch, Bismarck, and Marianne. They are also joined by Salacia Ravenguard and Dorothea Ernst. The Excalibur lands nearby and everybody boards it. Once in the conference room, Ayame and Midori sit everyone down and begin to serve refreshments. Lelouch begins the meeting by bringing up several maps of southern Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia.

"Let's begin here in the west. Conrad and Thorin have already taken Gibraltar. Luciano and Aphrodite are in Malta. Merlin, Monica and Amadeus are in Tunis, Benghazi, and Alexandria respectively. They are simply waiting for more orders. Of course Gino and Nonette are in Tabriz while Salacia and Dorothea have just arrived. As soon as permission is granted the Knights of the Round will lead the invasion of the EU proper. Schniezel will be in command of the forces invading from western north Africa while Cornelia will command the forces in Egypt and here in Anatolia."

Knights of the Round  
One Bismarck Waldstein, Galahad  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Gawain  
Three: Conrad Keyshavrin, Tyr  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Pelleas  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Andraste  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Epona  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Thor  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, Vlad  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Andarta  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Pellinore  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Loki  
Twelve: Gino Weinberg, Tristan

Gino looks over the information that Lelouch is providing for them. He wonders what Lelouch will do if Cornelia is controlling the forces here. The prince does not appear worried about the situation. The meeting continues with mostly Lelouch, Cornelia, Bismarck, and Marianne discussing future strategy. After stepping out of the meeting Gino goes for a little walk. He runs into Anya playing on her phone like always.

"Hey Anya."

Anya momentarily glances up at Gino, "Hey Gino."

"So it looks like you're heading back with Euphie."

"If that's what she wants, we will go back to Area 11."

Gino sighs and continues on his way out of the Excalibur. Nonette catches up to him a few minutes later.

"What's wrong, Weinberg? Don't feel like catching up with old friends."

Gino shrugs his shoulders, "I can do that later. Right now we have work to do."

Nonette shakes her head as Gino heads towards their airship.

* * *

Marianne is pensive as she makes her way back to Bismarck's airship.

"Lelouch sure seems to be expecting us," Marianne mentions as she glances at Bismarck.

"So it seems, your highness. The prince has many contacts throughout the world."

Marianne considers Bismarck's statement, "You still agree with Charles's plan, don't you, Bismarck?"

"Of course, your highness," he answers without hesitation.

"Good. Once we have all the sites under out possession, we can continue with the next part of our plan. Those traitors CC and VV will not escape."

* * *

Lelouch is sitting with his extended family including knights minus Villetta who is conferring with Cornelia and Guilford about the transfer of several thousand troops to Cornelia's command.

"It seems like our part in this war is over for now."

This comment is met with a mixture of disappointment and excitement. Lelouch sit there pensive on the issue. Everyone else does the same since he technically has not given anyone permission to speak. Being the only one who isn't afraid of Lelouch on any level, Nunnally asks an important question.

"What are we doing now, big brother?"

"For now we will escort Euphemia and those that died or were injured back home. Kallen probably needs to get back as well."

Lelouch signals for everyone to exit the room. Everybody but the other four vi Britannias exits the room. The twins go to make sure that no one is standing by the door. Lelouch pushes a few buttons to completely seal the room.

"I think that Gino is getting suspicious about the next part of the plan," Evelyn states.

Lelouch smirks, "Don't worry about him. I can handle Gino."

Nunnally asks, "What about mom?"

Lelouch sneers, "When the time comes, I have something special for her," Lelouch brings up several maps of Japan, "Now let's get down to business."

* * *

**Friday, July 27, 2017 ATB**

Colonel Madd, Cyborg-Rivalz, and Rolo have been on the run since Clovis's death. Even the emperor has abandoned the Code R project. Meaning that they have to find a new benefactor within the Britannian government because Lelouch has the military and OSI searching for them. It is almost shocking the amount of influence the raven haired prince has gained amongst Britannia's power structure. Within a matter of years Lelouch has support of several factions within the government, military and noble families. His marriage to the daughters of three great noble families helps. The three fugitives move around as Lelouch uses the knowledge from VV and Bartley to uncover the former Geass Order safe houses around the world. They are down to their last option barring crawling to Lelouch himself.

"The prince will see you now."

The prince's assistant does not seem too happy to let them see his prince. They quickly enter the room.

"Very well Colonel Madd, explain to me this Code R business. I know that Lelouch isn't chasing you around the world simply because of Clovis. I want to know it all."

"Of course Prince Schniezel, I will tell you everything I know."

After an hour Schniezel's guests leave.

"That was interesting. Wasn't it, Kannon?"

"Yes, your highness."

"I wonder what else is going on."

* * *

Naoto isn't exactly happy helping Britannia out, but the Russian forces give him no other choice. As a token of friendship and neutrality, the EU asks Japan to ask Britannian forces to leave Japan and allow EU forces to move through its territorial waters so that the EU may attack Britannian held southeast Asia. The Japanese government kindly denies the EU's requests and informs them to stay out of Japanese territorial waters. They refuse leading to leading to skirmishes throughout Japan's Northern Territories.

"_Ichiro, when is the new shipment coming in?"_

"_It should be here this afternoon, general."_

Naoto smiles because the newest model Gekkas are coming north. Since Naoto plans on keeping the fighting away from the homeland islands, Rakshata makes the newest Gekkas weather proof. Most knightmares come with some sort of air conditioning or heating which help the pilot, but these newer models will protect against the cold.

"_Make sure that the patrols are heading out on time. We do not want to be caught off guard."_

"_Of course general."_

Naoto continues with his planning. If he is given permission, he will lead an invasion of the Russian Far East.

* * *

Nagisa Chiba is on her way back to Tokyo after several months observing Lelouch's army. The most important lesson she learns is that the only thing that can stop Lelouch is through the idiocy of his superiors. Of course she isn't going to write that in her report, and it has nothing to do with the intimacy she experiences with the prince that isn't going on the report either. If her superiors ever found out about that, she will be with Lelouch vi Britannia until the day she dies. They will not hesitate to send her back when what she wants the most is to see combat. All high ranking military personal has heard the rumors about the imminent war with the Russian Federation/EU.

"_Major Chiba, the general will see you now."_

With General Tohdoh and the other Holy Swords out west patrolling against Russian incursions, Nagisa has to report to his replacement. Not that he replaces much of anything. It is obvious that the man is a seat warmer nothing more than a bureaucrat with connections who works his way up with ladder.

"_Have a seat, Major Chiba. I have been going over your reports. They are quite interesting, to say the least."_

Nagisa simply nods. It is obvious that she isn't here to discuss her reports.

The general fidgets for a moment before continuing, _"As you know Major Chiba, Prince Lelouch vi Britannia has gifted you with one of his seventh generation Bors model knightmares. Well we are not that far behind. We are actually quickly approaching their level of technology. "_

Nagisa knows that that is a complete fabrication. Japan will only ever be at the level of technology that Britannia or Lelouch allows it to be. Her hope was that Lelouch would give her a few more knightmares. At least enough for the other Holy Swords to use. Despite it being around for several years Lelouch's Io is in a constant state of change. Today's Io will run circles off the ones from last year. If they continue to make them, next year's models will be even better. The Io is quite superior to the Gekka despite being on the same level generation wise. She may be able to get a few of those. Nagisa notices that despite the fact that she spaces out, the general keeps talking as if he doesn't notice. Maybe he doesn't notice or maybe he is used to people looking like they would rather eat feces than listen to him talk.

"_My point being, Major Chiba, that our technology department would like to study this knightmare."_

Nagisa understand perfectly what he means. He wants give the knightmare over to his own friends in the technology department. That is how it works with these bureaucratic types.

"_You mean take apart MY knightmare. I'm afraid I cannot do that."_

"_Major Chiba, think of the implications to our technology department,"_

"_You mean think of the implications to your friends."_

The general scoffs, _"It is this sort of divisiveness that will lead to our downfall.'_

"_That sounds like defeatist talk to me. I have friends in the Kempetei who might want to know about this conversation. Besides Britannia is divided into so many factions that they have trouble keeping track themselves, and they don't seem to have any problems keeping the country victorious. That is also in my reports," _Nagisa stands up, _"I made a promise not to turn the knightmare over the technological department. It is a gift given to me by a friend. If that is all general, I will take my leave."_

Nagisa exits the room. In reality she wants to have a few of her own friends take a look at the knightmare. Of course then it will be for the benefit of Japan rather than a small group of bureaucrats.

"_He asked you for the knightmare, and you refused," _Nagisa turns around and sees a slender dark skinned woman in a lab coat, _"I told him you would. But you know bureaucrats, they never listen."_

"_Yes and you are."_

"_I'm sorry. I guess we have never been formally introduced. I am Dr. Rakshata Chawla."_

"_I see. You are the Indian scientist who works with knightmares."_

"_Yes I helped make the Gekka. I am also working on a personal knightmare for your real boss."_

The replacement general chooses this time to walk out. When he sees Nagisa and Rakshata talking, he quickly makes his exit.

Rakshata continues, _"I suppose that it is a good thing that you refused him although I wouldn't mind tinkering with it myself."_

"_What do you mean it's a good thing?"_

Rakshata looks at Nagisa with a surprised look, _"The knightmare is booby trapped."_

This startles Nagisa, _"Do you mean with bombs?"_

"_Yes but not the physical kind. The moment that knightmare is hooked up to a computer, it will take over."_

Rakshata leaves Nagisa to her thoughts. Well the Bors does come with its own diagnostic kit. Perhaps Nagisa can still have someone take a look at it. She will have to discuss things with her high tech friends. If she makes the right moves perhaps, she can join her friends in the Sea of Japan.

* * *

Li Xingke isn't exactly happy with his position. At a time when Britannia and the EU are locked in war near the Chinese Federation's western border, he is sitting at a desk. Not to mention the fact that Japan and Russia are ready to come to blows. It isn't just that he isn't patrolling these areas. It is the fact that the High Eunuchs have even given an opinion on the situation. From his few conversations with the empress, Xingke realizes that she has not been kept up to date on the situation around the world. Xianglin's reports while informative are not exactly what Xingke wants to see. He wonders if his former aide-de-camp is hiding something from him. After giving her reports in person, she is given a few days off before being sent back to Area 10 and Lelouch vi Britannia.

* * *

**Tuesday, July 31 2017 ATB**

Lelouch is sitting in his office back in Area 10. He isn't excited to be back home. He looks over at Nunnally who is even less excited about being back home because in doing so she leaves Suzaku behind. The kids are happy to be back with their friends.

"This stuff is tougher than homework. Why can't we get someone else to deal with this paperwork?"

Lelouch sighs, "We did have someone, but then Euphie took her to the Middle East Federation, and she got hurt."

Nunnally groans.

"Come on Nunnally, it isn't that bad. At least we get a little help for a few more weeks."

The kids somehow got their friends to help with filing the paperwork. Now six little people are moving between the offices of Lelouch, Nunnally, Milly, Kallen, and Carolina. Kallen comes into the office on her Asplund which is a two wheeled self balancing electric personal transport created by a distant cousin of Lloyd.

"It's break time guys. Come on there are snacks waiting for you."

The kids dutifully do as Kallen orders. Kallen turns to face Lelouch and Nunnally.

"You two, can take a break too."

"We'll be right there."

Kallen nods and scooters away. Nunnally looks at her brother.

"Does she know what you are planning?"

"Of course, I do not keep secrets from Kallen. She even knows about Cornelia's teddy bear collection."

Nunnally grunts, "Well I guess I won't be telling you anything important."

Lelouch stands up, "Come let's go get some snacks before Milly complains about us not appreciating her cooking skills."

Nunnally stand up and walks towards the door where Lelouch is waiting for her. Lelouch quickly wraps his arms around Nunnally and begins to tickle her knocking them both to the ground.

"Big brother!" Nunnally screams, but this doesn't stop Lelouch.

After a few minutes, Lelouch stops, but they are still on the floor.

"What you guys doing?"

They look up to see Miranda and Emily standing there.

Lelouch answers, "We are having a tickle fight, and I won."

"Because you cheated."

"Nunnally, don't be a sore loser," Lelouch sits up, "But I think it's time for some new competitors."

Lelouch grabs the twin girls and pulls them towards him. Nunnally helps him out. The noise attracts the attention of everyone else. Castor and Pollux don't seem all that excited about Lelouch and Nunnally tickling their girlfriends. Lelouch sighs at this taste of normalcy that usually eludes them.

* * *

**Thursday, August 9**

Suzaku is on his way back to Japan. He does make a stop in Area 11 to keep appearances. He also picks up Nunnally well Euphemia too. Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly are already in Japan. Lelouch and Euphemia are attending the Sakuradite Conference as Britannia's representatives. Suzaku will also attend a few of the meetings, but he hopes to spend a lot of the time with Nunnally or at least as much time as Alice allows. Suzaku is quite surprised that Kallen comes along since she is due to have her baby soon. Knowing her it does make some sense that she will want to have her first child in Japan. Given the current tension with the EU/Russian Federation, Lelouch thinks it prudent to bring their knightmares so they are traveling to Japan in the Boudicca. Lelouch, of course, brings the Excalibur, Avalon, and Ganymede. His other airships are patrolling the area south of Japan in case the Chinese Federation gets any ideas. Suzaku also hears rumors that Lelouch has airships over in Alaska preparing for an invasion of Siberia.

"Look Suzu, there it is."

Suzaku looks down the view from an airship is distinctly different than it is from an airplane. Unlike anything in Area 10, 11 or the Middle East Federation, Tokyo is most definitely a city. From what Suzaku has seen only Pendragon compares. Suzaku has heard that New York City and Britannia City (Mexico City) compare.

"So what do you want to do when we land, Nunners?"

Nunnally contemplates the situation.

"We probably have to make special appearances. Big brother and Kallen have been on TV almost everyday."

Suzaku sighs, "I guess I have to appear with Euphie in public."

They both turn to face Euphemia who is sound asleep.

Nunnally smiles, "Don't worry, I'll tag long like the annoying little sister. Besides I'm not the one who will get jealous if the two of you kiss in public."

**Friday, August 10**

Khalid Fayez sits pensive. He is still in Istanbul waiting for orders. Waiting with him are his brothers Ali and Mohammad.

"_Did you two hear that Britannia is releasing the Al-Asad brothers?"_

Mohammad grins,_ "Britannia fights dirty."_

"_Indeed they do."_

Khalid looks pensive,

Ali notices this, _"Is something wrong, brother?"_

"_Just musing on what the Frenchman said. He stated that MM has been around since the days of Napoleon and knows who I am. He also stated that Lelouch vi Britannia is in possession of MM's memoirs._

"_Perhaps we should send someone to recover these items. It would be unwise for information on you to be in the possession of Britannia."_

Khalid signals for them to take care of the matter as they see fit.

**Saturday, August 11**

"_Ichiro, they want you back in Tokyo."_

Naoto and Ichiro are running tests on several Gekkas.

"_Did they say why, sir?"_

Naoto shakes his head, _"I guess they want to hear from someone in person."_

Ichiro scowls, _"Sir, are you saying that my reports are not good enough."_

Naoto mocks Ichiro which causes the captain to pout.

"_Just go to the transport. Take a week off. I think you're going to need it."_

**Sunday, August 12**

"Nunnally, slow down."

Nunnally stops and glowers, "You slowpokes need to hurry up."

Nunnally continues climbing as Alice, Suzaku, and Euphemia try to catch up. Alice stops once more to catch her breath.

"I would rather face an entire squad of knightmares than have Nunnally pick what we do on a free day again."

Suzaku and Euphemia nod in agreement.

"I heard that you lazy bums. Alice, you're on dishwashing duty for the rest of the week."

Alice groans as she continues to climb after Nunnally. It is her duty as a knight afte all.

**Monday, August 13**

At 4:25 pm one of the most important children in the history of Britannia is born. His hair is as dark as his father's, but his mother's fiery redness is visibly. He also has his father's deep amethyst eyes, but the coolness of his mother's cerulean is present. Even in his squishy hour old age, it is visible that he is the perfect combination of Lelouch vi Britannia and Kallen kou Britannia nee Kouzuki-Stadtfeld. His name is James kou Britannia. In a generation or so his name strikes fear in the hearts of his opponents, but for now he is quite helpless. The kids stare in awe at their nephew. Technically they are already uncles and aunt, but this is quite different. This child is theirs as well. They spend no expense so that Kallen and child are able to be home as soon as possible. This way Lelouch can spend time with them and prepare for the Sakuradite Conference which starts on Friday

**Tuesday, August 14**

Ali and Mohammed Fayez arrive in Tokyo. Not an easy task even with geass.

"_What is the name of our contact?"_

"_Colonel Kusakabe."_

Their Japanese is quite rusty having only spoken it on a few occasions. Looking around at the people walking around, they figure that sticking to Japanese or Britannian will be better even though Arabic would be safer. They know that French or Russian will alert the authorities. They want to keep their presence as inconspicuous as possible.

"_Let's go. It is time for our first meeting."_

**Wednesday, August 15**

"He's so squishy. Are you sure you got the right one?"

Kallen pushes Lelouch.

"You are a jerk, you know that."

"He started it by taking my girl."

Kallen brushes Lelouch's cheek.

"You'll always be my favorite."

Lelouch leans forward to kiss Kallen.

"Ugh you two are so mushy," Nunnally states.

Evelyn shrugs, "I think it's cute. It's not like big brother and Sister Kallen are old like the Quaker Oats Guy and Sparkle."

Lelouch smirks at Evelyn's new name for their mom. He taught Evelyn about using a thesaurus which most people might think is a strange thing to show a six year old girl but not Lelouch. Once Evelyn knows that their mother is nicknamed the Flash, it only takes a few hours for her to come up with a new nickname.

"Come on, Evie. Get the twins. You three are coming to the hotel with me and Euphie."

"But I want to stay here with Sister Kallen."

"I'm sorry, but Kallen has to take care of little James. No you can't stay with Milly. She is back in full president mode over at Ashford."

Evelyn and the twins groan as Lelouch and Euphemia take them over to the Lake Kawaguchi Hotel. Once there the kids are excited about the hotel. They spend the first two days out on the lake before Lelouch has to prepare for the conference.

**Thursday, August 16**

"_What a day for these bastards to attack."_

Naoto grimaces as Russian fleet crosses into Japanese territorial water. Technically that is a declaration of war, but Naoto must wait for them to attack. Of course their aim may be to simply sail south to attack Britannian territory. An event which Naoto will not mind, but the fleet will be visible from the Japanese coast. That will not please Naoto's superiors.

"_Damn I wish Ichiro was here. He always knows what to do."_

To make matters worse, Tohdoh's fleet in the west has been divided as a portion is sent to Tokyo Bay for the Sakuradite Conference along with the general himself. Obviously Naoto cannot allow the fleet to get that far south. Floating over Tokyo are the Brit bastard's airships. Not to mention that presence of several dozen new Britannian knightmares outside of Tokyo. They will not hesitate to attack the Russian fleet. That would be a good thing for Japan's pride.

Naoto sighs, "_Order the men to." _Naoto is distracted by several explosions.

"_General, the Russian fleet is attacking."_

Naoto smiles, _"Very well then. Order the men to counterattack. Drive them back to Siberia."_

**Friday, August 17**

"_General vi Britannia, we have located the men you are looking for. It seems they arrived on a boat a few days ago._"

Lelouch nods. He looks down at the pictures that the OSI man gives him. He finds it a little ironic that the man chose to speak in Arabic. Not that Lelouch completely trusts the OSI and the military, but they are proving themselves quite useful. Lelouch makes a phone call.

'_Release the bear cavalry.'_

Lelouch looks at the time. It is a little after noon. The Sakuradite Conference is set to begin in the evening with a dinner. Earlier in the morning Milly takes the kids down to the lake to allow Lelouch and Euphemia time to prepare. Not there is much for them to do since the emperor sets the demands. It is, however, up to Lelouch to get that amount while giving little in return.

"Lulu, come back to bed," Euphie grins, "I'm not done with you."

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders. All the pieces are in place, they just have to play their parts.

* * *

"_Colonel, everything is in place."_

"_And the traitor."_

"_He is on his way, sir."_

"_Does he suspect anything?"_

"_Not a thing."_

Colonel Kusakabe smiles, "_In a few hours Mr. Fayez, I will set things right, and you will have Lelouch vi Britannia."_

* * *

Author's note: In case anyone is wondering. At least since MM's introduction, the plan has always been for Lelouch to take his code. The difficult part was putting it before or after the events that will take place next chapter. Along with Clovis's death and Lelouch's marriages, the next few chapters contain things that were always going to happen, no matter what. I guess CC ends up with Le


	67. Zero and the Ninja Knight

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Lelouch and Kallen's son is named after her father who is dead (but is really in a coma) so no one really has any objections to the name. I should have mentioned that last chapter. I do a slight shout out to an anime that I watched while writing this chapter so if any can guess what it is, then I'll send Evelyn and the twins to congratulate you or if you prefer I will send Milly to take over your school or job

...

All the world's a stage,  
And all the men and women merely players;  
They have their exits and their entrances,  
And one man in his time plays many parts,  
His acts being seven ages.

Jacques  
_As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143  
_William Shakespeare

...

I am Zero, and I fight for justice.

Adventures of Zero and his Black Knights I and II  
LL Entertainment  
2014, 2016

...

Zero is at the core of what it is to be common. A faceless symbol that emphasizes what the common man is.

Schniezel el Britannia  
Royalty and the common man  
Neo-Pendragon Press 2028 ATB

* * *

**Friday, August 17, 2017**

Kallen picks up her son, "Come on, my little James, your daddy is waiting for us," Kallen puts her baby in special carrier, "Marika here, Lulu left this power suit for you to wear. The doctor said I shouldn't do anything strenuous for a few days."

Marika nods and begins to put the power suit, "Yes your highness, I will stay here and protect the house."

Kallen takes James into an ordinary looking car. Of course the inside is a different story. The driver knows where to go, and they are on their way.

* * *

Colonel Kusakabe and his men manage to infiltrate the soldiers keeping guard at the Sakuradite Conference. With tensions at an all time high, the extra security is appreciated. Getting the Fayez brothers in is a bit more difficult. The rumors about a large skirmish breaking out in the north are spreading. Kusakabe knows that Kouzuki will be able to handle the situation. With the EU and Britannia at war, neither nation will have time to worry about this little incident. Things are falling into place just as he predicted. He also something special planned just for Kouzuki. If things go according to plan perhaps there may even be others opportunities for Kusakabe in the future.

* * *

Lelouch is putting the finishing touches on his clothes for the opening banquet of the Sakuradite Conference.

"Euphie, are you ready?" There is no response, "Euphemia Gabrielle li Britannia, I asked you a question."

Lelouch goes over to their bedroom to get her.

_"Clumsy Girl Aki-chan having adventures. This battle might be long, but let's get along together everyone."_

"Euphie, what are you doing?"

"I'm watching this new anime that Kallen told me about."

Lelouch sighs. Between Kallen and the twins, Area 10 is rapidly becoming the world's leader in animation. Euphemia turns the television off and stands up leaving Lelouch stunned.

"How do I look, Lulu?"

Lelouch chokes up a bit, "You look beautiful."

Euphemia giggles, "Come on let's go."

* * *

"Look little James, it's Clumsy Girl Aki-chan. I hope I can bring happiness to everyone."

Kallen lifts her son up and begins to make him dance.

"When you grow up you're going to be the greatest anime creator or" Kallen pauses for a moment, "knightmare pilot. Either one will work."

Kallen sits him down and pulls out a magazine.

"Here little James, read this. It's called Innocent Smile."

Kallen looks outside at the Tokyo skyline. They are riding in an ordinary looking car. Of course it is one of Lelouch's special cars. She hopes that Marika and Liliana will be okay back at the house. Lelouch's security is being stretched by the separation of everyone. Jeremiah and Villetta are still in Anatolia commanding Lelouch's troops. Nunnally has Alice and Suzaku. Milly and the kids have Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque. Anya is somewhere at the hotel with Lelouch and Euphemia. Still even though they are tough girls, they are limited in what they can do although Lelouch does have control of the Britannian garrison throughout Japan, but they are mostly on alert because of the Russian attack.

After a few minutes they are out of the city and are driving down a scenic route. James falls asleep causing Kallen to get drowsy as well. Suddenly there is a large explosion in the direction they are heading in. The noise wakes up mother and son. In the distance she can make out her destination.

"Looks like it's time for your daddy's big appearances so let's change the channel."

"What's with all the noise?"

Kallen gasps, "CC, how long have you been here?"

CC appears to be counting, "About five centuries."

Kallen shakes her head, "No, I meant in the car."

CC doesn't answer instead she lies back down to sleep.

"You are an annoying witch?"

CC nods in agreement.

* * *

Lelouch and Euphemia are mingling with the other representatives present at the Sakuradite Conference when they bump into one of the Japanese representatives.

"Your highness Princess Euphemia, where is your husband tonight?"

Euphemia smiles, "He is on his way. He is being delayed because I asked him to watch after one of my younger sisters."

Most of the people in the room avoid Lelouch. Despite no longer being independent nations, several African and Middle East countries have representatives here. There are even a few EU representatives which is a difficult situation given the current state of things. Of course diplomatic immunity is being stretched by this conference.

"Your highness," a heavily accented voice calls out to Lelouch, "allow me to introduce myself. I am Ali Fayez and this is my brother, Mohammed."

Lelouch holds back a smile. It seems as if his newest pawns couldn't keep to themselves.

"It is a pleasure to meet the two of you," Lelouch states as he shakes their hands.

"We have been following your exploits quite closely, your highness."

Lelouch smirks, "Is that so? I have been following the exploits of your brother for a long time as well."

Lelouch looks around to make sure that no one is nearby. Most people are already avoiding Lelouch even more so now that he is with the two Arabs. Even his security detail keeps their distance.

Lelouch smiles, "I have a message for your brother."

Both men look at Lelouch as he activates his geass and gives them orders. It only takes a few seconds since he practices his lines down to the smallest detail. When he is done, he walks back to Euphemia who is surrounded by several men young and old. Of course the men part like the Red Sea for Lelouch and scatter once he reaches the pink haired princess.

Euphie smiles as she hands him a glass, "Having fun, Lulu."

Lelouch takes a sniff and is startled a little. He memorizes the face of the man who gives his little sister the drug laced champagne. That man will suffer an unenviable fate later tonight.

"The fun has not yet begun. Remember your role."

"No problem."

* * *

Suzaku and Nunnally are traveling with the Lancelot to the Lake Kawaguchi Resort. In the morning Suzaku is going to demonstrate the Lancelot's abilities. Those that follow the war already know what it can do. Suzaku looks out at the lake. Even though it is already night, there are still plenty of boats and people out on the lake.

"Hey Nunners, do you want to go out on the lake tonight."

Nunnally looks in the direction Suzaku is looking.

"Shouldn't we see what big brother and sister Euphie are doing first?"

Suzaku sighs, "Fine."

They sit there quietly for a few moments. Alice is with her knightmare just in case anything happens.

"How long are you guys staying here?"

Before Nunnally respond, several military vehicles dash past them.

"What the heck is going on?"

Suzaku wonders the same thing.

"I will make a few phone calls."

* * *

Ichiro is sitting in his office trying to get some paperwork done when the power goes out. He goes to investigate the situation. As he walks down the hall, he can hear footsteps and whispering. He is pretty certain that no one else is working tonight. Before he can react, Ichiro is attacked by half a dozen men. They quickly gag him and cover his eyes. After a few hours of driving, which Ichiro is sure they do only to throw him off, they finally make a stop. Ichiro hears some conversation about their purpose for being there. After a few minutes they begin to move again. Ichiro is dragged out of the door and onto what he believes is the freight elevator. Once they reach their destination, the blindfold is removed.

"_Welcome to the Lake Kawaguchi Resort, traitor, the colonel will see you now."_

Ichiro is surprised not because he is here but because Lelouch predicts this course of events.

"_Damn Lelouch is good."_

* * *

Kyoshiro Tohdoh is not a happy man. Rather than going west to attack Russia, he is on his way to the Lake Kawaguchi Resort.

"_Damn that bastard."_

If it was up to him, Kusakabe would have been kicked out of the army long ago. The man is just too backwards thinking. While pride is an important element to the Japanese, it is not more important than duty to one's country. Of course in Kusakabe's mind, this is his duty to his country. Tohdoh must stop what will turn into an international incident. If the EU doesn't have a reason to attack Japan, it soon will not to mention the Chinese Federation and Britannia. It is the last one that Tohdoh fears. With a few thousand soldiers and hundred of knightmares, Britannia already has a substantial presence in Japan. If something was to happen to their nominal commander (Lelouch vi Britannia), there is not telling what the consequences will be. The worst part of it is that Tohdoh cannot locate either of his wives or siblings despite the fact that one of them is traveling with Suzaku Kururugi. An attempt to go into Stadtfeld manner is repulsed by two people in armored suits. The only chance to get into the house is with knightmares, and Tohdoh does not want to know the consequences of that action.

Tohdoh needs to locate the two princess consorts because if anything is to happen to their husband, they can order the Britannian forces to attack. With a large portion of the world's sakuradite at stake, the Chinese Federation and EU will not hesitate to join in. Japan will be torn apart because of the foolish actions of one idiotic colonel.

* * *

Colonel Kusakabe is making the finishing touches on his dress uniform. Tonight the entire world will learn that Japan is not a Britannian puppet. After tonight's action, he has no doubt that the Japanese people will rise and oust the corrupt and contemptible Kururugi regime. Perhaps this event will even give him a chance to rise again.

"_Gentlemen, it is time."_

* * *

Deithard Reid is outside taking a break. He hates having to be here to cover the Sakuradite Conference. He is only here because his superiors consider him to be a favorite of Lelouch vi Britannia, and they want to get his opinion on the current state of things. Overall the conference appears to be boring, and the prince has not exactly been forthcoming in any interviews leading up to it.

"Mr. Reid. Mr. Reid!"

"What is it?"

"There is something going on."

Deithard notices that Japanese military vehicles are surrounding the resort.

"What is going on?"

"There is a message being broadcast from inside."

Deithard scowls as he heads over to his trailer to attempt to piece things together.

* * *

Lelouch and Euphemia are dancing as the first day of the conference winds down. There has been very little official business talk, although Lelouch and Euphemia do make some unofficial contacts and deals. To anyone that does not know that they are half-siblings, they would appear to be very much in love which of course they are but that is another subject unto itself. Lelouch notices several of the soldiers acting as guards being rotated out.

"Looks like it is time. Just stay out of the way and wait for the others."

Euphemia nods and hugs Lelouch tighter.

"I won't let them hurt you, Euphie, even if I have to demonstrate my abilities to everyone here."

Euphemia pulls Lelouch towards an isolated corner as Japanese soldiers begin to pour into the room. After making sure that no one can see them, she kisses him in the mouth.

"If everything works out, you'll get more of what I gave you this morning."

Lelouch smirks, "Stay here for a few minutes."

Lelouch steps back out. He sees several dozen soldiers going to key sections of the room. His own security detail is off getting ready for their own part. Lelouch nods to a few of the waiters who continue to serve drinks to calm the conference attendees down. Lelouch takes a glass of red wine and calmly walks through the crowd towards the stairs where Colonel Kusakabe is standing.

Colonel Kusakabe steps forward.

"_We are looking for Lelouch vi Britannia."_

"_You mean Prince Lelouch vi Britannia of the Holy Empire of Britannia, 11__th__ successor to the emperor, Duke of Wellington, commanding general of Britannian United Armed Forces Army Group 5."_

Kusakabe tries not to flinch as the Britannian prince stares into his soul. Unfortunately for the prince, there is nothing but hatred there. Kusakabe scoffs and glares back at Lelouch. However when Kusakabe stares into the prince's eyes, he finds nothing but utter darkness. A small part of the colonel wants to end this now because he realizes that his opponent is too great.

Lelouch clears his throat, _"Are you going to stare at me all night?" _Lelouch smirks, _"You could have brought cuter soldiers for me to stare at."_

Lelouch turns to walk away. One of Kusakabe's men rushes at Lelouch with his rifle raised. Lelouch easily dodges it and takes the man's rifle. Lelouch withdraws his own handgun and points it at the man's face while pointing the rifle in the general direction of Colonel Kusakabe. Lelouch glares at the man he is pinning to the ground.

"_You may not believe it, sergeant, but I have received military training that far outdoes your own. I could kill you, your colonel, and several dozen of your friends before they even know what hit them."_

Lelouch slams his handgun into the sergeant's face knocking him out. He stands up and places his handgun back into his coat. He sets the rifle on the floor.

"_I take it Colonel Kusakabe that you are here to discuss the terms of the withdrawal of Britannian forces from Japan. I have the authority to do such a thing. There is a nice conference room on the other side of this hallway."_

Lelouch makes his way towards the colonel. Several soldiers point their rifles at Lelouch who ignores them and continues walking.

Colonel Kusakabe grunts, "_Keep control of the situation here. I will teach this Britannian how to negotiate."_

The soldiers move through and around the crowd. Lelouch's distraction allows Euphemia to slip back. The distraction also allows several other people to sneak into the room. Euphemia looks around the room trying to find a way to take out the soldiers. With her geass, it will take some time to get to everyone.

"Euphie."

Euphemia looks around but doesn't notice anybody who might be calling her. Then she realizes that the voice is in her head.

"Uh hello who's in there?"

She hears a sigh.

"It's me, VV. Get that smile off your face. You look crazy."

Euphemia gets serious.

"Good, now do you see the guards by the windows? For goodness sakes, don't nod. We really should have practiced this telepathy thing before. Aim your geass at those guards. We will take care of the others."

Euphemia doesn't nod this time as she begins to think how to make those guards victims of her geass. First she has to get close enough to look them in the eyes. With her geass she only has to look at them for a few moments for it to take hold. As she nears the guards an idea hits her.

"_Hentai, ecchi."_

The nearby guards look at Euphemia as she says this allowing her to activate her geass.

* * *

Milly, VV, and the kids slip into the resort using Castor's geass. Evelyn and Pollux also play their parts. While Lelouch distracts everyone, they sneak into the room. After VV confers a little with Euphie, the others pick their own victims. Castor tries to find the middle of the room unlike Euphie's geass, he doesn't have look at his victims. Not only that but his geass affects the senses of all those around him not just vision. Castor can also pick his victims. He spends a few minutes studying the room before releasing his previous geass. It is up to him to distract the guards. VV and Pollux are going to take out as many guards as they can. Evelyn's job is to get Lelouch while Milly's job is to make everyone forget about what they don't need to know.

* * *

Colonel Kusakabe directs Lelouch to a room of his choosing. There are several to choose from. Lelouch sees a few guards manhandling Ichiro at the end of the hallway. Lelouch calmly takes a seat and sets his handgun on the table. Kusakabe and a few of his soldiers take seats across the table from Lelouch. They don't bother asking about the gun. Even with all the security, a simple bribe from the prince is all that is needed. Lelouch stays quiet as he stares defiantly at the Japanese soldiers.

"_Would you like to begin, your highness?" _Kusakabe spits out with scorn.

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders, _"Not really. I just brought you here to kill some time." _

Kusakabe is confused, _"Kill some time?"_

"_Yes while you and your little friends are moving around like ants waiting to be crushed, my subordinates are moving as I planned. You already made your little speech on television so as I said before I'm just here to kill some time."_

Kusakabe begins to laugh, _"I see then you aren't here to negotiate."_

"_No, I'm here to get rid of you like I should have done after Shinjuku. By the way capturing Ichiro won't do you any good. No one will know of his involvement."_

Kusakabe frowns and then smiles, _"So the traitor works for you. He will get what is coming to him."_

There are sounds of a scuffle outside and several gunshots. Lelouch quickly picks up his handgun and shoots Kusakabe's men. The colonel sits there stunned as Lelouch stands up to finish the Japanese soldiers off.

"_When was the last time you killed a man, colonel?"_ Lelouch walks over to one of the soldiers crawling towards the door. The soldier turns around and begins to beg for his life, _"When was the last time you had a man's life in your hands. Watching him as he begs and crawls away like a dog," _Lelouch kicks the soldier before shooting him in the head.

The door swings open and standing there is a little girl version of the prince. Behind her is the traitor while Kusakabe's men are dead on the floor.

"_Are you done here, oniisama?" _

This causes Kusakabe to regain his senses.

"_Almost Evie."_

Lelouch points his gun at Kusakabe who scowls, ""_Do you expect me to be afraid?"_

Lelouch closes his eyes and shakes his head. Kusakabe takes this moment to draw his sword and rush at Lelouch who pulls out a small remote control (geass canceller) and presses a button. Instantly Kusakabe freezes as his mind is released from some sort of spell.

"_Where, where am I?" _Kusakabe asks looking around.

Lelouch smirks, "_Where indeed?"_

Kusakabe notices Lelouch and Evelyn standing there.

"_You, you're the little girl that appeared the night I was on my way to the trial," _Kusakabe begins to laugh, _"Then it is indeed a good day because I will expose you as the masked man from that night."_

"_I'm afraid not, Colonel. Your part in this game is over. Now DIE!"_

Kusakabe is caught by Lelouch's geass and begins to laugh insanely.

"_Yes your majesty."_

Colonel Kusakabe ends his life by jumping out the nearest window.

"Let's go Evie. We still have work to do."

* * *

Nunnally and Suzaku arrive at the Lake Kawaguchi Resort. They are immediately taken to General Tohdoh.

"_Good you're here." _Tohdoh looks at Nunnally, _"I need you to order the Britannian forces to stay in their bases."_

"_That General Tohdoh depends on the survival of my brothers and sisters. Not to mention the fact that your Japanese forces have invaded Stadtfeld manor and Ashford Academy looking for my sisters-in law."_

"_Is that true, Sensei Tohdoh?" Suzaku growls. _

"_Kururugi, control yourself. We have to think of Japan first," Tohdoh responds. _

"_Nonsense sensei. Do you actually believe that Britannian forces would blame Japan for the actions of one lunatic?"_

Tohdoh considers the situation. Perhaps Suzaku is correct, perhaps he is wrong.

Nunnally steps forward.

"_So what are you doing to resolve this problem?"_

Tohdoh grimaces, _"There is a service tunnel used to carry freight. Unfortunately they knew about it and put a cannon there. Our efforts to enter that way have failed."_

Nunnally looks over at the monitor.

"_How long have you known about the situation?"_

"_For a few hours the captain in charge of the conference guards informed headquarters that something seemed out of place. Since we were on our way to the west coast, we were redirected. It also seems like Kusakabe has spies amongst our troops. "_

Nunnally keeps looking at the monitor.

"_Since you won't send me or Alice in with our knightmares, how about sending Suzaku in with the Lancelot. It is fast enough to dodge the cannon if I am reading the information from your previous attempts."_

Tohdoh looks back at the transport that Kururugi and the Britannian princess come in. He simply nods. The princess drags Kururugi away.

Senba, Urabe, and Shogo leave to prepare to rush in just in case Suzaku is successful. Chiba stares at Tohdoh for a few moments.

"_Is there something wrong, major?"_

Chiba shakes her head, _"No general." _

Chiba thinks that aside from the fact that he will not trust her to go in with the Bors which has systems similar to the Lancelot since it is based on the Mordred; there is nothing wrong with the situation.

Nunnally has them unload hers and Alice's knightmares as well.

"Let's go, Alice, Suzu needs our help."

Nunnally, Suzaku, and Alice take their knightmare to the tunnel entrance.

"Suzu, you go first to distract them. I'll follow you, and Alice will go in and take them out."

It goes just as Nunnally plans. The three knightmares avoid getting hit, and Alice moves in to take out the cannon.

"Alright let's do this."

Nunnally moves her knightmare forward as several explosions rock the building's foundations causing it to begin to sink. Alice and Suzaku have to pull Nunnally back. As the rubble clears, several small boats and rafts appear on the lake. They can see the kids clutching onto Milly while Lelouch is holding onto Euphie. To anyone that knows her know that Euphie is pretending to be unconscious.

In the middle is a masked figure and several others dressed in black, their faces are also obscured.

"Those around the world have no fear. All of the hostages from the hotel are safe and sound. I, Zero, return them to you unharmed."

Suzaku sighs, "Everyone is fine."

Tohdoh grimaces as he looks at the situation. If they try anything, then Zero will hold them as hostages. That is not a situation that Tohdoh wants to have.

Zero continues, "People! Fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit. We are the Zero Force. We will stand with all those who have no weapons to wield. Regardless of who they may be. We will no longer stand aside the world falls into violence and chaos. Already we have punished those that wantonly kill. We will continue to do so."

Deithard is trying to find why all signals have been taken over. There are very few people around the world with such power and connections. Unfortunately for him all those people also have the power to eliminate him.

"We will no longer allow leaders to treat their citizens with disregard. I will not repudiate battle on a fair and level field, but neither will I tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong. The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed! Wherever oppressors abuse their power by attacking those who are powerless, we shall appear again. No matter how mighty, how formidable our foe may be. Those of you with power, fear us. Those of you without it, rally behind us. If you value justice. If you value life. If they you truth. Seek us We, the Zero Force, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this world."

Gino is watching the speech for the tenth time. Everyone in the room including Nonette is a little tired of it. No matter how Gino reasons it, there is no way to explain it. He knows that Lelouch is Zero. Of course the others point out that Lelouch is sitting holding Euphemia as Zero talks. That doesn't matter to Gino. Lelouch did create Zero after all. Not to mention that Gino is sure that he has heard Zero's words out of Lelouch's mouth last year sometime. Of course Gino has been quite busy over the past year. Things are a little hazy in his head. Gino is going to have to do something about it before it grows into a bigger problem.

* * *

Schniezel and Kannon have been looking over several pieces of footage from all over the world. This Zero character has been busy over the past year. It is obvious that it is not the same person, but somehow it is still the same voice. Zero has been everywhere from Area 11 to Japan to Africa to Europe.

"Yes this Zero appears to like he is going to be a thorn."

They carefully study Lelouch's reaction to Zero's announcement.

"Is there a reason?"

"Your highness."

"I was just musing Kannon. The fact that Zero states that he is fighting for justice and equality against oppressors, and here beside him is the greatest conqueror since Genghis Khan. The man who conquered Africa in a few months. The man who has captured the attention of the world. The man that even the emperor of Britannia may fear, and yet Zero does not even bother making an example of him or even mention him by name."

"Yes your highness, it is strange indeed."

"Call Colonel Madd and his team. I have a mission for them."

* * *

Lelouch make sure that everyone else is safely back at Stadtfeld and Lamperouge manors. He is walking enjoying the cool breeze. It is nearly morning.

"_I was wondering when you would show up."_

As several shurikens come flying towards Lelouch, he coolly withdraws his not so ceremonially sword and deflects them. A shadowy figure moves around Lelouch too quickly for him to follow. Lelouch feels a sword go through his chest.

"_I am sorry, your highness, but you are a monster that needs to be put down."_

Lelouch drops to his knees as Sayoko stands in front of him. Lelouch begins to laugh like a maniac. Sayoko takes a few steps back as Lelouch pulls the sword from his chest.

"_I am afraid Sensei Shinozaki that I cannot be put down."_

After Lelouch's wound begins to heal, he goes on the offensive knocking Sayoko to her knees.

"_You have two choices Sayoko Shinozaki. Either you die here or serve me."_

Sayoko lowers her head.

"_I cannot serve you, your highness."_

There is a slight pause.

"_Will you serve me?"_

Sayoko looks up and sees Nunnally standing before her.

"_What is your goal, Nunnally-sama?"_

Nunnally smiles, _"A peaceful and gentle world."_

Sayoko goes to one knee and nods.

Nunnally begins, _"We will now establish the vows of a knight. Will you become my knight and fight for me?"_

"_Yes, your highness."_

"_Then will you cast away your personal desires, working for justice, becoming a sword, becoming a shield?"_

"_Yes your highness."_

Nunnally moves her sword over Sayoko's shoulders.

"_Arise, Sayoko Shinozaki, my knight."_

Lelouch stands aside admiring his handy work.

"Looks like I'll have to buy a new shirt."

"Did you plan for this to happen?"

CC walks over to Lelouch's side. Lelouch answers by handing CC two boxes of pizza. CC looks inside the boxes.

"You're good. You're really good," CC says as she walks away.

**Sunday, August 19, 2017**

Naoto is almost traumatized when Ichiro brings him the news about Colonel Kusakabe.

"_Ichiro, move the staff meeting back thirty minutes."_

"_Yes general."_

Ichiro leaves Naoto's office and heads over to the communications room. Somehow Lelouch gets rid of all those that know of Ichiro's betrayal. Ichiro does get to spend a few hours with his sisters and brother. According to Lelouch's predictions, it will only be a matter of time before he needs to do something about Japan. For now Ichiro just has to stay alive and keep Naoto on the straight and narrow, although the time may come when Lelouch will need Naoto to snap. Then it will be Ichiro's task to make it happen.

* * *

With Sayoko now as Nunnally's knight, Lelouch makes a few changes to the vi Britannia guard. Officially the changes will not take until the beginning of the next year. Kewell is given an advisor position so he can spend time with his now pregnant wife. Villetta will no longer be Lelouch's knight instead she will be charge of the security of the younger vi Britannias. Jeremiah retains his position as Lelouch's advisor and field commander of his force. Since Euphemia is married, Anya's position changes from knight to commander of Area 11's forces. Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque, and Alice are once again Lelouch's direct subordinates although Alice still sticks by Nunnally. Sayoko is unofficially Nunnally's knight until Lelouch feels the announcement will have greater impact. Marika and Liliana are still Kallen and Milly's personal guards. Lelouch also makes a few other changes to various other positions under his command including the commanders of the garrisons in Japan.

* * *

**Sunday, September 2, 2017, Saigon Palace, Area 10**

James Stadtfeld opens his eyes after what seems like an eternity.

"Where am I? What day is it?"

"You are in the basement of Saigon Palace, Area 10, Holy Empire of Britannia. The date is Sunday, September 2, 2017 Ascension Throne Britannia."

"I remember you being a lot shorter."

"Your memory must be hazy because I haven't grown in the past two years."

James thinks about it, "I guess you're right. So I've been out for twenty months."

"Yes."

"And my wife?"

"She is out in the garden with Kallen and the kids."

At this comment, James looks up at Lelouch holding a baby.

"Is that?" James pauses for a moment, "Is that my grandson?"

"James Gregory Stadtfeld, meet James Lelouch Henry kou Britannia."

James stretches his arms out to hold his grandson.

"I hope I'm doing it right. It's been such a long time. Besides I'm still getting my bearings," James stares down at his grandson, "James, huh."

"Well you are dead after all."

James thinks about it.

"That makes sense since it allows Kallen to inherit everything."

"Big brother, is grandpa James awake yet?"

Two identically dressed boys walk into the room. James notices that there are differences between them even if they are slight.

"Didn't Kallen tell you two to stop calling her dad, grandpa?"

"Ya but he's a grandpa now isn't he."

"Ya he's holding little James."

Lelouch sighs, "Are you guys down here for a reason?"

"We's already told you."

"Fine tell Kallen that we will be up in a few minutes."

Lelouch takes the baby back from James.

"Is it all right for me to go out?"

Lelouch nods, "Don't worry about it. The staff knows about the situation as do our close friends. If someone like Schniezel or my mother was to visit, then things will be different. Don't worry the basement level is quite extensive."

Everyone is quite excited about the fact that Kallen's parents are awake from their coma. Later Lelouch and Kallen are alone with her parents. James is looking over news from the past two years.

"Everyone has been quite busy while we were away," he states with a sigh as he reaches the latest new out of Japan, "Do you have any orders regarding Japan?"

Lelouch answers, "Not any official ones."

"Then unofficial?"

"The emperor has ordered me to make Japan mine."

James considers the statement, "That is as vague as it can get, isn't it? So when are you planning your invasion?"

Lelouch smirks, "The emperor did not say anything about an invasion. His orders are simple. In fact I recorded them so that there would be no issue later on."

Lelouch places a digital recorder on the table. James shakes his head. He is not in the mood to listen to that man's voice. James finds it funny that a few years ago he was a good Britannian. Now who knows? He knows that they are hiding something else from him.

"Who was behind the attack at the airport?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

Both Kallen and Lelouch sigh.

"Your father."

James clenches his fists, "I see. I assume that he has been taken care of."

Both Kallen and her mother stare at James.

"Of course, Lord Stadtfeld, along with his conspirators, all of them."

James stands up, "What is your next move, your highness?"

"For now we must wait for the other pieces to play their parts. We cannot get ahead of ourselves."

James looks at his daughter who is nodding. During their entire conversation, Kallen defers to her husband in almost everything that is not directed at her. James knows it is not because his daughter is submissive. He saw that himself out in the garden. He realizes that they are like the sides of a coin. Despite being different they are always in the same place at the same time, and it would be too much trouble to separate them. Of course one could melt the coin but that means that the two sides are now mixed together. James is quite pleased at the husband his daughter chose even if it may tear his family apart.

**Sunday, September 16, 2017, Fort Perry near Tokyo**

Nunnally is walking up towards the balcony. Alice is behind her. Sayoko is hidden somewhere nearby. Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque are below in their knightmares. Nunnally looks towards the nominal commander of Britannia's forces in Japan. The general waves for Nunnally to take her place. Lelouch is in a command of all Britannian forces in eastern Asia including the garrisons in Japan. The general is a recent appointment of Lelouch so he is trying to appease Nunnally who is here as Lelouch's representative. Nunnally looks down at the gathered soldiers.

"Now let's see what kind of troops my big brother is giving me."

* * *

Author's note: I struggled a bit on how to end the chapter. The only two things I orginally had in mind were the Lake Kawaguchi thing and the awakening of Kallen's parents. The Sayoko and Nunnally stuff came as a result of Sayoko confronting Lelouch. Sayoko is to Nunnally what Jeremiah is to Lelouch. I was going to end the chapter with a little surprise, but will have to wait for next chapter.

Sayoko followed Lelouch the entire time he was in Japan. She is loyal to Nunnally who is her best student. After realizing that she cannot kill Lelouch. Sayoko accepts her fate. She also realizes that Lelouch is actually faster than he is pretending to be. Allowing Sayoko to stab him is part of the game. Accepting Nunnally as her master is also a way to keep an eye on her.

Kallen isn't crazy. She understands that her son is only a few days old. Normally I name Lelouch and Kallen's first child after Naoto, but that wouldn't make any sense in this story. Here's an interesting tidbit. Since the Stuarts do not reign after the death of Elizabeth I, if Kallen's son were to become emperor, he would be the first James. Unless he chooses to be called Lelouch or Henry.

Milly's geass is similar to Charles's.

Zero can't call his force the Black Knights because that is too much of a coincidence since Lelouch also calls his army the Black Knights, and Lelouch isn't crazy yet. He is not the physical Zero but is the voice. Below is Lelouch's Black Knight speech which is from the previous year before the African Invasion. While similar the speeches have key differences. The Black Knight speech was for the benefit of Gino and Lelouch's soldiers, and was not recorded. In a sense it was his justification for their actions in the years to come. They are fighting to free the world from oppressive leaders and putting the world under the benevolent rule of Lelouch. The Zero Force speech is for the entire world. As is stated in the Schniezel section, the Zero Force has been active throughout the entire world not just Britannia or Japan. The purpose of the Zero Force is a little obvious and will become more so in the coming chapters. The similarities between the two speeches are 'only those who are prepared to be killed should kill' and the ending. There are other slight smililarties but those are the only words that are the same.

"We are allies of those who hold no weapons no matter who they are. Those who seek to harm and use underhanded tactics will be dealt with. For years the rulers of this world have been like this. They massacre their own people rather than caring for them. We will not stand to see these kinds of cruel acts. We do not wish to fight. However, the act of the strong utterly killing the weak that is unforgivable. Only those who are prepared to be killed should kill," Lelouch glances at Gino, "When those with power attack those without, we will appear. No matter who the enemy is whether they be Britannian or foreign. Those with power will fear us. Those without will seek us. If they value justice. If they value life. If they seek truth. Will seek us. We, the Black Knights, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this world."


	68. Battle for the soul

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined. _Arabic is underlined and in italics. _

...

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat

...

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the emperor, president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the emperor or anyone else."

Theodore Roosevelt

* * *

**Tuesday, September 18, 2017, Pendragon**

Deithard Reid enters his office early in the morning. It has been a month since the incident at Lake Kawaguchi, and Deithard's superiors want more. This Zero character is thorn in Deithard's side. Not only is he ruining Deithard's three person play, but he is causing trouble in areas not yet conquered by Britannia. Deithard reaches into his cabinet for some whiskey. At times like this he prefers it raw flavor. As he sets the bottle down, he notices a package on his desk. It isn't there when he leaves late last night, and other than the cleaning crew there is no one in the building when he comes. The package is addressed to him and is from Zero. Deithard opens it up and scowls. Zero wants Deithard to give a message to the world.

**Saigon Palace, Area 10**

Shirley looks down at the garden where Milly is directing several servants in rearranging the garden. The blonde girl looks up and waves. Shirley waves back. Milly signals for Shirley to come down the garden for breakfast. Shirley's stomach and baby agree. Shirley exits her room. As she walks she looks at the portraits on the wall. This being Milly's wing of the palace the portraits are from a wide range of events and festivals. There are even a few from their days at Ashford. Shirley supposes that they should still be in school although they would in in their last year. Still Shirley wonders what it would be like if they were still in school. Things might be completely different. Shirley's servants assist her in getting her almost seven month pregnant self out to Milly's garden.

"Good morning, Princess Shirley."

"Good morning, Princess Milly."

"So what are your plans for the day?" Milly asks as she prepares her tea.

"Nothing much. Edward is going to call around lunchtime. Other than that I was just going to lounge around for a bit."

Milly sighs, "Good for you. I have a day full of meetings to attend to."

Both princess consorts begin to eat their breakfast. Shirley notices that there is something different about the way Milly looks and eats, but she isn't sure quite what it is.

"Look at the time. I have to run, Shirley. I'll try to come home early."

Milly gets up from the table and heads out. Several servants and assistant wait for her there to provide her with the necessary information. Shirley continues to eat, now alone with her thoughts.

"Your highness, there is a call from her Royal Highness Princess Euphemia on the video phone."

"Thank you, Mary. I will take the call out here."

The servants set up the video conference equipment while Shirley keeps eating. Shirley thinks that Edward's servants are a little too formal. Most people would have been satisfied with calling Euphie, Princess Euphemia. Of course it is to be expected since they came from his mother's home.

"Hello! Is anybody there?" Of course Euphie is anything but formal.

"Hi Euphie."

The two princesses spend almost an hour talking about the mundane details of their lives. Of course having someone to talk it with makes it more exciting.

Euphie sighs, "Look at the time. I have some meetings to attend. I'll see you later, Shirley."

"Bye Euphie."

"Oh one more thing I forgot to mention. I'm pregnant."

Shirley sits there stunned as the connection is cut. Obviously the father of that child is not Suzaku. Shirley doesn't really to think about the situation. She sits for a few more minutes before getting up to go rest. She wants to be fully awake for Edward's call. As Shirley lies down, a thought hits her.

"Can Milly be pregnant too?"

**Northern territories, Japan**

Naoto's brigade is getting break from the battle. Even after a month, the events from the Lake Kawaguchi Resort are still a bit of a mystery. Zero once again escapes from Japanese authorities. Naoto continues to make plans for the next part of the attack. Ichiro is sitting at his desk making phone calls.

"_Is there any new, Ichiro?"_

"_Not yet, general. The soldiers that survived the blast are still in comas."_

Naoto nods and gets back to work.

"_Ichiro, schedule some patrols for tonight and tomorrow morning. We don't want to be completely out of it."_

"_Yes sir."_

**Aboard HIMAS Excalibur (His Imperial Majesty's Airship)** **between Areas 10 and 11**

Lelouch looks down at the latest reports. Suzaku and Nunnally are providing the perfect distraction for Lelouch's next move. Their constant knightmare demonstrations are taking attention away from Lelouch's troop buildup in Southeast Asia and Alaska. Since Alaska is under military control, Lelouch is sure that word will not leak out. With Carolina's family controlling the area south of Alaska, troop movement can be kept quiet. Not to mention the fact that this gives Lelouch several ports to move troops and ship through. Lelouch just has to make things happen in Japan. With Kusakabe gone, he has to find a new scapegoat. As Lelouch thinks things over the door to his office opens.

"Welcome back Xianglin."

"It is a pleasure to be back, your highness," the Chinese woman says with a bow.

"Did anything interesting happen on your visit to China?"

Xianglin sits on Lelouch's desk. She positions herself in a manner that Lelouch cannot help but notice her.

"Former Japanese Foreign Minister Sawasaki is in China. He has been seen with General Zhao."

"I see that can work out. I just need to move a few things around. Good work, Xianglin. This is definitely something that I can use," Lelouch to face Xianglin and pulls her towards him, "There is something else you can help me with."

Lelouch gets out of his bed and goes for a walk. In a few days he will return to western Asia. Lelouch is working on rotating his troops out of the area and to where he wants them but that will take many months. As expected of Cecile and her team, they are already working on the next generations of weapons for Lelouch to use. With help from VV, the eighth generation of knightmares is near completion. They mentioned something about a druid system. They have also perfected the hadron cannon for knightmares. This will put Lelouch ahead of other Britannian forces, and quite a bit ahead of the EU, Chinese Federation, and Japan. Not to mention the fact that all over the world, Lelouch's other factories are also at work. Everything is going according to plan. It will only be a matter of time before Lelouch is control of the world's media. As he walks Lelouch receives some good news, the return of Nagisa Chiba. He can continue working on her.

* * *

**Thursday, September 20, 2017, aboard the HIMAS Excalibur west of Area 16**

"Major Chiba, it is a pleasure to have you back here with us."

Lelouch brushes his hand across Nagisa's face causing her to blush.

"Your highness, it is good to be back here."

Now that's a statement Nagisa thought she would never say, but it certainly seems like this is her only choice if she wants to see some action of any sort. Lelouch hands Nagisa a small package.

"Here are a few things that you might find useful. Cecile is already looking over your knightmare to make any adjustments."

Nagisa nods, "Your highness, while in Japan I allowed Dr. Rakshata Chawla to look at my knightmare."

"Ah Rakshata Chawla, she has quite a reputation. Unless she made drastic changes to any of the systems, there shouldn't be a problem. But let's not worry about business for now. There will be plenty of time for that later."

In reality Lelouch is hoping that such an event occurs. If Rakshata gets to see a Bors up close, it makes the next part of the plan easier since he won't have to send her plans secretly. Nunnally and Suzaku should stay in Japan for a few more weeks. They will be replaced by either Jeremiah or Kallen depending on how the latter feels.

**Thursday, October 11, 2017, aboard HIMAS Ganymede, Cape town Settlement, Area 18**

Milly and Nina are visiting mines in southern Africa. Milly is looking over the diamond mines while Nina is looking at the uranium mines. Milly has been pregnant for more than a month. She leaves her battle units to Liliana. For the next few months she hopes to take it easy. She is only here so that Nina does not have any trouble doing her research. Nina walks onto the bridge with a smile on her face.

"I take it that everything is good, Nina."

"Oh Milly, yes. Things are proceeding according plan. I should have something in a few months."

"That's good, Nina. I'm glad that things are working out," Milly stands up, "Captain, I will be in my room. Make preparations for the trip home."

"Yes your highness."

Milly exits the bridge and is quickly followed by Nina.

**Aboard the HIMAS Avalon east of Tokyo near Kamine Island**

Kallen is looking down at her almost two month old son. Things are going to get much more dangerous in the next few months. Kallen is already working on getting back in shape to help Lelouch. Her parents are amazed at her efforts. For now Kallen is replacing Nunnally and Suzaku as Lelouch's representatives in Japan. Those two are heading for Area 11 to be with Euphemia for a few weeks before going to west Asia. Lelouch has been there for a few weeks replacing Jeremiah and Villetta. Once more Lelouch is distracting everyone by spreading out. In reality the only ones that are spread out are the commanders. The bulk of Lelouch's force is in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Alaska. Rather than third rate garrison troops, the soldiers in Japan are Lelouch's battle hardened troops who have survived his invasions of Southeast Asia, Africa, and western Asia. If Lelouch feels like it, he can take Japan over without even using his full strength.

"Look little James, there's Tokyo. Remember you were born there just like me. Only I was born in a smelly hospital, and you were born in mommy's nice clean room."

Naoto thinks that the current situation is absurd. Instead of taking advantage of the distraction caused by Britannia's renewed attack in the west, Japan is staying on the defensive. Not that Naoto particularly wants to help Britannia. At the moment he and Ichiro are riding to meet Lelouch's new representative. Naoto is glad that the little annoying princess and Kururugi are leaving. In his haste, Naoto does not bother looking at the name of the person he is supposed to meet. It is probably just some tedious, dull general.

"_Ichiro, who are we supposed to meet." _

Ichiro looks down at his paperwork but stays silent.

"_Ichiro, is something wrong?"_

"_General, we are supposed to meet with Colonel Kallen kou Britannia nee Stadtfeld."_

Naoto doesn't bother cursing. He supposes that everything is set up. He knows that it isn't even Lelouch or Kallen's fault, but the fault of the damn Kururugi administration. They are the cowards who are giving Britannia what they want. Naoto doesn't have much of choice. Perhaps he can get someone else to be Kallen's liaison.

The meeting between Naoto and Kallen is decently amiable mostly because Kallen is too distracted by her son. After making arrangements with Kallen's chief of staff, who happens to be a girl no older that sixteen, Naoto and Ichiro head back to their office.

"_Hey Ichiro, did Rakshata give you the paperwork on the new knightmares."_

"_Yes sir, they are somewhere here on my desk."_

Since the knightmare corps is now spilt into several sections, each brigade commander has to look out for themselves. It isn't really the ideal situation, but it is what they have. Of course Naoto has an advantage since Ichiro is quite chummy with Rakshata.

"_General Kouzuki, General Katase is on line 2."_

"_Thank you Ichiro."_

Naoto picks up the phone after waiting a few seconds. He can't seem too desperate to answer the phone.

"_This is General Kouzuki."_

"_Ah Naoto, we have an interesting situation that has come up."_

Naoto smiles. If the head of the Japanese military is calling him by his first name, then he must want something.

"_As you know general, my staff is ready for anything."_

"_Yes an opportunity has come up in China. With your previous experience there, we thought that you might be perfect for it."_

Naoto thinks about it for a moment. This is not quite what he expected. Still China has a long border with Russia. Opportunities may arise for Naoto to investigate the situation.

"_Just send my assistant the information, general, but I see no reason why we can not go. After all if it is beneficial for Japan, it is our duty."_

"_Good man. The details are being sent as we speak."_

Naoto hangs up and sighs, "_Well Ichiro looks like we are going back to China."_

"_I'll make the necessary preparations."_

* * *

**Thursday, October 25, 2017, aboard HIMAS Excalibur**

Fighting through the southern Caucasus is not very exciting. They simply float above looking for enemy bases, and then attack them. Most of the time they just send in knightmare drones to do the work. Other times they simply cover an area with bombs. Still it gives Lelouch's newest soldiers battle experience.

With his wives attending to other matters Lelouch's bed has been occupied by Zhou Xianglin, Nagisa Chiba, and Cecile Croomy. At the moment the Japanese woman is taking a nap after an energetic afternoon. Lelouch slides off his bed. He has to check up on the latest attack. Jeremiah is most likely in the conference room going over mission objectives with the section commanders. Lelouch decides to see if there is anything he can add. He moves in carefully so he does not disturb the meeting.

"You are reasonably good at sneaking in, your highness. I should have made you one of pupils."

Lelouch sees Jeremiah talking with Sayoko.

"Well aren't the two of you getting chummy."

Sayoko isn't sure what Lelouch means. Lelouch sees this.

"Chummy is an informal way of saying friendly."

Sayoko nods, "I see. Well it is easy once we discover where our true loyalties lie."

"Still it is good to see the two of you getting along," Lelouch turns towards Jeremiah, "Lord Gottwald, I need you to escort back Cecile and bring me Nina and Liliana. Dr. Croomy has finished her work here, and Nina has come up with something we can use."

"Of course your highness. Is this an immediate order?"

Lelouch shakes his head, "No, Cecile will tell you when she is ready," Lelouch turns is attention back to Sayoko, "How is the training of Nunnally's unit coming along."

"We have a few good candidates, your highness. If you like, I can go back with Lord Gottwald and bring a few back with me. The princess will want to come of course."

"Yes that will be fine. I have a few reports to read and write. I'll leave the details to you."

Lelouch heads over to his office to do his work.

**Monday, October 29, 2017, aboard HIMAS Boudicca**

Nunnally and unit leave Area 11 with Sayoko. Following her are the Irregulars in the Apotheosis and the kids in their airships, the Sparkle and Gemini. Suzaku and Anya are in Area 11 and will come at a later date. Nunnally's unit is trained by Sayoko in surveillance and intelligence. Lelouch wants to use them in small groups to gather information on his enemies. Nunnally wonders why Lelouch is gathering his force again in western Asia. It doesn't make much sense given his task of taking over Japan.

* * *

**Monday, November 5, 2017, east of Tbilisi **

"Good move, Major Chiba," Lelouch states as he takes down his own opponent.

Since the arrival of Nunnally, Lelouch has been active. Sayoko's team infiltrates Baku sabotaging the enemy defenses. After this Nunnally and Suzaku lead an attack from the east using the airships' underwater capabilities. Now only Tbilisi stands in the way of Lelouch's attack.

"General Gottwald, deploy the fighters with the new bombs. That should put a stop to some of the more difficult resistance."

Lelouch pulls back as the fighters go in. The fighters are equipped with Nina's newest bombs. They are not quite the super bomb that Nina is working on, but they are still very effective. Lelouch looks on as the bombs do their damage forcing the enemy to leave their hiding spots.

"Looks like Nina was not lying about these bombs. Major Sanderson, take your troops towards the right. Major Goodley, take your troops towards the left. Seek out enemy units and dispose of them."

Lelouch goes back to the Excalibur. Once Tbilisi falls there will be nothing between Lelouch and Volgograd. In the last quarter of the last century the city has seen lots of fighting and name changes. Once named Tsaritsyn the city defended itself against anti-tsarist revolutionaries. A young Charles zi Britannia, sent by the Britannian emperor in support of his fellow emperor, leads the city's defense. It leads to an informal alliance between the emperors of the world's largest nations (Russia and Britannia). However this falls apart when Charles becomes emperor. After that Russia falls to EU forces. Led by German general Friedrich Paulus the EU's Sixth Army takes the city and forces Russia to sue for peace. At the same time Charles begins his conquests.

After Lelouch docks the Mordred, he goes to his office and calls Kallen.

"Hello my Kalli."

"Hi Lulu."

"Is the line secure?"

"Yes."

Lelouch sighs, "Is there anything new going on over there?"

"No nothing much. There isn't anything to do since they assigned Naoto to go to China."

"I have a feeling that that will turn out for our benefit."

"We discovered something unusual on one of your island purchases."

This intrigues Lelouch, "Is it a source of sakuradite?"

Kallen shakes her head, "No it is something else. Some sort of ancient ruins. They have left the troops on edge."

"I see and the other islands."

"They won't work. Most of them are too far away. The others are too close to inhabited islands. The natives will suspect that something is going on."

Lelouch twists his mouth, "Let me see the Sendai base is too far north, and the base on Shikoku is being closely watched."

"What exactly is the plan?"

"My Chinese sources tell me that Atsushi Sawasaki is working with Chinese General Zhao and groups of disgruntled former Japanese soldiers."

Kallen seems stunned at that fact.

"What are they planning on doing?"

"An invasion."

"That's crazy. Britannian troops are all over Japan."

"Of course it is, but if they get enough support from the Japanese army and get several units to do nothing, it has a chance of working. If they paint it as a liberation, the people will get behind it."

Kallen sighs, "I guess that makes sense, but most people are prosperous."

"Yes that is true. I suppose pride has a lot to with it. You were not there for the riots at Shinjuku in April. When mob mentality takes over, nothing gets in the way."

Kallen is pensive, "Which side do you think Naoto will choose?"

Lelouch tries not to smirk, "Which side to you think Naoto will choose?"

"He will choose the side that will kick Britannia out."

"Good deduction my dear wife. That leaves us with only one option."

"To defend the rightfully elected government of Japan. Won't the Japanese military suffer because of Naoto's actions?"

Lelouch smiles, "I suppose they will. It will still take a few months. We have until then to prepare. I'll call back in a few days to check on your status."

"Wait here little James wants to talk with you."

Lelouch humors Kallen and spends a few minutes talking with his son.

**Friday, November 9, 2017**

Lelouch is victorious once more. His forces are spreading out north of Tbilisi getting ready to move north. Lelouch looks at the progress of Schniezel and Cornelia. Cornelia and her straightforward methods are bogged down at Istanbul. She refuses to find any other method of attack. Schniezel's divide and conquer methods are seemingly not having any effect on the current EU. Once again Lelouch is the only one having success. It won't do him any good if he charges forward because Russia will be able to concentrate its forces on him. Things are already moving in Lelouch's favor. It won't be long before the next part of the plan comes into place. Lelouch just has to be patient.

* * *

**Saturday, December 22, 2017, Rosencrantz Estate, 40 miles north of Pendragon**

"Cartoon lady, where is you?"

"Kewellyz, we's here."

Evelyn, Jinta, and the twins are walking around looking for Kewell and Carmina. Villetta is walking behind them. Their security team is making its way through the manor.

"Boys, wait," Evelyn look around, "Something doesn't seem right here."

Villetta looks down at the young princess and has the same feeling.

Evelyn continues, "Colonel Nu, send some of your men out towards the greenhouses. Have a few men head towards studio and guest house."

Villetta nods for her men to do as Evelyn states. She has never been to this estate while Evelyn and the twins have.

"Jinta, take Emily and Miranda back to the ship. Let's go boys."

Evelyn and the twins go forward into the house while their friends head back to the airship. Villetta chases after her charges.

"Your highnesses, where are you going?"

Evelyn answers, "We are going to look for Carmina and Kewell."

Gunfire fills the air, but the continue walking forward. Suddenly Kewell staggers into the room.

"Villetta, your highnesses run. RUN!"

Evelyn signals for someone to take Kewell to the airship.

"Pollux, go see what is around the corner."

Villetta screams, "Your high."

Pollux activates his geass and runs ahead to see what is going on. He comes back and turns off his geass.

"ness, stop."

Villetta looks down and notices that Pollux is in a different spot.

"There's some guys with guns over theres."

Evelyn grins, "Good. Castor, Pollux, you know what to do."

Before Villetta can stop them the twins are off. Evelyn walks calmly behind them. Within seconds the twins activate their geasses and get to work. Villetta recovers and runs after them. When she turns the corner, she sees several men on the floor. The twins are each standing over semi-conscious men.

"Where's Lady Rosencrantz?" They ask as they jab the men with electric rods. The men don't answer.

Evelyn grimaces, "Get rid of these guys."

Several men with rifles come running towards them.

"It's the vi Britannia brats. Let's finish them off."

Evelyn steps in front of her brothers.

"Evelyn vi Britannia commands you to," three knightmares land behind the kids, "DIE!"

The men obey Evelyn and take their own lives.

"Good work, Jinta. Now let's go look for Carmina."

* * *

Naoto returns to Japan after two months in China. He met several important people there. While he doesn't completely agree with everything that is discussed, he is still left with lots to think about. He doesn't tell Ichiro about everything because he does not want to test the man's loyalty. With Knightmare Corps staying on the defensive, Naoto can move things around. He just isn't sure if he is ready to make such a commitment. He won't be able to do it alone. He will need friends.

"_Hey check out the general." _

Naoto isn't really paying attention to where he is walking and accidentally walks over to the reservist barracks.

"_Ohgi, what are you doing here?"_

Ohgi laughs, _"Did you forget already? You got us all positions in the reserves_," Ohgi sighs, _"I had no idea that military life was so hard even if is only a small slice of it."_

Naoto sighs. He does remember now getting his friends positions in the Japanese reserve force. The positions are mostly office ones, but is gives them a sort of steady job. Naoto decides to let his oldest friend in on the current situation.

"_Ohgi follow me to the office. Ichiro should be out so we can be alone."_

* * *

Charles is crawling away from Lelouch who is standing behind him holding a gun.

"Looks like this is the end, old man."

Lelouch raises he gun and fires.

Charles wakes up and growls. He has been dreaming similar dreams for several years. If it is not Lelouch, then it is Schniezel or Cornelia. Sometimes it is even Euphemia, Nunnally, or Evelyn. That evening Charles gives a speech about the current situation throughout the world.

"All men are NOT created equal! Some are born swifter afoot, some with greater beauty, some are born into poverty and others born sick and feeble. Both in birth and upbringing, in sheer scope of ability every human is inherently different; Yes that is why people discriminate against one another, which is why there is struggle, competition and the unfaltering march of progress. Inequality is not wrong, equality is. What of the E.U. which made equality a right? Rabble politics by a popularity contest. The Chinese Federation with its equal distribution of wealth? A nation of lazy dullards. But not our beloved Britannia, we fight, we compete, evolution is continuous. Britannia alone moves forward, advancing steadily into the future. The recent attack on my children and our continued victories demonstrate Britannia unswerving commitment to progress. We will fight on, we shall struggle, compete, plunder and dominate and in the end the future shall be ours. ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

* * *

**Tuesday, January 22, 2018**

Lelouch's force has been static the last two months as he waits for the others to catch up. Cornelia follows the siege of Istanbul with the siege of Athens and Sofia. At this rate she will take Eastern Europe in a decade. Schniezel finally makes his move across the Mediterranean taking Sicily. Even with the Knights of the Round assisting them neither the second prince nor princess seems in any hurry to take down the EU. Lelouch doesn't bother worrying about it. He sends Nunnally back home to rest. The kids are already there having recovered from their ordeal the month before. The others are keeping their normal rotations in and out of the battlefield. At the moment the Irregulars are being rotated out of the battlefield and are on their way to Area 10 to rest. Anya is also back in Area 11 in her position as the Area's military commander. Suzaku is arriving in Japan to visit his family. Although the last piece of information is being kept private along with the fact that he is touring Japan from south to north starting in Kyushu.

Lelouch manages to slip back to Area 10 to rest and visit. According to Kallen everything is falling into place. There is just one last piece that needs to be completed. That piece being Lelouch.

"If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow."

Lelouch smiles as he boards the Excalibur Mk II. The original Excalibur is still in Tbilisi with Jeremiah waiting for orders to attack. Lelouch takes his airship underwater. Behind him are the three smaller airships of his siblings. The Excalibur Mk II along with the Boudicca, Sparkle, and Gemini are meant to be compatible meaning they connect to form a much larger ship. Lelouch sits on his throne as the four airships connect and his siblings come sliding through the connecting tunnels towards his bridge.

"Today Colonel Nu and Lady Shinozaki, you will prove where your true loyalties lie."

Both women nod.

"Nunnally, the bridge is yours. I have to meet with the section commanders."

Lelouch goes over to the largest conference room where his most seasoned veterans and commanders sans Jeremiah and Kewell are waiting for him.

"Ladies and gentlemen are objective is to adhere to our treaty with Japan. We will protect the legitimately and legally elected government from all outside forces. That is my promise to Suzaku and Kaguya. Any questions?"

Several hands shoot up and Lelouch chooses one.

"Your highness, how are we supposed to hide this fleet from the enemy? I understand that you want to keep them off Japanese land, but I don't see how that is possible unless we attack them at sea, and that means we will be seen."

Lelouch grins, "As long as you do your jobs, allow me to handle the rest. Our tech team has something interesting up their sleeves."

Cecile, Nina, and VV are taking a break. They manage to get CC to share some of her pizza. Mao is staring worshipfully at CC as always. He has just recently returned from a trip to Japan where he spied on several people.

"All these minds are nothing compared to yours, CC"

VV laughs, "If you only knew what this witch thinks about," VV turns serious, "It certainly isn't about you, you psycho."

Mao growls at VV. CC sighs and strokes Mao's hair.

"He doesn't know what he is talking about, my Mao. Can you go get me some more hot sauce?"

"Of course my love."

Mao runs off to do CC's biding. CC glares at VV.

"You are an annoying little boy."

"No more annoying than you, witch. I still don't know why Lelouch keeps you around."

CC struts and flaunts her voluptuous body.

"I guess that is something that you will never be able to experience, but women have many uses," CC looks at Cecile and Nina as she says this. Both of them turn as red as Kallen's hair.

"Actually I keep you around to keep that Chinese psycho happy and to annoy Kallen. Both of which you are very good at."

CC glances at Lelouch and sits back down. She goes back to her pizza.

Lelouch smirks, "You don't have a response."

CC raises her head, "You're just like your father."

Lelouch grins even more and stands over CC, "You know several years ago a comment like that would drive me crazy, but now I realize that being like Charles zi Britannia is not such a bad thing," Lelouch moves his face until it is centimeters from CC's, "It is thinking like him that is wrong."

"Get away from MY CC!"

Mao throws the bottle of hot sauce at Lelouch who simply catches it. He opens the bottle and pours some on CC's pizza.

"Now let's have a look at this new knightmare."

* * *

Naoto can't stand the waiting, but the day to act has come. He chooses the side that will free Japan from the clutches of Britannian influence. Once the Japanese military shows its mettle even their Chinese allies will have no choice but to accept their independence and strength. Naoto isn't sure who he can trust in this situation, but he will trust in his troops and hope that they are loyal to Japan, the true Japan. Naoto looks at the forecast for Kyushu,

"_Looks like a serious storm is developing in south."_

Ichiro responds without looking up, _"So it seems, sir"_

"_Why don't we send a few knightmare companies down to assist just in case things get bad?"_

"_Do you want me to see which units are available to go south?"_

"_No need, Ichiro, I have a few volunteers. In fact it was actually their idea."_

Ichiro shrugs, _"As you wish, sir," _Ichiro stands, _"It is about lunchtime, sir, so I will be heading out."_

"_I'll be out in a few minutes too. I have some lunch meetings to attend."_

Both soldiers leave and send a message. Both messages are similar. Both signify that things around the world are about to change.

* * *

**Thursday, January 24, 2018**

"Feeling nervous, Captain Hellerman?"

"Not at all Major Cunningham. I just want to get this over with."

"I thought someone like you would be anxious to tweak some noble asses."

"That is bit of a bonus. I'm just here to take care of the assholes who attacked Colonel Soresi and his wife."

"Isn't it General Soresi now?"

"That just shows how generous the prince is. Promoting a man who won't be able to help him for many months."

"I suppose it does. So how should we get rid of these guys?"

The new captain looks over at the tied up nobles and their lackeys and grins.

"Doesn't the prince own some mines in southern Africa."

"I believe he does. What did you have in mind?"

"I am certain that the mine uses prisoner labor for its menial tasks."

The newly minted major laughs, "You have a sick mind, Captain Hellerman. I guess that's why the prince lets you fly his fancy new aeroplanes."

"Well that fancy new aeroplane as you call it is going to take us half way around the world."

"Very well. Let's go."

* * *

"Here sweetheart, you'll be safe here. Mommy has to go out and take care of business," Kallen sets James down. Kallen looks towards the servants, "You should be safe down here," Kallen seals the entrance and wiggles around in her new flight suit, "I guess I will have to get used to wearing these things again. Come on Marika let's go."

* * *

"_I am sorry, Lord Kururugi, but the rain is going to delay us."_

Suzaku sighs, _"Fine. I'll just stay here. Find some place to store Lloyd and the Lancelot." _

Suzaku's tour of Japan is being delayed because of heavy rain. He will have to wait here. The worst part is that he can't even communicate with Nunnally. Suzaku's assigned Britannian body guard come running into the room suddenly.

"Your highness, we have to get you out of here."

"And why is that?"

Instead of answering the man turns on the nearest television.

"_I am Sawasaki Atsushi. Over the past several years I have seen the cowardice of the Kururugi government. I have also seen its corruption. While Kururugi and his fellow Britannian lapdogs get rich, common Japanese people suffer. Kururugi's son is even a prince. How long will it be before he is declared emperor of Japan? Two decades ago Japan did away with all the trappings of the royal family. We will not return to those days."_

"Cut the transmission."

Atsushi Sawasaki's face is replaced with Clumsy Girl Aki Chan.

"I love that show. This is Q1. All pieces are in play."

"This is K1. R1, R2 move into place."

* * *

Author's note: Since Villetta's main charges are the twins, her airship is the Gemini which splits into two identical parts. Castor's section is known as the Pollux. Pollux section is known as the Castor. Evelyn has an airship known as the Sparkle.

Here are a few notes about Canada/ Area 2. What we call Canada is Area 2, but that doesn't mean that all those that consider themselves Canadian are Numbers. Those that were loyal to the Britannian crown during the American Revolution are considered Britannian. This includes those of French and Native American descent that supported the crown. Those that rebelled at any point regardless of decent are considered Numbers, and it takes several generations for a family to be considered full Britannian once more. While all of Canada is Area 2, the area known as the Northwest Territories is a military controlled area reserved for Native Americans. The Yukon is part of Alaska and is under complete military control with limited area for Native Americans. This does not contradict Britannian racial policy since it keeps Native Americans separate from Britannian citizens. Saskatchewan and Alberta are the Duchy of Alberta technically ruled by Carolina's family. British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon are the Duchy of Oregon ruled by the father of Miranda and Emily who is also the uncle of Carolina, Edward, and Isabelle. The emperor is still sovereign in these areas, but that doesn't mean that the people are more loyal to Britannia than they are to the people that have ruled over them for over a hundred years.


	69. Battle for Japan

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters. This chapter is a little long. Lots of different POVs.

...

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are

...

The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything

Theodore Roosevelt

* * *

**Thursday, January 24, 2018, Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan**

"Lord Kururugi, you must turn back."

Suzaku's Japanese and Britannian handlers have been trying to get him to leave the city that will soon be under attack. They try in every language they know, but Suzaku ignores them. The early morning sun is being covered by heavy rain and clouds.

"I will not turn back. Even if I did there is no guarantee that we will be able to make it to Shikoku and the Britannian base," Suzaku finishes zipping up his flight suit, "By the looks of things the majority of the Japanese Knightmare Corps is joining the invaders."

Lloyd steps into the room with an ear to ear grin. Obviously such a situation is a great test for the Lancelot. No matter Suzaku's status, he is the best pilot for the Lancelot, and today's conditions are unique. Of course it will be beneficial if he survives, but either way Lloyd will get the data he needs.

"Excuse me. I am looking for a Suzaku Kururugi."

"That is Lord Kururugi," Both of Suzaku's handlers go on about the impertinence of the short blonde woman standing before them.

"I am Suzaku Kururugi. Do I know you?"

The woman turns to face Suzaku.

"Ah your highness," she slightly glances at Suzaku's handlers who scoff, "I am Colonel Hillis"

Suzaku thinks for a moment, "You're that crazy girl pilot that Lelouch is always talking about."

"I see my reputation precedes me."

Suzaku's handlers are quite observant, "Are you here to get us out of here?"

"Well not quite. I actually brought a few dozen knightmares for the battle."

"Very well. You have left your knightmares. Now get us out of here."

Suzaku growls, "I said that we are staying. If you cowards want to run, then do it on land."

"But your highness, think if your wife."

"I am. Lloyd, is the Lancelot ready to go?"

Lloyd nods.

"Very well then. Colonel Hillis, tell the pilots who came with you to follow me."

"Of course, your highness."

Suzaku walks over to the Lancelot and prepares for battle. Several Bors model knightmares come over.

"Good day, your highness. I am Major Sanderson."

Suzaku grins, "You went to West Point with Lelouch and Gino."

"Yes, I had the great misfortune to be in the same class as West Point Jr. Academy's two greatest cadets. Who can compete with a Knight of the Round and the greatest conqueror since Genghis Khan?"

Suzaku laughs, "The way Lelouch spins it, you and Goodley were always upstaging them."

"Achoo, I heard someone say my name."

"If Lelouch sent two of his best men here, what does he have with him and in Tokyo?"

"His best women."

Suzaku laughs even louder than before.

"Fine then let's get to work."

* * *

**Tokyo**

Despite the fact that the Japanese military is inactive, that doesn't mean that they aren't doing anything. Naoto carefully moves Tohdoh's units north. Being the most careful and meticulous not to mention having a stick up his butt, Tohdoh is the perfect person to put in the north since he won't launch any accidental attacks. The man's loyalty to his superiors is helpful to Naoto at this time. Regardless of their friendship Naoto does not completely trust Ichiro so at the moment the captain is delivering a message to the north Britannian force at Sendai. Ichiro is careful enough to last the next few days which will be hectic. Naoto hopes that in the end Ichiro will choose the right side.

Naoto spaces his brigade throughout the city. Since he trusts them most, they get the most important duty. Other units are being sent to Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, and Hiroshima. The goal is for Sawasaki's men will take Kyushu in one strike. Naoto and his men will hold the major cities and capture the prime minister and other government officials. Hopefully by then Tohdoh and others will see that this is the right thing to do. After everything is settled Japan can elect a new government free of Britannian influence. Naoto will be hailed as a hero. If everything goes according to plan, even Kallen will see that Naoto is right.

For this crucial operation Naoto equips his men with a new Akatsuki knightmares. Rakshata and her team manage to complete enough for a few brigades. Naoto also gets his own personal knightmare, the Shen Hu. Their combined might should be enough to awe the units loyal to the Kururugi government. By the end of the things will fall into place.

**Shen Hu  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.53 meters  
**Weight:** 9.33 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

**Design Features  
**Air Glide Wing System  
Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament  
**2x Electrified Wrist Slash Harken  
Baryon Cannon  
Short Sword

"Suzumiya, begin the operation. Ootori, head straight for the government offices. We need to capture Kururugi as soon as possible"

Naoto takes his knightmare out of the hangar. He has his own mission to complete. He will personally capture Kallen so that there is no chance of anything odd happening.

* * *

"Schnozzle, sure picked a shitty time to send us to Japan," Rivalz complains.

Colonel Madd grumbles, "His highness knows what he is doing. There will soon be plenty of specimens for our experiments no matter which side wins."

"I still say that Schnitzel is a moron."

Rolo sighs, "His name is Schiezel, you fucking cyborg."

"Why don't you shut up, you little maniac!" Rivalz yells back.

They go nose to nose and begin arguing. Colonel Madd separates them.

"Both of you shut up. The rebel knightmares are spreading throughout the city."

Suddenly what they are watchng on TV gets cut off, and Atsushi Sawasaki's face appears.

"_I am Sawasaki Atsushi. Over the past several years I have seen the cowardice of the Kururugi government. I have also seen its corruption. While Kururugi and his fellow Britannian lapdogs get rich, common Japanese people suffer. Kururugi's son is even a prince. How long will it be before he is declared emperor of Japan? Two decades ago Japan did away with all the trappings of the royal family. We will not return to those days. My demands are…"_

He is replaced with Clumsy Girl Aki-chan. Kaguya stares at the television in awe.

"_What happened? Why is Clumsy Girl Aki-chan on?"_

Rumor of a large scale military coup sweeps through the city early in the morning. Kaguya and the Kururugi family are taken to several safe houses. Kaguya is separated and taken to a house on the outskirts of Kyoto. Kaguya has a small group of guards that have been loyal to the Sumeragi family for decades.

"_I hope everything turns out for the best."_

Kaguya hears sounds of a struggle outside her room. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she goes to see what is going on. Standing above her guards is a slender Japanese woman holding kunai.

"_You're Shinozaki Sayoko, Nunnally's sensei."_

Sayoko turns to face Kaguya and sighs, _"Lady Kaguya, you are safe."_

Kaguya nods, "_Yes but what happened here?"_

"_We must leave this place, Lady Kaguya. A rebel knightmare brigade is outside."_

"_Very well. Follow me. I know a secret tunnel."_

"_That won't do, my lady. We must go out the main entrance. It is the only way."_

Kaguya quietly follows Sayoko.

"_Shinozaki-san, may I ask a question?"_

"_Of course my lady."_

"_Why are you doing this?"_

"_It is my master's wish."_

"_Who do you serve?" _Kaguya asks as they step out of the house. She can see several knightmares and ground troops surrounding the house.

Sayoko answers by point towards the sky.

"_Look out bitches, Nunnally is coming."_

* * *

Nunnally and the Boudicca are floating high above Kyoto. A single knightmare comes flying towards the airship.

"Hey Nunnally, I have a very late Christmas present from Miss Cecile."

"Alice!"

Nunnally runs to the knightmare hangar. She jump-hugs Alice as soon as she exits the knightmare.

"Nunnally, get off me."

"I missed you, Alice."

I missed you too, Nunners."

Nunnally looks up at the knightmare.

"What's this?"

Alice clears her throat.

"Allow me to introduce knightmare frame, Ganymede Legacy.

**Ganymede Legacy  
****Specifications  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 5.06 meters  
**Weight:** 8.95 metric ton  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive,Energy Filler  
**Color:** White and pink

**Design Features  
**Blaze Luminous System  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere Sensor  
Landspinner Propulsion System  
Integrated Float System

**Armament  
**4x Slash Harkens (2x Arm-mounted and 2x Hip-mounted)  
2x Maser Vibration Swords  
1x VARIS rifle  
1x Hadron Blaster (can ONLY be activated by the VARIS Rifle)

Nunnally looks up at her knightmare, her new knightmare.

"What do I do with my old one?"

Alice smiles, "I'll take. It just needs a few minor adjustments."

Nunnally nods, "Good. Hold on Kagy, we're coming."

Both girls put on new power suits and board their knightmares. Nunnally and Alice land and withdraw their MVSs.

"Let's see who can take down more of these bastards."

"You're on, Nunners."

"I'll show these bastards that they should have left Kagy alone."

* * *

Suzaku's team is battling at the beach trying to keep Sawasaki's force from landing. They are successful for a while, but the numbers game catches up to them.

"Looks like this is the end, eh Suzaku."

"I guess so. I think we should start thinking of an exit strategy."

"Huddle up and divert all power to your shields."

Suzaku begins to look around, "That voice sounds familiar. Lelouch, is that you?"

"Do as I said."

Suzaku and the other just put up their shields as two blasts surround them taking out their enemies.

"What the hell is that?"

"Don't worry about just gather what forces you have left and set up on that ridge."

"But."

"And tell Sanderson and Goodley that I am quite disappointed in them. Making me have to come and save their butts."

"Oh put a sock in it, you spoiled brat."

Lelouch laughs, "Ah Major Sanderson, good to see that you are unhurt. Just go the ridge."

"What are you going to do?"

"Me, I'm not doing anything. I am not here."

Lelouch flies away.

Suzaku looks on, "What the hell is Lelouch in? That isn't the Mordred."

"I don't know, but we better do as he instructed."

"You're right about that. This rain isn't helping us any. I was hoping to keep them from landing. Now who knows? Let's move."

* * *

Atsushi Sawasaki is standing beside General Zhao on the flagship's bridge. His hope is to land cleanly and move through Kyushu quickly. The longer they delay the more control Kouzuki and the military will have over Honshu. That is something that cannot happen. Even if Tohdoh manages to come south and cause trouble, the military will still dominate the new government. General Katase will seize the opportunity to take over. The old man has been restless since the cease fire with the Russians.

His forward forces have encountered some resistance at the beach. They have seen the white knightmare piloted by Kururugi's son. Once it is captured things will go smoothly. There are also reports of Britannian forces aiding Kururugi. This is something that cannot go un punished. Even though Sawasaki is receiving Chinese aid, he is not turning over control to them.

"Sir there is a knightmare coming towards us."

Sawasaki find it interesting that despite his hatred for Britannia, he has to use their language to communicate with his Chinese allies.

Sawasaki asks, "Is it Kururugi? Is it the white knightmare?"

"No sir. It is black and gold."

"Open a line of communication."

"Yes sir."

"This is Atsushi Sawasaki. I demand to know who you are."

"_This is Lelouch vi Britannia, and this is as far as you go."_

Lelouch's near perfect Japanese causes Sawasaki's Chinese allies to get nervous.

"_Is there something wrong, Atsushi-san?"_

"Nothing at all, your highness, but please use your native tongue."

Lelouch laughs, _"Let me guess, your Chinese friends didn't bother to learn Japanese. Who is the one that is kowtowing to foreingers?"_

Sawasaki scowls, "Why you little?"

"I consider Japanese to be as native a tongue as English."

"That isn't of consequence at the moment. What is your purpose for being here? Do you expect to change the course of this battle with one knightmare?"

"Oh I'm just here to distract you while my other forces get in place."

Sawasaki laughs, "Is that so? At the moment Japanese forces are rising up all over Japan. Even with the forces at your disposal, there is no way that you can stop them."

"Is that what you believe? Since you won't survive the day, allow me to inform you that the Britannian troops in Japan are amongst the best in the world. Veterans who have followed me from Indonesia to Africa to the Middle East and now here. They are using some of the best knightmare in the world. Unlike your rebel forces who are using their most experienced troops in Tokyo," Lelouch pauses to let that sink in, "No Mr. Sawasaki, you are not the only person with spies on the government and military," Lelouch smiles, "Don't you wonder how your video feed got cut? It certainly wasn't caused by any Japanese source. I control all media. Just like I control this battlefield."

Sawasaki scowls, "You little brat we will wipe your little knightmare away like a fly, and we will take Kyushu while eliminating Kururugi's son. All units FIRE!"

Every available cannon fires at Lelouch.

"Here ends the storied career of Lelouch vi Britannia."

When the smoke clears, Lelouch's knightmare is still there leaving everyone aboard Sawasaki's invasion fleet

"That's impossible."

Lelouch's voice booms on all channels.

"_Allow to introduce knightmare frame, Shinkirō._ For those of you that didn't bother to learn the language of the country you are invading, the name is Titan Mirage. With your permission I will end this battle."

**Titan Mirage/Shinkirō**

**General characteristics  
****Height:** 5.07 meters  
**Weight:** 7.36 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Color: **black with gold trim

**Design Features  
**Absolute Defense Field  
Druid System  
Fortress Mode  
Integrated Air Glide Wing System  
Landspinner propulsion system

**Armament  
**2x Wrist-mounted Hadron Cannon  
Chest-mounted Diffusion Structure Phase Transition Cannon (a.k.a. Zero Beam)  
Chaff Missile Launcher(s)  
2x maser vibration swords

* * *

Evelyn and Villetta are aboard the Excalibur since Lelouch is taking care of something else. The twins are aboard the Sparkle and Gemini. Both airships have been adapted to enhance the twins' geass abilities. Much in the same manner that the Irregulars knightmares are adapted but on a much larger scale. They just have to be on time. The rain is making communication a little difficult.

"Castor, big brother should be arriving, activate your geass on the fleet. If it makes it easier, cast it over the entire area."

"I'm on it."

"Pollux, begin moving in as soon as Castor is ready to go."

"Okay Evie. I's locating the fleet right now."

Everything depends on Castor's geass disguising the Lelouch's fleet. Casting a geass over such a large area with so many people in it will probably drain a lot of Castor's energy even using the ship's enhancer. The same goes for Pollux using his geass to move the Sparkle in to attack. Even moving a smaller airship will be difficult on him. It will be up to Evelyn and Villetta to take advantage of the situation.

"Colonel Nu, I am going over to the Sparkle to take over once Pollux is done."

"As you wish, your highness."

Villetta sits on the Excalibur's throne. A spot that has only been inhabited by Lelouch up to this point. She knows the crew very well having been formerly Lelouch's knight. Things are not going to get any easier from this point forward.

"Captain, maintain this course. I will go out to the battle in the Mordred as soon as the signal is given."

"Of course, colonel."

Villetta goes over to the Mordred which is her knightmare now that Lelouch has the Titan Mirage. Villetta's own eighth generation knightmare is still being worked on by Cecile. Villetta activates the Mordred.

"I am ready to go, your highnesses."

* * *

Castor sits in his special chair aboard the Gemini. Emily is strapping him in as the others begin to announce that they are ready. Castor closes his eyes and gets ready to activate his geass. This is the first time he has used it on such a large group of people for such a long time. Emily strokes his face.

"I love you, Castor."

Castor opens his eyes and receives a kiss on the cheek. VV enters the room.

"Save that for your wedding in ten years. Everything is ready to go. I have enemy fleet on targeted."

Castor nods and activates his geass.

* * *

Kallen and Marika are waiting in front of an empty Ashford Academy waiting for Naoto's attack. Kallen orders the Britannian garrison to stay in place. There is no way that Naoto will attack Britannian civilians knowing the consequences of such an action. A white knightmare comes gliding over.

"Your highness, Princess Milly sent me here on her behalf."

"Very well Captain Vergamon, take your place beside us."

Marika is very happy to see her best friend here but is still worried about being outnumbered.

"Your highness, shouldn't we at lest get a few Bors to aid us from the base."

"No Marika, we will do this ourselves. After all we are only defending what is rightfully ours."

"Your highness, I am tracking several units heading in our direction."

"Then let's prepare for battle."

Naoto is sitting in his knightmare in front of his parents' Tokyo house. A house that Kallen is supposed to be in but is not.

"_Where could she be?"_

"_General, two red knightmares are near the entrance to Ashford Academy. A single white knightmare is making its way over from the Britannian base."_

Naoto exhales, _"Let's go. I'm pretty sure that Kallen has emptied the school," _Naoto smirks,_ "It was going down afterwards anyways."_

Naoto's force approaches Ashford Academy. In front of the gate are two red knightmares and a white one. Naoto recognizes the knightmares on the sides as the Guinevere and the Morgause. The one in the middle seems new. Naoto moves the Shen Hu to the front.

"In the name of the Japanese people, I order you to surrender," Naoto states in English to make his point.

"_Last time I checked, General Kouzuki," _said with all the scorn that Kallen can put into it, "_this is private property. And aren't you betraying the Japanese people with your little military coup," _Kallen states in Japanese to make her point.

Naoto growls, "Listen here you little bitch if you won't come, then I'll go get you."

Kallen laughs, "_For a Japanese general you sure love speaking English. If you hurt me or James, Lelouch will hunt you and everyone with you down. Fortunately for you, I'll handle this right here and now."_

Naoto scoff at this comment, _"Spread out and take them."_

"Oh Naoto, that is your first mistake. Allow me to introduce knightmare frame, Callisto Ultima."

**Callisto Ultima**

**General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.51 meters  
**Weight:** 7.51 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler**Color: **red  
**  
Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection system  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Integrated Air Glide Wing System

**Armament  
**Right arm-inbuilt Radiation Wave unit equipped with harken booster  
2x chest mounted Slash Harkens  
2x rotating hip mounted slash harkens  
Left-arm mounted custom Hand Gun  
Left handheld maser vibration fork knife  
12-tube Missile Launcher

Kallen fires her missiles at Naoto's force. She follows it up with a blast from her radiation wave.

"_So much for the Japanese Knightmare Corps."_

"Damn you!" Naoto screams as he charges forward firing his baryon cannon.

"_I have the answer for that,"_ Kallen replies as she fires her radiation wave to counter the baryon cannon blast.

"Marika, Liliana finish off the rest of them. I'll hold Naoto off. Remember to use the information given to us about the knightmares."

Naoto releases his cannon and moves to intercept the Guinevere, but Kallen gets in his way.

"I'm afraid that you will have to face me, General Kouzuki."

"Kallen, get out of the way!"

Naoto charges at Kallen using his short sword. She deflects it with her knife fork turning his knightmare around. She fires her slash harkens at Naoto from behind. She jumps at him and retracting her slash harkens. She slashes at his baryon cannon with her fork knife damaging it.

"Well that puts an end to that."

Kallen leaves Naoto's damaged knightmare on the ground and goes over to help the other girls. Naoto picks himself up.

"Come back here and fight me, you Britannian bitch."

Naoto activates his baryon cannon but it backfires and causes internal damage to the knightmare.

"What the hell happened? How does she know where to hit me? How do they know how to damage our knightmares?" Naoto sits there pensive as the three girls decimate the best knightmare force Japan has to offer, "It must have been that bitch Rakshata." Naoto leaves his force to fend for themselves knowing that Kallen will not leave the area, "As long as the others do their job and capture our targets, this will still work."

"_General Kouzuki, where are you going?"_

"_Keep them here Suzumiya; I have something to take care of."_

"_General Kouzuki!"_

Naoto heads back towards Knightmare Corp's headquarters.

* * *

"_Follow me, Prime Minister. We should be safe here. Kouzuki and the others have left the area."_

Ichiro is leading the prime minister and other important government officials through the Britannian sector towards Stadtfeld manor.

"_Why are you aiding us, captain? Aren't you Kouzuki's assistant?"_

"_Sir that is true but today the general proves himself to be an enemy of the Japanese people by conspiring with Sawasaki and his invasion."_

"_I see."_

Ichiro leads them towards the guest house.

"_You should be safe here."_

"_Where are you going, captain?"_

Ichiro looks at the concerned prime minister.

"_I have to make sure that the general is defeated. You will be safe here. The general will not attack the Britannian sector again even if it means capturing someone important."_

Ichiro heads back to headquarters. Once Naoto discovers that the Britannian forces know how to fight with his new knightmares, he will head back there looking for answers. He will probably want to blame Rakshata and her team. Ichiro cannot allow someone to suffer for his actions.

* * *

Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque hover high above Kyoto aboard the Apotheosis.

"Looks like Nunnally and Alice need our help," Sancia comments.

"Don't worry I got this," Dalque states.

Lucretia looks down at the battlefield, "Be careful."

Dalque grunts, "Careful is for wimps. Their highnesses don't worry about careful, they just go."

"There I'm finished inputting the battle data," Sancia remarks, "Don't overexert yourself. The objective is to get Lady Sumeragi out of there not to tear up the town."

Dalque scowls, "This town needs some modernization anyways. Maybe I should mow a few buildings down Dalque style?"

"You can't do that, Lulu will get mad!" Lucretia exclaims.

"We wouldn't want to get big brother Lulu mad at us not would we," Dalque says in a mocking tone.

Lucretia ignores the tone and nods.

"Enough, we're over the target. Just don't hit any buildings. Only damage knightmare and other military weaponry," Sancia orders.

"Fine, I get it."

Dalque pounds her knightmare's fists.

"Everybody look out cuz Dalque's coming to the party."

Dalque jumps out the Apotheosis's cargo hold.

"Damn I hope this power suit and knightmare can hold or else they'll have to scrape us off the pavement."

Dalque lands on top of a rebel knightmare smashing it to the ground.

"What's up Nunners, Alice? I hope you left enough for me to tangle with."

* * *

Sayoko is leading Kaguya through the yard avoiding capture and knightmares. Suddenly a knightmare falls from the sky crushing a rebel knightmare and causing the ground to shake. They keep moving forward but are cut off by three knightmare.

"_It is the end of the road for you. We will take Lady Sumeragi."_

A single shell goes flying towards the knightmare and splits into three. The three knightmares are stunned. Several more shells fly at the knightmares causing them to explode. A single pink and purple tank comes rolling towards Sayoko and Kaguya.

"_What is that?" _Kaguya asks as she points towards the tank.

Sayoko shrugs, _"I'm not sure. I've only been working here a few months."_

The hatch to the tank opens and a small pink haired girl pops out. Her hair is pushed down and out by a small pink helmet which she promptly takes off. Kaguya notices that the girl can't be much older than fifteen.

"_Hello I'm Sora Cummins. I guess I'm Lady Sora Cummins since my dad is a duke, but that doesn't matter. Just call me Sora."_

Sayoko is a little stunned at this turn of events.

"_Lady Cummins, are you here to pick us up. I assumed that a shuttle would come for us."_

Two more knightmares come in there direction. They either saw the commotion or are told to come by their friends. Sora goes back into her tank.

"_Don't worry. I'll handle this."_

The enemy knightmares seem to be moving around indicating that they know about the tank's shell's power.

Sora grins, "I'll show these guys the power of my Chrysalis Fantasica."

**Chrysalis Fantasica **

**General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.67 meters (knightmare mode) 3.11 meters (Fortress-Mode)  
**Weight:** 7.82 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

**Design Features  
**Fortress-Mode  
Landspinner propulsion system (knightmare mode) tracks (Fortress-Mode)  
Cockpit Ejection system

**Armament  
**4x Stark Hadron Cannon  
Miniature Proximity Missile Launchers  
2x maser vibration swords  
2x wrist mounted slash harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens

Sora takes the Chrysalis out of fortress (tank) mode and into knightmare mode. One of the rebel knightmares gets directly in front of Sora and gets incinerated by her hadron cannons.

"Now let's take care of the other one."

Sora fires her missiles at the other knightmare destroying it. She transforms back to a tank and opens the hatch,

"_Alright come in. I'll take you up to the Boudicca."_

* * *

Naoto staggers into the knightmare hangar. He sees Rakshata watching the news with the rest of her team. Naoto points his rifle at them.

"Turn around you bastards."

Rakshata turns around slowly.

"Is something wrong, General Kouzuki? I see you have damaged my child."

Naoto sneers, "You're the one that told the Britannians how to damage your children so you shouldn't talk. Now it's time for you to pay for your treachery."

"General, I work for the Japanese government, don't you?"

"I figured you'd say something like that. You're wrong I work for the Japanese people. Now I am liberating them of all foreign influences."

"If you are looking for traitors just turn around."

Naoto spins around and is met by Ichiro's fist. Naoto falls to the floor and immediately licks the blood off his lips.

"_So you finally show your true colors. You're the worst kind of person a lapdog to other lapdogs."_

Ichiro glares down at Naoto.

"_At least I'm not the spoiled brat of a Britannian noble. What is you father a duke?"_

"_I earned my position."_

Ichiro laughs, _"Believe whatever you want, general. If you are naïve enough to believe that your father and brother-in-law had nothing to do with you rise, then you are truly a fool. I, on the other hand, had to struggle everyday to get to where I'm at."_

Naoto growls and knocks Ichiro down. The two Japanese soldiers struggle on the floor. Ichiro manages to get on top and punches Naoto across the jaw. Naoto pushes Ichiro off him. They stare at each other. Naoto wonders how to get out of this. His rifle is too far away to do him any good, but he has a weapon on his leg.

"_Wait, what did Rakshata mean by you being the traitor? We are crushing the forces loyal to Kururugi. It is the Britannian units that are decimating us," _Naoto stands there pensive recovering from the blows, "Holy shit! _Lelouch has a secretary named Ayame Futaba. She has an older sister and a little brother. You have two younger sisters and a little brother,"_ Naoto sneers, _"It was you all along. The business with Zero at Shinjuku. The Lake Kawaguchi incident, you were there helping Lelouch," _Naoto reaches down and gets his emergency gun, _"I would let you live if you were working for Kururugi, but working for the Britannian brat is something unforgivable. I really like you, Ichiro, but this is the end."_

Ichiro close his eyes as a shot rings through the hangar. He looks down and doesn't feel anything. He has heard rumors that before you die you don't feel anything. He looks up and see Naoto staggering forward towards him, and Rakshata is standing behind him with a gun.

"Rakshata."

"_Are you okay, Ichiro?"_

Naoto drops to the floor. Ichiro looks at his former boss for a moment before going over to Rakshata. Ichiro takes the Indian scientist in his arms and kisses her.

"_Oh Ichiro."_

"We need to find some rope to tie you up with."

Rakshata purrs, _"You dirty boy."_

Ichiro rolls his eyes, "Not for that. This way it looks like Naoto and his men took the knightmares by force."

"Oh," Rakshata nods, "You're good."

Ichiro smiles, "Thanks I learned from the best,"

Rakshata isn't sure if Ichiro means her, Lelouch, or Naoto. One of the other scientists comes over.

"Captain Futaba, we will handle that. Perhaps you should go after the general."

Naoto is staggering past the door. Rakshata holds onto Ichiro.

"Let him go. He can't go too far with that injury. Besides I have a message I need you to deliver. The general's men can still do damage. I have a surprise for them."

"You're right. His highness instructed his wife not to leave Ashford. Who do I take this message to?"

* * *

"_Allow to introduce knightmare frame, Shinkirō._ For those of you that didn't bother to learn the language of the country you are invading, the name is Titan Mirage. With your permission I will end this battle."

Sawasaki laughs, "You are that certain in the abilities of your knightmare. You cannot have enough power to withstand an unending barrage. Captain, tell your men to fire until that knightmare goes down."

"Sir."

"What is it!" Sawasaki howls at the radar tech that interrupts.

"There are several objects following from the sky."

"Are they bombs?"

"No sir, they are too large. They appear to be knightmares."

"Knightmares?" Sawasaki looks at the radar, "No one can survive such a drop."

Lelouch smiles, "Who said there was people in those knightmares?" Lelouch flips several switches, "Titan Mirage drone system activated."

"Mordred drone system activated."

"Sparkle drone system activated."

"Gemini drone system activated."

"Excalibur drone system activated."

"Silencer drone system activated."

Sawasaki is in shock as alarms keep going off throughout his fleet.

"What's going on?"

"Sir look."

Sawasaki looks as the radar is filled with hundreds of objects falling out of the sky.

"Is this thing broken? Where are all those things coming from?"

"What is he waiting for?" General Zhao asks point at Lelouch who is just floating in front of their ship.

"What am I waiting for?" Lelouch pushes a few buttons, "This."

Lelouch fires a blast of light that gets deflected by one of his knightmare drones. It continues down the side of the ship hitting Lelouch's other drones.

Sawasaki looks on as the light from Lelouch's blast surrounds their ship.

"What is that? What's he doing?"

General Zhao is mesmerized.

"That light is being absorbed by the drones."

Sawasaki's flagship is destroyed in a flash of light. Lelouch sends in his drones to make sure that no one survives.

"Remember that no one from any ship is to reach land."

* * *

Suzaku, Sanderson, and Goodley are on the beach watching the light show provided by Lelouch.

"I wonder what is going on out there."

Suzaku answers, "Nothing is going on out there. Our stiff defenses coupled with this powerful storm destroyed the fleet. The few survivors that managed to land did not surrender and were eliminated. Is that understood?"

Both men respond, "Yes your highness,"

"Good, now let's go finish off whatever rebel forces are left on the island."`

* * *

General Kyoshiro Tohdoh is not a happy man. Instead of preparing for a continued war with Russia, he is on his way back to Tokyo. He left Hokkaido yesterday after receiving a message from General Katase. In the morning he learns that the message is a fake, but his presence is still needed in Tokyo because of Kouzuki's coup coupled with Sawasaki's invasion of Kyushu. Urabe, Senba, and Shogo are coming south with their knightmare squads to put down any rebellions that may spring up. Their aim is to get to Tokyo before evening. Tohdoh is already reaching the outskirts of the city.

"_General Tohdoh, there is a security checkpoint."_

"_Who is in charge of said checkpoint?" _Tohdoh asks as his transport comes to a stop. In order to delay his initial trip to Tokyo, Tohdoh travels by car. Once he receives the news of the coup, he finds air transportation that ironically takes him to Britannia base north of Tokyo. From there he finds ground transportation into Tokyo.

"_Sir it is Major Chiba and Captain Futaba."_

"_I see," _Major Chiba is supposed to be in Area 10 observing Lelouch vi Britannia. Captain Futaba is or rather was the assistant to General Kouzuki, _"Bring them here."_

Chiba seems a bit angrier at the manner in which she is being treated.

"_Major Chiba, why are you here?"_

"_The prince returned to Area 10 so I took the opportunity to come and give my report."_

"_And you Captain Futaba?"_

"_I have a message from Dr. Chawla."_

The mentions of Rakshata's name interests Tohdoh. He isn't sure how she fits into the scheme of things.

"_What does she have to say?"_

Ichiro hands Tohdoh Rakshata's note which is still sealed in an envelope. Tohdoh rips open the envelope and stares at the paper.

"_It's in Britannian."_

"_English,"_ Both Ichiro and Nagisa correct him.

That doesn't solve Tohdoh's problem. Although he can understand the language, he can't read it. He supposes Rakshata must be the same in regards to Japanese. Tohdoh hands Ichiro the paper. Ichiro visually scans it proofreading before he says anything out loud. He doesn't seem too excited to read it. Nagisa takes the paper and begins to read.

"Dear General Grumpy Pants," she fights to hold back a chuckle, "I have secretly managed to make some special knightmares for you and your four little friends. Just follow little Ichiro, he should be able to get them for you."

Nagisa hands the paper back to Tohdoh who looks over the paper.

"_There is a map of sorts on here."_

Tohdoh hands the paper to Ichiro.

"_I see. I suppose I can lead you to the location. It isn't very far from here."_

Ichiro leads them over to Rakshata's secret underground lab. Tohdoh and his men are following Ichiro carefully. They probably suspect a trap. Ichiro turns on the lights revealing five specialized knightmares.

"_Allow me to introduce knightmare frames Zangetsu, Amaterasu, Orochi, Susanoo, and Kusanagi."_

The Zangetsu is in the middle and is similar to Tohdoh's personal Gekka. The other four knightmares are similar to the Akatsuki but with different paint jobs and a few different additions.

**Zangetsu**

characteristics  
Height: 4.68 meters  
Weight: 8.09 metric tons (9.08 metric tons in Flight-Enabled version)  
Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Design Features  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Radiant wave surger-based shield  
Air Glide Wing System

Armament  
1x Seidoutou (lit. "Brake Sword")  
2x Shoulder-mounted Machine Gun Turrets  
2x Hien Souga-type Slash Harkens

Optional Armaments  
12-tube Missile Launcher x1 (sometimes equipped to its Air Glide Wing System

**Amaterasu, Orochi, Susanoo, and Kusanagi**

General characteristics  
Height: 4.81 meters  
Weight: 8.26 metric tons (9.25 metric tons in Flight-Enabled Version)  
Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler

Design Features  
Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Air Glide Wing System  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Radiation Wave-based shielding

Armament  
1x Katen Yaibatou ((lit. "Revolving Blade Sword")  
2x Shoulder-mounted Machine Gun Turrets  
1x Hien Souga-type Slash Harken  
1x Left (or Right) Arm-mounted 2-barrel Hand Gun  
1x Right Arm-mounted Bazooka (in rare cases)  
Right Arm-mounted Radiation Wave missiles x3  
12-tube Missile Launcher x1 (sometimes equipped to its Air Glide Wing System)  
Eight snake like slash harkens (head and shoulder mounted) (only Orochi)

"_I pick the one with snakes on its head."_

Their attention is turned to the door where the three other Holy Swords are standing.

Chiba smirks, _"You would choose that one, Urabe."_

The others laugh.

"_So what you get the one with the girl name."_

Ichiro notices the smile on Tohdoh's face. It must the light hearted attitude of his comrades.

"_What will you do now, Captain Futaba? Will you join us in the battlefield?"_

Ichiro shakes his head, _"I am not much of a knightmare pilot, general."_

"_So what will you do?"_

"_I must check up on the prime minister and his people. I was able to hide them, but the prime minister probably wants to make an announcement about the situation soon."_

Tohdoh nods and allows Ichiro to leave. The technicians that came with Tohdoh are already looking over the new knightmares.

"_Let's go. We don't much time if the rebels manage to convince enough people to join their side, all will be lost."_

* * *

Naoto manages to crawl away from the knightmare hangar and onto the Shen Hu. However he does not possess the strength to make back to the battle. He now realizes that his obsession with Kallen and Lelouch cost him the battle. If he simply goes for the prime minister and other government officials himself, the victory is certain and the situation with Kallen can work itself out, but now he isn't even certain that his brigade can take the city.

Naoto lands the Shen Hu in a forested area. He begins to think of what he should do. The Japanese government will execute him for his actions. If he is able to be it out to the countryside perhaps he can survive for a few months before leaving the country. Another option is returning to his parents' house and begging Kallen to smuggle him out of the country. That isn't an option that he wants to think about. Naoto begins drift off and doesn't notice three figures watching him.

"This guy sure is in sorry shape."

Rivalz and Rolo are checking into the knightmare that is near their hiding spot. Colonel Madd comes up behind them.

"Well what's going on here?"

Rolo answers, "There is some Japanese soldier and a knightmare out here."

Madd looks up at the knightmare, "That looks interesting. We should definitely take that."

"What about him?"

Madd looks down at the soldier, "Looks like he is going to die anyway. Let him be."

Rivalz is staring at the soldier, "I know this guy."

"How would you know a Japanese soldier?"

"Because I went to school here in Tokyo for six years. Besides this is not an ordinary Japanese soldier, he is Kallen's brother."

"As in Kallen Stadtfeld, the wife of the bastard."

Rivalz nods.

"So this man really hates Lelouch."

"I would say so."

"Good then take him back to the lab while Rolo takes the knightmare."

* * *

General Kouzuki does a magnificent job of moving forces loyal to his cause into the city without anybody but Captain Futaba noticing. The battle continues through night, but Tohdoh successfully leads a charge that dislodges the rebel forces from the city. In Kyoto permission is given for Nunnally vi Britannia, under the supervision of Kaguya Sumeragi, to deploy her forces. Over the course of the next week the rebel forces surrender. Due to his actions at Fukuoka, Suzaku Kururugi is given a hero's upon entering most major cities. It culminates with his, Nunnally, and Kaguya's entrance into Tokyo a week after it all begins. Very few people know of Lelouch's involvement in any of it. There are even rumors that the Zero Force helps Suzaku. Over the course of he next two weeks things return to a sort of normalcy in Japan.

* * *

**Thursday, February 7, 2018, Britannia Palace, Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Lelouch is in Pendragon meeting with the emperor. Nunnally is still in Japan receiving the admiration of the Japanese people for her protection of Kaguya. Around the world they are calling her the best female knightmare pilot since their mother. Jeremiah is also on his way to Area 10 having turned over control of the Caucuses Expedition Force to Luciano and Aphrodite. Everyone else is back home with the exception of Ayame and Carolina who are with Lelouch. At least that is the plan.

"Why don't the two of you hang around and entertain my mother?"

Carolina groans, "Why don't you entertain your mother, and we will go meet with the emperor."

"I'd rather be in one of Milly's festival plays."

Carolina smiles smugly, "I'll be sure to tell her that when we return."

Lelouch sighs, "Fine you can come with me to the palace."

The trip from Aries Villa to the emperor's throne room is a quiet room. Carolina and Ayame wait outside Exelica Garden where they run into a wheelchair bound Guinevere and an angry Karine.

"So you're the Sforza girl who married Lelouch?" Karine asks completely ignoring Ayame.

"Yes."

Karine glances at Ayame and scoff before turning to face the Palace.

"Damn when is that stupid old man supposed to see me. I don't see why Lelouch gets bumped to the top of the list. One of the servants even told me that the emperor wants to congratulate stupid Nunnally."

"Lelouch likes onigiri, he told me so."

Everyone turns to face Guinevere who has been rambling on for several minutes about cuisine from around the world.

Carolina leans towards Karine and whispers, "Is something wrong with Princess Guinevere?"

Karine laughs, "Oh that. She's been like this since returning from Africa two years ago," Karine shrugs, "Sometimes she's good, and sometimes she just rambles on about things."

There is some commotion near the door. Ayame is a little intrigued by it.

"I wonder what is going on over there."

Karine glares at her for speaking in the presence of royalty without permission. She mumbles something about Lelouch keeping his women in place. Several guards led by Bismarck Waldstein and Merlin Suzerain walk out and form a wall.

"Now presenting his imperial majesty 98th emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Charles zi Britannia."

Charles steps out and pauses.

"Now presenting the eleventh prince and tenth successor to the throne,"

This comment causes Karine to grind her teeth. In theory Lelouch should be thirteenth successor, but the deaths of Lucius and Clovis coupled with Guinevere being declared mentally unstable moves him up. There are even rumors that Maximus, Cassius, and Edward are giving up their claims to the throne. Such an occurrence will move Lelouch further up.

"Viceroy of Area 10 Lieutenant General Lelouch vi Britannia, Duke of Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Anatolia."

There is a discernable gasp felt throughout the garden at the mention of Lelouch's new titles. Only the fact that she is in the front row stops Karine from leaving in disgust that and the fact that she would be executed for leaving the emperor's presence without his permission. It is obvious that the guards making the announcements are not done and are simply waiting for Lelouch to reach his father before continuing.

"Now presenting his royal highness Prince James kou Britannia, Duke of Wellington."

A servant brings James over to his father and grandfather. Charles smiles as he takes his grandson into his arms. Waiting at the garden's entrance are Marianne, Kallen, Milly, Nunnally, and the kids with Jeremiah and Villetta behind them. The emperor walks forward holding his grandson. Kallen signals for Carolina and Ayame to fall into place. Carolina notices that Gino and Nonette are also here. They are walking behind everyone.

* * *

Cornelia watches the extended vi Britannia family walking with the emperor. She wonders whose idea it is to broadcast this. Lelouch's new noble title doesn't bother her, but his new military title may be a problem. The rank isn't uncommon, but Cornelia doesn't know of any who received their promotion directly from the emperor. Lelouch is also one of the few people with enough support amongst the military and common people to challenge the emperor. There is another dynamic that must be factored in to the equation. For some reason Lelouch's subjects are extremely loyal. Lelouch has a disproportionate amount of Numbers in his army. Cornelia is glad that Euphemia isn't there. Even though both li Britannia sisters admire Empress Marianne, Euphemia is getting a little too close to the vi Britannia family.

Cornelia decides to get back to her planning. The Greeks are defending every inch of their mountainous peninsula making things hard on Cornelia. If that isn't enough over the last few weeks the symbol of the Zero Force has being showing up everywhere. Darlton believes that Zero works for the EU. After all most of the disturbances have been in Britannian held territory or Japan. She will have to call Schniezel and gather his thoughts on the issue.

* * *

Kaname Ohgi, Yoshitaka Minami, and Shinichiro Tamaki are hiding with others in the slums of Shinjuku. After the failed coup in which they participated, they have no choice but to hide. Their connection to Naoto is quickly discovered, and their residences raided. The most likely culprit is Naoto's former assistant, Ichiro Futaba.

Tamaki growls, _"If I ever get my hands on that asshole, Futaba, I'll kill him. I'll fucking kill him."_

Ohgi shakes his head. Tamaki has been talking like this for two weeks. He wonders how long it will take for things to get back to normal. He wonders if he can go back to his teaching job.

* * *

Lelouch and the emperor are now alone. They get down to business.

"You didn't forget about my ultimatum regarding Japan."

"Of course not, your majesty. It will be a few months before everything is in place."

"If that is how you want do it, just remember the consequences of your failure."

"I remember, your majesty. I would also like to remind his majesty that I was given permission to marry my siblings including Euphemia as I see fit."

The emperor is not expecting Lelouch to comment on this issue.

"I believe that the marriage between Euphemia and Suzaku has reached its limit. They have no issue."

"And your dealings with Japan."

Lelouch smirks, "Suzaku shall have his princess. That shall be a marriage that will have warriors that will show the world Britannia's might for decades to come."

"And what about Euphemia?" Charles asks knowing what Lelouch will do with the third princess. He just wants to here Lelouch ask for it. A marriage between a brother and sister even if they are only half siblings has never happened at the highest level of Britannian nobility. It is not unheard of amongst lower noble families as a way to keep the family strong.

"With Euphemia, I can set up an alliance that will leave Britannia much stronger than before," Lelouch glances at his father, "Soon none will be able to stand before our might."

The look in Lelouch's eyes reminds Charles of his nightmares. He must complete Ragnarok and bring forth a peaceful world before Lelouch, Schniezel, and Cornelia tear it apart.

Lelouch heads back to Aries Villa and eventually to Are 10. The first battle for Japan is over with. The war for its and the world's soul and heart will continue. Lelouch just has to continue to move the pieces into place. Lelouch looks down at his chess board. He is quite glad that the black queen did not have to be sacrificed. He picks up a white rook. Now it is time to see whether this rook remains white or turns to the other side. It is also time to make the white queen think about becoming the king. Yes things are about to get interesting.

* * *

Author's notes: I really didn't mean to introduce so many new knightmares. We haven't yet seen Milly's new knightmare or any of the Knights of the Round's knightmares in action. Like Lloyd did for Schniezel in completing the Lancelot and Gawain, Rakshata does her best in working for the Japanese. The knightmares for the Four Holy Swords are Akatsuki Command Model Zikisan with a few differences.

Nunnally's knightmares are exactly like the Lancelot except with some pink and a few other additions. So Ganymede Princess (her first knightmare) is like the Lancelot. The Ganymede Legacy is like the Lancelot Conquista.

I have mentioned before that Naoto speaks in English when he is mad or drunk. He usually curses in English. Something he started doing as a child because his teachers didn't understand what he was saying until he taught Ohgi and others to curse in English. I didn't notice the slight similarities between Naoto's actions here and Lelouch's during the first Black Rebellion. Both ignore their rebellions for the sake of their sisters. In Lelouch's case it is understandable. In Naoto's case it is obsession as he states. He also figures capturing Kallen is his trump card against Britannian interference.

In Charles and Marianne's mind Ragnarok will bring peace to the world. But as Lelouch states before he stops them, it is a peace that is kind to them

**Known Areas and their viceroys -late 2018  
**1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia sub Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16- Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016  
19 Central Africa 2016  
20 Northern Africa 2017  
21 Middle East Federation 2017

Odysseus eu Britannia 1st 1984  
Schniezel el Britannia 2nd 1990  
Clovis la Britannia 3rd 1992-2016  
Maximus va Britannia. 4th 1992  
Cassius ru Britannia 5th 1993  
Lucius pe Britannia 6th 1995- 2014  
Octavius ka Britannia 7th 1996  
Theseus ju Britannia 8th 1997  
Luther ti Britannia 9th 1999  
Edward vu Britannia 10th 1999  
Lelouch vi Britannia 11th 1999

Guinevere su Britannia 1st 1986  
Cornelia li Britannia 2nd 1991  
Euphemia li Britannia 3rd 2000  
Annabel pe Britannia 4th 2001  
Karine le Britannia 5th 2002  
Isabelle vu Britannia 6th 2002  
Victoria ka Britannia 7th 2002  
Gwendolyn ti Britannia 8th 2003  
Regina ha Britannia 9th 2003  
Selene ge Britannia 10th 2003  
Nunnally vi Britannia 11th 2003


	70. The truth hurts

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Italics mean Japanese. _'Single parentheses mean thoughts.'

In case anyone is wondering Sawasaki is dead. Lelouch saw to that personally. There were survivors, but the weather conditions and geass make them a little delirious.

...

If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."

Theodore Roosevelt

...

War has historically been an action favored by idiots

Charles zi Britannia

* * *

**Friday, March 29, 2018 ATB Tokyo, Japan**

Kyoshiro Tohdoh is still not a happy man. In two months since Sawasaki's invasion and Kouzuki's military coup, things have become more difficult for that military. General Katase and the remaining military hierarchy have been going before the National Diet to respond to inquiries. To say the situation is tense is an understatement. At the moment all knightmare research is being put on hold. The Knightmare Corps/Army is being integrated into the larger Japanese Self Defense Force. In fact Tohdoh gets the feeling that Japan will soon no longer have the capability to conduct an offensive war.

Lelouch vi Britannia is arriving today most likely to renegotiate the defense pact between Britannia and Japan. The humiliating part of it is that no Japanese soldier is at the airport to protect the prince's arrival other than Colonel Nagisa Chiba and Major Ichiro Futaba. Both have been promoted for their part in putting down Kouzuki's coup. A company of Britannia soldiers led by Suzaku Kururugi is to greet the visiting prince. After the prince's visit who knows what things will be like in Japan. There is one thing that will change. That being that Suzaku Kururugi is no longer married to Euphemia li Britannia. Since they have no issue, their divorce is quick. According to Tohdoh's sources Suzaku and Kaguya Sumeragi will most likely marry the older vi Britannias soon.

* * *

Lelouch and Nunnally are traveling to Japan alone or as alone as it gets for them. Sayoko, Jeremiah, and Villetta are somewhere aboard the Excalibur. Lelouch is not passing up the opportunity to awe the Japanese with his many airships. The others travel back in the twins' Gemini while Anya returns to Area 11 in the Silencer. So Excalibur Mk II, Avalon, Ganymede, Apotheosis, Apocalypse, Boudicca, and Sparkle are floating above Tokyo harbor.

With nothing to fear Lelouch is the first one out followed by Nunnally. Jeremiah and Villetta walk behind them at a distance. Lelouch ignores the fact that Britannian soldiers are surrounding the airship. Lelouch walks towards Suzaku and Kaguya. He sees Nagisa and Ichiro standing behind them. Finally Lelouch looks around at the Britannian soldiers guarding the airport. To even the most suspicious observer, Lelouch looks impassive; but to those that truly know him, Lelouch is smiling. The first part of Lelouch's plan works magnificently. The distrust between the people, government, and military is palpable while the people's trust in Britannia is rising.

Kaguya steps forward to greet them with a bow, "Welcome back to Japan, Prince Lelouch, Princess Nunnally."

Lelouch and Nunnally both bow. Lelouch takes Kaguya's hand in his and kisses it causing her to blush.

"It's a pleasure to be back."

Nunnally extends her hand for Suzaku to take. After a few more minutes of small talk, they walk towards a waiting car which of course belongs to Lelouch. This time they are staying at the Lamperouge household which has been heavily fortified over the last two months although the fortifications are not overtly visible. Nunnally makes arrangements with Suzaku and Kaguya to spend dome time together while Lelouch deals with Ichiro and Nagisa.

"How long are you going to be here for, Nunners?"

"I don't know what big brother has planned. Probably a few weeks to make sure that everything gets done right," Nunnally smiles deviously, "While he's in meetings, we can have some fun."

Kaguya blushes imagining the fun that Suzaku and Nunnally will have. She finds it odd that less than eighteen months ago Suzaku marries Nunnally's older sister but that marriage no longer proves beneficial so it is annulled, and a new one is going to take place in its stead.

Suzaku scoffs, "Nunners, I'll beat you like I beat you every time."

Nunnally huffs, "Just wait Suzu, I'm a growing girl. One day I'll beat you and big brother."

This comment catches Kaguya's attention.

"Wait, what are you guys going to do to have fun?"

Nunnally twists her mouth and raises her eyebrows.

"Why have a knightmare battle, what else would we do? Just wait Suzu when Alice gets here, we'll take you down tag team style."

Kaguya blushes even more because she thought that Suzaku and Nunnally were going to be spending days doing dirty things. Suzaku notices Kaguya's face.

"Nunners, I think Kaguya imagined that we would be making out or something."

"Kagy, I am appalled at your thoughts. How could you imagine that a refined Britannian princess such as myself would ever engage in such actions," Nunnally stands erect posing in a very ladylike manner.

Suzaku chuckles, "Whatever Nunners."

Nunnally tackles Suzaku who tries to stay standing but accidentally grabs hold of Kaguya taking her down as well. The three laugh and spend a few minutes wrestling. Off to the side Sayoko watches carefully. She looks over to the room where Lelouch is meeting with his Japanese observers/spies.

* * *

Ichiro begins, "Your highness, General Tohdoh is getting suspicious."

Lelouch pours some tea for his guests.

"Is he? Then perhaps we should prepare some solid evidence for the General to take to Katase."

"I don't think that they would act based simply any information that Major Futaba and I will bring them," Nagisa comments.

"No, it will take more than that. I have proof that the Kururugi administration has been turning a blind eye to Britannian companies buying up Japanese ones. In fact I am the proof. I own most of the media corporations in Japan," Lelouch stands, "No, we must force their hand. We have the evidence that they are seeking, but we must also laid the ground work for their fall. I will not simply invade. I will make Japan beg for me. They will have no other choice barring military dictatorship under those that will take their children away to wage war for their own glory. "

The door closes as Ichiro exits the limousine. Nagisa is left alone with her thoughts as she rides her apartment. All she can think about on the ride is Lelouch. She knows that he has done something to her mind, but she can't help herself. Even knowing the truth about him and his powers, she can't stop wanting to be with him. On some level she realizes that it is not just his power but her own desire to be loved and feel wanted.

**... (flashback)...**

**Friday, August 17, 2017**

Nagisa watches Lelouch walk away from a green haired woman. Nagisa isn't sure what is happening out there, but it seems like there is some sort of argument. Lelouch is taking off his coat and shirt revealing his well toned chest covered in blood. He doesn't appear to be hurt but looks to be checking for a wound.

"Damn that hurt."

The green haired woman walks up behind Lelouch.

"I told you it would, but you didn't want to listen. Allowing that ninja woman to stab you in the chest was insane."

Lelouch sighs, "I guess it was, but it served its purpose. It took a little longer to heal than I thought."

"Well it's your first time. Over time you will learn to improve on your new abilities. It is possible to survive a beheading. The problem can be healing too fast. The idea is to make people think that you're dead leaving them vulnerable."

Nagisa gasps upon hearing this comment and attempts to leave but runs into a small table knocking over a vase. Lelouch is immediately hovering over her.

"Major Chiba, I take it that you heard our conversation."

Nagisa looks up in fear and places her hand over her handgun.

"What are you?"

"I'm pretty much human like you."

CC sniggers, "In a few centuries you will no longer think of yourself as human,"

"Be quiet witch. Unlike you I plan on maintaining my humanity."

CC waves that comment away.

"What are you going to do about her?"

Nagisa gets to her feet and withdraws her gun.

"I am going to ask one more time. What are you? What does that girl haired woman mean by after a few centuries?"

Lelouch exhales profoundly, "Let's see where to begin. The easiest explanation is that CC and I are immortal."

"How is that possible? Is it the result of some Britannian experiment?"

"No, Britannia is not the cause. From what I gather this blessing/curse has been around for centuries. The term for our kind is code bearer," Lelouch shows Nagisa the code on his chest, "At the moment there are eight including us. I do control several of them While others are in the EU or Chinese Federation. As for the immortality, that is a side effect of the cell regeneration. Our cells are constantly being regenerated. This causes an injury no matter how big to be healed. The time it takes depends on the severity of the wound," Lelouch drags a small pocket knife across his hand causing a small cut that is almost instantly healed. He then makes a larger cut that takes a little longer, "Other effects are that our bodies do not need rest because our cells do not wear out. The cell regeneration also makes those of use who choose to build muscle become stronger and quicker. In a sense it is like a steroid without the side effects."

Nagisa is stunned at all the information she is receiving.

"How did you gain this power?"

"Code bearers have the ability to grant power called geass to certain individuals. In a manner of speaking the code bearers are drawn to certain people who can use this power to its limit."

"And then?" Nagisa asks.

"Depending on the code bearer's desire, it is possible for the code bearer to pass their code to that individual granting them the regenerative powers and restoring the code bearer's humanity."

CC snorts at this comment, but Nagisa ignore her.

"You said code bearers grant individuals power. What sort of power?"

"It depends on the desires of the individual. It may cause others to fall in love with you," Lelouch casually glances at CC, "Some will be able to read minds or see the future movements of others. Others will be able to stop people's movements for a few seconds and some will be able to command others to obey their orders unconditionally."

"How horrible."

Lelouch saved the best for last. While not the most dangerous geass, absolute obedience is the most inhuman of them all. Men have always treasured their free will. Even slaves and servants have few moments to themselves or are able to make choices that they select. A slave may revolt against his master, but Lelouch's slaves may not. This is what scares people about geass.

Nagisa raises her gun at Lelouch.

"Did you ever use this power this geass on me?"

Lelouch smirks. Of course she wants to know if her feelings are real. She wants to know if them having sex was real or caused by geass.

"I did not order you to obey me."

"How do I know if that is true?"

"An absolute slave would not raise a gun at their master."

Nagisa lowers the gun.

"Is this the only power you have?"

"No, I also have the power to read people's future thoughts. Meaning I know what you are going to do before you do it. I also have the power to affect your vision. Although since becoming a code bearer, my powers are not always available to me."

He doesn't mention that when they are available they are even stronger than before.

"How many of your allies have these powers?"

Lelouch is a little stunned at the question. Obviously she has been quite observant of the situation.

"Do I need to answer that question or do you already know the answer?"

Nagisa looks at the green haired woman who has retuned to eating her pizza.

"Your wives and siblings."

"Close enough. I'm sure you can even guess what power they have from the list a presented before. But that is not the issue at hand."

Lelouch moves towards Nagisa so fast that she can't even take a step back.

Lelouch continues, "The fate of your nation and people is in your hands."

Nagisa thinks about Lelouch's comment. She can tell the Japanese government about this code bearer and geass business. If they believe her, then Britannian forces will be forced to leave Japan. The privileges extended to Britannian nationals will most likely be done away with. The end result will probably be a war between Britannia and Japan. The big problem being that neither Tohdoh nor Kouzuki can match Lelouch in a war. Not with all the experience he has even at his young age. Of course they may never actually face Lelouch not if he uses remote control drone system. In a matter of months or even days Japan will fall to Lelouch.

"Considering your options, Major Chiba," Lelouch states now hovering above her. Lelouch takes her chin in his hand, "Nagisa, you know that you have only one choice," Lelouch's lips are brushing up against her, "if you want to be happy. Isn't it time that you begin to look after your own happiness?"

Nagisa turns away. "I can't. Things are moving too fast."

Lelouch smirks, "Just as I thought. Looks like I'll have to finish what I began at the hotel."

"Wait I."

Lelouch glares into Nagisa's eyes as if peering into her soul. Nagisa drops to her knees. She realizes that no one can defeat Lelouch.

"I will do as you wish, your highness."

"Will you?"

Nagisa looks up at Lelouch and nods.

"Yes I will serve you until the end. I pledge my loyalty to you."

"Is that so? We shall see just how loyal you are."

**…(end flashback)...**

It has been over seven months since that night. Nagisa enters her apartment and heads for her room. She knows that Lelouch's plan is only in its opening stages.

* * *

**Monday, April 1, 2018 ATB, Saigon Settlement, Area 10**

It has been two months since Naoto fails in his coup attempt. After begin shot by Rakshata, Naoto manages to get away and is discovered by Colonel Madd. A few cybernetic adaptations and Naoto is good to go. At the moment he is leading Rolo and Rivalz on a reconnaissance mission in Area 10. Lelouch is in Japan with that annoying little sister of his. This probably means that Kallen is in charge of the situation here. Naoto makes his way though the jungle scavenging off the land. This visit is quiet a bit more pleasant than his last visit several years ago. His military training gives him and advantage over Rolo and Rivalz. Rolo is a specialized assassin. Rivalz is pretty much useless unless he is facing a clearly inferior opponent. Naoto is cooking some animals he caught. He would rather not think about what they are. He knows that Rivalz and Rolo are even less enthusiastic about it.

"Why can't we send Rolo in to a town to get something decent to eat?" Rivalz complains. He has been complaining almost since their arrival to Area 10. Now that he thinks about it he wonders if he should have stayed with Colonel Madd back at the Geass Order headquarters. Of course the idea of getting some revenge on Lelouch is too much to pass up.

"He will probably be recognized. I already told you," Naoto answers.

"Who cares he has his geass. He can take anybody out."

"Just eat it. We're too close to the palace to turn back now."

Rivalz continues to grumble. Rolo is quiet and pensive.

"They have those geass cancellers down there," Rolo comments.

"Rivalz and I will take care of those things. From what I can tell their best fighters are in Japan. We should be able to ge in there and cause some damage. Let's rest because tomorrow is going to be a long day."

In the morning Naoto scouts the palace grounds. Security seems pretty lax in the morning. Naoto wonder if it is because it is morning or if there is another reason. Naoto hears a noise causing him to pause. He wonders who can be out in the garden this morning.

"Oh James stop, you're spoiling the boy."

"Hmph, he is my only grandson."

Naoto freezes when he hears this.

"No, it can't be. They can't be alive."

"Ye of little faith."

Naoto turns and sees Lelouch standing only feet from him.

"How did you get here?"

"This is my home. I know how to get everywhere without getting caught,"

Naoto shakes his head.

"I mean, aren't you supposed to be in Japan?"

"Yes I am. But a few days ago I received notice of three suspicious individuals walking through the jungle so here I am. This is my country. There is nothing that happens that I do not know about."

Naoto looks over but still can't see his parents. He can hear them playing with Kallen and Lelouch's son.

"How are they here?"

"It is one of the many miracles of Britannian medical science. The question you are afraid to ask is who is responsible for their death. I think you know the answer to that."

Naoto glares at Lelouch.

"Was my grandfather involved?" Lelouch nods. Naoto eyes a small box on Lelouch's hip, "And Colonel Kusakabe."

"Yes it seems they conspired to split your father's holdings. Your grandfather assumed that the colonel's involvement would lead to a war allowing him regain your father's Japanese holdings. Kusakabe assumed that somehow the Japanese government would find a way to settle things. Of course in the end he would look like the person who stood up to Britannia. With you controlling your father's Japanese holdings, you could provide direct funds for the knightmare project."

Naoto considers what Lelouch is telling him. He decides that now is the time to act. He quickly moves and takes the box from Lelouch crushing it. Lelouch swings at Naoto knocking him to the floor. Naoto steps back for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see that Rolo and Rivalz have caught up. Naoto signals for Rolo to activate his geass so that they can capture Lelouch. Naoto moves in to wrap up Lelouch while Rolo comes in to finish him off. Even though Rolo's geass does not permanently affect Naoto, it does have a temporary effect so he has to be careful, but he still needs to hold Lelouch because the bastard may have more than one of those cancellers.

As Naoto holds Lelouch, he can see a slight smile creep up on his face. Naoto's knowledge of Rolo's geass knows that this is not possible.

"Rolo stop!" Naoto yells out but it us too late.

Lelouch pushes Naoto off and just dodges Rolo's attack. Rolo jumps back to attack knowing the danger of having Lelouch loose. Rolo manages to slash Lelouch in the stomach but the Britannian prince ignores the attack and kicks Rolo in the face. Rolo reactivates his geass despite the toll it takes on him. This time Lelouch simply blocks the attack and takes the knife away. Lelouch uses Rolo's own knife to stab him in the stomach. Lelouch looks down at his clothes.

"Damn another shirt ruined."

He rips the shirt off revealing that the wound caused by Rolo is not there. Rivalz comes over to check on Rolo and notices the code on Lelouch's chest.

"You're one of those people."

Lelouch smirks, "The three of you wouldn't have stood a chance before. You certainly don't stand a chance now."

A gun clicks behind Naoto and Rivalz causing them to turn. Kallen, Marika, and Liliana are standing there with guns.

"Like I said you don't stand a chance. You better hurry if you want Rolo to live. I'm sure the people in the village to the north will not mind lending you a hand."

Naoto takes Rolo away and quickly bandages up the wound before continuing. Their plan hinged on Rolo using his geass to get into the palace. Now that plan is not possible.

As soon as they are safely back in a nearby shed, Kallen signals for the other girls to leave. She quickly takes advantage of the situation by jumping on Lelouch. Kallen sighs as she removes the rest of Lelouch's clothes. His shirt having already been torn by Rolo's knife.

"Let's test out this unlimited stamina of yours."

"You know I have to get back to Japan."

Kallen grins, "You can go back as soon as I am worn out."

Lelouch sighs and shrugs his shoulders.

"I guess I better get to work."

* * *

Several hours later Lelouch is flying back to Japan aboard a transport. Lelouch is looking at his itinerary for the upcoming week.

"I guess I'm inspecting the Sendai base. That shouldn't take too long. I can get back to work in Tokyo. Of course they will have to believe that I am still in Sendai. This should be quite fun."

Once he gets back to Tokyo, Lelouch makes plans to visit several Britannian and Japanese military outposts. To aid with his plan he brings three little helpers.

"Let's go guys. We have lots of work to do."

"We're on it, big brother."

**Friday, April 5, 2018**

Nagisa enters her apartment. With Lelouch out of the city, she gets some time off because there isn't anything else for her to do.

"_With a week off at least I get some time to rest."_

"_We will see about that."_

Nagisa is stunned because Lelouch is standing in her apartment.

"_How did you get in here? I thought you were in Sendai."_

"_To answer your first question. I own the apartment building. As for me being Sendai inspecting the troops technically I am still doing that," _Lelouch makes his way over to Nagisa's refrigerator, _"It's a good thing I sent someone to get some groceries for you," _Lelouch smirks, _"So you have a week off from work. We'll have to find a fun a way to spend the week."_

Nagisa' face turns red at Lelouch's comment.

* * *

Ichiro is looking at the little vi Britannias. He isn't quite sure how they do it but is stunned at their ability to make everyone believe that Lelouch is here in Sendai. For security purposes his appearances are not broadcast on television, but he meets with several important officials to prove that he is there or rather Evelyn meets with them. Ichiro is quite shocked that it works. In his free time Ichiro continues to work on Lelouch's plan. It involves some carefully planned subterfuge. There are so much minute details to take care of before Lelouch finishes his plan.

* * *

Kallen is preparing for a return trip to Japan. The first part of Lelouch's plan is near completion. He needs to have the right pieces with him. The first pieces needing to be put in place are Cecile and the Irregulars. About a month ago Cecile sneaks into Japan. Now in a secret underground laboratory underneath Ashford Academy, she is completing the Irregulars' newest knightmares. She is also working on creating Titan Mirage drones. Smuggling supplies into Japan is quite easy now that Lelouch is in control of the majority of the importing companies not to mention many of the minor ports. Who's going to say anything if a few extra packages come ashore or off an airplane? It helps to give the laborers a larger than expected paycheck.

Kallen is having a staff meeting with those that are in Area 10 including Milly and the Irregulars.

"Your highness, here are the latest reports from Baroness Einstein."

Kallen looks at the latest reports of Nina's work in southern Africa.

"It seems like Nina may be more than a mere baroness soon. Have you forwarded this to the prince yet?"

"His highness asked us to give information to your highness and that your highness would know what to do with it."

"I see. I'll take care of it."

Lelouch must not want this information to get out. It is possible for the communication to be intercepted.

"Lucretia, it's time for you to go to Japan. Here give this message to Lelouch. Then do whatever you want with him until I get there."

Lucretia nods and looks down at their assignment paperwork. Alice keeps glaring at Kallen. Of course she wants to go to Japan to be with Nunnally. But Alice being Nunnally's knight is to recognizable especially after helping Nunnally put done the coup a few months ago so she will probably be the last one to go.

"Sancia, you have your objectives. Lelouch will be expecting reports from you."

Alice storms out of the room knowing Kallen isn't going to send her yet.

Dalque shakes her head, "And they call me the hothead."

"Have they finished the course yet?"

Dalque nods, "Ya pretty much. We just need a few enemies to face off against."

"You shall have them this afternoon. If there is nothings else, then the meeting is adjourned. Everyone has their mission objectives," Kallen stands up, "One more thing tell Alice that if she storms out of one of my meetings, I will break her legs. We'll see how fast she can move then."

The meeting ends. A few people converse to clear up certain assignments. Milly wobbles over to Kallen with a smile on her face.

"Well Lelouch will be glad to have the old Kallen back."

"We will see."

Milly sighs, "It is coming up, isn't it?"

Kallen nods, "Yes."

Milly walks away leaving Kallen to her thoughts. Ayame helps Kallen gather her things. They walk out of the meeting room together.

"Ayame, what do you think of what Lelouch is planning?"

Ayame looks down but keeps waking with Kallen.

"We owe our lives to him. My brother and sister trust him so I must as well."

"I see. It seems like we don't have much of choice. We have trusted him thus far. "

* * *

**Saturday, April 13, 2018**

Lelouch leaves Nagisa's apartment after spending a few days with her. In a few days he will officially return to Tokyo, but now he is planning on having some more fun. Sneaking into the hotel takes some work because his visual geass does not want to work. He manages somehow. It only takes moments for him and Lucretia to end up in the bed.

Lelouch sits up and sighs. Even after a week of almost nonstop sex with Nagisa, Lucretia, and Sancia, he is still not satisfied. He wonders exactly why. An all too familiar voice rings in his head.

'Like father like son.'

Lelouch sneers, 'Don't go comparing me to that man you stupid witch.'

'My, my isn't that a touchy subject. Still your uncle VV and aunt CC are very disappointed in you for taking advantage in these little girls.'

'Nagisa is over ten years older than me.'

"That may be but compared to us, she is a little girl. And compared to XX, she is even younger.'

'By the way have you been able to contact that bastard,'

'Tsk tsk, XX's father would not appreciate his son being called a bastard.'

Lelouch chuckles, 'XX's father has been dead for almost a thousand years. I have spoken with him in that Thought Elevator thing on Kamine Island. You still haven't told me what those ruins are about.'

'Eh who knows? If XX doesn't know, I doubt if we'll ever find out. We do know what Charles plans on doing with it.'

'Don't worry about that. I will stop them if they try to activate that thing. Besides it will take them time to gain the necessary code bearers. After Japan is mine, Russia and China will fall. With them I will have an empire to rival Britannia as well as having control over their code bearers.'

'My my little Lulu sure dreams big.'

'Just tell VV to be ready to move here.'

'Of course. Oh by the way your wife is on the way. What will she think of all the fun you're having?'

'Who do you think sent Lucretia and Sancia here? Just keep that little psycho of yours occupied. I will need him later on.'

Lucretia wakes up because Lelouch moves around while speaking with CC.

"Lucretia, I have to go back north. Don't worry I'll return in a day or two. You can probably head over to the Stadtfeld manor. Kallen will be there in a few days as well."

Lucretia nods, "Okay,"

Once more Lelouch's current active team is on its way to Japan although most of them will stay hidden. It has been almost three months since Naoto's coup attempt. Lelouch is ready to cause another coup. This time with the majority of the Japanese military participating. Lelouch is even working on tying the two coups together. After all a few months ago the Japanese Knightmare Corps, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force are separate and independent of each other. Now they are together as the Japanese Self Defense force under the control of one supreme commander, General Katase with Tohdoh as second in command. With a little help from Nagisa and Ichiro, everything will come together.

* * *

Tohdoh is sitting in his office looking over the deployment of the Japanese Self Defense Force. The military is under the careful watch of civilian observers. They have to be careful about their every move. To make matters worse there have been rumors that General Katase has been asked to retire. The old man is one of the few relics from a bygone era in Japanese history. Meaning the man remembers what life was like under a Japanese emperor. After the humiliation of the Russo-Japanese war and the combined Chinese-Britannian effort in the Pacific War, the emperor is forced to abdicate. In fact the imperial family is taken hostage so that no one gets any ideas. Soon after that Japan and Britannia make defense treaties due to Japan's sakuradite.

"_General, Colonel Chiba is here to see you." _

Tohdoh looks down at the mountain of paperwork on his desk.

"_Send her in."_

He will get back to his work later. He does wonder what Colonel Chiba is doing here on Saturday afternoon. Even though her week off technically ends today, he is not expecting her to come until Monday morning. Chiba walks in with a worried look on her face.

"_Colonel Chiba, take a seat. I must admit that I am surprised to see you here today."_

Chiba looks at the general nervously. Tohdoh remembers a few years ago Senba mentioning that some of the younger female officers including Chiba are enamored with Tohdoh. He doesn't pay much attention to it since they are in the military which leaves little time for a personal life.

"_General, there is something I need to show you."_

Chiba hands Tohdoh some papers. Tohdoh sighs as he takes them. He glances down at the papers already on his desk. He is hoping that Chiba of all people will have mercy on him, but it seems that is not the case. He wonders what she finds that cannot wait until Monday. Tohdoh begins to flip through the papers and realizes that they are not simply reports on units that are not obeying the new regulations.

"_Colonel Chiba, may I ask how you acquired this information."_

Chiba blushes, _"It took a few years to gain the right amount of trust. Then I simply had to look in the right place."_

Tohdoh grimaces, _"If these are true, things are going to get more complicated."_

Chiba turns her head.

"_You have done nothing wrong, Colonel. I will, however, have to make a few phone calls to check on the information here. If I need anything else, I will call you."_

Chiba leaves Tohdoh's office. He looks over the papers she brought once more. As he reaches for the phone, it rings. With his secretary getting the weekend off, all calls go directly to him. Tohdoh pauses for a moment because he doesn't want to get tied up talking with someone about something mundane. He bites the bullet and answers the phone.

"_This is General Tohdoh's office. I am quite busy at the moment so please."_

"_Kyoshiro, it me."_

Tohdoh is startled for a moment.

"_General Katase."_

"_It is imperative that you come to Kirihara-dono's Tokyo home at once."_

Tohdoh looks over at the time and notices that it is late in the day.

"_Yes sir."_

Tohdoh gather Chiba's papers and a few others that he thinks are important and heads out. Like Katase, Kirihara is a relic from a bygone era. Tohdoh enters the house slowly. He sees a few other older gentlemen, civilian and military, sitting. It appears that he is the last one to enter. Once he is seated the doors are closed.

Kirihara begins the meeting, _"It seems that we are all here. By the looks on everyone's face, I can see that you are wondering what we are doing here. General Tohdoh, you seem to have something on your mind."_

Tohdoh hands Kirihara the papers he received from Chiba. Kirihara carefully goes over the papers.

"_This is quite troubling indeed. But it does match the information we received from Major Futaba."_

Kirihara brings out his own set of papers.

"_It appears that our Britannian friends and the Kururugi administration have been conspiring behind out backs." _

Tohdoh is a little stunned. Chiba's papers simply stated the possibility of Lelouch vi Britannia owning several key Japanese companies. There seems to be several layers of holding companies, and it is possible that the Kururugi administration turns a blind eye to the acquisitions but to say that the government conspired against Japan. This last thought is unthinkable. If it is true, then it is treason of the highest level. If it is false then this meeting is treason. The more Tohdoh looks at the information, the more afraid he becomes for Japan's future.

Kirihara continues, _"I am sure that you all agree that we cannot let this stand. If we wait any longer Japan will be bought up by Britannia_. _We must put a stop to this treachery."_

* * *

**Saturday, April 27, 2018**

Everything is in place for Taizo Kirihara. With the information provided by Major Futaba and Colonel Chiba, the old guard is finally ready to move. Those two will be in line for another promotion once the new Japan is reborn. He does wish that Kouzuki would have waited. With the combined strength of the Self Defense Force and Knightmare Corps, the Kururugi government doesn't stand a chance. Sawasaki's misguided attempt to gain foreign help is unfortunate. If Kouzuki simply rises on his own and comes to the elders, then perhaps they can be successful. But none of that matters now. Kirihara receives the signal he has been waiting for.

"_It is time start the broadcast."_

"Checkmate," Lelouch states as Taizo Kirihara appear on TV, "To think that man thinks he can defeat me at this game when he could never beat me before. Tsk tsk."

During his time in Japan, Lelouch met often with Taizo Kirihara. Lelouch being one of the few Britannians who takes the time to learn shogi. After a few lessons, Lelouch becomes nearly unbeatable at the game. But that is simply a game with little consequence. The one that is about to start will determine the fate of the world.

"Cut the broadcast," Lelouch stands up and walks to his knightmare, "Activate the Titan Mirage drone system."

Schniezel is looking over the latest of Colonel Madd's cyborg, Rolo. Kannon has been looking into Bartley and Madd's research. Soon Schniezel will no longer need the colonel's assistance. He will be able to build his own army of geass cancelling cyborg to combat Lelouch's army of geass users. Kouzuki has already been deployed to assess the situation in Japan. If Lelouch gets control of its sakuradite supply, then no one will be able to defeat him. Not to mention these tests being conducted by the Einstein girl in Africa. Those might be extremely dangerous. He looks on as Rolo's final cybernetic parts are being put on. Schniezel thinks about the situation.

"Lelouch, Cornelia, and the emperor can only bring war and division. With this I can finally bring peace to the world."

* * *

Author's note: Here is some key information about Chiba and Ichiro's roll. Chiba's information relates to Lelouch buying up lots of Japanese companies including several important ones that Japanese people consider sacred to their culture and nation. Ichiro's information is similar but also includes information on Lelouch's involvement in the early stages of the Japanese knightmare project. Both have information on spies that Lelouch has in Japan. Which I suppose is ironic because they are basically incriminating themselves. Ichiro not being involved in combat and being a little more than a glorified secretary is put in charge of capturing Lelouch's spies. So he basically has to catch himself. He just locks up random soldiers that hold key positions.

Their roles are more than to simply provide Kirihara and company with information to push them over the edge. I will state it outright here since I may forget to do it next chapter. Ichiro was Naoto's assistant, and Naoto was once Katase's assistant as well as Kusakabe's second in command. This means that Ichiro has access to those people's personal files. He just has to be careful about it. Tohdoh like most older people has an aversion to personal technology so at some point in the past Chiba and Shogo took care of Tohdoh's technological needs. Having access to the major players in Japan, Chiba and Ichiro can make it look like they have been conspiring for years. Each event is simply to test the resolve of Britannia/Lelouch. Of course they still have to stop Katase and Kirihara's revolt to make it work.

While it now seems useless, at the time Suzaku and Euphemia's marriage made sense. I was going to in a different direction with it but changed my mind. I was going to kill Rolo off but decided to make him a cyborg as well. Now the real war for Japan begins. There might be some big knightmare battles in the next chapter. Ti depends on how things go.

I've talked a little about the changing rolls in this story. Kallen and Gino are in the Suzaku roll as Lelouch's first real friends. Gino will be getting into season 2 Suzaku mode soon. Kallen will become more like season 2 Kallen. The biggest difference is that Lelouch trusts her more than he trusts himself. So this changes things completely. Chiba and Sayoko are kind of like season 1 Kallen. The biggest difference is that Lelouch tells the truth when they discover that something is out of the ordinary with him. Lelouch trusting people over than CC is basically the biggest difference maker in the story. This is a result, of course, of not losing his mother and being exiled. Obviously now he doesn't trust his parents because he knows what they are up to.


	71. The war for Japan begins

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

During and after Kaguya's speech the POV changes a bit and there is not divider. I hope it is understandable.

...

Speak softly but carry a big stick

...

If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness.

Theodore Roosevelt

* * *

**Saturday, April 27, 2018, Tokyo**

Naoto grimaces as he sees Taizo Kirihara's face disappear from the television screen only to be replaced by Prime Minister Kururugi.

"_Those fools think they can tangle with Lelouch. Ichiro probably lead them into this situation. I wonder who else is siding with Lelouch." _

The prime minister ends his speech. The odd thing is that he doesn't seem to be under the control of any sort of geass. Naoto wonders if he is just a traitor or ignorant of what is going on around him. After all Japan is seemingly prosperous. What politician would mess with that? Naoto makes his way to Shinjuku where he is sure that Ohgi and the others are hiding out. Naoto wonders if they can provide any help. Luckily, for Naoto, no one disturbs his secret stash of knightmares.

"_So you came back."_

"_Ohgi, is that you?"_

Naoto moves carefully to the sound of the voice. Ohgi looks stunned and pleased to see Naoto.

"_I'm glad to see you again, Naoto, even if you look a little weird."_

"_A little weird. He looks like something out of a manga."_

Tamaki, Minami, and Sugiyama walk up behind Ohgi.

Naoto grins, "_So you guys are hiding here."_

Ohgi answers, "_Well it makes sense. There are knightmares for us to defend ourselves. Not to mention the fact that you stashed money here."_

Naoto nods, _"Ya I guess it makes sense."_

Ohgi looks a bit concerned, _"What are you going to do now?"_

"_I don't care who wins this little battle between the old guard and Kururugi. In the end, Britannia will just pick up the pieces. I do want to get back at those that betrayed us before."_

The others look at Naoto and nod. Besides what else can they do?

* * *

Taizo Kirihara has been frantically trying to get back on the air. He has been successful in part but most of Japan has yet to hear his reasoning for starting this coup while all of Japan and the surrounding islands have heard Kururugi.

"_Kirihara-dono, the VIPs are here."_

"_Good send them in," _Kirihara smiles, _"At least something has gone according to plan."_

A big part of the plan is to have Suzaku and Kaguya be the faces of the coup. With that done, all of Japan will soon accept the coup. Kirihara has already selected spouses for them from some leading Japanese families. Their children will be the new nobility of a renewed expansionist Japan. In time, a new emperor will be crowned. Kirihara does not intend to take the crown himself. He will only be the caretaker for a few years until Suzaku or Kaguya accept the inevitable. Suzaku and Kaguya are brought into the room. They do not appear to be too happy about the situation.

"_You two may not be happy about what is going on but one day you will understand."_

Suzaku answers, _"Is that so? I am afraid that you will never understand what happened here."_

Kirihara's vision goes blurry, and his other senses for haywire for a few seconds. Suddenly standing before him are a Britannian boy and girl. The door opens and another boy enters followed by Major Futaba.

"_Who are you?"_

"_Evelyn."_

_Castor."_

"_And Pollux. That guys is Ichiro, but he's not important."_

Kirihara points at them.

"_You are the little vi Britannias."_

Evelyn answers, _"Yes."_

Kirihara still does not understand how they got here but does know that he holds even better hostages than Suzaku and Kaguya.

"_Hostages, don't make me laugh. As if someone like you could hold these little monsters as hostages. No, the truth is that they now have you as a prisoner."_

A white haired albino with headphones is standing by the door with a green haired woman. She is holding a pizza box. Kirihara looks towards the door.

"_Don't worry about your guards. The major and these little monsters took care of them."_

"_What do you want?"_

Evelyn smiles, _"Big brother said that you taught him how to play shogi. I would like to play you. If you win, then Britannian forces will leave Japan. If I win, then we kill you. What happens after that should be of no concern to you."_

Kirihara has never played a game with such stakes. If he refuses to play, he will most likely die. If he manages to win, then they win the war. Without Britannian aide, the Kururugi government will not last. He points towards a board at the end of the room. Kirihara wonders when is the last time he fears a seven-year-old girl.

The game is not going well for Kirihara. He wonders who will perform the task of killing him. The obvious answer is Major Futaba.

"_So major, you are happy being a traitor to your people?"_

Evelyn glares at Kirihara. _"Don't answer that Ichiro. Quit stalling old man. Besides your side is the one that is going to get lots of Japanese people killed."_

"_Why would you say that?"_ Kirihara asks as he decides to move back on the offensive.

"_You're the one using Japanese soldiers to fight Japanese people. You also have not taken into account what the consequence of taking away Suzaku from my big sister. I mean Nunnally, of course,"_

"_What do you mean by that?"_

Evelyn smirks, _"You and your allies seem to be under the impression that the Britannian soldiers stationed here in Japan are third rate garrison troops. In reality, those soldiers are my brother's seasoned veterans. Survivors of the invasion of Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. People who helped my brother put down rebellions in Areas 10, 11, and 13. Their officers attended West Point with my brother. He knows and trusts them better than he knows and trusts himself. They have their orders. The moment one of your allies foolishly attacks one of the Britannian bases, it is all over," _Evelyn looks down at the board, _"I think this game is about finished."_

Ichiro raises his gun to finish off Kirihara. Suddenly he is hit from behind by Rivalz who proceeds to knock Ichiro out.

"Nibbles."

"And I was beginning to like you Dribbles now who knows."

"Be quiet you little brats. My name is Rivalz. Don't even try to use your geass on me because it won't work," Rivalz laughs, "Looks like I have three prisoners that Lelouch will give anything for."

"Shut up you moron. I was hoping to catch Kouzuki with this, but you will do."

Rivalz moves to grab Evelyn when his body freezes.

"What? What is this?"

Evelyn answers, "Gefjun disturber."

Kirihara stares in awe, "When was this thing put in my house?"

"Does it matter? Both you and Rivalz will end here. Let's go, boys. Mao, CC, help Ichiro out."

"Don't worry about me, your highness. I am not too badly hurt."

"Very well. Shoot Kirihara in the legs while we set the explosives."

Kirihara shivers as Major Futaba shoots his knees. He cannot believe such ruthlessness can come in such a small package. As he falls, he looks towards Rivalz.

"You Britannian boy. When the explosives hit, these Gefjun disturber things will be destroyed along with the house. You will have small window to escape. If you crave revenge that is your only chance."

* * *

Suzaku, Nunnally, and Alice are waiting in front of the Japanese government buildings. Sayoko is somewhere nearby waiting for anyone unfortunate enough to be traveling on foot. Unlike Naoto, Kirihara and Katase will not pass up the opportunity to take the prime minister as soon as possible.

"I'm tracking several knightmare moving in. They're coming in fast. Get ready Nunners."

Nunnally looks at her scanners and sees about a dozen knightmare heading straight for them with several more coming from the other directions.

Alice scowls, "Damn these guys aren't leaving anything to chance."

Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque are on the other side of the building. Besides the six of them, there are about ten knightmares to provide backup. Most of the military joins this revolt but there are still a few loyal units, mostly civilian reserves.

"Your highness, we're tracking several dozen knightmares heading in this direction. Most of them seem to be Akatsukis," Sancia comments.

"Time to bust some heads," Dalque adds.

"I think it's about time for Kagy to make her announcement," Nunnally states.

"_My name is Sumeragi Kaguya. This is a message to all Japanese people. For the past few months the military and members of the government have been conspiring against the Japanese people."_

Nunnally charges the attacking knightmares, "Come on. Let's finish these guys."

Suzaku shakes his head, "Nunners, wait for Sancia and Lucretia's information."

"There's not time for that. These guys are coming in hard and fast," Nunnally pulls out her MVS, "I'll show these jerks how it's done."

Kaguya continues, _"With the help of loyal elements we have several pages of communications from Colonel Kusakabe and Generals Kouzuki, Tohdoh, and Katase as well Kirihara Taizo. These communications show months of planning and scheming. Amongst their more nefarious crimes are embezzling finds meant for defense and many civil projects. Now they are orchestrating another coup meant to discredit the legally elected government, and to drive a wedge between us and our long time ally Britannia." _

Tohdoh is watching Kaguya's speech from his knightmare. He slams his fist against the side.

"_Damn. Kirihara was supposed to secure Kaguya and Suzaku."_

Tohdoh is a little upset to be worrying about formality. Suzaku getting away he can understand because he trained the boy well, but Kaguya does not make any sense. How did she get away? Not to mention the fact that Kirihara gives the signal that both Suzaku and Kaguya are secure. Either he lied to start the revolt or he is lied to. In any event it has become a war of words now. Tohdoh is confident that they can win the actual battle, but how will things appear afterwards. If the confidence of the public is gone how will the new government stand?

Tohdoh knows that everyone in this new alliance has a different mindset about the future. Kirihara wishes for a return of the emperor with either Suzaku or Kaguya's children taking the throne. While Katase and some of the more senior military men want a military dictatorship. One thing that both sides want is Britannia out and a renewed Japanese Empire. This will probably draw Japan into a war with the three major world powers. Kaguya appears to be ending her speech when there is an explosion at the edge of the residential sector.

"_What was that?" _Tohdoh looks over at the several more explosion take place.

"_General Tohdoh, it appears to be in the vicinity of Kirihara-dono's residence."_

"_Kirihara?"_

"_Therefore I, Kaguya yama Britannia ask for my husband, Lelouch vi Britannia, to assist the Japanese people in putting down this rebellion against its sovereignty."_

Lelouch smirks as he sits in his knightmare, "That wish has been answered. Activate the Titan Mirage drone system. Release the drones. "

"_General Tohdoh, several dozen knightmare are pouring out of Ashford Academy."_

Tohdoh looks at his own sensors, _"Are they standard knightmares?"_

"_From the way they are reacting on the monitors, they appear to be drones," Chiba _answers.

"_What is the range for controlling the drones?"_

Chiba thinks about it for a few moments, _"Several kilometers, but this amount of drones would require a lot of control and relay centers."_

"_They could store them at Ashford Academy.'_

"_That is true but from their movement; I would say that they are being controlled by one person."_

Tohdoh contorts his face as more knightmares come out of Ashford Academy.

"_There must be at least four dozen knightmares out there. Who can possibly be controlling all their movements?"_

Chiba smirks and says to herself, _"There is one man, Lelouch vi Britannia."_

"_General Tohdoh, we are taking severe damage from the knightmares coming out of Ashford."_

"_General Tohdoh, the forces protecting the government building are retreating. Our men say that there is no one inside but a few guards."_

Tohdoh hates this sort of warfare, moving through a city. There are too many places to hide. Things are much simpler in the open field. If they stay and fight here, much of Tokyo will be damaged.

"_There is no point in remaining within the city. The prime minister is not here. If we stay we will only hurt civilians. But we must find the prime minister as soon as possible."_

Lelouch sneers, "So Tohdoh think he can escape, does he. I'll have to show him how wrong he is. Groups A and C seal the major routes out of the city. Group B attack, Groups D and E surround the enemy."

Lelouch's drones move the instant he thinks the commands.

Nunnally slices through an enemy knightmare.

"I thought these guys would be tougher."

"I think the remaining old knightmare corps guys are outside of the city near the Britannian base. They don't trust them enough to keep them in the city," Suzaku comments.

"Who cares about that stuff? Let's just kick butt!" Dalque screams as she smashes into an enemy knightmare.

"I agree with Dalque. First one to destroy thirty gets a kiss from Suzaku," Alice states.

Nunnally yells, "What!"

"Fine then Lelouch."

"Stay away from by big brother, you skeezers."

"A kiss from Lelouch would be nice," Lucretia remarks excitedly.

Alice grins, "Come on Lucretia. You and Lelouch have done more than just kiss."

Nunnally covers her ears, "Stop talking about my big brother like that, you dirty skanks. "

"Maybe you girls should stop arguing and start fighting. I'm getting pretty tired of fighting these bastards on my own," Suzaku complains

"Pipe down Suzu. This is girl stuff."

"Suzaku is right. You girls need to concentrate."

Nunnally looks confused at the voice, "Big brother, is that you? How did you get on here?"

Lelouch face palms, "We're on the same side Nunnally so of course I can hear what you guys are saying."

Nunnally sighs, "I know that. What I meant is, aren't you supposed controlling the drones?"

"Oh that, they follow my thoughts. I have thought up fourteen different battle plans. Each with five different variations. This doesn't take into account thirty different attack plans I have for the entire group here. Not to mention the two dozen plans that involve the troops from the garrisons."

The others gasp in amazement. Nunnally sighs, "Sheesh you don't have to show off."

"Well you asked. Just get back into the battle."

* * *

General Katase looks on as his plan begins to fall apart. Things are not going the way they are supposed to. First Kirihara fails in capturing Suzaku and Kaguya. Secondly there are the prime minister and Kaguya's speeches. Thirdly is perhaps the worst. The fact that no one important is in the government building.

"_General Katase, several Akatsukis are heading towards the government buildings."_

Katase looks at his monitors.

"_Are they reserves?"_

"_Sir I am not sure. They do not seem to be responding to any of our messages."_

That seems odd to Katase because even knightmares loyal to the government will respond in some fashion.

"_Where are they heading?"_

"_Like I said, general, straight for the government buildings." _

Katase realizes what is going on and slams his fist.

"_Tell Tohdoh to stop them at all costs. They must not reach the government buildings."_

Katase hopes that his fears are wrong, but he suspects that those Akatsukis are going to kamikaze attack the government buildings. If they are successful, it is possible that Katase's group will be blamed for the death of the prime minister. That cannot happen. Even though they are involved in a military coup, Katase wants Kururugi to turn over control.

* * *

Lelouch sits back enjoying the havoc he is causing. Until now no one is bothering to attack Ashford Academy. By now they must suspect that the drones are being controlled from here. It gives Lelouch an advantage because his drones are going to do more damage than he expects. He sends his kamikaze drones to do their job. Lelouch notices some little people walking through the knightmare hangar.

"About time you little midgets show up. Get to work you munchkins."

"Aye."

"I'm going out in the Shinikiro."

Lelouch takes his knightmare out. Evelyn and the twins take their place in front of their controls. The twins crack their knuckles.

"Look at all the bad guys."

"Ya it gets me fired up."

"Aye sir."

* * *

Tohdoh has lost a good portion of his force thanks to Lelouch's kamikaze drones.

"_So are we going to get involved in this or what?" _an anxious Urabe asks.

"_It appears that we have no choice," _Tohdoh answers, _"Let's move. We have to break the Britannian forces near the government building."_

"_Sounds like a plan to me," _Senba comments.

"_Finally get to see some action," _Chiba adds.

"_Don't get to cocky. Those Britannian brats know that they are doing," _Shogo remarks.

Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords approach carefully. About two hundred yards in front of them are Nunnally, Suzaku, and the Irregulars.

"Sancia, Lucretia stay back. Let us handle these jerks."

"Yes your highness."

Tohdoh notices that two knightmares are standing back while four come forward.

"_Those two must be observers."_

It makes sense to have a few knightmares stand back watching for any patterns in the movements of the enemy. A great knightmare pilot can make their knightmare move in a human-like manner. This makes them susceptible to using patterns in their attacks.

"_Colonel Chiba, you've studied the Britannians longer than the rest of us. Stay back and look for any patterns in their attacks. If those two that are in the back join the battle, come in."_

"_Yes sir," _there is an audible growl in her voice.

Nunnally studies the situation, "I'll take the leader," Nunnally disregards Suzaku and Alice's pleas to stop.

Nunnally charges forward with her MVS, but several slash harkens shoot out at her. Standing to Nunnally's right is a black knightmare with eight snake-like slash harkens on its head.

"_Your knightmare's cute. It makes me want to mess it up."_

Nunnally grins, _"After I finish with you, I'll take down Sensei Tohdoh." _

"_You're that confident."_

"_It isn't hard to be confident when you're this good. _Alice, Dalque take out the four eyes and the old guy. Leave Tohdoh for Suzu. I will teach Urabe-san the difference between piloting a knightmare and being a knightmare pilot."

"Is that so little girl? Then let's begin," Urabe fires his slash harkens at Nunnally.

Dalque approaches a samurai looking knightmare.

"_A pleasure to meet you young lady. I am Senba Ryoga."_

Dalque scowls, "Why do I get the old guy? Hey Alice, let me fight the four eyes," But Alice and Shogo are already engaged in battle, "Oh man I won't feel like fight some old Japanese dude."

Suddenly a katana like sword comes straight at Dalque. She has to use all her strength to stop it.

"_You shouldn't be distracted, young lady."_

Dalque activates her geass and pushes Senba back. He quickly fires from his arm cannon hitting her. Dalque steps back a bit and wipes the blood form her lip.

"So he can fight. I guess I'll have to step it up."

Alice is trying to fight Shogo without using her geass.

"This is harder than I thought it would be."

Shogo smirks, _"Not as easy as you brats thought it would be."_

Alice grins, "_Does it matter if you beat us or we beat you? Because once Lelouch and Kallen arrive, you won't stand a chance."_

"_Then we'll have to finish you off before then."_

Alice licks her lips in anticipation, _"Bring it on."_

* * *

Lelouch and Kallen are slowly flying towards the battle.

"Once Tohdoh is defeated, the rest will fall."

"How soon will your other forces leave their bases?"

"Ichiro should be getting around to that at the moment. Kaguya has already given us permission to attack."

"Do you want me to go lead that attack?"

"No, all conditions are clear here. We will allow a Britannian army led by Kaguya to do their job. It will show all of Japan her power. But we must defeat Tohdoh."

Lelouch and Kallen continue their flight. Villetta, Marika, and Liliana follow them. They arrive as Nunnally and her group is battling Tohdoh and the Holy Swords.

"Isn't this interesting? I thought for sure that Nunnally would be battling Tohdoh," Lelouch smirks, "Hey Nunnally, are you guys done or do you need for us to give you a hand?"

Tohdoh finally notices Lelouch approaching the battle.

"_When did they get here?"_

"_Allow me to introduce knightmare frame Shinikiro or Titan Mirage. It comes equipped with a few extras that no other knightmare has. Would you like me to show you?"_

"Hey big brother, stay out of this. This is our fight!" Nunnally fights as she charges Urabe.

Lelouch sighs, "As you wish but this battle has become quite boring."

The battle continues between Nunnally and her group and Tohdoh and the Holy Swords.

Lelouch's communicator begins to beep

"Your highness."

"It's about time Ichiro. Are you moving yet?"

"Yes your highness, Shinozaki-san has just brought Kaguya-sama."

"Just keep me informed. I am about to finish things here," Lelouch smirks, "Nagisa, how does the title Duchess of Edo strike you."

Tohdoh turns to face Chiba who is raising her knightmare's hand gun.

"Nagisa, finish this now."

There is a slight silence.

"Yes your highness."

Shogo turns to face Chiba, "Nagisa, don't," He charges towards her, but Alice activates her geass and cuts him off.

"Your fight is with me."

Urabe fires his slash harkens at Chiba. Nunnally slashes them down one by one.

"_Where do you think you're going?"_

Chiba prepares to fire at Tohdoh who is being held in place by Suzaku.

"NIPPON BANZAI!"

The scream resonates throughout the battle field. Several Akatsukis join the battle.

Lelouch smiles, "Ah new participants. Now I'm all fired up."

"KAA! Aye."

Lelouch shakes his head. "Kallen and Milly allow you guys to watch too much anime. You three finish off whatever rebel elements are left in the city. Kaguya should be making her grand entrance soon."

"Aye sir."

Naoto, his friends, and some of his old knightmare brigade come in to back Tohdoh up. Naoto moves into finish Chiba off but is blocked by Kallen.

"Why don't you ever stay DEAD!"

Naoto grins, "Why don't you try dying for once?"

Naoto fires the baryon cannon from his renovated Shen Hu. Kallen blocks it with her radiant wave.

Lelouch sighs, "Looks like my Kalli found someone to play with," Lelouch looks down at Naoto's friends, "Villetta, Marika, Liliana, I'll handle the rest of these guys. Just make sure no one leaves this battle."

"_This Brit bastard is cocky. I'll teach him a lesson myself."_

"_Tamaki, don't go in alone. You don't know what this guy is capable of."_

"_Are you afraid, Ohgi? We're here to help. If we take down the leader, then everyone else will go down to!" _Tamaki screams as he rushes Lelouch.

"_Ah who is fool who rushes towards his death? Doesn't he realize that I am the world's greatest knightmare pilot in the world greatest knightmare while he is a fourth rate hack in a second rate knightmare."_

Tamaki lets out a yell as he jabs his revolving blade sword towards Lelouch's chest. Lelouch activates his absolute defense shield trapping Tamaki's knightmare.

"_What is this?"_

Lelouch waves his hand in the air and put it under his chin.

"_Oh this. It is my absolute defense shield. It keeps anything from going in or out. And for some poor schmuck like yourself, it traps you within. For those unfortunate souls, I have prepared this." _

Lelouch fires his Diffusion Structure Phase Transition (Zero) Cannon obliterating Tamaki's knightmare.

Ohgi gasps, _"Tamaki, Tamaki's dead."_

"_Don't worry, Ohgi Kaname, you will be next. In fact none of you shall survive this battle. I shall see to it personally."_

Naoto struggles to catch his breath. His fight with Kallen is taking a toll even on his cybernetic body.

"_What kind of monster is Lelouch that he so casually kills?"_

Lelocuh smirks as he flies down to kill the rest of Naoto's friends, "_What you should be asking is what kind of monster is Kallen that she is able to fight you evenly with that new cybernetic body of yours. According to Rakshata that Shen Hu of yours is no joke. Now to finish off the rest of you pathetic friends."_

Naoto is unable to move to aid his friends because Kallen is holding him back. Lelouch uses the prisms that are part of his Zero Cannon destroying the rest of Naoto's friends. Lelouch turns to face Tohdoh and the others.

"_I guess you're next." _

Everyone is exhausted from the battle.

Tohdoh is gasping for air as he tries to keep up with Suzaku.

"_We can't keep this up all day."_

Lelouch floats over the battlefield points his wrist hadron cannons at Tohdoh.

"Villetta, take care of the soldiers coming up to help. Suzaku, Nunnally, I will finish this battle."

Urabe sneers, "_This Brit bastard has a lot of spunk. Sure he finished off those punks back there, but they were nothing but civilians playing soldier."_

"_Be careful. We have taken damage while he has not," Senba warns, "Besides we don't know anything about that knightmare."_

Nunnally, Alice, and Dalque pull back.

"Come on Suzu, let big brother handle this."

Suzaku is unsure about leaving Tohdoh for Lelouch to finish, but he does as Nunnally tells him to. Tohdoh rushes after him.

"_Kururugi, you damn puppet!"_

A blast from Lelouch's hadron cannon stops him.

"_Don't worry about Suzaku. You should concern yourself with me."_

Lelouch lands in front of Tohdoh.

"_Let's see four on one, that's about right."_

"_Let me take this cocky bastard on my own," _Urabe pleads.

"_I think we need to all attack at the same time," _Senba comments.

"_I agree," _Asahina adds.

Tohdoh nods, _"Very well. You know what to do."_

Tohdoh and the Holy Swords begin to spin around Lelouch.

"Your highness, I will help you," Chiba states.

"_No, stay where you are Colonel Chiba or should I say Duchess of Edo," _Lelouch sneers, _"Their pitiful attempt is of no concern." _

"_Why you cocky bastard, take this!" _Urabe screams as the four Japanese soldier attack Lelouch with their revolving sword blades.

Lelouch activates his absolute defense shield trapping them

"_I take it that you were not paying attention top my battle with Tamaki"_

Lelouch blasts at them with his arm hadron cannons destroying their swords and arms. Lelouch pulls out his own MVS and releases the shield.

"_Lets end this now," _Lelouch spins his swords around, _"Now who to kill first? I guess it doesn't matter."_

Lelouch trusts his sword at the nearest knightmare only to be stopped by a slash harken from above.

"What the hell is that thing? It looks like a retarded version of the Siegfried or perhaps it is the pilot that is retarded."

"Shut up, you freaking psycho," Rivalz manages to sputter out.

Lelouch smirks, "It's definitely the pilot.

Rivalz growls, "I'm going to finish you off here, Lelouch."

"Really I'm surprised you can even stand considering the Gefjun Disturber and the explosion."

Rivalz attacks Lelouch with his slash harkens which he calmly traps with his defense shield.

"Looks like I got you trapped, Nibbles."

Rivals grins, "That's what you think"

Rivalz slams his prototype Siegfried into Lelouch defense shield and blows himself up. Lelouch tries to redirect his shield but is still pushed back.

"_General, perhaps should make our exit," _Senba states.

Tohdoh looks on as a small blue ball explodes pushing Lelouch back. He can see that Nunnally and Suzaku are on their way back.

"_Yes we should."_

Chiba sees them trying to escape and moves to block their path.

"_I will not let you escape."_

A small brown ball slams its slash harkens down at Chiba's knightmare. She barely dodges, but Asahina hits her from behind.

"_How does that feel, eh Nagisa?"_

Rolo moves his prototype Siegfried to help Naoto out with Kallen.

"Let's go before that monster recovers."

Naoto looks over to Lelouch's barely unscathed knightmare which is now moving forward once more. Rivalz is crawling out of his destroyed knightmare. His injuries are visible and fatal. Lelouch simply walks over and steps on Rivalz.

"That worm gets what he deserves."

Naoto's mouth is agape, "There's no way you can be that cold. That guy was your friend."

Lelouch glares, "Shouldn't you be running?"

Naoto sees that Tohdoh and the remaining Holy Swords are making a run for it with Suzaku and Nunnally pursuing them. A few Akatsukis come towards Naoto. It is the remaining members of his knightmare brigade.

"_General, perhaps you should leave as well. We'll hold them off as long as we can."_

Lelouch audibly scoff at the comment.

Naoto sighs, _"Fine. Just try to stay alive."_

Naoto flies the Shen Hu up to Rolo's knightmare.

Lelouch sneers, _"Don't worry about your friends, onii-san. I'll kill them all." _

Naoto tries to go back down, but Rolo wraps him up and carries him away.

"Let me go. I have to help them."

Lelouch destroys the knightmares of Naoto's old brigade. He doesn't let any of them get out alive.

"Well that was boring."

Kallen sighs, "You're such a baby."

"Maybe I should chase after Tohdoh."

"Don't be silly. You need to stay here and wait for Kaguya."

"But that's no fun."

"Like I said you're such a baby."

"Fine Villetta, Marika, Liliana, go help Nunnally and Suzaku get Tohdoh."

Kallen nods, "Come on, let's go."

Lelouch sighs because he is left behind to wait for Kaguya and her army which is really Lelouch's army.

Lelouch pouts, "No fair. I didn't even get to use my swords."

"Baby."

* * *

Tohdoh and Urabe are leading the way out while Senba and Asahina guard the rear. It doesn't take long for Chiba to catch up to them. Her knightmare being in almost pristine condition gives her an advantage. Suzaku and Nunnally are following closely. Not to mention the fact that the kids' drones are lurking nearby. They can see Rolo and Naoto flying through the air.

"_Damn at this rate, we're just going to get captured or killed," _Tohdoh states.

"_This is General Katase Tatewaki. I order all forces in rebellion against the Japanese government to surrender. We have lost. You have fifteen minutes to do so."_

Tohdoh grimaces, _"So it's all over, Just like that."_

Tohdoh knows that it isn't really over. If they manage to escape into the countryside, from there they can direct still rebellious units in guerilla warfare. But to what end. If they do that, they will be considered terrorists. With Katase out of the way, Tohdoh must take control of the situation, but that has never been his strong suit.

Naoto shakes his head at Katase's announcement. The old fool must be captured. That is the only reasonable explanation. The old fool is probably on his way to the government buildings without bothering to check on the situation.

"_Tohdoh, follow us. It is your only way out."_

Tohdoh isn't sure if he can trust Naoto, but they really don't have any other choice.

"_Where are we heading?"_

"_Shinjuku, from there we can head towards the dock. I have a few naval ships waiting for me there. I know a few friendly people in the navy. We will have enough ships to transport whoever comes." _

Tohdoh nods, _"This is General Kyoshiro Tohdoh. Form this moment forward I am the leading general of the Japanese Self Defense Force. All individuals that wish to continue the fight against the traitorous Kururugi regime reform in Shinjuku."_

"_I don't think so!" _Chiba yells launching her knightmare at Tohdoh, but she is stopped by Senba, _"You old geezer get out of my way! My honor requires me to capture Tohdoh."_

Senba derides her, _"You have no honor. You, who betrayed your own people."_

Chiba laughs, _"You're the ones who rebelled against the Japanese government to establish a military dictatorship. Do you really believe that either Kirihara or Katase were going to allow democracy to return? Don't make me laugh."_

Senba can see Nunnally leading the others in their pursuit of Tohdoh's group. It should take them a few minutes to get here.

"_Kyoshiro, Kosetsu, Shogo, you three need to get out of here."_

Urabe looks confused, _"What are you talking about old man? We're a team."_

Senba pushes Chiba back, "_Yes, we are a team. Chiba, I hear that your prince loves to play chess," _Chiba grits her teeth as she struggles to get out of Senba's grip, _"Here allow me to demonstrate my favorite chess move, the Queen's sacrifice. Now run my old friend!"_

Chiba gasps and pulls her eject button just as Senba blows himself up.

Tohdoh opens in mouth in alarm, _"Senba! Eject!" _

A second escape pod flies through the air. Unfortunately it flies in the wrong direction.

_"General, we have to get out of here or Senba's death will de wasted,"_ Urabe comments.

Tohdoh and the remaining Holy Swords make their escape.

Nunnally and Suzaku arrive at Chiba and Senba's destroyed knightmares.

Nunnally complains, "Ah man they got away. There's probably too many of them in Shinjuku for us to fight especially since our knightmares are in such crappy condition.

Suzaku sighs because Nunnally shows some common sense, "Let's go back, Nunners. We should probably pick up Chiba and Senba."

"I guess at least we got one of those guys. Too bad it's the old fat guy."

Senba sneezes as he sits in his escape pod.

* * *

**Saturday, May 4, 2018, Tokyo **

Despite the fact that the war is still raging in a few places, the temporary government of Japan declares the situation restored. General Katase and the other captured leaders are executed. Everything from the destruction of downtown Tokyo and the death of Genbuu Kururugi is blamed on them. Those few loyal elements like Nagisa Chiba and Ichiro Futaba are given positions in the much smaller and newly reformed Japanese Self Defense Force under the leadership of Suzaku Kururugi. The Japanese Self Defense Force is under the observation of Lelouch vi Britannia as a result of his marriage to Kaguya who is part of the caretaker governement despite her age.

Despite a few decades of democracy, throughout Japan there are those that want a return of the emperor. Those voices differ between wanting Suzaku, Kaguya, or some sort of union of the two or their future children. These people are steadily becoming the majority. Suzaku, Kaguya, Nunnally, and Kallen are touring Tokyo inspecting the areas being rebuilt. For the first time in many years Kallen's Japanese heritage is stated publicly. In fact thanks to some careful record manipulation, Kallen's mother is connected to the old noble and imperial families.

Even though Lelouch has been helpful, his reputation around the world is quite fearsome so he stays away from appearing in public. Tomorrow he begins inspecting military bases. He has to make sure that the few base commanders comply with the new standards. He also has to make sure that police forces around Tokyo are receiving the right training for their new expanded duties. In addition he has to train the newly reformed Kempetei (military police). Basically Lelouch has to make sure that no single group in Japan has the ability to rebel against the government again.

At the moment Lelouch, Ichiro, and Nagisa are riding to through Tokyo looking over the city. After a few hours of riding, they stop near a few old looking warehouses. Lelouch casually steps out of the car and walks into one of the warehouses. Nagisa looks over at Ichiro who shrugs.

"His highness is acting quite reckless. This district is not exactly the best."

Ichiro sighs, "We better go after him."

Nagisa and Ichiro quickly but carefully enter the warehouse after Lelouch. Inside the interior of the warehouse matches the outside, but a giant door opens to reveal a much more modern looking section. They are both a little surprised.

"What is all of this?" Nagisa asks.

Lelouch ignores her and keeps walking forward. Along the walls of the warehouse are several dozen Akatsukis. Rakshata Chawla comes out to meet them.

"Just like you asked for, your highness. These Akatsukis have the Bors control setup and software. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," Rakshata smiles, "I suppose it is because you helped design them both."

Nagisa is more than a little confused.

"I thought that all knightmare production in Japan stopped in February."

"Yes the Japanese government stopped producing new knightmares. We simply repaired and re-supplied the existing ones. However these are not for the Japanese government."

"So Rakshata has been working for you all along. That is way you were not mad when she inspected my Bors," Nagisa says looking at Lelouch.

"Don't mistake things, Nagisa. Dr. Chawla and her team did their best while working for Japan. Ichiro can attest to that. There were no knightmares that failed because of anything technical," Lelouch smirks, "There is no law saying that she can't be employed in the private sector while she works for the military. As long as she doesn't share any military secrets, there is nothing wrong."

"What's the big deal with these," Chiba approaches the knightmares, "You have your own state of the art factories building your new knightmares."

"Unfortunately our current knightmares are meant for fighting in Africa and western Asia. They may last the summer in Europe but as winter comes and we make our way through the continent, things will get harder. But the Akatsuki, in part thanks to Ichiro's suggestion, is created with the idea of fighting in Siberia. It is meant to take the pounding of the Siberian winter."

"So you're taking these to out factories to be copied."

Lelouch smirks and walks towards another door. He signals for Ichiro and Nagisa to follow him. Once they walk through the door. Lelouch pulls a lever sending them to a lower floor. When the elevator touches down, Nagisa begins to rub her eyes in disbelief. Before them are several hundred maybe even a thousand Akatsukis. She looks over at Lelouch who is simply smiling. She isn't sure whether to be turned on or frightened. Lelouch is indeed a monster the likes the world has not seen in centuries.**T**

* * *

**Tuesday, May 21, 2018, **

After several weeks of running and acting as pirates with the remnants of the old Japanese navy, Naoto secures a meeting that will change the course of things. They approach the meeting place.

Tohdoh looks a little concerned_, "_Is it safe to be here?" Tohdoh uses English to blend in.

Naoto shrugs, _"_I don't see why not. We are several hundred miles from the nearest Britannian base. From what I hear the Britannian military rarely patrols the area. Besides that is why Urabe and Asahina are standing by."

Tohdoh is still uncomfortable. A thin brown haired man approaches them.

"The conference room is ready."

Tohdoh and Naoto follow the man's lead. When they enter the room Tohdoh slightly cringes when he sees who is waiting for them.

"General Tohdoh, General Kouzuki, take a seat."

Naoto and Tohdoh do as they are told. A servant brings water to them.

"It has been several years since we last met, your highness," Naoto states.

The host simply smiles. Three men enter the room and take a seat. Their entrance makes Naoto scowl bit.

"Ah Naoto, you are a general now. You were a mere captain when we last met."

"Those three years seems like an eternity ago, Khalid."

"Yes back then your dear brother -in-law was nothing more than a minor nuisance. Now he is a major infection."

Naoto notices that the man who brought them into the room is noticeably upset by that comment.

"It seems like I am the only one who does not know anyone else," Tohdoh comments.

Naoto responds, "Kyoshiro Tohdoh, allow me to introduce Khalid Fayez and Schniezel el Britannia."

* * *

Author's note: Naoto and Schniezel simply got rid of the middle man, Colonel Madd. Naoto, Tohdoh, and friends are neither international nor Britannian criminals so there is nothing wrong with Schniezel meeting them. They only raid Japanese commerece. This new alliance will form a thorn on Lelouch's side for some time.

The Shinkirō /Titan Mirage's shield can expand and protect up to three knightmares. Of course this takes more power. The shield also works in different way. One way is mentioned several times in this chapter. It can trap anything or anyone unfortunate enough to be trapped in it. It can also be like a knife cutting whatever gets trapped in its path. Since Lelouch is much more of a fighter, it also has more offensive weapons. This makes it the best knightmare up to this point. It can withstand blasts from the radiant wave surger, baryon cannon, and stark hadron cannon. It can also move as fast as the canon Guren or Lancelot along with having weapons to match either one. It is not to the level of the Lancelot Albion or Guren SEITEN yet.

Kaguya and Lelouch are secretly married a few days before the rebellion. Kaguya's middle name, yama, is an allusion to Yamato which is an old name for Japan. Google it if you want to know more about it.

Some people might think that Lelouch is not ruthless or cold enough to simply kill Rivalz like that. I mentioned it once that Lelouch does not consider Rivalz a friend. Those close to him might think of Rivalz as a friend since they spent more time near him, but Lelouch does not. At this point Rivalz has attempted to kill Lelouch twice and kidnap those close to him thrice. Rivalz's first attempt to kill Lelouch was at his wedding to Milly. The result was Rivalz being injured and being taken in by Bartley and Madd. Rivalz first attempt at kidnapping was while Lelouch was in Africa. Rivalz and Rolo attempt to kidnap VV, but Rivalz tries to kidnap Euphie to get back at Lelouch. He teams up with Mao, and they are defeated by VV and Sayoko. They do manage to get CC, but Rolo is captured by Lelouch.

His next attempt at kidnapping is with the newly cyborg Naoto and Rolo. It is just a revenge attack by Naoto, but is thwarted by a code bearing Lelouch. Rolo is severely injured which leads to him being turned into a cyborg and making his geass ineffective since the geass canceller is automatic. Technically Rivalz tries to hold the kids hostage in this chapter, but is stopped by the gefjun disturber. The purpose of the gefjun disturber is to keep knightmares away from Kirihara's house, but it works on Rivalz's sakuradite fueled cybernetic body. Evelyn is sort of bluffing when she says she wanted to catch Naoto with the gefjun disturber. Rivalz manages to escape because the explosion takes out the gefjun disturber power source. His second and last attempt to kill Lelouch is stopped by the absolute defense shield. He does manage to inflict some damage, but his own knightmare and body are damaged beyond repair. Rivalz is in a sense a very minor antagonist along with Madd.


	72. Flawless Victory

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_

...

That is how democracy died with thunderous applause.

The Journal of Hirako Itsuki

...

Today we saw what a superhero really looks like. As prince Lelouch rode astride his knightmare through Tokyo, girls threw their bras, panties, phone numbers, and who knows what else at him. There were girls fainting everywhere just because he smiled at us.

The Diary of Inoue Haruhi

...

Nunners Lamperouge: When I grow up, I want to be like me big brother Lulu.

Waldobot Prime: Me too.

Nunners (laughing): You don't grow up because you're a robot.

Converters ™  
Season 1 episode 1  
C & P Productions  
LL Entertainment Company

* * *

**Tuesday, May 21, 2018, Anchorage, Alaska Military District, Holy Empire of Britannia**

"Seems foolish to be shipping these things here just to send them back to Siberia in a few weeks," Luciano complains for about the hundredth time.

Aphrodite shakes her head, "Stop complaining. You chose this assignment."

"I know. I know. Still wish the weather cooperated with us today. I know it's Alaska but it's already late spring. This damn rain isn't making things easier."

Heavy rains drive most personnel inside. Only the poor unfortunate souls helping with the docking of the ships and unloading are outside. Luciano and Aphrodite are inside enjoying some hot chocolate. The first knightmares arrive at the hangar so they go to check them out. Luciano's first impression is one of wry amusement.

"What the hell are these ugly looking things?"

Aphrodite is a little more diplomatic, "Well they were created by his highness so we should have some faith in his abilities."

"From the looks of things his royal Luluness expects his pilots to learn Japanese."

"Don't be stupid great Knight of Eight. Just take a look inside and you'll be greatly surprised."

Luciano smirks and looks up at the person helping unload the knightmares.

"Major Goodley, how the fuck are you?"

"Wet and cold," Major Goodley replies, "This is a shitty assignemnt you chose, Colonel Bradley."

Luciano shrugs, "It's a lot better than Weinberg. Poor bastard is waiting for Lelouch to return to the Caucasus."

Both men have a laugh at Gino's expense. Aphrodite watches the interaction between the two men. She knows that along with Prince Lelouch and Gino Weinberg, they attended West Point together. While all Knights of the Round technically have a military rank of at least colonel and a social rank equally at least a margrave, calling them by such is usually not done. The major notices Aphrodite and takes her hand. He bows and kisses her hand.

"Major James Trevor Goodley, at your service my lady."

Luciano stifles a chuckle, "Touch her again and we will have to duel."

Goodley smiles, "That sounds like a deal. I'll fight you using this thing," he points towards the Mordred which is being brought into the warehouse.

"Holy shit. He gave you that little beast."

"Well he loaned it to me. I had to fight Evelyn and the twins for it."

Luciano smiles at the comment, "By the way, is Sanderson here as well?"

"No unfortunately Major Sanderson is suffering in Hawaii."

Luciano scowls, "I wish I was in Hawaii right now," he glances at Aphrodite as he says this.

She notices this and slaps them both, "Men."

Goodley touches his cheek, "I didn't say anything."

"No but you were thinking it."

Aphrodite puts some extra wiggle in her walk. Luciano slaps Goodley on the shoulder.

"The weather may not be that great here, but at least the alcohol comes in unlimited quantities for us."

"Is it free?"

"You know that his royal Luluness knows how to treat his men."

* * *

**Tuesday, May 28, 2018, government offices, Tokyo, Japan**

"_As you can see by these pictures Hirako-san, Kouzuki and Tohdoh seem to be conspiring with dangerous individuals." _

The current chairman of the Japanese Reformed National Diet looks at Lelouch and at the pictures.

"_Yes Lelouch-sama, that is how is appears. Who is this portly man standing in the background?"_

"_Let me see. I believe that is Hong Gu. Although not an important person within the Chinese Federation, he has influence among those that do."_

Chairman Hirako simply nods. Having previously only been a minor member of the government, he has no idea who the international players are. It does appear that he wants to put himself on the world stage.

"_As you can see Hirako-san, things are about to get even more dangerous here in Japan. I hope for your serous consideration for Kaguya-sama's bill. _

"_Of course. Now if you excuse me I have several meeting to attend. "_

Kaguya's proposed bill gives Lelouch/Britannia more authority in governing Japan. There is also several other bills proposing the return of the monarchy. Lelouch smirks as he heads towards his office. Well it's really Ichiro and Nagisa's office, but Lelouch uses it. The entire Ministry of Defense is under the watchful eye of the Diet and Lelouch. Which of the two has more influence is still to be determined. However each day Lelouch grows in power and influence due to his many civil projects. Never mind the fact that the money actually comes from Lelouch's Japanese companies therefore from the Japanese people.

Lelouch sits at one of the desks in the office and pulls out several pictures and newspaper articles. Another thing that makes Lelouch popular is his unpretentiousness. He walks around in areas where common people are with very little visible security. He eats at restaurants with common people. Of course his Japanese is near perfect. It's the little things that make Lelouch seem like a regular person. Then there are Lelouch's public statements about the Mt. Fuji sakuradite mine. In fact Lelouch has been against the mine for several years. Never mind that the mine is operated by a rival joint Britannian-Japanese company. Just opposing the mining makes Lelouch popular.

The pictures of Naoto and Tohdoh with the Fayez brothers and Hong Gu complicate things for those in the government that oppose the changes to the Japanese government. There are two ways to combat any invasion by Naoto and Tohdoh. One is to rebuild the Japanese military which nobody can advocate for publicly. The other option is becoming more of a reality as time passes. It being for Britannia to protect Japan from foreign invasions. Despite its fancy name, the Japanese Reformed National Diet and its chairman really only control the Kanto plain region. The majority of the country is under the joint control of Britannian forces and the Britannian trained Japanese Knight Police and Kempetei.

The entire west coast of Honshu is lined with Britannian garrisons guarding against another Chinese assisted invasion. The northern section of Hokkaido is under military control to protect against the EU. Of course Kyushu and Shikoku already have Britannian garrison due to Sawasaki's attempted invasion. Kaguya's proposed bill along with several new economic restrictions will only make what is becoming a reality legal. No amount of stalling in the National Diet can stop the inevitable.

Lelouch smiles as he puts the pictures away. With Zhou Xianglin back in China, Lelouch has her arrange for Hong Gu to meet with Naoto and Tohdoh. It doesn't really matter what they discuss. All that matters is that Naoto and Tohdoh are keeping the pressure on the new government by meeting with foreign powers. Of course Lelouch does not mention their meeting with Schniezel that will cause problems. Lelouch sits pensively. Apart from the situation with Japan, he still has to deal with Chinese forces encroaching in southeast Asia, pirate attacks everywhere, and a renewed attack in the Caucasus. The former two can be dealt with by Cassius, Edward, Isabelle, Annabel, and Euphie. Lelouch will have to work on a strategy for those problems. The pirate problem has been increasing with Lelouch's last few conquests. Since the attacks have been taking place in his sphere of influence, Lelouch can manipulate the amount of naval units that he moves into the area.

"_Your highness, your transportation is here."_

Lelouch nods towards Ichiro, "_I didn't even notice that you were in here. I guess I must have dosed off."_

Ichiro smiles, _"You have a lot on your mind, your highness."_

Lelouch gets up and heads for the door. As he does, he glances at Ichiro's uniform which is knockoff of Lelouch's own Black Knight uniform. It is another example of Japan's assimilation to Britannia. Lelouch just has to make a final push before the last piece falls. On the way home, Lelouch can see Tokyo Palace. At the moment no one lives there, but it is being renovated. For the moment Kallen is staying at Stadtfeld manor while Nunnally and Suzaku stay at the Lamperouge estate. Kaguya stays at her previous estate. Lelouch moves around from house to house. Today he is going to Stadtfeld manor.

Lelouch exits the car and walks towards the conference room. The servants usually ignore him unless he wants something from them. Kallen is probably out in the garden entertaining guests or playing with James. Lelouch sits at the table. It appears that there are several calls waiting for him. He adjusts the screens and answers the first call.

"Yes Kisuke, what is going today?"

"Ah your highness, it seems as if the Rising Sun Mining Company is willing to accept your latest offer."

Lelouch grins, "Is that so? I suppose if Nagata's bill passes they will lose out because the Fuji mine will be forced to close."

"I suppose so. They already know that they will not receive any help from the Britannian government on the issue."

"Make the necessary arrangements. The sooner the better. I have a few available days next week to make public appearances."

"As you wish, your highness."

"Did you schedule a meeting with the Chinese ambassador? It seems that one of their Eunuchs is handling the task at the moment. We cannot let such an opportunity slip through our hands."

"Yes. I will call you with the information later tonight."

Lelouch cuts the communications. He prepares for his next video conference. Appearing on his various screens are his brothers and sisters. All of them viceroys and sub-viceroys of Britannian areas. Lelouch sighs and adjusts his seat. Maximus va Britannia (Area 9), Cassius ru Britannia (Area 16), Octavius and Victoria ka Britannia (Area 14), Theseus ju Britannia (Area 8), Luther and Gwendolyn ti Britannia (Area 13), Edward and Isabelle vu Britannia (Area 16 and 10), Annabel pe Britannia (Area 12), Regina ha Britannia (Area 18), and Selene ge Britannia (Area 21) appear before Lelouch. Some of them don't appear to be happy having to come to Lelouch to deal with their problems. In the past many of them look towards Guinevere or Schniezel for guidance and assistance, but now Guinevere is insane, and Schniezel does not need any of them.

Regina starts obviously not happy about being put in charge of Area 18. Southern Africa is not for everyone.

"I don't see why I have to be in charge of this godforsaken place."

"Yes Area 18 does not have many of the amenities, but it does have a few things that make it quite profitable. If you want to know more, contact Milly. She loves talking about it."

Regina seems placated but not completely pleased. Maximus and Cassius stay quiet knowing what to expect from Lelouch. Area 9 is really too isolated to affect anything else.

Gwendolyn glances at her brother and sighs, "Even though this idiot doesn't want to say anything," she says pointing at Luther, "thanks for heads up on Schniezel using our islands for his meeting," she sighs, "It's tough watching over such a large area with very little help."

"I'll see what I can do about moving some naval forces. Illegal activity should lessen because most of the pirates are moving west."

It seems like the younger sisters are much more vocal today because Victoria is the next to talk.

"Stupid Schniezel doesn't let us participate in the invasion of Europe. He is putting all his troops in Karine's territory."

The tension between the viceroy of Area 14 (Morocco) and Schniezel is well known. Schniezel and Odysseus simply move their troops through the Area with little consideration for its rulers. Of course complaining to the emperor doesn't do much good. Lelouch looks at his maps for a solution to their problem.

"I think I'll send Nunnally and her team in that direction. Schniezel is too busy planning his assault on Italy and southern France to worry about her. Cornelia is still stuck in Greece and won't bother checking on any changes to commanders in the west. "

Octavius and Victoria grin. Nunnally is anything but passive. She won't simply sit around while others invade Europe. With Lelouch and more importantly the emperor's permission, she will gather a force and invade northwest Europe.

"That will do."

Lelouch turns the discussion towards his concerns. After about an hour of discussing pirates, China, and Europe, Lelouch ends the video conference.

"I'll have my people send you the remaining instructions."

Lelouch sits back in his chair and sighs.

"There's just too much work to do. Good thing I don't need to sleep."

Lelouch feels something slimy touching his leg and looks down. He sees James slobbering all over his leg.

"Hey my little James, what are you doing here?"

Lelouch picks James up. A maid is standing nervously by the door.

"I'm sorry, your highness. He moves pretty fast."

"Does he? Well I suppose that is to be expected. One day he will have to hide from his little sisters and brothers," Lelouch turns his attention back to James, "Come on let's go see what's for dinner."

* * *

**Thursday, May 30, 2018, in front of the government offices, Tokyo, Japan**

Today the majority of the National Diet is gathered for a press conference. Although rather than a simple press conference, it is being held out in the open. Also there are Lelouch, Nunnally, Kallen, Suzaku, and Kaguya though they are not officially part of the government. Several officials giving speeches publicly speaking about their proposed bills and giving their opinions on other bills.

"_Now presenting Chairman Hirako Itsuki."_

Lelouch smiles as the man sitting next to him stands and heads towards the podium. He is certain that the chairman will oppose any bills that support more Britannian involvement or a return of an emperor. Lelouch can already see the commotion in the background of the audience. The first shot is the only one that matters. Of course others will be taken to avoid talk of a conspiracy. Then Chairman Hirako does something that probably saves his life. Most likely notice the disturbance in the back of the crowd he turns towards those seated behind him for advice. The bullet tears through his lower back missing all his major organs but leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Lelouch rushes towards the chairman for two reasons. The first is rather obvious and heroic. He stands and pushes the chairman to the floor. Of course in a sense his military instincts take over. The second reason is a little more sinister. He replaces the chairman's speech with something that advocates all the issues that he supports. He does it so smoothly that even looking at the video several thousand times, the switch isn't even noticeable. It only takes moments for the Kempetei to move in with their knightmares. Of course for such an occasion the Zero Force makes an appearance.

Miraculously, of course, Lelouch is not hurt although there are several bullet holes in his coat. The fact that none of the bullets hit him can be attributed to the fact that he is moving. However careful observation of this footage shows that Lelouch should have been hit by several bullets. In spite of the fact that the chairman of the National Diet is lying in a hospital bed fighting for his live, all people can talk about is Lelouch and his miraculous survival.

The very next day Lelouch is in the same spot holding another press conference. This time the Kempetei is prepared with knightmares. In the moments following the assassination attempt the Kempetei declares martial law in Tokyo. A situation that Lelouch has no intention of ending. Not only do several individuals manage to sneak weapons within shooting range, but several other government officials including members of the chairman's office are also targeted and killed. All these events discredit the Tokyo Police Department and the new Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both of these are under the direct control of the National Diet and are some of the only police units in Japan not newly trained by Britannian forces. The Kempetei like the remnants of the Japanese military know that Lelouch is where the true power lies.

Kaguya and Suzaku join Lelouch for the press conference. Along with a few other government officials. They read the prime minister's speech and, of course, give their own thoughts on certain matters. Lelouch simply sits back in support. Kaguya finishes the press conference.

"_We cannot allow the enemies of freedom to shake out determination. We will continue to push forward. It has been an honor to have Hirako-san's words flow from my mouth. We cannot allow Hirako-san's sacrifice to go to waste. As he struggles for his life, we must also labor to make our nation great. It is my desire that on Monday and Tuesday, the National Diet and the Japanese people make the moral and honorable choice. Thank you to everyone."_

For the purpose of security, Lelouch, Kaguya, and Suzaku leave in separate cars.

"It's little amusing, isn't it?"

Ichiro looks at Lelouch.

"What is, your highness?"

"A few years ago not only would the three of us ride in a car together, but so would Nunnally, Euphie, Kallen, Milly, and the others, and nobody cared."

Ichiro nods, "Zero has been quite busy since yesterday,"

"Has he? I suppose that we will need to get the Kempetei after him. Some of the lower ranked members no doubt already crave the assignment. Find someone suitable. Someone that will provide a good chase but won't finish the task."

"I'll see who I can find."

* * *

**Wednesday June 5, 2018**

Lelouch is still "recovering" from the events of the previous week. Despite not being hit by any bullets, the doctors still recommend that he rest. Of course this just means that he refrains from appearing in public, but he still works from home. He is moving soldiers all over the world from Alaska to North Africa, from Areas 10 and 11 to the Caucasus, from Alaska to Japan and then to Siberia. Everything is going according to his master plan. Even the pieces he is not in control of move to his rhythm. However things may be getting more difficult.

"Just how I like it ," Lelouch says to himself. Lelouch hears some ruckus over in the twin's room and heads in that direction, "What are you boys doing in here?"

The twins are dressing up James in a miniature Black Knights uniform.

"We's getting him ready for his big performance."

Lelouch picks his son up, "Sorry guys but he won't be for that. He will be with Euphie and Milly. We should probably be going now. Don't forget your lines."

"Don't worry, big brother, I can handle it," Evelyn says as she enters the room.

"Let's go James. You have a little brother and sister to meet."

**Friday, June 14, 2018**

Gino and Nonette are sitting in Grozny waiting for Lelouch and company to return. Gino looks at the clock on the wall.

"Where could they be?"

Nonette shrugs, "Who knows? But I wonder. The army has been preparing for an attack so Lelouch should be arriving soon," Shouldn't he, Nonette thinks to herself not wanting Gino to hear her doubts. Of course her expression gives away her thoughts.

Gino looks over at his laptop, "Yes but you would think that we would be receiving some word about him coming north."

"I wonder about that. Those to the south are very loyal to Lelouch."

"If the army is getting ready to attack, he has to be here soon, doesn't he?"

"I wonder about that."

Gino looks over at Nonette, "Maybe you should stop wondering and find out."

Nonette frowns and puts Gino in a headlock, "Listen here, little man. You're his old academy buddy so maybe you should find out."

Gino pushes Nonette off. Nonette grins and moves in to get Gino again, but the communicator beeps. Nonette answers the call.

"Lady Enngream, Lord Weinberg, Colonel Nu has arrived."

Nonette smiles, "There see he sent in the eye candy to make sure that everything is in order. He can't be too far behind."

Gino nods because Villetta does mean that Lelouch can't be too far behind. If it is Jeremiah on his way, then things might be different.

"Let's go down and see what is going on."

"This is Brigadier General Villetta Nu. By order of Lieutenant General Lelouch vi Britnania commander of Britannian Army Group Five as of now I am commander of the Army of the Caucasus."

Gino stares at the speaker in awe, "What did she say?"

* * *

Karine le Britannia is walking around her temporary viceroy's palace. In a few months she will have another built or perhaps she will possibly move to different one elsewhere. Since Schniezel is off secretly meeting with Cornelia, Karine is making preparations of her own. By the time anyone finds out what she is ding it will be too late. Western Europe will fall to the glorious might of Karine le Britannia. The emperor will have no choice but to recognize her as a possible heir to the throne. Now all she has to do is move in the right direction.

"Your highness, there is a call for you from her highness Princess Victoria."

Karine smiles smugly, "I will take it in my room."

Her assistant nods and leaves. Karine wonders what Victoria wants to complain about now. It is probably the fact that Schniezel is not letting her or her stupid brother commander any troops in the upcoming invasion. It's their own fault for abandoning Guinevere. Karine makes Victoria wait a few minutes before answering the call. Victoria appears not look at all bothered by the snub. In fact she is looking quite haughty in a uniform of sorts.

"Still as petty as ever, aren't we, Karine." Victoria states.

"Do you have something important to talk about?" Karine asks impatiently, "Or are you just calling to complain. I have important matters to get to."

Victoria's look is even more arrogant than before, "Oh is that so. Perhaps you should check with your assistant. You may be surprised."

Karine crosses her arms across her chest and taps her fingers impatiently, "What are you babbling about?"

Karine's assistant bursts into the room, "Your highness."

Karine glares at her, "Can't you see that I am busy?"

Victoria chuckles, "Well I guess I should allow you to deal with your problems."

Karine stomps towards her assistant. She hasn't decided whether to kill her or simply torture her.

"Your highness, the invasion troops are beginning to move."

"What?"

"See for yourself."

Karine runs to radar tracking equipment and see that her assistant is not lying. Who could have ordered this? Is it Schniezel? Is the trip to meet with Cornelia a ruse? Suddenly Karine's radio comes alive with the most annoying voice ever.

"By imperial decree as of midnight Pendragon time I, Nunnally vi Britannia, control the Army of Western Africa."

Karine turns the radio off and throws it against the wall. Her assistant is still standing there with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"What are you wait for, you idiot?" Karine screams, "Call Schniezel!"

"We have been trying to contact his highness Prince Schniezel all morning. He is not at the location his gave us."

Karine proceeds to destroy anything she can get her hands on. Her royal guard has to physically calm her down.

"Those bastards. Nunnally will pay for this. They will all pay for this. Keep looking for Schniezel. Send someone to Crete if you have to."

Nunnally is finishing her message to the soldiers of the Army of West Africa, "As of this moment this army will renamed the Army of Albion. All Hail Britannia."

Nunnally is not even with the army that she has just taken control of. Instead she is flying over the Atlantic towards the British Isles. Despite the ouster of the royal family the islands are still ruled as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. She is using soldiers from the homeland and a few from Luciano's force stationed in Alaska another part of Lelouch's subterfuge. Those soldiers are also equipped with Akatsukis. The Boudicca is in the lead with the Silencer and Apotheosis following. Nunnally boards the Ganymede Legacy.

"Let's see what these European bastards can do."

* * *

"Schniezel, is this really alright? For us to be cut off like this."

"My dear Cornelia, it will take Lelouch a few days to travel from Japan back to the Caucasus."

"Still."

Schniezel puts his finger under Cornelia's chin.

"Let's enjoy these moments of peace while they last. Besides both of our assistants know where we are."

Of course Schniezel is lying since only Kannon knows their exact locaiton. Schniezel is going to test this geass of his to its full extent on Cornelia tonight.

"What if Lelouch takes advantage:

"You saw the same footage of Lelouch parading through Tokyo that I saw. He will probably stop and visit Euphie and his wives on the way west so it will take at least a week for him to even arrive. Not to mention the time it will take for his troops to prepare for the attack. "

The streets of Tokyo are lined with people because Lelouch's army is moving out. In fact he is also taking many Japanese soldiers with him. Those who join Lelouch's force do so to prove their loyalty. Many of the well wishers are girls and woman who fling personal items at the marching soldiers. A few are even bold enough to run over and kiss random soldiers. Because of the joyous atmosphere it is allowed. The crowd really gets rowdy when Lelouch and the Shinkiro appear. At the end of the parade, Kaguya makes an appearance. It has been decided that Kaguya's descendants will inherit the newly resurrected Japanese throne with Suzaku's children next in line. Once the parade is done, the knightmares are loaded onto a waiting ship. Once out of Tokyo Bay the fleet separates. The larger portion heading north.

"I wonder why they aren't using the airships?" Rolo asks.

Naoto looks over at the sonar and shrugs, "That bastard is just cocky. Thinking he can sail around and not worry about anyone stopping him."

"Still we should be careful."

Naoto blows him off, "Careful who has time for that. If we take the bastard out, then I will be satisfied."

Naoto aims his ships to ram Lelouch's flagship.

"How do we even know that he is with this fleet?"

"His home is in this direction, is it not? Besides I'm sure he has heard rumors if our activity."

Naoto's communicator beeps, "General Kouzuki, several ships are heading in our direction."

"Very well. We will engage them."

"General, there is a communication from the leader of fleet asking for a conference."

"Tell that bastard that I'll meet him on the deck."

Naoto walks out to the deck of his ship. Today, at least, the ocean is living up to its name and is calm. Naoto sees Lelouch's ship separating itself from the rest of the fleet and moving slowly towards Naoto's. He orders his to do the same. Even in hatred Naoto has some honor. After the conversation with the Brit bastard, he will withdraw his flagship and prepare for battle. However Naoto is not met by Lelouch.

"I thought I was meeting Lelouch out here."

A raven haired girl answers, "I believe that your friend said the leader of the fleet and that is me."

Naoto growls, "Where is Lelouch?"

Evelyn shrugs, "Who knows? Probably off causing problems for some people."

"What is the purpose of this meeting?"

"Distraction and subterfuge."

Naoto is confused. Like the rest of the world he sees Lelouch parading through Tokyo on the Titan Mirage. Of course the camera never gives a close shot of Lelouch. But the on site commentators say that he is there.

"Geass."

"So you figured it out, General Kouzuki. Well let's end this charade. Sparkle rise!"

Naoto watches in awe as an airship rises from the sea ship.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"General sir, our other ships are under attack."

"Damn that little bitch."

"This is Luther ti Britannia, viceroy of Area 13. By international law, you have been declared pirates and you will be treated as such."

"But we are in international waters," Naoto responds.

"And?"

That is the sort of answer Naoto is expecting from a Britannian prince.

"Very well then. Contact Schniezel. He'll vouch for us."

This time Gwendolyn answers, "We won't bother with that. Besides Schniezel is on a little vacation. He won't know what is going on for several days. Instead we're going to destroy your little fleet. All units destroy the pirate fleet."

Naoto looks up and sees the little airship simply flying away. However he has bigger problems to deal with.

"Well I was aiming on fighting that fleet either way."

* * *

"Isn't it just perfect here, Milly?" Shirley asks.

Milly sighs and walks over towards Shirley. Milly sets her daughter down. Shirley runs her fingers through the little princess's hair. There is no doubt that the little girl is Lelouch's daughter with her dark hair already showing. Not to mention the amethyst eyes.

"Too bad little Charlotte wasn't born a boy because then Lelouch's sons would battle for the hand of my little Elizabeth," Shirley comments.

Euphie is holding her son to her chest, "My little Gaby is not a fighter."

Milly grins, "So he's a lover like his father."

The three princesses laugh. James crawls over on gives his younger brother a hug. Euphie smiles and slides James up.

"Here you go little James."

James snuggles his head into Euphie's breasts.

Milly smirks, "Apparently James is like his father as well."

Euphie sets her sleeping son down and holds James up.

"No, James isn't like Lelouch at all. He is more like his mom. Aren't you little one?"

Shirley looks around, "By the way when is Lelouch arriving with the kids. I know Kallen went ahead to prepare the army. Lelouch does know that you are here in Bali and not Area 11, doesn't he?"

Milly picks James up, "I think Lelouch has other plans. The kids are still coming, alone though.

* * *

'_Tell them what you said to the Britannians, Commander Xingke,' _Hong Gu says laughing.

Xingke is serious as usual, _'Well it wasn't quite to Britannians.'_

Hong Gu pokes him in the stomach, _'It was close enough. You said it to Zhou Xianglin. She might as well be a Britannian now.'_

Xingke is pensive about that thought but does as Hong Gu asks.

'_Xianglin asked if we would allow Britannian forces to move through our territory to attack the EU in Siberia.'_

The other military officials are in awe.

'_What did you tell them?'_

'_I told them if they could make it through our territory without anyone seeing them, then they were welcome to try.'_

A few of the other officials are in awe of Xingke's statement but Hong Gu understands Xingke's reasoning.

'_Don't you see Commander Xingke's brilliance? There is no way that any citizen of the Chinese Federation would allow Britannia to get away with such a thing. We are not like those foolish Japanese allowing Britnania to have its way in our country.'_

It begins to sink in to everyone that any attempt by Lelouch to move his troops through Chinese territory will be construed by the citizens as an invasion. Leading local militia to attack. This is turn would lead to a Britannian retaliation. Britannia might be strong, but it cannot fight the EU, Chinese Federation, and several rebel groups at the same time. Once things are settled Xingke will receive a reprimand for overstepping his boundaries. However the Britannian offensive against the EU will not go as planned. Not to mention that Lelouch will be humiliated by not bothering to check with anyone about Xingke's permission.

However Xingke isn't completely sure he did the right thing. Britannians are quite devious. Who knows what Lelouch is planning at the moment? He could have met with one of the Eunuchs. Those bastards would sell out their grandmothers if there is profit in it. Perhaps he is using the EU war as a ruse to invade China. He did just gain control of Japan. At the moment Lelouch controls the territory around China to the east and south. Just to be sure, Xingke has scouts in the south and over to the southwest in India. Xingke's informants have confirmed that Dr. Rakshata Chawla has been working in Japan for the past few years. The designs of some of Lelouch's knightmare match those found during a raid on a secret Indian knightmare factory. Unfortunately no one in the Chinese Federation has any interest in building such expensive and difficult knightmares.

Several soldiers storm into the office seemingly out of breath, '_Commander, there are Britannian forces massing along the border.'_

'_So they are invading,'_ Xingke grimaces, _'I was hoping for some more time. It seems like this morning's parade through Tokyo was just a distraction. Alert the southern and eastern commands of the situation.'_

'_Commander, the troops are not massing in the south but the north.'_

Xingke is obviously perplexed. Russia wouldn't have suddenly left the EU and aligned itself with Britannia. But what other explanation is there? Xingke's phone rings. He reaches down slowly and answers it.

'_Good afternoon, Commander. I would like to personally thank you for giving us permission to move our army through your territory. Of course I cleared it with one of your Eunuchs first. Sorry to cut this conversation so short, but I have an invasion to attend to,' _Lelouch hangs up the phone, "Titan Mirage drone system activate."

Lelouch looks at the completely undefended border between the Chinese Federation and the EU/Russia. Well there are a few border troops here and there but nothing too troublesome. His force has been sneaking through China for several weeks. The only missing pieces are Lelouch and Kallen. They are now here and ready to attack. The EU has been on alert for several weeks because Lelouch makes his buildup of troops in Alaska and the Caucasus obvious. Not that he has to hide it since it is obvious that he plans attack north of the Caucasus, along the Black Sea, and in eastern Russia most likely at Vladivostok. Of course the latter is the only town along the east coast of Russia that makes sense. Although it is dangerously close to the Chinese Federation border.

There are a few other targets to the north, but they are of no real strategic importance since Vladivostok gives Russia a nice port. A few of the islands north of Japan are of importance to Japan, but Lelouch will deal with that matter later. Luciano's attack of Kamchatka should be beginning. It is only a diversionary attack. The Knight of Eight will be moving south to Vladivostok to join with the fleet that left Japan in the morning. Of course along with the attack in the Caucasus, it is nothing but a diversionary attack. Lelouch will attack Irkutsk and sever the roads and railroads With his airships he will be able to hold air superiority through the region.

Lelouch's goal is not to conquer Russia from the east. He understands that such a task is beyond the capabilities of the current situation. His goal is to cut Russia in half and force the surrender of Siberia whether officially or unofficially. Once that is done another phase of Lelouch's plan will be complete.

"Kallen, take your troops to the west and take Irkutsk. I will go east and north to cut off the railroad. Spread the airships and VTOLs between the two points. Now let's see if Rakshata's weather protection systems work. Excalibur, rise."

* * *

Author's note: Lelouch did not parade through Tokyo. It was Evelyn with Castor using his geass to make everyone believe that it was Lelouch. They simply had a knightmare built to look like the Titan Mirage. Then they simply geassed the TV people to avoid any close shots of Lelouch. They simply had "Lelouch" stay inside or busy inspecting the troops during that week. He actually left the week before. Lelouch and Kallen simply geassed their way through China. Hiding the knightmares and soldiers took some work. They simply bribed their way and chose little used roads to travel on. Lelouch also has stealth equipment. This would help hide the larger items.

Schniezel's geass is similar to Castor's. It affects the victim's five senses by making Schniezel look like someone else. It is not as all encompassing as Castor's though because it only changes what Schniezel's appearance, touch, smell, taste, and sound. Castor's geass can affect anything he wants it to. If hooked up to a geass enhancer, he can affect a large area. I'll leave what that means up to you. I will also not mention exactly how Schniezel uses his geass on Cornelia although that will be implied in the next few chapters.

In case you area wondering about it. Euphie has not made any public appearances for several months nor has she seen Cornelia. Her pregnancy is not public known. It sounds odd, but everyone knows that Lelouch and friends actually rule Area 11. Euphie is just a figurehead. The name of her son is Gabriel li Britannia. Technically he is illegitimate but that will be fixed in the future. Her mother's name is Gabrielle so it is in honor of her.

The name of Milly's daughter is Charlotte Marianne ash Britnania. Elizabeth Fennette vu Britannia is the name of Shirley's daughter. Although legally the daughter of Edward, she is in fact the biological daughter of Suzaku. A fact that is known by those close enough to care.

**Known Areas and their viceroys**

1 United States aka mainland

2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands

3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands

4 Greenland

5 Iceland

6 South America

7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll

8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia

9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia

10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia

11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia

12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia

13 Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia sub Gwendolyn ti Britannia

14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia sub Victoria ka Britannia

15 East Africa 2014/16-

16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia

17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia

18 Southern Africa 2016 Regina ha Britannia

19 Central Africa 2016

20 Northern Africa 2017-Karine le Britannia

21 Middle East Federation 2017-Selene ge Britannia

22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia

Odysseus eu Britannia 1st 1984

Schniezel el Britannia 2nd 1990

Clovis la Britannia 3rd 1992-2016

Maximus va Britannia. 4th 1992

Cassius ru Britannia 5th 1993

Lucius pe Britannia 6th 1995- 2014

Octavius ka Britannia 7th 1996

Theseus ju Britannia 8th 1997

Luther ti Britannia 9th 1999

Edward vu Britannia 10th 1999

Lelouch vi Britannia 11th 1999

Guinevere su Britannia 1st 1986- (2016 in regards to her sanity)

Cornelia li Britannia 2nd 1991

Euphemia li Britannia 3rd 2000

Annabel pe Britannia 4th 2001

Karine le Britannia 5th 2002

Isabelle vu Britannia 6th 2002

Victoria ka Britannia 7th 2002

Gwendolyn ti Britannia 8th 2003

Regina ha Britannia 9th 2003

Selene ge Britannia 10th 2003

Nunnally vi Britannia 11th 2003


	73. Ares Rising

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined

Lelouch's knightmare is called the Titan Mirage and Shinkiro. I will which ever name I feel fits. Shinkiro means mirage.

...

Nations are systems used by men to unite.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

...

Siberia in the winter isn't as cold as hell is hot. It is worse than that.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

* * *

**Friday, June 14, 2018.  
Irkutsk Russian Federation, EU **

Just as Lelouch hopes will happen, the Russian border forces are leaving for the weekend early. Irkutsk falls to Lelouch's force after a bit of a struggle. It seems the Russians move the majority of their interior troops east while newly trained troops move to the interior. However this leaves a small gap that Lelouch plans to exploit.

"Air Groups Zeta and Tulip are to follow the Excalibur north for reconnaissance and bombing runs. Follow plan Alpha Alpha. Destroy all roads coming out of Bratsk for fifty miles in both directions. In particular the junctions to the west. We will deal with the east in due time."

Lelouch prepares for his own trip north. Luciano's force will keep troops from coming form the east. Villetta's attack should keep troops from coming from the west.

"General, we have secured the industrial area. Several units have been tracked coming in this direction from the west."

So much for going north, "Very well. We shall reform the knightmares here. Air Groups Zeta and Tulip along with Ground Groups Tango and Cash are still to head north. Keep the Excalibur here. Send one of the newer airships north. They will be able to handle the weather better."

Lelouch's unit setup is basic. Anything that is predominately used in the air is in a flying group. The same goes with the ground groups. All groups have a little bit of everything. Meaning that Air Group Zeta includes some jets, knightmare, and flying tanks. Ground Tango includes tanks, knightmares, APC, anti-tank, anti-air, etc. Lelouch's army is meant to be flexible.

"Can you track the units on any satellite system to see where they originated from?"

Lelouch gets his answer a few moments later, "Novosibirsk."

"I see so this is probably regular eastern shipment. I wonder if they are meant for Irkutsk or Vladivostok. Keep the majority of the satellite cameras pointing east. We expect troops to come from the west, but we don't want to be surprised from anything from the east."

"Yes sir."

Doing so will also help Luciano's force. Kallen brings her knightmare towards Lelouch.

"I sent a few of my troops north to assist what you sent."

As Lelouch considers what he has at his disposal, heavy clouds hover west of the city. He changes the color of his drones to match the ground. He uses his knightmare to point towards an area to the west. He would rather not say what he is planning over the radio. Kallen knows him well enough to figure out what he wants. Lelouch activates his stealth features. Unloading from several trains a few miles outside of the city are dozens of knightmares.

"It's too late to send a group to attack them before they get off the trains," Lelouch switches on is communicator, "Let's use plan Beta Gamma Kappa Deuce."

Lelouch's force moves into a defensive formation. The enemy is sending lots of Panzer Hummels and a few Cossacks. It is obvious that they expect the eastern attack to be a diversion for Lelouch's main attack through the Caucasus and along the Black Sea. Lelouch sends his remote control Ios as the first wave. He is leaving the Bors back in the city for Kallen and others to use. New mass production models based on the Titan Mirage, Callisto Ultima, and Europa Queen will have to wait. Cecile is able to make him a few based on the Mordred which are more powerful than the standard seventh generation Bors. With Rakshata and Lloyd once more working for Lelouch things will speed up rapidly in the technology department. Of course they need battle data to make their calculations and adjustments.

Lelouch's sensors indicate that his Ios are just about done with their part of that battle. He stops thinking about all the future possibilities and gets ready for his direct part of the battle. However unlike most people, he can handle the drones and his independent thoughts at the same time. Of course he cannot do those two things and control his knightmare's shield system. Despite being nearly automatic, the absolute defense shield needs some guidance from Lelouch. With the amount of knightmare the enemy is using, they don't bother using the roads falling right into Lelouch's trap.

"Well, we better get moving," Lelouch switches his drones on, "That should make them think about things. FIRE!"

Lelouch's hidden drones begin to fire and rise out of the ground. Lelouch does the same. They manage to hit a few but the enemy isn't as slow as Lelouch hopes. Lelouch pushes forward.

"I have to destroy that train."

By now word is being sent back to Russian High Command of Lelouch's attack. They must be trying to determine which of the many attacks is the real one and which are simply diversions.

Lelouch smiles, "Boy, are they going to be surprised when they discover the truth."

Lelouch's drones begin to go down due to the overwhelming fire power. Lelouch takes out his MVS and charges at the nearest Panzer Hummel.

"Too weak."

Several Cossacks aim their rifles at Lelouch who simply puts up his shield to block.

"Pathetic."

Once the Cossacks are done firing, Lelouch blasts them with his wrist hadron cannons. The enemy stops their assault on Lelouch's forces in Irkutsk and turns to attack him.

"Fools, all this over one knightmare, over one man."

Lelouch fires his Zero Beam at the train. He sends the prism first and fires the main beam just as the prism approaches the train destroying it. Lelouch restores full power to his shield just as a red light falls around him.

"Need some help, my Lulu? We can't let you have all the fun."

Kallen lands the Callisto Ultima besides Lelouch.

Lelouch smirks, "Amateur."

He takes the Titan into the air and heads back towards his defensive line. Kallen follows him.

"Why aren't we staying here to fight?"

Lelouch shakes his head, "Because we have the advantage of being on defense for once. Have the troops continue to build defenses while the tanks and artillery defend the line."

Kallen sighs, "Fine."

"You don't know anything about strategy my dear. A group on the defensive always has the advantage."

"Then why have you always won when you attack."

Lelouch grins, "Because I'm that good."

Kallen shakes her head, "Whatever you say dear. Maybe tonight you can do that other things you're good at."

"What make balloon animals?"

Someone clears their throat, "Your highnesses do realize that you are speaking over an open channel?"

Lelouch smirks, "Of course colonel. Don't worry you'll be the first to get a balloon animal."

"That's not what I mean."

"I know what you mean. Just make sure you get those defenses ready. We'll try to hold them off as long as we can."

**Monday, June 17, 2018  
****Dublin, Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, EU**

Nunnally's force is now involved in a three sided war. After Britannian forces take Cork and make several successful landings in the north, Ireland declares its independence from both the United Kingdom and the EU. Nunnally has successfully pinned the Irish Free Army in Dublin while Jeremiah is fighting the remaining UK/EU forces in Belfast. Despite the success Nunnally is having problems holding onto her conquest. The Irish are quite rowdy people. This makes Ireland a little difficult to manage even with a population of less than four million. The main resistance group calling themselves Fianna Fail.

Nunnally and Sayoko are looking down at the city. They are wearing uniforms similar to the Black Knights only in white. Nunnally's force has gained the nickname, the White Knights.

"I wonder what brother would do if he was here."

"Your highness."

"Never mind, Sayoko. How are your units doing below?"

"We have been more successful here in Dublin. It was a smart idea to wait for our deployment."

Nunnally nods. The idea is not exactly hers, but she will take advantage or it.

"Where are the administrative units?"

"Garrison units are located in Cork and Galway. The main administrative units are on their way to Athlone."

"So they're already moving in."

The door opens and a young blonde girl steps in and salutes. She adjusts her uniform causing Nunnally to smirk.

"I think Alice is bigger than she was before. We should have made her uniform a little bigger."

Alice tries not to blush.

"Your highness, fires are erupting all over the city."

Nunnally frowns, "That's too bad. This city was quite beautiful. Inform the defenders that we will do nothing about the fires they have started. Have all units return to the ship. Notify the leaders of Fianna Fall that we will continue our attack in the morning."

Alice salutes and leaves. Sayoko glances at Nunnally.

"Is it the correct decision to give the enemy time to rest?"

"Those fires are spreading quickly towards our lines. Besides it is a good opportunity to send your operatives to cause havoc."

Sayoko bows, "I will see to it, your highness."

Nunnally nods, "Sancia, Lucretia, you can rest for the night. We will start again in the morning."

Both girls nod. Dalque stays at her station.

"Do you want me to keep causing mayhem?"

"Yes but use the mini knightmares. They are less noticeable."

Dalque nods and gets back to work.

**Trabzon, Area 21(Middle East Federation)**

"Let's see. We will make landings here at Sevastopol and Yalta. We will also make exploratory landings at Odessa. If General Nu is successful in her attack, we will send troops through the Sea of Azov."

"Yes your highness, I will see that everything is taken care of."

"Very well. You are dismissed Colonel Soresi. We will have one more meeting before the operation begins in full."

Kewell salutes and makes his exit.

Carolina sighs, "This war stuff is hard."

Liliana smiles, "Princess Milly said the opposite, but I think it was just to make his highness the prince think that she was confident."

"Isn't it foolish to spread our forces across so many fronts?"

Liliana shrugs her shoulders. Even though she attends a military academy, she doesn't really take many classes in strategy. She attends because her family is a minor noble family and because it will gain her an officer's rank. It does more than that because she meets Marika Soresi whose older brother is a handler/assistant/subordinate of Lelouch vi Britannia. After a few years as a simple soldier, Liliana gets promoted to the captain of the guard of Princess Milly ash Britannia and her new military rank is also captain. However at the moment she is assisting Princess Carolina sfo Britnania.

"I suppose so your highness, but didn't Prince Lelouch think of this strategy himself."

Carolina looks at the map, "I just wish I knew what he was planning on doing."

**Stavropol, Russian Federation, EU**

Villetta has been trying to avoid meeting with Gino or Nonette, but at the moment it appears that she has no other choice. Their attack is stalling because of lack of manpower. The prince orders Villetta to take it slow, but the Knights of the Round want to push forward. Villetta wonders if they wish to gain Lelouch's attention with their actions. The truth is that Villetta is not exactly certain where Lelouch is at the moment. Villetta and her staff take their seats for the meeting. Gino is sitting there smugly eating some fruit. One of Villetta's assistants hands her a piece of paper after they take their seats. Villetta sighs a bit in relief after reading the paper.

Gino smirks, "So he's on his way to save our butts."

"I'm afraid not Lord Weinberg," Villetta hands Gino the paper, "His highness is busy elsewhere."

A piece of fruit drops from Gino's mouth as he reads the paper.

"What the fuck is this? Damn we need to inform the emperor immediately."

"The information we are now receiving indicates that his majesty knows about the prince's actions."

Nonette consider the situation.

"I wonder how Nellie will react when she hears about this."

Villetta and Gino didn't think about the reactions of Schniezel and Cornelia amongst others. With permission from the emperor, Lelouch doesn't have to ask anyone else.

**Irakleio, Crete Military District**

Cornelia is sitting with a bit of a dreamy look on her eyes. Guilford is sitting in front of her. Schniezel and Darlton are elsewhere trying to see what has been going on during the last few days. Cornelia knows that she has a war to get back to, but the last few days with Guilford have been like a dream. The first night comes out of nowhere because he has been nervous for a few weeks so she is surprised at his forcefulness. However after that Cornelia takes charge as she always does.

"Your highness, your phone is buzzing."

Cornelia doesn't hear Guilford and keeps staring into his eyes. Guilford adjusts his glasses and lifts Cornelia's phone hoping to snap he rout of her daze.

"Princess, your phone."

Cornelia takes her phone and shuts it off.

"Whatever it is," Cornelia smiles deviously, "it can wait."

Several soldiers burst into the room.

"Your highness, General Darlton has been calling. He says it is important."

Cornelia snarls and picks up her phone, "What Darlton? Unless Britannia is under attack from outer space, couldn't it have waited until you returned?"

"Your highness, Prince Lelouch is attacking."

Cornelia sighs and nods. She expects Lelouch to be anxious to attack once more. His attacks along the Black and Caspian Seas may even help Cornelia's attack in Eastern Europe.

"We were expecting it."

"Not like this your highness. He is attacking along several fronts. Gottwald is leading a force in the British Isles. Nu is leading forces from the Caucasus. All reports indicate that Princess Carolina is in control of the forces along the Black Sea," Darlton pauses and sighs making Cornelia realize that the worse is yet to come, "The prince is personally leading attacks in eastern Russia. Somehow the prince managed to get into the interior here along the border with the Chinese Federation. At the moment there is no safe way to communicate with him."

Cornelia considers the situation. She will have to return to her own troops in Greece. She can send Darlton to take charge of Gottwald or Nu. The former will be more of a symbol because Nonette and Weinberg are with Nu. But Lelouch will have found a way to counter that move with someone there that commands respect. One of his wives makes sense, but which one. Cornelia gasps when she figures out the solution to the riddle.

"General Darlton, make your way east. If Princess Carolina accepts your assistance, then remain with her if not move to the Caucasus and take control from Nu."

"Your highness, would it not make sense for me to join Gottwald. The man simply does not have the experience to command such a large army."

Darlton doesn't mention that it will be symbolic for one of Cornelia's men to take command from Lelouch's top man.

"Unfortunately Darlton, if you head west you will be under the control of Nunnally. She won't surrender control to you."

Darlton seems a little stunned for a moment but understands the situation.

"Very well, your highness. I will go east."

**Tuesday June 18, 2018  
****Belfast, Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, EU**

Jeremiah Gottwald fires his slash harkens at several enemy units destroying them. With his Siegfried's superior specs and firepower, the Ulster Home Army doesn't stand a chance. The remnants of the UK/EU force are retreating to the island of Great Britain. Jeremiah observes his troops moving throughout the city. The remaining defenders or rebels as Jeremiah likes to think of them are very astute. Rather than forming one large group to meet Jeremiah, they separate into several smaller ones to harass the Britannian troops. Despite this their numbers aren't enough to do any serious damage. Jeremiah will be quite embarrassed if Princess Nunnally is able to finish off her task first especially considering the quality of Jeremiah's enemy.

Nunnally is looking down at the charred ruins of Dublin. Theoretically the city would have been the site of the main Britannian settlement for the island. Despite the fires, Nunnally can still see the damage cause by Dalque's geass. Nunnally looks out towards the Irish Sea. She knows that things will not be as easy on Great Britain. On Ireland local revolts confuse the EU forces. Nunnally almost feels sorry for the people who rise in rebellion. Britannia doesn't want to destroy the EU. It wants to conquer it. Nunnally hopes that soon after that Lelouch will eliminate al obstacles.

**Friday, June 21, 2018, 150 miles east of Irkutsk**

Lelouch looks out at the enemy forces coming in from the west. It only takes the Russian Federation a few days to figure out what is going on. There are really only two attacks that matter, Lelouch's and Villetta's. The others are mere distractions. If they simply break those two, then Lelouch's plan falls apart. Of course things are not going to be that simple.

"Your highness, there are several units coming in from the west. They're coming in fast, sir."

"I see. Looks like they're ready to test out their new stuff against me. Keep the satellites point towards the east. We don't want to get caught off guard."

Despite the fact that it makes little sense for the Russians to abandon the Pacific Coast if it means capturing Lelouch, they might just do it. Lelouch sends his drones to confront the enemy attackers.

"Let's see what these bastards have."

Lelouch allows his drones to move in predetermined patterns. From the ground it looks like they're normal units, but from the air things are more noticeable. Lelouch's drones begin to go down so he changes their pattern.

"Let see them react to this."

Lelouch's drones attack but are disposed of again. Lelouch looks up and sees several small planes in the air.

"I see they ignored those little planes even though I told them to take everything out. I'll just have to do it myself."

Lelouch goes up and uses his Zero beam to destroy the small planes. Once in the air he realizes why his men ignore the planes.

"Are those things fucking bi-planes with wooden propellers?" Lelouch is about to say something else when he notices that the enemy knightmares are moving quicker than usual and a few are flying, "Damn I should have kept a few satellites point towards the west. Then I would have been able to see that the enemy has new knightmares. I guess I'm not as smart as I think I am."

Just then Lelouch is proven wrong.

"Your highness, we are tracking multiple enemy unit groups coming from the east."

Lelouch smirks, "Oh, how long until they get here?"

"By the end of the day."

"I see. How is the situation along the coast?"

"The latest images show that the enemy has many lightly guarded lines. We have moved our satellites away from the coast to see if there are any units further to the north. We are attempting to see if the enemy has anything hidden to the northeast."

"Good. I assume that Kallen is organizing a defense on the other side of the lake."

"Yes your highness, she is at Ulan-Ude. With reconnaissance troops as far east as Chita."

"Have her bring the Chita troops back. I'm returning to Irkutsk."

"Your highness?"

"Retreating isn't a sin. Besides it will only give the enemy confidence to come at us."

Lelouch pulls his force back to the defensive line at Irkutsk. Lelouch ensures that his communication lines are secure. Lelouch prepares his soldiers for something unusual for them, defense. It is necessary at the moment. Lelouch knows from the beginning that something like this is possible. Defeating and capturing Lelouch is too great on opportunity for the Russian Federation to pass up. The fools don't realize that Lelouch always plans five moves ahead. Lelouch looks at his last message from Milly a few days ago.

-Team Milly lands safely and is on its way-

Lelouch decides to have a final meeting before the enemy attacks.

"The enemy has new seventh generation knightmares called Leopards. They are cheap

Io/Mordred imitations but can be dangerous when used by the right pilot."

Lelouch's intelligence officer speaks up, "Your highness, from the satellite information, it is obvious that the Chinese Federation is allowing Russian forces to move through it territory. We know that Russian troop trains went through Harbin and Changchun yesterday."

"So be it. Technically the Chinese Federation allows us to do the same. Besides the only place where Russian troops are crossing is the east. They can't freely move troops from west to east. Kazakhstan won't allow them. If we defeat them here, they will have to abandon Siberia because it will be too difficult to bring in reinforcements. The Central Asian states can keep their independence, at least for now."

"We have spread out our satellites to track the enemy from every direction. It is quite bothersome to be on the defensive."

Lelouch grins, "Yes but at least we're doing it here and not along the California coast. How are the new additions?"

"They work quite well. Dr. Chawla's team knows its stuff. The satellites they developed for the Japanese have been quite useful. Their plan was pretty smart as well. Instead of developing a large one, they made several smaller ones. I guess it ends up coasting about the same, but it looks better to the people."

"Very well. Keep the satellites point towards the enemy's rear. We will need to see if they are coming or going especially in the west."

"So our strategy is changing."

"Just a bit. Let's move. This is going to be a long day and night."

Lelouch makes sure to send instructions to Kallen. He doesn't have to tell her much. Lelouch doesn't bring Kallen here just because he enjoys her company at night. If Lelouch wants pleasure, he would go with Euphie, Milly, or Lucretia. No he brings Kallen because she knows him best.

"Your highness, there is a call for you on an open channel."

Lelouch turns on his radio and flips his communicator to an open channel.

This is Nikolai Sevastopol, Field Marshal of the Russian Federation's eastern theater. I challenge Lelouch vi Britannia to a duel.

Lelouch smirks, "Horosho ochenʹ horosho. Yes that is acceptable."

He knows that it is a challenge of his manhood. It is also a diversion. He flies out to meet his enemy escorted by his royal guard aka his drones. Once both combatants are face to face their escorts leave. As is customary in a duel situation, the escorts become essentially hostages for the other side. Except Lelouch's escorts are empty so the point is moot.

"We finally meet, Nikolai Sevastopol," Lelouch states while checking out his opponent's knightmare which is clearly a Lancelot/Galahad knockoff. It would be foolish for them to imitate the Mordred.

"Yes. Let me ask you a question, bullshit aside," this comment catches Lelouch a little off guard. No doubt that is what his opponent wants, "Why did you accept this duel? We both know that you know about the forces coming from the east."

Lelouch can hear gasps and cursing in Russian. Lelouch's grin is seemingly audible.

"It is the chivalrous thing to do."

"Is that so? Well let's get to it."

Lelouch pulls out both of his MVS.

"Finally I can cut loose."

Lelouch charges in using the Shinkiro's full strength. After a few minutes of battle, he notices that his opponent is avoiding standing directly in front of him for more than a few moments even at the cost of getting hit by one of Lelouch's other attacks. It is a little foolish to use the Zero Beam in this sort of close combat because it takes a few seconds to charge up. It also leaves Lelouch a bit on the defensive side since it takes a few moments for the Shinkiro to recover. Still Lelouch does not let the opportunity go to waste. He positions himself above his opponent and fires his prisms with the Zero beam coming a few moments later. Lelouch's opponent manages to avoid the attack, but the damage is done. Rather than aiming the prisms directly at Nikolai, Lelouch fires them slightly higher so that they can reflect down over the Russian position.

"You bastard!"

"Ah the rules state that others cannot join the fight, but they say nothing about us taking the fight to others."

"You wiped out your own men along with mine."

"Don't be a fool. Those were nothing but automated drones controlled by me. And if you look down, you'll see that they are perfectly fine."

Lelouch's five drones spread out around the Russian force.

"What the hell are they doing?"

Lelouch smirks as his drones release their prisms.

"Why destroying your men?"

Nikolai flies at Lelouch hoping to stop the Zero Beam but is met by the absolute defense shield. Lelouch charges the Zero beam and fires. Out of instinct Nikolai dodges.

"Fuck, what am I doing?" Nikolai asks himself.

Lelouch fires his wrist hadron cannons at the Russian code bear keeping him away.

"I had the drones power up before so that I could have enough power to finish you off."

The Zero beam hits the drones. As it does to Sawasaki's flight, the Zero beam bounces around the drone's prisms causing havoc amongst the Russian force. Lelouch sends his drones on a suicide dive to continue to confuse the Russian force.

"Now Mr. Sevastopol, will you come peacefully or will I have to drag your unconscious body out of your knightmare," Nikolai curses Lelouch in every language that he knows and a few that he makes up, "Have it your way. I will finish this," Before Lelouch can attack, the surviving Russia forces begin to fire upon him. Lelouch flips to an open channel, "Just remember, Mr. Sevastopol, your men fired on me first. Now they have dishonored you and will have to die."

Lelouch pulls back to his defensive live as his troops open fire. They pay no attention to him since his shield is up. Lelouch lands safely behind his lines.

"Keep firing at the enemy. I'm going down the river towards the lake to make sure that everything is in order."

The city of Irkutsk is bisected by a river heading towards the lake of the same name. Across the lake several miles away, Kallen is defending Ulan-Ude.

"Your highness, the enemy is sending in reinforcements."

"Already. They must have been preparing during the duel. I guess we'll have to bring in the airships now. I was hoping to save them until we were closer to the lake."

Lelouch moves further back and sends in some more drones, but the enemy keeps coming. Lelouch wonders if they are using geass to push forward. It makes sense after seeing most of them are moving with little regard to their own safety. Lelouch figures that the geass has something to do with giving people in a certain range hope and encouragement making them feel invincible. Someone might also be casting an opposite geass on Lelouch's force. Luckily for them, all Lelouch's knightmares are equipped with geass cancellers. Still there is no denying that the enemy's fanatical attacks are hurting Lelouch's force. Even the arrival of the airships, VTOLs, and jets doesn't help.

"Time to move to the next part of the plan. Groups Vampiro, Chrono, and Spiral pull back Groups Wingspot and Cookie Monster provide backup."

The group names have no meaning. They are simply random things that Lelouch comes up with. The plan is already known. As soon as Lelouch speaks, the center of his defense line collapses.

"The oldest trick in the book, the collapsing center," Lelouch grins knowing that it will have a major effect on his opponents and their geass enhanced courage.

Lelouch can hear them going on in Russian about how weak Britannian forces. In the background almost drowned out because of all the cheering is a voice calling for caution. Lelouch can sense that the enemy is about to turn their encouragement geass off. However that won't do them any good because Lelouch has his own such geass user. In fact he has three people that similar geasses. They are the Ward of Absolute Hope, of Absolute Bloodlust, and of Absolute Faith. The first and the third make people believe that anything is possible. The second just makes people thirsting for blood. Normally it doesn't matter how the desire is satisfied but combined with the other two and the situation, it drives the enemy forward.

The enemy knightmares and other equipment keep moving forward. He can hear Nikolai yelling at his men to stop moving, but the geass is too strong.

"They're using some sort of geass on you."

At this comment some of the knightmares stop moving forward. While not needing direct eye contact, the three geasses are more effective when there is eye contact. Most of the enemy units avoid getting hit by Lelouch's Zero beam. This movement complicates things because now the enemy is mixing with Lelouch' s force.

"Damn this isn't going to be pretty."

Lelouch flies in to join the battle. He quickly attracts the attention of several enemies. He quickly dispatches them, but others come to attack him. Rather than engaging Lelouch, the enemy chooses to hit and run. This frustrates Lelouch because he has to maintain his shield up.

"These jerks aren't fighting fair," Lelouch takes the Shinkiro high above the battlefield, "Looks like I don't any other choice, but to do this," Once Lelouch reaches his destination, he prepares his shield, "I've always wanted to do this. Diving Shinkiro bomb!"

Lelouch dives down behind enemy lines. They try to stop him to no avail. Lelouch slams into the ground creating a crater. His shield system takes a while to recover having taken the brunt of the fall.

"Damn, Cecile isn't going to be happy about this. Well at least the other systems are fully operational"

"Your highness, are you all right?"

Lelouch chuckles, "I think the correct question would be, are you sane."

Several friendly knightmares appear atop the crater. Several of his men do indeed question his sanity.

"Yes, I'm all right. It's going to take more than a fall from several hundred feet to take us out, right Shinkiro?" Lelouch slaps his controls which causes the shield system to sputter, "I guess I don't have the big shield for a bit," Lelouch pulls out his MVS, "Send your slash harkens at me."

Before Lelouch's troops can help him out of the crater, the enemy pushes them away. Now standing above Lelouch are several enemy knightmares point their rifles at him.

"Oh think you can take me out, do you? Have a taste of this."

Lelouch fires his Zero beam prisms causing the enemy to pull back from the carter. Instead of firing the Zero beam, Lelouch jumps out of the crater swinging his MVS.

"Morons, where's the fun in just firing that?"

Lelouch flings himself at the nearest enemy knightmare impaling it with sword. Now above ground Lelouch can see the damage he caused.

"Lelouch vi Britannia! You die here!"

Lelouch raises his MVS to block the attack. He pushes the enemy knightmare away with ease.

"I guess Nikolai didn't tell you that I share the same curse, geass," Lelouch's troops wisely stay behind him, "Lelouch vi Britannia prikazivaet vam umeret'," Lelouch fires his Zero beam destroying all those unlucky enough to be in the way. Lelouch glares at the remaining enemy knightmares, "I guess the rest of you aren't so good at following orders. I said for you to DIE!"

Lelouch rushes at the enemy knightmares hacking away with his MVS. Lelouch's own bloodlust takes over. The enemy attacks in various different formations, but they all fail.

"Field Marshal, we must retreat. This man's a monster. We cannot defeat him. Field Marshal, are you listening?" 

"Yes captain, I heard you. Order the retreat."

Lelouch growls, "Am afraid it isn't going to be so easy for you to leave."

A large blue and white knightmare floats behind the Russian lines. A blast from it chest cannons lets everyone know which side it is on.

Lelouch sneers, "Allow me to introduce knightmare frame, Europa Queen.

Milly pulls out her MVS.

"Let's see how this thing handles now that I'm not pregnant."

**Europa Queen  
**Height: 6.32 meters  
Weight: 7.09 metric tons

**Design features:  
**Factsphere sensor  
Cockpit ejection system  
Landspinner propulsion system  
Color: blue and white

**Armament:  
**2 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens  
2x hip mounted Slash harkens  
2 x Stun Tonfa  
2 x chest mounted cannons  
2x shoulder mounted cannons  
VARIS gun  
2x maser vibration sword  
Multiplex chaos mines

...

Kallen flips the switch on her radiant wave frying another enemy knightmare.

"Damn, this isn't getting easier. I wonder how Lelouch is doing."

Kallen looks over towards the other side of the lake. There appears to be fierce fighting because she can see lots of lights. Her slight distraction allows an enemy knightmare to get near her.

"Damn."

Kallen raises her radiant wave surger, but the enemy is destroyed before she activates it. A white and gold knightmare flies above Kallen.

"Don't tell me the greatest female athlete in the history of Ashford Academy Jr. High needs help. What would all the fans of your championship winning field hockey team say?"

Kallen smirks, "Don't make me laugh, Kururugi. As if I would need from someone like you"

Kallen fires her radiant wave in Suzaku's direction. He moves out of the way, but the enemy knightmares thinking that they could catch Suzaku off guard are destroyed. Suzaku looks to the other side of the lake.

"Looks like Lelouch is having a lot of fun over there."

"Where's Milly?"

"Where do think? Let's finish these guys off. There's a new episode of Fairy Tail tonight."

Kallen scoffs, "Overrated junk."

Suzaku laughs, "You're just mad because the blonde girl is the lead character."

"That what she thinks," Kallen states as she fries another enemy knightmare, "Let's end this so I can take a warm bath."

"Aye sir."

* * *

Author's note: So Friday the air conditioning at work went kaput and it was just fixed on Tuesday.. It was kind of hard to work in the heat. If any part of this chapter is weird just blame it on the heat/humidity induced hallucinations.

This is the order of the Code Bearers by age (when they received their code): XX, Choekyi Gyaltsen, MM's contractor, CC's contractor, CC, Khalid Fayez, MM, Nikolai Sevastopol, GG, VV, and Lelouch vi Britannia. The list in chapter 66 that Lelouch gets from MM has CC and Choekyi Gyaltsen flipped around. To MM's knowledge CC is the older code bearer because MM never met Choekyi Gyaltsen. No one knows the history of the geass contractors of Khalid Fayez, Nikolai Sevastopol, GG, or VV. It is believed that the Nikolai and VV's codes at one time were possessed by a person of Native American or Eskimo/Inuit descent. It is also possible that GG's code spent some time throughout the Pacific Islands or Australia. Choekyi and Khalid's codes have always stayed in Asia or northern Africa. These four codes have not been kept by anyone for more than a hundred years because unlike CC, the code bearers usually find someone worthy.

At the time of his death MM is around two hundred years old. Nikolai, GG, and VV are about sixty years old. Nikolai is old enough to fight in the Russian Revolution. He has 'died' once and allows his son' to take over. GG is old enough to be around when Indonesia gains its independence which in this timeline happens around 1940 AD (1995 ATB). I mentioned when she is introduced that GG is a lazy code bearer that moves around. VV is Charles's twin making him about sixty or so years old.

XX and CC are the code bearers that travel the most and are the only ones to have met the other code bearers. Along with MM's contractor, XX helps CC out when she learns about her immortality. However the partnership ends because CC continues to grant geass attempting to find someone able to lift her curse. Choekyi is the most isolated leaving in Tibet. His name is shared by several historical Tibetan figures and is the current Panchen Lama. In reality he has been all those people. Like XX, he sees it as his task to protect humanity from itself. Khalid works solo keeping a tradition of Arabic and Berber code bearers who work for their causes. Khalid in part is responsible for the rise and unity of the Middle East Federation.


	74. The Cold War

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses' Russian is underlined.

The chapter title is figurative and literal. Britannia is splitting into different factions because of Lelouch's actions. Charles can't publicly reprimand Lelouch for his actions since he is adhering to Charles's Social Darwinist ideas. He is conquering the weak using whatever strong forces he can find. Rather than racial or national Social Darwinism, Lelouch is applying it on a personal level. Of course the Chinese Federation and EU are also splitting into different factions as they deal with Lelouch.

Here are some notes on the previous chapter. Yes Lelouch fights a little dirty in the duel. That is his objective. He fires his Zero beam at Nikolai who wisely dodges it. It isn't Lelouch's fault where the beam ends up. The next point is that Russia is a freaking HUGE country in case any of you didn't know. The distance from where Lelouch is to Moscow is about the distance across the continental US (as a frame of reference). Sure there aren't a lot of people but that isn't the point. Having to maintain a supply line across such a large area would be impossible. I have stated previously that this is not Lelouch's purpose. If he wins this battle, he basically has eastern Siberia under his control. Then the distance becomes a problem for the Russians. To Lelouch, it doesn't even matter if Carolina or Villetta are successful. It doesn't even matter if Nunnally is successful. Well it matters to them as a matter of pride but not to Lelouch. He has other objectives.

...

Don't vacation in Siberia during the winter. The Siberian winter is not good bikini weather.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

...

One day big brother Schniezel and Kannon came out of a closet. Kannon's belt was undone. Euphie says they were measuring the closet for renovations.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

* * *

**Sunday, June 23, 2018, Military District of Malta**

Schniezel is watching as his army prepares to move. He has delayed its movement for several days. Even after finding out about Lelouch's attack, he does nothing. He wants to wait for Lelouch to make his bigger move, but it doesn't come. Now Schniezel has to do the obvious thing that being invade Europe. Schniezel's attacks are along the western Mediterranean.

"Your highness, the invasion is beginning."

"Thank you, Kannon."

Schniezel's assistant stands at his side quietly. Neither man comments about the events of the past week.

"It's a pity that the EU rulers do not want to negotiate."

"Yes your highness, things would be so much easier."

"Just think of all the lives that will be lost. How are our other projects?"

"They have been successful in obtaining the blueprints."

"Have you secured a site for the tests?"

"Yes it is not the ideal location but it will do."

"Very well."

* * *

Sirens begin to ring as Nunnally's troops begin to drop north of Birmingham. Jeremiah is to the north in Scotland finishing off resistance in Glasgow. After Glasgow, Jeremiah will move on towards Edinburgh. Jeremiah personally wants to retake the city that saw the battle that resulted in the eviction of the royal family from the British Isles. Nunnally takes the task of recapturing the former capital of the Britannian Empire. The English are not resisting too much. It feels odd calling them that since Nunnally's descendants and her enemies were at one time the same nationality and race. Well the latter is a matter of contention.

At the time of the royal family's eviction, the British Isles are full of several different races: Picts, Celts, Gaels, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Bretons, Norman, Norwegians, etc. You can also toss in a few Romans and a few other continental visitors. It kind of makes the whole issue meaningless. Despite claiming descent and counting monarchs from the Celts, the majority of the residents are actually Angles and Saxons. Then over the course of several hundred years sometimes the royal family comes from Norway or France. Looking at a family tree is enough to make anyone's eyes and head hurt. It looks more like a family bush.

Nunnally looks over at Sayoko and Alice. Unlike her, they hold no connection to the people below. Not that Nunnally should feel much of a connection either. The Holy Empire of Britannia has grown to unimaginable levels in the hundred fifty years since losing its former homeland. Now it is Nunnally's task to reunite long sundered peoples.

"Send in the drones. There is no point in losing soldiers in these unnecessary battles."

Nunnally looks down at the map. The defenders have put up light resistance at Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, and Nottingham. Even here in Birmingham, Nunnally can tell that the defenders are already looking to leave. The next defense line seems to be at Coventry.

"I guess they're saving their big defense for London."

* * *

Kaguya yama Britannia arrives at the Chinese empress's residence. After a week of negotiations, she finally gets to meet the official head of the Chinese Federation. A large part of her mission is to get a feel for the empress. It is her task to befriend the empress and see what elements in the Chinese Federation support her. Along with Kaguya, Lelouch has other spies and representatives throughout the Chinese Federation. Kaguya is being accompanied by Zhou Xianglin who because of her time with Lelouch seems to be considered an expert in all things Britannian. Kaguya finds the fact that she is considered Britannian a little insulting even though she is technically a Britannian princess by marriage.

'_Tell me, Xianglin. What kind of person is the empress?'_

'_To be completely honest, Princess Kaguya, I have never met the empress. Meaning I have never been near her person. It is considered an honor to ever be graced by the presence of the empress even if it is at a distance.'_

'_I see. Has the empress ever left this palace?'_

The question seems to startle Xianglin. Her Chinese upbringing and education kicks in.

'_There is no need for the empress to leave. This palace is the very center of the world.'_

Kaguya simply nods and continues to follow her guides. They reach very large ornate doors. Xianglin has been showing Kaguya the necessary protocol for an audience with the empress. The ritual for Kaguya is a little different since she is a princess and an ambassador. She wonders what Lelouch would do if given an audience with the empress. Kaguya goes through the ritual and is seated at a table with the empress. Xianglin and the empress's guards stay at a safe but respectful distance.

* * *

Lelouch slices through another enemy knightmare. He has been fighting all night. High above airships rain down fire on any Russian forces foolish enough to attack. For those that manage to make it across, they get to fight Lelouch and his drones. The arrival of Milly's force gives Lelouch more airships and knightmares. Lelouch's enemy has a simple plan. They simply want to wear him down. But what they fail to realize is that by abandoning the Pacific Coast, they are allowing Lelouch's best troops to move westward. The soldiers that he stationed in Japan that formed the Vladivostok attack force are Lelouch's most trusted men. At all levels of the commands structure are cadets who attended West Point with Lelouch or people that they trust. In front of the rising sun, Lelouch sees several small shapes coming from the northeast.

"I guess they've finally arrived. This should be an interesting day."

* * *

Kallen and Milly are meeting with their respective subordinates. They are trying to assess what needs to be done.

"Your highness, it appears that the enemy has established their command center here at Chita."

Kallen scowls at the comment. Yesterday half her force is in Chita and to take it the enemy would have to pay a heavy price.

"Don't be mad. The enemy simply would have bypassed Chita and attacked you at Ulan Ude," Lelouch comments.

Nobody bothers asking when he comes into the room. Lelouch has a habit of moving around unnoticed.

"Then my Chita force would have come in and finished them off," Kallen responds.

"Highly unlikely. They would have held back enough troops to take Chita once your force comes west to Ulan Ude. Your Chita force would have seen no reason to take equipment with them. Meaning all that would have been captured by the enemy."

Before Kallen can answer, Suzaku gives his opinion, "Still it feels odd not being on the attack."

Lelouch frowns, "The point of all this maneuvering is total victory. I will have no more of this talk about minor battles here or there," Lelouch says forcefully, "If you don't like the plan, then stay in your airships," Lelouch walks out leaving everyone stunned.

Milly shrugs, "I think that means we better go."

Kallen scoffs, "Nobody asked him to come to our meeting."

"His highness has been under a lot of stress," Ayame says trying to excuse Lelouch's outburst, "Besides he must have a plan."

"Of course he does," Kallen says sarcastically, "I just wish he would tell us."

Suzaku is a little surprised, "So even you don't know what he is planning. That seems odd."

"I don't think anyone knows everything he is planning."

Suzaku leaves a pensive Kallen and heads over to the knightmare hangar. Lloyd is still tinkering with the Lancelot. Suzaku wonders how much sleep the mad scientist got. Suzaku will not be surprised if it is only a few hours. Suzaku walks over to the Lancelot to see what Lloyd is doing to it.

Kallen watches Suzaku walks away. She doesn't bother saying anything else. She isn't sure who she can talk with about her worries over Lelouch's mental state.

"You're worried about his highness as well," Ayame walks over to Kallen.

"It's just that."

"It's been over a year since his highness gained his newest power."

Kallen never considers that Ayame knows all about Lelouch's geass.

"I should get going. Who knows what surprises Lelouch has planned for today?"

* * *

Nikolai is sitting in his knightmare contemplating the past twenty four hours. Some may find it foolish that he sends his soldiers forward to attack. He does it mostly to get a feel for his opponent. That doesn't make it any less foolish. Still it is a food thing to get a feel for what kind of man Lelouch vi Britnania is. Nikolai wonders if Lelouch can even be called man. Not like Nikolai is any more human although he likes to believe that he values human life more than his fellow code bearers.

During the night he sends soldiers to reconnoiter the Britannia defensive line. The airships floating above make things difficult. Nikolai is certain that the airship's firing programs are on automatic. The Britannian forces simply withdraw behind a certain position and anything that crosses said position is fire upon. It makes sense. Along with the forces from the Far East, Nikolai hopes to crush the Britannians or at least make them flee east. Their airships give them a distinct advantage.

"Field Marshal, we are tracking several objects traveling at high speed."

Nikolai looks down at his sensors.

"I don't see anything."

"Sir, our radar doesn't pick them up. Our forward visual scouts have identified them."

"Where did they come from? What are they?"

"Sir they appear to be jets. It will take some time to track their origin with our satellites."

Nikolai chuckles a little, "Jets, what the hell is Britannia doing with jets?"

Nikolai receives his answer as the jets approach the Russian line. The jets maintain their incredible speed even as they dip down towards the Russian line.

"Shoot those things down!" Nikolai yells.

"They're coming in too fast. There's no way they can avoid crashing into us."

"Those jets appear too expensive to be simple drones."

"Sir, they're dropping bombs. Take cover."

Nikolai attempts to move his knightmare back, but it is too late. The jets manage to drop their payload and pull up. Nikolai is stunned at the pilots' ability to pull up despite going at such speeds. Above he sees several jets that do not dive. The hovering jets have a blaze luminous system similar to the airships. Above those jets he can see a small airship.

"I see the divers must be drones and above are the pilots. That airship must be their base and fueling station. We don't have anything that can reach that high."

However the jets do not drop bombs but rather a black net.

"What the hell is that?"

"Gefjun disturber net," Lelouch states looking down on the battlefield from a Moons class airship. Lelouch watches the jets dock to fuel up for another attack. The Gefjun disturber begins to do its job on the enemy knightmares, "Send in the tanks."

For some unknown Nikolai's knightmare is stuck. Nothing seems to work. Whatever those jet drop on them seems to interfere with their systems. He notices that a few of his comrades are still moving. They are either outside the range of the black net or are under something. Several items begin to roll from the Britannian lines.

"Are those tanks?"

Unbelievably several dozen tanks roll out from the Britannian defensive line. Since the Russian knightmares are sitting duck, it provides some nice targets. They don't seem particularly interested in destroying the knightmares. They seem to be heading towards certain locations. Nikolai quickly grabs his handheld radio. A previously inconvenient expanse saver now becomes his savior.

"Shoot those things they probably have prisms for that laser beam."

The first few Russian attacks on the tanks are uncoordinated, and the knightmares get blown to pieces. The tanks seem to be working in teams. It appears that they are not manned because they fire upon each other in attempts to destroy the Russian knightmares. Not matter how hard the Russian forces persist, the tanks keep moving. The jets come back for another attack. This time dropping bombs and catching the Russian forces completely off-guard. Nikolai notices that the jets ignore the knightmares that cannot move and concentrate on those that are attacking the tanks. Nikolai doesn't notice the Shinkiro hovering over the Britannian line with the other knightmares.

"Perhaps those tanks are for something else. What could it be?"

Suzaku looks on as the tanks get into position to cast a larger gefjun net. Lelouch's plan to use the gefjun disturber the night before is made useless with the frantic fighting. Several of the gefjun disturber posts are damaged. Luckily Lelouch comes prepared with more. Suzaku remembers his conversation with Lloyd a few minutes before.

"There are a few changes to the Lancelot. The most important is a defense against the Gefjun Disturber."

Suzaku is a little confused, "Gefjun Disturber?"

"It seems that Rakshata has been up to her dirty tricks. The Gefjun Disturber is an invention of hers."

Suzaku nods but doesn't really understand. Now he looks out and sees the Gefjun Disturber doing it job. The vast majority of the Russian force is not immobilized. Leaving them prey for Lelouch.

Nikolai sees the tanks get in position and fire another one of those black nets immobilizing more of the Russian force. A few knightmare manage to escape and attack the tanks from another angle, but they freeze when they get too close. Above the jets continue to attack. With fewer knightmare the Russian forces are unable to do anything about them. Nikolai curses having left the anti-aircraft artillery behind, but having their own flying knightmares, it just seems like extra baggage. Although whatever is affecting the Russian knightmare systems will probably affect the artillery since it all runs on the same system.

Nikolai notices a formation of knightmares behind the Britannian lines. His initial thought is that the Britannians don't have a counter for their own weapon. The thought seems to be correct when Lelouch attacks with tanks and jets. Nikolai looks closely at the knightmares forming behind what he believes is the Lancelot.

"What are those things?"

Nikolai begins to cycle through his mind what the knightmare now coming at them are.

"Those are Japanese knightmares. But how did Lelouch get so many?" Nikolai slams his fist, "Looks like we have no choice. We're going to have to use the last resort."

All Russian knightmares are equipped with self-detonation devices that are battery powered. Nikolai picks up his radio.

"This is Field Marshal Nikolai Sevastopol. All knightmares that are immobilized are to activate plan Final Resolution. May God watch over you."

Lelouch takes the Titan Mirage out of the airship.

"Colonel Cunningham, continue west. Make sure to keep the airship out of range. Colonel Hillis and Captain Hellerman have their targets."

Lelouch heads towards the Russian knightmares. Of course his knightmare is resistant to the Gefjun Disturber. Only he doesn't reach the knightmares because they begin exploding as he approaches. The explosion caused by over fifty knightmares creates a large explosion. Even with having his shield activated, Lelouch is pushed back.

"Damn looks like they will get away."

Despite the Gefjun Disturber interfering with its conductivity, the sakuradite in the knightmares is still highly volatile. The explosion not only provides the enemy with an opportunity to escape, but it also allows Lelouch to move several pieces into position.

"I'll let you have this trivial moment. Suzaku, make sure that no enemy knightmare uses this explosion to go around our flank."

* * *

Kallen and Milly make it easy. They each take a third of the available troops and head out to attack. They leave the other third in reserve. Neither is really in the mood to follow Lelouch's plan and stay back on the defensive. Kallen is a little glad that Milly is with her and not Suzaku because the Japanese boy can be a stickler for the rules. Kallen wonders if the commander that is in charge of Lelouch's Pacific coast attack is smart enough to realize that his opponent is thinning out his lines.

Kallen keeps the pressure on the enemy. Even though they may seek asylum in the Chinese Federation, Kallen pushes the enemy south. If they manage to slip northward. It is possible that they may cause trouble in the future. Kallen has no doubts about her victory. She just has to make sure that the enemy does not escape to cause trouble. If they slip into the Chinese Federation, Lelouch will have to apply pressure to get to them. Kallen can't help but wonder if the enemy is setting her up. They seem to be pulling back rather quickly. However the enemy leaves behind lots of equipment, making Kallen believe that she catches them off-guard with her attack.

Kallen sighs and spreads out her knightmares to make sure that the enemy isn't try some sort of ambush. She also moves her airships closer to the battle. They will be able to keep

an eye over the entire battle field.

"Your highness, there appears to be some movement in the direction that the enemy is heading."

"Movement?"

"We are unable to determine what it is because the area is close to the border with the Chinese Federation. Our satellites are not in position to view the area. We will attempt to move an airship into position to get a better view of what is going on."

Kallen wonders if the enemy purposely holds back this small force. Kallen moves her own sensors to be able to pick up the movement behind the enemy.

"They seem to be coming from across the border that can't be too good."

"Your highness, we have a visual."

"Put the video up here," A blood red knightmare holding s spear appears on Kallen's screen, "What is that?" Behind a familiar knightmare appears, "No way that's the Mordred. No wait there's two of them. What the hell are two Mordreds doing there?"

Luciano moves his knightmare towards the enemy. Thanks to Kaguya's negotiations, Luciano and a small force are able to use the same route that the Russian forces use a few nights before. Now thanks to Kallen and Milly's actions, the enemy is trapped.

"Well looks like they left us something to fight, eh Sanderson, Goodley."

"So it seems."

"Let's move. We can't leave his royal Luluness waiting for us. My Vlad smells blood."

"I figured you'd say something like that. They don't call you the Vampire of Britannia for nothing."

Luciano spins his spear around and grunts, "Hmph. Don't tell me you are satisfied with this pitiful force that was waiting to ambush," When there is no response, Luciano grunts once more, "Let's go."

Since Milly swings her force north of Chita, she is behind in chasing the enemy south. She spread her troops out to make sure that no enemy units slip through the cracks. Even though she wants to attack as much as Kallen, she has an uneasy feeling about this attack. Still she has no choice but to provide backup. She makes sure to keep a few troops in reserve. It is still possible for the enemy to have a force to the north. Milly moves south cautiously. She isn't quite the action junky that Kallen is. Really she can't concentrate on her part of the battle because she is worried about Lelouch.

"Your highness, there appears to be some commotion ahead."

"That makes sense. Kallen should have caught the enemy by now."

"It appears so, your highness. There also appears to be some commotion closer to the border. I'll will see if I can bring it up using one of our satellites."

An image shows up on Milly's screen.

"What is the Mordred doing there?"

Milly pushes her troops forward towards the battle.

* * *

Lelouch is sitting aboard the Excalibur waiting for Kallen and Milly to return. Luciano arrives just in time to stop the enemy ambush and is with Suzaku leading a reconnaissance force in an effort to assess what the enemy has remaining in the area. Lelouch is meeting with his main subordinates to discuss their next move.

"What are we doing next?" Kallen asks.

Lelouch smirks, "Nothing. We are done for now."

"What do you mean? Shouldn't we keep the pressure on to help Villetta with her attack?"

Lelouch waves away her comment.

"No, in a few days Villetta will return to us. Carolina is already on her way. Nunnally will probably follow. For now we will establish Siberia as Area 23. That is our first task."

"So we're just going to sit here."

"Of course not. We will prepare for battle, but we are simply here as bait. Russia will not allow so much of its territory to fall into enemy hands."

* * *

**Monday, July 8, 2018**

Things have not exactly been easy for Villetta since Darlton's arrival. She still doesn't understand why Princess Carolina simply hands control of her army to Cornelia's advisor. It doesn't matter for a few days since Carolina's army is over on the Black Sea. This soon changes as Darlton wishes to consolidate the attacks. It seems that Schniezel and Cornelia have not been successful in their attacks of Italy and Greece. Darlton hopes that by consolidating the attacks on Russian into one focused first on Volgograd and then swing west. This makes Villetta wonder why Darlton is abandoning the attacks along the northern Black Sea.

Villetta sits at the conference table. Princess Carolina and her advisors are already long gone and probably in Japan or Siberia. Gino and Nonette are already sitting lackadaisically. Having turned over direct control of their force to Darlton, they are simply division commanders. Carolina's force moves up from Rostov earlier in the day. Now Darlton has control of complete Army of the Caucasus, he will use it. He is positioning the army in front of Volgograd. Her previous orders from Lelouch are to simply maintain a front south of Volgograd and assist Carolina's force along the Black Sea. According to his theory, Russia is to big a country to take in one bite. Like a child eating their first big meal, they must take small bites.

Darlton enters the room with his assistants. Villetta knows that there have been a few arguments about what to do next. Experience tells Villetta that Darlton will simply head straight at the enemy. Unlike Lelouch, Cornelia and her men have only one method of fighting. They have none of the subtleness and cunning that Schniezel and Lelouch have. Really Villetta only has one choice to make.

Darlton clears his throat, "Very well let's begin this meeting."

Villetta raises her hand, "General Darlton, may I say something before you begin the meeting?" Darlton grudgingly nods, "General, I am here to inform you that Prince Lelouch is recalling all general class officers back to Area 10. I suppose when we arrive he will give us new orders. For the moment those of colonel and major ranks will remain but will eventually have to return. We belong to the prince's Fifth Army after all."

"You belong to the Army of Britannia! His Majesty's army!" Darlton takes a few moments to calm down, "Fine if you want to run, go ahead. We don't need you. Take any of the lower ranked officers and enlisted men that belong to your precious Fifth Army as well."

Villetta shrugs her shoulders and walks out. She is sure that Nonette or Gino will convince Darlton to only let Lelouch's generals go. After all including Villetta, there are only four of them. None have ever commanded an army in the field. Lelouch only keeps them around because of their efficiency. The real problem for Darlton will come form those colonels and major. The vast majority attended West Point with Lelouch or have been with him during his other invasions.

Villetta is not sure how Lelouch will take her leaving the Caucasus front. He gives her two options: return to him or stay here as a subordinate to Darlton. Much like Jeremiah, Villetta prefers any position under to Lelouch to serving under someone like Cornelia or Schniezel although for different reasons. These past weeks she feels the difference between Darlton and Lelouch. It is the subtle things that Lelouch does that make him superior.

Of course Villetta gets to take the Gemini and its crew with her. Technically the airship belongs to the twins so Darlton would be a fool to try to keep Villetta from taking it. Darlton doesn't need Evelyn and the Sparkle showing up and showing him up with her drones.

* * *

**Sunday, July 14, 2018**

Nunnally's army is marching through the streets of London. Her airships are flying above. Nunnally's army fights its way through England and finally reaches London. Just as Nunnally predicts the UK/EU forces have set up several defensive rings around the city. However Nunnally has a surprise for them, Anya and the Silencer go underwater and come out through the English Channel. Jeremiah and the Siegfried also make a surprise entry into the battle. This completely demoralizes the enemy. A few enemies manage to escape through Dover to Calais and Dunkirk.

So now Nunnally's army is parading down the streets of London. The sun reflects off their white uniforms and helmets which stand in contrast to what Lelouch's soldiers normally wear. Sayoko remarks that to western cultures black is the color of death, but in the east white symbolizes death. Alice thinks about what Sayoko tells her about the symbolism of white and black. White stands for cleanliness, innocence, and good. Black stands for fear, mystery, and evil. Both colors are considered polar opposites. Yet here are two siblings similar in many ways using the two colors.

"Now in the annals of Britannian no, world history along side great generals the name Nunnally vi Britannia stands out," Nunnally proclaims.

Alice shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

"Come on, Grand General Nunnally. We still have work to do."

"Yes lead the way Alice, my faithful knight."

Alice looks out towards the people. She knows what they are going through.

"Lady Alice, her highness is waiting for us."

Alice nods, "I'm on my way, Sayoko."

* * *

Villetta is in her dress uniform. Underneath she is wearing a black dress with the Black Knights symbol on the front and it opens on the sides. Over that she wears a purple coat with gold buttons. Villetta has not felt this nervous since the day that she is knighted. Before her sitting on a throne is Lelouch. To his right is Princess Euphemia. Villetta suspect if Princess Nunnally was here that she would be to Lelouch's right and Euphemia might possibly be to his left. Behind them are Lelouch's consorts in the order he marries them. They start with Kallen slightly to the right of Euphemia. Milly, Carolina, and the recently arriving Kaguya are seated besides Kallen forming an arc behind Lelouch and Euphemia. Standing directly before the throne is Nagisa Chiba wearing a uniform similar to Villetta's. From the throne to the door where Villetta is standing is a black and white carpet. To one side of the carpet are the three little vi Britannias with Ayame standing behind them. To the other side are what Villetta likes to call the future vi Britannia consorts with Ichiro standing behind them. Behind them are a few nobles related to Lelouch's wives and those that support him. Villetta notices Kewell and his wife standing amongst the nobles.

Villetta makes her way down the carpet and kneels before Lelouch.

"I have returned, your highness."

"Arise Villetta Nu. You have done well."

Villetta stands and nods, "Thank you, your highness. Although I believe that I have accomplished very little."

"Nonsense," Lelouch waves his arms towards those present, "All these people are present in order to congratulate you."

While entirely true, there are a few people that want to see Villetta succeed. The other generals enter after her. After they receive their reward, Lelouch stands. The twins run up to her asking her about Gino.

Evelyn calls them back, "Castor, Pollux, where are your manners?"

Lelouch takes the opportunity walk out of the throne and over to his adjacent office. Euphemia stands to signify that the short ceremony is over. Immediately the six princesses are surrounded by people wanting favors. Kewell is amongst the few that go over to Villetta.

"Congratulations General Nu. Whatever you did, it seems that his highness is pleased with it," Kewell's wife nudges him causing him to sigh, "My dear Carmina seems to be under the impression that his highness wants to speak with you in private," Kewell nods towards the door that Lelouch used to exit the room, "That room is his office. No one enters without permission," Kewell looks over towards the princesses, "And I do mean no one enters THAT office without permission," Kewell smiles and scratches the back of his head, "But what do I know, I've only been here a few days. Well see you later. I have to make sure that Marika isn't getting into any trouble. Technically she is in command of this airship."

Kewell walks away leaving Villetta alone. His wife is already in a conversation with the twins. A few people come over to Villetta to discuss the situation in Europe. As Villetta is talking, one of twin girls most likely Emily since she is wearing a red dress hands her a note. The note is blank, but it gives her an excellent opportunity to excuse herself. Villetta cautiously enters Lelouch's office. Lelouch has already taken off his clothes from the ceremony and is wearing something else. The throne room is an addition to the Excalibur II. Lelouch's office also seems bigger. From what Villetta gathers, this is a private office like Kewell hints at. Lelouch must have another office to conduct meetings in.

"Have a seat, Villetta."

Being called by her given name is certainly a change from what she is used to. Even serving as the prince's knight and direct subordinate, he rarely if ever calls her Villetta. It seems like the current Lelouch is different from the one that Villetta serves under previously. She wonder just how vastly different he is. Villetta spends the majority of her time with the twins or in Area 10. Now it seems that she will serve directly under Lelouch.

"Would you care for some whiskey, Villetta?" Lelouch shakes his head, "No, you prefer white wine, don't you? It's a pity that Schniezel and Cornelia have yet to take the wine producing regions of Europe."

Villetta smiles and takes the glass. There it is again, He says her name and even knows her favorite alcoholic drink. Although the latter can be attributed to him simply knowing his subordinates. Lelouch takes his seat and takes a sip probably of the aforementioned whiskey.

"Your highness, this ceremony even though small seems a bit excessive given out failure to adhere to your plan in the west."

Lelouch waves away her concerns and stands, "You did not failure, Villetta. In a few days Nunnally will grudgingly hand over control of the British Isles to Karine and head for Japan. Once we have gathered all our strength in Siberia, Japan, and Southeast Asia, the others will learn that things are not as easy as they believed," Lelouch puts his hands on Villetta's shoulders, "You will go to Japan with Nagisa and prepare for Nunnally's arrival as Viceroy of Area 22. By the time she gets there Japan comes quietly or we crush all opposition."

Villetta nods and takes a sip of her wine. Lelouch's hands slip from her shoulders down to her buttons which he begins to undo.

"Your highness, this doesn't feel proper."

Villetta has always ignored her feelings and emotions for the sake of her career. Unlike Jeremiah and Kewell, one mistake can leave her on the sidelines for several months. Lelouch continues to undo the buttons and begins to kiss Villetta on the neck.

"I've been wanting to do this for years."

Lelouch slips Villetta's coat off and kisses her on the lips. Villetta struggles for a moment but gives in.

Lelouch smirks, "Wouldn't Gino be jealous of the position I am in or at least the positions I am going to be in."

**Friday, November 1, 2018, Russian Federation**

Nikolai is returning from Volgograd. He is still trying to get the stench out of his nose. Sometimes he curses the fact that his code gives him superior senses. The over three month battle rages on. At this point it is too early to declare a winner, but the Russian side seems to have the advantage. Despite attacking on multiple fronts, Britannia has not been able to advance more than a few miles from the coast. Even the great Cornelia is being pushed back through Greece. There is even talk of invading Anatolia to cut Cornelia off from the Britannia forces that are occupying the Middle East Federation. Even from the British Isles there is nothing. Many expected Nunnally to follow her invasion up with an attack on France, but instead she goes to Japan where she is now viceroy.

In late July Japan formally surrenders its government to Britannia and becomes Area 22. After that Lelouch formally declares Siberia, Area 23 and is installed as its viceroy. Nikolai assumes that the latter situation is the reason why he is meeting with a member of the Russian cabinet. Even now on his way east Nikolai remembers the conversation.

"Nikolai, have a seat."

"What is this business about, Minister Khrushchev?"

Minister Khrushchev clears his throat, "Nikolai, we have together for a long time."

Nikolai nods in agreement. This is one of the few people that know what Nikolai is, and it is true that they have been comrades for almost half a century since the attempted revolutions against the tsar. Both men also quickly change sides when the EU succeeds in overthrowing the tsar establishing the Russian Republic.

"Nikolai, we must take back whatever we can of Siberia even if only for a few months. Nikolai, with our success at Volgograd the people are becoming restless about Siberia." 

"I understand, but it's November. Winter will begin soon. We can't possibly be expected to drive them out in this weather."

"Yes but then comes spring and its floods," the minister shakes his head, "We cannot wait until next summer. If we wait until May and other fronts are successful, the people will call for our heads. We cannot allow even the slight opportunity to pass. Look at these pictures."

Nikolai looks at the pictures. They contain several factories in areas of Siberia under Britannia control. Nikolai scowls and puts the pictures down.

"It seems I have no choice," Nikolai states grudgingly.

"Good I will tell the council."

Nikolai sighs and notices that they are in Omsk. That means that they are moving around in preparation for the battle. They are getting in the order that they will head out to battle in. At Novosibirsk they will disembark the trains for a short training session. A few reconnaissance scouts will head out as the others train. Their objective is to see how far west the Britannian forces are. There is also the matter of the Britannian air raids.

Nikolai sighs and gets back to his paperwork. Even though they have developed a method to combat the Gefjun Disturber, it has not been tested in battle situations. As far as Nikolai knows, it has not been tested with a real Gefjun Disturber since only Rakshata Chawla knows how to make them correctly. As his train leaves Omsk, Nikolai notices a bright light ahead.

"That's an odd looking light. I wonder what it is."

Suddenly Nikolai's train shakes violently and is tipped. Nikolai manages to stay conscious for a few minutes but is hit by pieces of the train.

Nikolai is lying on the cold ground. Whatever attacks the train seems to have destroyed it completely along with tearing up a large section of the ground. The biggest problem for Nikolai is that he seems to in pieces. As he looks around, he hopes that none of his body parts are frozen because that will be a pain in the ass. Nikolai sees rescue crews coming from Omsk. They still appear to be a good distance away. Suddenly Nikolai hears the screeching of jets in the air, but they are coming from the wrong direction. Nikolai yells out, but it is too late. His would be rescuers are destroyed. Nikolai closes his eyes, but they are jarred open by a hated voice.

"Well what do we have here if it isn't Nikolai Sevastopol. I never though our first face to face meeting would be like this," Lelouch walks over and kicks Nikolai in the stomach.

"You fucking bastard."

"Oh my. There is no need for such language. Don't worry I'm done killing your friends for now," Lelouch jabs Nikolai with a needle, "This is a horse tranquilizer. Something this powerful would kill a normal man, but unique people like us are only put to sleep."

Lelouch picks Nikolai up and heads for a knightmare.

* * *

Schniezel is staring at the map. Things have not gone well the last few months. Darlton is beaten savagely at Volgograd. The man is almost a shell of his former self. If not for the intervention of the Knights of Six and Twelve (Nonette and Gino), then perhaps the whole army would be lost. Both Schniezel and Cornelia are unable to advance through Italy and Greece respectively. In fact Schniezel will probably lose his hold on Sardinia and the few beachheads he has on the Italian peninsula. Only some fancy maneuvering by Cornelia stops her from being separated from Anatolia where Britannia has occupying forces. Schniezel doesn't even want to think about the mess that Karine is causing in the British Isles. What is Nunnally's perfect conquest will be Karine's greatest humiliation. Not to mention that due to Schniezel's absence from the homeland, Odysseus is taking a greater role in the government although it is probably the work of Faramond not his father. At this point Schniezel will take even the tiniest morsel of good news.

"Your highness."

"Yes Kannon," Schniezel only glances up at his assistant and gets back to the map.

"The initial reports from Greenland indicate that the test is successful."

Schniezel grins, "I see."

"It also seems like Lelouch has successfully tested the weapon east of Omsk."

Schniezel studies the map carefully. He expects Lelouch to do a test of the weapon but does not expect it to be tested in actual conditions and to such success.

"We have to find a way to create more weapons along with the ultimate airship to carry a large supply."

Schniezel looks down at the blueprints to extra large airship named Damocles.

* * *

Author's note: When they first arrive the previous day, Milly goes with Lelouch and Suzaku goes with Kallen. However since Lelouch's opponents will be sitting ducks he has Suzaku come with him because of his sense of honor. Not that Milly or Kallen don't have honor, it is just that Suzaku's is much greater in the sense of preserving life if possible. It isn't so much that Kallen doesn't know Lelouch's plan. It is just too complicated and technical for her to comprehend.

The Villetta situation is what it is. She is an attractive single woman that crosses Lelouch's path. She has been around him for eight years more or less. He has seen her in her underwear although at the time he wasn't thinking of such things. Chapter 9 or 10 I believe.

Someone reminded me that I gave Anya a geass, but I'm pretty sure I haven't said what it is yet so that might make its appearance as soon as I think of something.

There is one stealth airship and a dozen stealth fighter jets. All the jets are the same and are capable of being piloted or being drones.

I suppose that it is a good thing that the FLEIA is not radioactive like our nuclear weapons are. Schniezel is not planning on building a flying castle. This Damocles will just be an extra large airship.

Here are the different sizes of airships. They are named after Lelouch's classifications for his knightmare projects/generations. Some of them have not been built yet. At the moment there are not any Extra large/Supremacy class airships  
Airships size classes  
Small-Moons Class: Gemini, Sparkle, Boudicca,  
Medium-Caerlon class: Excalibur I, Avalon, Ganymede, Apocalypse, Apotheosis, Silencer, Aphrodite,  
Large-Legacy class: Excalibur II, Great Britannia, Shiva, Nike, Avalon Ultima, Ganymede Queen  
Extra large-Supremacy Class: Excalibur III, Damocles, Ultra Boudicca, Super Sparkle, Emily, Miranda

An updated area and viceroy list. THe British Isles being the orginal homeland are considered Area 0 even though at the moment they are under martial law being recently reconquered.

**Known Areas and their viceroys  
**0 British Isles  
1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia sub Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16- Cornelia li Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-Regina ha Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016  
20 Northern Africa 2017-Karine le Britannia  
21 Middle East Federation 2017- Selene ge Britannia  
22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia  
23 Siberia 2018-Lelouch vi Britannia

**Britannian military districts  
**Crete Military District : ruled from Area 21  
Peloponnese Military District: ruled from Area 21  
Western Mediterranean Military District: ruled from Area 20  
British Isles Military District: ruled from Area 20


	75. The beginning of the end

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Nobody except Lelouch and Schniezel's people knows what happened to the Russian troops east of Omsk. Everything from a meteor to faulty wiring is blamed. The most logical explanation is that Britannian forces on a bombing run hit the train cars containing the energy fillers causing the sakuradite in them to react.

Respect yourself and others will respect you.

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

**Monday, November 4, 2018, Saigon Palace, Area 10**

Nina is sitting there shocked as the footage of Lelouch's test. She never imagines that he would test such a weapon where people are present. She understands that eventually her creation will become a weapon, but she never imagines it happening so soon. Her theories are sensible, but they need to be tested. She wonders if giving her ideas to Lelouch is the right thing to do. She looks at other reports and notices that even Prince Schniezel is testing her theories.

Nina sighs, "At least they're on the same side."

"That's where you're wrong, Nina."

Evelyn is standing behind Nina.

"Evie, what are you doing here?"

"I am here to make sure that you don't give out any more secrets," Evelyn backs Nina up into a corner, "Actually I'm here to kill you."

Nina moves to get away, but her vision gets blurry.

"What's going on?"

Alice comes out of nowhere and sticks Nina with a syringe.

"Sorry Nina, but people won't believe that you are dead if they see you walking around."

Dalque comes in and picks Nina up. Evelyn looks over at the television. They are showing satellite pictures of what Russian authorities are calling an accident caused by some unstable sakuradite, but Evelyn knows better.

Khalid Fayez turns his television off because he is tired of hearing about the accident that wipes out Russia's Siberian army. He suspects that it is no accident. In addition to the loss of the army, their commander is also missing. Khalid knows that Nikolai cannot be dead. If he is somehow missing, Khalid will have to find somewhere else to hide. His preference is something further south because he cannot stand the Russian winter. At the moment he is waiting for his brothers to return from some sort of meeting. Khalid is tired of meeting with Russian officials. He wonders if Kazakhstan or one of the other central Asian republics will take his services.

Khalid yawns not from weariness but boredom. He sighs when he hears the door open and close. His brothers must be back from their meeting.

"_So what did they say? Did they offer to make us colonels again,"_ Khalid chuckles, _"The nerve of those people."_

There is still no answer so Khalid gets up with a sigh to investigate what is going on. Even though it is early in the day, sometimes a drunk wanders into the wrong apartment. Obviously they don't understand Arabic and stand there confused. However Khalid finds Ali and Mohammed standing still by the door.

"_Is something going on?_

Ali lifts a small gun with a needle sticking out and fires it. Khalid is stunned for a moment and then falls to the ground.

Khalid wakes up feeling groggy, _"What happened?"_ He looks around and notices that he is not home, _"Where am I?"_

The response come from the most hated (or loved) voice in the world.

"_You are in Area 23 aboard the stealth airship Ichihime. I need to stop letting Kallen and the twins name these airships." _

Khalid manages to sit up.

"_Where are my brothers?"_

"_They have served their purpose and have been disposed of,"_ Lelouch points towards the hangar bay door behind Khalid.

Khalid shudders at the though of his brothers being tossed out of this airship and sheds a few tears.

Lelouch smirks, _"Don't worry. When we reach Irkutsk, you will experience the same thing. Unfortunately for you, you will be able to feel everything and survive." _

The next morning Lelouch is lying in bed with his laptop looking over his next move. He has already put a plan in place to take the Chinese Federation from within. Kaguya and Carolina have both been visiting the Chinese Federation empress. Lelouch would rather have Milly visit the empress since she understands him better but feels that she might pervert the little empress. Lelouch can't have that.

Villetta stirs next to Lelouch. Since her arrival she has spent most of her time in Lelouch's bed. This happens to be the real reason why he orders her to come to him. He is quite surprised to find her still a virgin, but that is something that he quickly rectifies. Kallen and Jeremiah are busy organizing the Fifth Army which protects all of East Asia except for the territory controlled by the Chinese Federation. Milly is working on organizing Area 23 (Siberia). Carolina and Kaguya are working on relations with the Chinese Federation. The former is also working on keeping communications with Southeast Asia fluid. Kaguya is also working with Nunnally in keeping Area 22 (Japan).

Lelouch is studying the situation in Europe. With a few moves here and there, Lelouch can help recover the situation. He gets up and heads for the bathroom. After getting dressed, he slowly makes his way down to the knightmare hangar and down to Irkutsk. Even though they are firmly in control of the area, Lelouch still spends much of his time aboard the Excalibur II. Milly has been constructing a viceroy's palace for several months so eventually he will have to live there. As Lelouch heads over to the knightmare storage area, he looks towards the lake southeast of Irkutsk which holds a secret. Naturally Lelouch finds Kallen working.

"Already hard at work, I see."

Kallen grunts as Lelouch puts his arms around her.

"Couldn't you have invaded somewhere that isn't frozen most of the year?"

Lelouch sighs, "All the good places are taken," Lelouch taps the Akatsuki that Kallen is working on, "Is this the knightmare you've been working with?"

Kallen nods.

"Do you want to have a little match?" Lelouch asks.

"Have you ever used on of these?"

"There systems are similar to the Bors which is mass production model of the Mordred. Still you're right. I should use that new Bors that Cecile made so I can train in the snow without using the Titan Mirage," Lelouch states with a smirk.

Kallen slaps him on the head.

"Aren't you lucky that so many women are looking after your needs and desires."

"That wasn't very nice. So are you up for it."

Kallen grins, "Get your flight suit."

**Bors **(2nd generation)  
**General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.89 meters  
**Weight:** 7.11 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere Sensor  
Landspinner Propulsion System  
Blaze Luminous shielding  
Color: silver with gold trim  
**Armament  
**4x shoulder Slash Harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens  
2x wrist mounted slash harkens  
2x Maser Vibration Sword  
VARIS rifle  
2x wrist mounted cannons  
Multiplex chaos mines

**Akatsuki  
****characteristics  
****Height:** 4.81 meters  
**Weight:** 9.25 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Kou Kisou Kudourin-type Landspinner propulsion system  
Air Glide Wing System  
Cockpit Ejection System  
Radiation Wave-based shielding  
**Armament  
**1x Right Arm-inbuilt Radiation Wave unit  
1x Revolving Blade Sword  
2x Shoulder-mounted Machine Gun Turrets  
2 chest mounted slash harkens  
**Optional Armaments  
**1x Left (or Right) Arm-mounted 2-barrel Hand Gun  
1x Right Arm-mounted Bazooka  
3x Right Arm-mounted Radiation Wave missiles  
12-tube Missile Launcher x1 (sometimes equipped to its Air Glide Wing System)

Both knightmares and pilots are evenly matched. The radiation wave on the Akatsuki is not as strong as the Guinevere or Callisto Ultima nor does it have the ability to shoot out. Kallen's only addition to Milly's palace is a knightmare training ground so that they don't have to go over to one of the bases that surround the city. Word quickly spreads that Lelouch and Kallen are going to have a duel. It is the biggest duel since Suzaku and Luciano fight it out a few weeks ago. Of course after that Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata forbid duels in the specialized knightmare. Lelouch and Kallen agree on a no flying rule.

Lelouch looks over at the gathering crowd, "Looks like we have an audience," he states as he withdraws his MVS, "We better give them a good show."

Lelouch lunges at Kallen who slides to the right. Lelouch is expecting this since it puts her radiation arm out of reach. Lelouch slashes to his left only to be stopped by Kallen's radiation shield. Lelouch withdraws his second MVS as Kallen charges her radiation burst. Lelouch spins around and swings his MVS at Kallen causing her radiation shield to activate. This action also causes Kallen to stop charging her radiation burst. Kallen moves her knightmare away from Lelouch. If he continues to attack her at such close range with such force, her energy shield will eventually give out. She has to make him work hard to win.

Lelouch pulls out his VARIS rifle and fires. Kallen fires her radiation burst to stop it. Kallen growls as she pulls out her revolving sword blade and puts in in her left hand. She fires a radiation wave missile at Lelouch causing him to move to her left and withdraw his MVS. Lelouch tosses a chaos mine just in front of Kallen's position. This is quickly followed by a slash harken that latches onto Kallen's sword blade pulling it to the ground. Kallen fires with her hand gun. Lelouch deflects with his MVS. Kallen picks her sword blade back up. She has to think of a new strategy. She is too used to fighting with her personal knightmare to adapt to combat using an Akatsuki. Although the real issue probably is that she is fighting Lelouch.

"Come on Kalli, is that all you have?"

Kallen knows that she has more equipment and a better armament, but Lelouch knows how to use the Bors like no one else because it is a copy of his Mordred although this one is based on the Shinkiro. Lelouch begins to fire his wrist cannons at her forcing Kallen to dodge. She knows that he is guiding her around and will come in for the kill. Kallen decides the only way to win is by using one of Lelouch's old tricks against him. She charges straight at him hoping that her shields hold up. Lelouch continues fire with his wrist cannons.

As soon as Kallen is close enough he fires his slash harkens at her Kallen knows what to expect next. Lelouch predictably uses his momentum to fling himself over Kallen. She decides to take advantage of his vulnerability by charging her radiation wave. Lelouch is expecting this and prepares his VARIS rifle. The resulting blast provides Lelouch with cover as he lands. Lelouch puts way the VARIS and pulls out both MVS. Kallen fires her remaining radiation missiles at Lelouch. He blocks them but loses his MVSs.

Kallen still has her sword blade, but Lelouch uses his slash harkens to take it away form her once more. Lelouch has one trick up his sleeve. He hopes that no one notices what he does. He continues to fire his wrist cannon to make Kallen use shield up. He begins to close the gap hoping to find an opening. He fires his wrist slash harkens at her legs hoping to get some leverage but she responds with the shoulder machine gun. The slash harkens are torn. Lelouch fires his other slash harkens at Kallen's legs, but each one is torn. Kallen wonders how Lelouch's slash harkens come off so easy. She doesn't have much time to think about it because he is preparing to toss another chaos mine. Kallen tries to move but her knightmare doesn't respond. Lelouch's eight slash harkens are somehow attached to her legs. It probably doesn't take much to get them off, but the chaos mine heading at her doesn't allow her time to act. She quickly activates her radiation burst. This action while stopping the mine from damaging her knightmare still damages Kallen's arm. Lelouch is quickly on top of her with his VARIS rifle.

"I guess I'm still the best."

Kallen sighs and shakes her head, "Not yet."

Kallen fires her slash harkens at the VARIS rifle, but Lelouch manages to dodge the attack. Kallen stands up and raises her hand gun at this range it will do some serious damage. However Lelouch is too quick and fires at Kallen completely disabling her knightmare.

"It's a good thing we're on the same side."

Kallen nods, "I guess it is. Pull me out of this thing. I think the ejection system is damaged."

Kallen is ejected as soon as she finishes the sentence.

"I guess her ejection system still works. Maybe the VARIS screwed up some of the electronics. We'll have to look into it. On a side note the slash harken shot works."

Lelouch exits the knightmare.

"I think I need some help getting back to the Excalibur. Kallen really came at me this time."

As soon as Kallen is ejected the arena crew runs out to help Lelouch and to secure Kallen.

**Wednesday, November 6, 2018, north of the Caucasus**

Gino fires at his enemies with his assault rifle. Since taking over for Darlton, things have been difficult. The people under his and Nonette's command are a motley crew (a few of their own royal guard, lots of Lelouch's soldiers, a few from Cornelia/Darlton, and finally a few new recruits). Not surprisingly Lelouch's soldiers perform the best and take orders from Gino and Nonette the easiest. A few of Darlton's men are upset that they so brazenly take control of the army. The only answer at the moment seems to be to take more of Lelouch's soldiers, a large portion of which are technically Numbers, although Gino knows that Lelouch doesn't worry about such things. That may be why he is able to take lots of people from Southeast Asia up to Siberia.

"Commander Weinberg, we need help in section 2-B."

Gino looks over at his map. That particular section isn't any more important than other sections. In fact sees a few other sections that probably make better targets, both in terms of what they are guarding and the amount of troops.

"I'll see what I can send over."

"Thank you sir."

Another thing that differentiates Lelouch's soldiers from the rest is that they simply call Gino and Nonette commander with no reservation or audible scorn. Darlton's men seem to love calling them Lord Weinberg and Lady Enngream.

"When are those new troops going to come?"

"Right now."

Gino looks up and sees a blue airship with two white spheres in front. Between the spheres is a large black hole with four white teeth like protrusions.

"What the hell is that?" Gino asks as knightmare begin to exit the airship's mouth. Gino thinks he see large light brown circles with little dark brown chips in it, "Are those giant cookies?"

"Yes my dear Gino. This is my personal airship, Cookie Monster."

The voice startles Gino, "Isabelle, is that you?"

"Who else but me would make such a cute knightmare? Isn't cool? Those cookies fly out like bombs. Want to see?"

Gino can't dispute the cuteness of the airship nor does he want to have the cookie bomb tested on him.

"What are you doing here? It's dangerous at the front."

"Don't be a jerk, Weinberg. The lady is just trying to be nice."

"Major Goodley, is that you?"

"Hey what the heck? I'm here too and I get to have a new Mordred. Goodley just gets the old one."

Gino sees the two Mordreds exiting the airship. The other knightmares seem to have an odd design to them.

"What are those things?"

"Akatsukis," Isabelle answers, "According to brother Lelouch, the Bors is for attacking in urban areas, but these are made for mountain and open fighting. More importantly they have cold weather systems and shields."

"I see," Gino states. Naturally he does see it all now. The takeover of Japan gives Lelouch access to these knightmares. Since Japan is already at war with the Russian Federation, it has to be considering cold weather knightmares. Lelouch's spies let him know about it. He probably finds a way for them to manufacture hundreds of them for him. These are probably created as a private enterprise and are ignored by the Japanese crack down on military equipment. Gino notices something about the shape of the Cookie Monster. Aside from the unusual front of the airship, the rest is not shaped like a usual airship.

"Hey Gino, are you going to give these guys orders?" Isabelle asks, "The bad guys probably figured out that these extra knightmares are coming from an airship."

Gino has been sending Sanderson and Goodley information on the status of the battle. Nonette is over by the Caspian Sea while Gino is by the Black Sea. At first Nonette almost pulls rank and switches but decides that it is probably better if she deals with Iran if it comes to that. Gino can hear Isabelle sigh from impatience. She doesn't understand how the old West Point Black Knights work. Not coincidentally they all think a little like Lelouch.

Goodley speaks first, "It looks like they are trying to overload section 2-B. It is probably a feint. They don't seem to really be concentrating on any other location."

Gino nods, "That's what I thought. I was about to attack here in 4-B to force them to shift troops. "

"Sounds good. Have the troops in Section 2-B retreat. By the looks of things the section is full of old friends. We will be waiting there to hit with a counterattack."

The three former West Point cadets grin.

Isabelle nods, "Good I'll move in for a cookie attack."

"Didn't you hear me when I said it is dangerous up here?"

"Don't worry Gino. My airship is magical. No one will see me coming."

Gino looks at his radar and notices that the airship is not there.

"Fine but don't do anything silly."

**Sparta, Greek military district**

Cornelia chooses Sparta as her headquarters as a symbol. Although not as great a speaker as Lelouch or Schniezel, her soldiers understand her intent. Guilford is controlling the front north of Athens. Cornelia's other subordinate, General Alex, is west of Istanbul. Darlton is making his way from the Caucasus. After his spectacular failure at Volgograd, Darlton's force is pushed back. If not for the interference of the Knights of Six and Twelve, maybe Britannia gets pushed back even farther. Cornelia is still undecided about what to do with her senior advisor. His adopted sons, the Glaston Knights, lament the decision to stay with Cornelia in Greece. Despite their skill Cornelia doubts the five skilled pilots could have made much of a difference.

Cornelia has basically memorized the map of Greece. She probably knows the area as well as the locals. Cornelia sighs as she thinks about the last six months. In a sense it is as if they never happened. No, that is not quite true. Many soldiers on both sides have lost their lives. Despite her confusion about how they are destroyed, Cornelia is glad that the Russian Siberia force is not on its way to Greece. She wonders if the other EU nations feel the same way. Cornelia doesn't have time to worry such matters, after all politics are Schniezel's game.

Speaking of Schniezel he and Kannon are currently back in Britannia. Unfortunately his failure to maintain his position on the Italian or Iberian peninsulas has damaged his reputation. For the first time in decades Britannia loses land that they have conquered. It is almost unseemly. Britannia being beaten by the EU when everything is going in their favor. Of course Schniezel leaves Cornelia the sole burden of defending the last piece of mainland Europe that Britannia has. Cornelia looks at the amount of soldiers that she has at her disposal. Without proper reinforcements, she won't be able to do much more than defend, and that certainly is not her style. Cornelia has to find a way to get back on the offensive.

**Tunis Settlement, Area 20**

The Knights of Seven and Eleven (Thorin Odinus and Amadeus Doedilus) are discussing the next course of action with Karine. The Knights of One through Five are back in Britannia while the other seven are at a front. Lelouch has Luciano and Aphrodite. Gino and Nonette are in the Caucasus. Monica is in the British Isles.

"Your highness, with Prince Schniezel gone, moving will be difficult." Thorin comments.

"I see," Karine states, "But is it possible for us to do anything."

"Do we have permission from his majesty to move?" Amadeus asks.

"His majesty has given us general permission to seek or make opportunities to invade Europe. We will do so."

**Manila Settlement, Area 11**

For most of the last month Anya has been preparing an army for a possible invasion of southern Europe. However a few days ago Lelouch tells them that the plan has changed. Anya doesn't ask why. It doesn't really matter to her because she knows that Lelouch is planning something big. Anya is anxious to try out her new knightmare. But with the invasion put on hold, she will have to wait. Anya will have to wait for Lelouch's orders. She hopes that they come soon because there is a lot of soldiers and equipment in Area 11.

**Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Marianne is glad to be away from the palace. As her car moves towards the edge of the city, she looks out the window. Out here the scenery is lush and green despite it being late fall. While the temperature falls to near freezing levels, for the most part it is quite temperate. In fact at this time of year the area around Pendragon comes to life as seasonal agriculture takes over. Large plantations come to life as all sorts of vegetables are grown. Having grown up on a farm, Marianne appreciates the work. One day she takes her children, Cornelia and Euphemia out to a nearby farm owned by an old friend. Only the two younger princesses enjoy the day as does Darlton who lends a hand around the farm. Cornelia and Guilford don't like being in close proximity with commoners. Marianne doesn't know what to think of Lelouch's reaction to the visit. He certainly doesn't like the idea of working so hard, but he seems to enjoy other aspects of the farm. He spends most of the day following around the son of Marianne's friend who runs the day to day operations.

Marianne loves being out in the open which is one of the many reasons why she has a large garden built at Aries Villa. Her car enters through the rear entrance of a very busy factory. Above the factory is the Ashford family symbol. Despite being out of the mass production knightmare manufacturing business, the family still has many factories that have other uses. The family manufacturers electronic systems for various uses. The family is also a part of the larger conglomerate created by Lelouch, Schniezel, and Cornelia to build specialized knightmares for the Knights of the Round. Marianne exits her car and walks into the factory. Shipments usually go out on Friday so the rear of the factory is nearly empty. Marianne enters the manager's office and heads to a secret elevator in the back.

"Ah Lady Marianne, I was not expecting a visit from you so soon."

Marianne smiles, "Well Lord Ashford, I just wanted to see how our little project is going especially now that Ruben is retired. I want to be sure that things are on the right course."

"Don't worry about that, your highness. Now that father is retired, Milly is taking control of the various Ashford Academies. She was on her way to do it anyways. Having her own money, she will not need to get it from the Foundation."

"I suppose that her marriage to Lelouch does a few advantages."

"Yes, the fact that Prince Schniezel and Princess Cornelia are distracted with this European invasion gives us an opportunity to make further moves."

"That may end soon. Schniezel is back and so are most of the Knights of the Round. Still it is good that some progress is being made."

"Yes we have managed to build a copy of the Lancelot. It is too bad that Lelouch keeps his knightmare designs to himself."

Marianne frowns, "Yes that is too bad. Do what you can to keep up."

"We will try your highness,"

Marianne decides to spend some time on the Lancelot simulator. Obviously it is the same system used by the Lancelot, but it is also the same system used by Nunnally's knightmare. It has been a few years since Marianne has actually piloted a knightmare. Marianne effortlessly uses the simulator. It is a good way to deal with stress without actually needing to hit anything. Marianne hopes that she won't have to use her knightmare skills anytime soon. If it ever gets to that, it means that things are going very bad.

"Lord Ashford, do you have any actual knightmares here?"

"We have a few old Glasgows guarding some of our more important factories."

"That's it."

"Well the Ganymede is at the museum that Lelouch built in Pendragon a few years ago. I suppose it is possible to get my hands on some Ios, but there is no need for that since we have the system designs. We could build one."

Marianne nods, "Is it possible to build a combination of the Io and Lancelot for me to spare with once the Lancelot copy is finished?"

"Let me see about it. There are certainly possibilities; however such work will have to be done at another facility. There are too many eyes focused on this one."

"That is acceptable. In fact I have just the right place. It used to be one of Lelouch's facilities along the California coast."

Marianne returns to her simulation. She wonders if it is possible to get Suzaku's test scores.

**Monday, December 2, 2018, Britannia Palace, Pendragon**

All the Knights of the Round are back in Britannia. Gino and Nonette turn over control of their force to Jeremiah. Gino isn't sure what that means. It kind of makes more sense for Villetta to return to the area. Actually it would have made more sense for her to never leave. Although now she doesn't have the stink of the loss at Volgograd on her, and Jeremiah is looking good because of his actions in the British Isles. Isabelle and her flying Cookie Monster are still in the Caucasus. It is late, and Gino and Luciano are the only ones left in the Knights' Lounge.

Gino looks around, "I wonder where the others went."

"Well Bismarck likes to be up early. Aphrodite said that the Dorothea wants the girls to train tomorrow. Merlin is probably telling Schniezel everything that took place at the meeting. The other morons are probably jerking each other off," Both of them chuckle at the comment. Neither holds a high opinion of the Knights of Three and Seven, "Speaking of which, "Luciano says with a grin, "You're getting up there in age. Do you have special lady friend that pets little Gino now and then."

Gino blushes and begins to stutter, "Well um."

Luciano slaps him on the back, "Aphrodite says she'll get a friend for you. Or maybe you prefer one of the other girls. Dorothea and Salacia seem a little too rigid for you. Monica seems like a fun girl," Luciano's face turns white. Well whiter than it normally is and that's saying a lot, "Don't tell me, you and Nonette are getting it on," Luciano's pitch and tone is that of a whisper even though his volume isn't.

Gino quickly denies it, "No, it was just that one time. We both got hammered. You know Nonette isn't as great a drinker as you would think.'

Luciano begins to cackle, "I was just kidding, but damn. What happened?" Luciano asks like a schoolgirl wanting to know about her best friend's first kiss.

"One night while working on the plan for an attack form the Caucasus, I went out for a walk," Gino sighs, "Villetta was out taking in stroll in her," Gino begins to stammer, "underwear. Well she was wearing this light silk robe over it. It's not like she was in public. The only people that had access to that part of the ship are her and us. Well I suppose Lelouch could get there since it was originally his airship," Luciano groans a little wanting Gino to get on with it although he wouldn't mind seeing Villetta wearing that little amount of clothes, "Yes well after staring at her for a few minutes, I decided to get a better view from the security room."

Luciano chuckles knowing that Gino went up to the security room to masturbate while looking at Villetta. Not that Luciano hasn't done a bit of that himself. There are a few times when Aphrodite doesn't want to give it up so Luciano has to look elsewhere for satisfaction. He doesn't trust the Siberian whores and all the good looking girls are Lelouch's. That means he takes care of such things on his own by looking at pictures. Usually they are of Aphrodite, but Villetta and Cecile weren't too bad to look at. Lelouch helps a bit by having lots of pictures of his women in compromising positions. Not that Luciano needs to raid Lelouch's pictures because the women do a good job of walking around in amazing clothes. Luciano remembers this red dress that Cecile wears for her birthday party earlier in the year. Aphrodite calls it a skirt with two pieces of cloth to cover you know what. It's a good thing that Luciano doesn't lose himself too much while screwing because all he could think about while fucking Aphrodite was Cecile in that dress. He almost called out her name a few times. Luciano turns his attention back to Gino who is now talking about his night with Nonette.

"She was so out of it that I don't think she noticed that I called her Villetta when I came."

Luciano nods. Nonette can be a bit of a cold lover. Luciano wonders what she thinks about when she's getting fucked. Deep inside Luciano knows that he should stay quiet, but the tequila gets to him. It happens every time he is in Pendragon or on the west coast. Damn Threes and their good alcohol.

"Well too bad that Lelouch is using Villetta as a fucking post now."

That comment sobers Gino up.

"What did you say?"

"Villetta is practically Lelouch's sex toy. Since she arrived in Siberia she hasn't left his airship. Hell she barely leaves his room."

Gino isn't all that stunned at the turn of events. Villetta has been around Lelouch for years. Since nothing happens between them before, he isn't expecting anything to happen between them now. Gino wonders what occurred for Lelouch to suddenly show an interest in his subordinate. Gino pays for their drinks and helps drag Luciano out of the bar.

"Is Lady Venitus going to be mad at you for coming home drunk?"

Luciano leans in to Gino who tries not to move away because of the smell.

"Nah, she and the other girls are having a girls' night in. They're doing it at Nonette's apartment so I paid her to install a few cameras," Luciano grins, "That should be a good video."

Gino wonders if he can get a copy of that. Of course it may require giving Nonette some pleasure.

"Hey Gino, what are you doing?"

Gino turns around slowly, "Belle, what are you doing here?"

Isabelle preens and smiles, "I'm here visiting mom. Edward and Shirley are coming in a few weeks for Christmas so I wanted to come before them. Mom will get all gushy with their baby girl so I don't want to be here for that. Can you believe it? She's almost a year old. I think Shirley is pregnant again. Oh and Carolina is definitely pregnant. Actually a few months pregnant from what Euphie told me. So what are you doing tomorrow?" Isabelle asks playing with her dress.

Luciano has been dozing off while Gino and Isabelle talk, but suddenly he moves up towards Gino's face and whispers. Well Gino supposes that it is supposed to be a whisper.

"She likes you," Luciano says with a slight giggle.

Isabelle giggles when Luciano says this.

"You sound like Happy from Fairy Tail."

Gino looks confused, "What the heck is a happy?"

Before Isabelle can answer Luciano falls to the ground. Gino sighs and picks up his fellow Knight of the Round.

"I'll call you tomorrow, Belle. Come on Luciano."

**Above Irkutsk Settlement, Area 23**

Villetta is lying on her bed, technically it is Lelouch's bed, but she sleeps here every night whether he is here or not. At the moment he is off scheming or training. Not that it matters to her since she doesn't have an official position yet. Jeremiah is back in the Caucasus. He might soon be joined by others. Villetta orders breakfast and takes a bath before heading to the lounge next door to eat. Evelyn and the twins are there watching television while eating their breakfast. The servants are placing Villetta's breakfast on the table. Villetta nods a thank you and sits down.

"Does Lelouch allow you to watch television while eating breakfast?"

Evelyn reluctantly turns it off with a sigh. By now they know better than to question Villetta. Despite her questionable status, she obviously has Lelouch's ear. Not to mention the fact that her military training gives her an edge in the discipline department. Although she is still technically their knight/guardian.

"Miss Villetta, can you take us to the simulation room today?" Evelyn asks, "I want to practice some more."

Villetta nods, "Finish your breakfast and I'll check your schoolwork."

"Us too, Colonel Nu Villetta-san."

Villetta nods once more. The kids being raised in Japan still speak using Japanese honorifics and name form. They combine it with Britannian name forms to form amusing combinations. With Evelyn and Lelouch's birthday coming up on Thursday, Milly is on a frenzy planning things. The real issue at hand is what to get the prince for his birthday. Villetta knows that in his sick and twisted mind, he wouldn't mind getting an orgy with all his women, but that isn't happening. For starters Carolina and Ayame are pregnant. Then of course none of the women are the orgy type except for Milly and CC. Of course adding CC to the orgy will just cause Mao to go insane. Well more insane than he already is.

The bigger issue of course is what to get Evelyn. Villetta has it easy since the princess just wants knightmare training from her. At eight years old and already near five feet tall, the little princess is quite the prodigy. Her long flowing black hair and amethyst eyes make her look beautiful. Already there are a significant amount of nobles asking about her availability in the future. Though Villetta thinks it a bit sick to be considering the marriage prospects of a soon to be eight year old girl, Jeremiah reminds her that in older noble families such a thing is commonly done. It is not uncommon for a noble or royal child to be paired with someone for a few years. By the time the child is fourteen things begin to get serious.

Villetta looks at the kids who are now done with their breakfast and doing their schoolwork. It seems that the knightmare simulator is a bigger temptation than television. Villetta will have to secure the room for after lunch. Although with the palace and settlement complexes complete, the room will probably be empty. The three children are lucky that Lelouch controls their marriage life although a small falling out with the emperor can change that. Still Lelouch might soon be beyond such trivial matters. Villetta reaches for her stomach wondering if she should tell him. Of course he probably already knows.

**Pendragon thought elevator before the Sword of Akasha**

"Are you sure it is the right thing to do, Charles? Giving the boy so much power will go to his head."

"No doubt it will, but he has gathered all of them. It is just a matter of time before we are finished here."

"So he has Khalid. How do you know for sure?"

"I have spoken with his brothers. Lelouch geassed them into capturing Khalid."

"I wonder when he had the opportunity to do that."

"It doesn't matter. There is only one left and he is hiding in Tibet. Once he is captured we can begin."

"We still have to find where he is hiding them."

"That is why I agreed to Schniezel's suggestion because it will shift Lelouch's power base. He thinks that I don't know that he was planning on making a move into Europe."

"Very well. Do as you wish."

"Don't worry, XX. I have everything under control."

* * *

Author's note: Like every chapter after Lelouch does something big or finishes an invasion, it takes a little while to organize things. By now the script is kind of different from how it started. I will be honest things are different than they were five chapters ago. The ending will still be the same, but getting there will be different than I planned.

Yes Lelouch has Khalid and his brothers tossed out of the airship. Naturally the latter two die. Luciano and friends hunt down Khalid when he recovers from the fall. Lelouch has Villetta come to Siberia so that she can watch the kids because everyone else is busy.

While Lelouch calls himself the best knightmare pilot in the greatest knightmare ever created at his point only the latter is true. At this point Kallen, Suzaku, and Nunnally are better. He can crush the Knights of the Round by now. The only one he would have a problem dealing with is Gino because he still considers him a friend, but not to worry because Suzaku and Kallen find Gino annoying. If they redo the knightmare battle from chapters 28 and 29, Lelouch's team would destroy the other team. Only Luciano, Marianne, and Cornelia and her knights would stand a chance against their opponents.

I will change the Knights of the Round's abilities. They will be much stronger. Gino won't be a bunny ears lawyer. He will genuinely be worthy of his rank and serve his chosen lord until the end.

Isabelle's airship looks like a giant Cookie Monster blimp. It has stealth capabilities so you won't notice it until you see a giant Cookie Monster flying through the air.

I have been thinking of a place to put this, and this is good enough. At this point we are near the end of the canon Code Geass timeline. Here is my reasoning as to why this is going past the year 2018. Even though they might have suspected that at least Lelouch is alive, nobody could have known that he would be able to cause so much havoc. Until the rise of Zero, Schniezel is preparing to take over little by little. Then Lelouch, CC, geass, and Zero come in and screw it all up. In fact if it is not for Nina and FLEIA, Schniezel is pretty much screwed. Without FLEIA, the Black Knights probably win the Second Battle of Tokyo. Of course then Rolo probably kills Nunnally and Sayoko leading to his own death at Jeremiah's hands. Sure Schniezel has the resources of Britannia and most of the Knights of the Round at his disposal, but he has them before. If Suzaku can beat the Knights of the Round with the Lancelot Albion, Kallen can do the same in the Guren SEITEN. If not her then Jeremiah in the Siegfried. Basically what I'm saying is that this story will past the canon Code Geass timeline (2017-19) because Lelouch's actions are expected. Not his exact actions but the general form of his actions. Charles and Schniezel by now have an idea that Lelouch is making a bid for the Britannian throne if not the world. Also Lelouch has most of the code bearers so Charles can't go through with Ragnarok which for the purposes of this story needs more than two to be successful.

**Knights of the Round and their knightmares (seventh generation)**

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Galahad  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Gawain,  
Three: Conrad Keyshavrin, Agravaine  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Pelleas  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Andraste  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Epona,  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Loki  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, I, Vlad  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Andarta,  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Pellinore  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Gareth  
Twelve: Gino Weinberg, Tristan


	76. The Code Bearer

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

An important thing to remember is that Euphemia is the only princess with a child while several princes have children. The living exception is Schniezel. Clovis and Lucius who are dead do not have any children. The Odysseus has a son, Faramond, who is near Nunnally's age. Maximus and Cassius also have children. Edward has a daughter legally, but she is biologically Suzaku's. This will matter later on. The other princes older than Lelouch, Octavius, Theseus, and Luther are married. Their children won't matter going forward. KOR means Knight(s) of the Round. This way I don't have to keep writing it.

...

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Matthew 23:12

...

If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow.

Lelouch vi Britannia

* * *

**Wednesday, December 11, 2018, York Palace, Pendragon**

Schniezel is studying the latest reports from Europe while drinking his mid-morning tea. Karine is definitely planning something. It will take more than a firm warning from him to make her stop. Schniezel is sure that the Knights of Three and Seven are backing her up. Since Guinevere has fallen from grace, the two Knights of the Round seem to be backing Karine up more every day. Cornelia doesn't seem to be doing much but protecting what she already controls. The interesting part of the equation is that Schniezel expected Lelouch to be in Europe by now. Lelouch staying in Siberia will make the next part of Schniezel's plan a little difficult. Schniezel may not even be able to continue without Lelouch discovering the plan. Still there are plenty of ways to go about doing it.

One of Schniezel's maids comes into the room.

"Your highness, Lord Suzerain is here."

"Thank you, Belinda. Let him in and bring some more refreshments."

The Knight of Two is let into the room and takes a seat.

"What news do you have, Merlin?"

"Your highness is correct about the Knights of Three and Seven. They are definitely planning something with Princess Karine. As soon as the emperor dismisses us to return to our duties, attack will commence. The only issue is where the attack will take place."

"I see. Any information about Lelouch's movements."

"It is difficult to say, your highness. Ten days ago we were certain that he was going to move into Europe, but nothing now. Other than a few reinforcements for Jeremiah Gottwald and Princess Cornelia, there has been no other movement. There has not even been a mass move of troops."

"We cannot keep our guard down in those regards. Is there anything else?"

"The next bit of information is rather embarrassing, but I suppose useful. The Knights of the Round are dividing into small groups."

"This is nothing new. It has been happening for years."

"Only this time things are getting a little disconcerting. The other day Bismarck had to physically separate Luciano and Thorin because Luciano made some comment about Princess Guinevere to Gino."

"I see."

"There's more. Gino chuckled a little at Luciano's comment causing Conrad to lose it. He started getting on Weinberg. Saying that he only gains his position because of his family and connections. Gino laughed and said the same thing applied to Conrad. Gino whispered something about Princess Guinevere that I could not hear. If Nonette hadn't stepped in between them Conrad would have hurt Gino."

"I wonder."

"Your highness." Merlin gives Schniezel a questioning glance.

"Nothing, Merlin. Thank you for the news. I will have Kannon give you a call if I need anything else."

After Merlin exits the room, Kannon enters.

"Your highness, I have news from Dr. Lafontaine. The first shipment of Vincents has arrived."

Schniezel smiles, "Give our gratitude to the good doctor."

The Vincent is much more than a mere mass production model of the Lancelot. Schniezel's new knightmare research team take the Lancelot and go beyond it. For the moment the Vincent is experimental, but soon it will become the new knightmare of choice for Britannia supplanting the Bors and Io.

**Vincent  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.84 meters  
**Weight:** 6.99 metric tones  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Cockpit Ejection System  
Factsphere sensor  
Foot and shoulder mounted Landspinner propulsion system  
Integrated float system  
Color: various shades of purple  
**Armament  
**2x Maser Vibration Sword (MVS) Lance type  
2x Needle Blazer  
2x wrist mounted Slash Harken  
2x chest mounted slash harkens  
1x Assault Rifle w/Grenade Launcher  
2x Wrist mounted cannons

* * *

**Sunday, December 15, 2018, Aries Villa at Britannia Palace, Pendragon**

With all the Knights of the Round back Pendragon, Lelouch and company head back as well. High above the city are the Excalibur II, Avalon, and Ganymede. Euphemia returns to Area 11. Nunnally, Kaguya, and Suzaku decide to stay in Area 22 (Japan). Lelouch's research team stays in Siberia working on more projects. At the moment Lelouch is in the garden enjoying some alone time. Well more like an alone moment

"Otō-san."

"Onii-sama."

"Nii-chan! Where are you?"

Lelouch goes off to see what the kids want. He finds them with James walking around the garden.

"What' up guys?"

James runs up to Lelouch.

"Otō-san, there are."

"Hey little man."

The twins run up to Lelouch.

"Big brother, everyone is over there having a picnic."

The twins point towards the other side of the garden.

"Okay guys. I will be there in a minute."

Lelouch sighs and picks up James. Just as the twins describe, there is a large picnic on the other side of the garden. Marianne, Kallen, Milly, Carolina, Odysseus, Guinevere, Schniezel, Cornelia, and others are sitting while servants prepare the food. During Lelouch's time away, the garden is restructured so that it is possible to look down on the nearby field. At the moment several members of the military are playing a variation of the war game that Lelouch plays at West Point.

"Too bad Gino is here because we would show those guys down there how it's done."

Karine scoffs at the comment.

"Those soldiers are from the royal guard meaning they are some of the best. I doubt you and the blonde boy would even last ten minutes out there."

"Shut up stupid Karine!" Evelyn snaps back, "You don't know anything."

"Evelyn, be nice," Lelouch states holding his little sister back, "Karine is correct. A match against those guys wouldn't last ten minutes," Lelouch smirks.

"I don't know why I even came here," Karine grumbles.

"You came because it makes you look good. Besides the Knights of the Round just got here."

All twelve Knights of the Round enter followed by the emperor. Lelouch signals for the kids to stand at attention and bow. His plan is to have an audience with the emperor to do this, but now is a good time. Evelyn is holding Charlotte and the twins have James with them as they bow before the emperor. The emperor picks up his grandson and granddaughter. He holds them for a few seconds before Charlotte gets fussy, and Evelyn takes her back. The emperor holds his grandson above as if inspecting him. James appears to be doing the same. The emperor smiles at his only second useful grandson.

Bismarck stands beside the emperor, "This boy will definitely make a fine emperor. His lineage is impeccable," Of course Bismarck's comments are influenced by the fact that he respects Marianne and Kallen and is afraid of their abilities in a knightmare.

Luciano grunts, "That kid ain't no emperor. He's a killer. Just look at his eyes. Toss him in a simulator. I bet he can beat all of us, right Weinberg."

Gino cannot deny that he wouldn't want to be caught a dark alley alone with Lelouch and Kallen's son. He really isn't sure whether they should let the child near the emperor. After all he spends most of his time with Evelyn and the twins.

"He might be able to defeat inferior knights such as you, " Conrad Keyshavrin states derisively.

Luciano growls at Conrad.

Lelouch grins, "My my, I had no idea my father has such fools as knights," Conrad turns his attention to Lelouch who is glaring at the Knight of Three, "The esteemed Knight of Eight is simply joking. I doubt if James has even been on a simulator. Besides he isn't the one you should be afraid of."

"Grandpa, why is man with funny clothes arguing with daddy. Daddys is supa smarts."

The emperor laughs, "Yes he is.

Marianne scolds Lelouch, "Sweetheart, you are being a bad host. Now take that child from your father and let everyone enter."

There is one thing that Charles and Marianne do not agree on, and that it is how to treat their children not named Lelouch. The emperor keeps on an eye on the actions of all his children mostly as a precaution. He moves and prods things from behind the scenes, He is even glad that Lelouch is beginning to have children since it means that his focus will be on other things. Marianne does not and is beginning to regret allowing Lelouch to marry at such a young age.

The emperor sets James down. James immediately begins to clear a path for the emperor.

"Moves out of the way the emperor is coming through."

Things calm down for a few bit until Luciano gets hold of some tequila. At the same the war game in the field below is getting intense. By now everyone is separated into little groups. Charles and Marianne are alone with his grandchildren much to her annoyance. Schniezel, Merlin, Cornelia, and Guilford are discussing the war with Bismarck and Odysseus. Conrad and Thorin are with Guinevere and Karine. Milly and Carolina are with the female members of the Knights of the Round. The twins are showing their videos to Amadeus and Gino. Evelyn and Kallen are sitting near Lelouch allowing him some space. Luciano breaks up Lelouch's quiet moment by sitting next to him. They both look down at the war games below them.

"Boy do those guys suck," Luciano remarks.

Lelouch simply nods.

"It must be because they belong to Cuntrad and Borin."

Lelouch smirks at Luciano's nicknames for the Knights Three and Seven.

"Me and Weinerberger thought those names up."

"How creative of you," Lelouch states smugly, "I wouldn't blame the participants though. Their tactics suck, even Gino would be able to come up with a better plan."

Lelouch shrugs and lies down hoping that Luciano will do the same, but the tequila gets to him.

"Hey stupids his royal Luluness says your soldiers suck. No, wait he said your tactics suck."

Lelouch simply ignores him, but Aphrodite comes over to get him.

"Let's go, you drunk moron."

The twins chase after them.

"Hey where's you taking Luci?"

"Ya we wants to play with Ano."

"Sorry boys but Luciano has been a bad boy."

"Oh, are you going to spank him?"

"When we's bad, big brother spanks us. Then he sends us to the gulag."

Aphrodite smiles at them and continues to take Luciano away. However the damage is done. The Knights of Three and Seven walk over to Lelouch who is now joined by Gino.

"Your highness believes that he can do better with our troops."

"No."

Gino sighs in relief.

"Your troops are beyond hope. Give me some new recruits and those 'elite' soldiers of yours won't know what hit them."

Although Gino is a little appalled at Lelouch's brazen attitude, he can't help but smile. Lelouch glances at the two Knights of the Round.

"Is there anything else, Lord Keyshavrin, Lord Odinus? I mean it isn't like we can call in some new recruits and have them compete against yours."

Gino face palms, "Lelouch."

Lelouch turns to face the others who are not completely aware of what is going on.

"But what do we have here, Bismarck Waldstein and Cornelia li Britannia. Surely between them, they can have a few units of recruits here within the hour."

Conrad glares at Lelouch.

"You have one hour, your highness."

"That's all the time I need."

Conrad and Thorin walk away almost running into Edward and Isabelle earning a glare from the princess and one from their mother which scares them more.

Edward shudders, "Those guys are scary."

Lelouch grins, "Those guys are nothing. Try interrupting the emperor when he is eating his favorite meal, which is steak by the way, or when he is engaged in extracurricular activities."

"Ahh!" Gino screams earning a look from the others, "Lelouch, why did you have to say such disgusting things."

Edward and Isabelle are confused about Gino's words. They don't understand that extracurricular activities is what West Point Jr. cadets call sex.

"You have a plan, right."

"Of course my dear Gino. Who the hell do you think I am?" Lelouch takes out his phone, "You have twenty minutes to get here."

"So you know these recruits?"

"No, but I know who they are. There are a few interesting people amongst them."

Twenty five minutes later Lelouch and Gino are down in the field below Aries Villa greeting their soldiers for the day. Kallen and Evelyn come to join them. On the other side of the field, Conrad and Thorin are working with their soldiers. Karine joins them. Bismarck, Schniezel, and Cornelia will act as official judges in case there are any disagreements about something.

"First Lieutenant Hannah Gottwald reporting as ordered, your highness."

Gino looks at the girl standing before them.

"Don't look too hard Gino. Her brother is in command of Britannia's largest active army and is dating a ninja assassin."

Somewhere floating north of the Caucasus, Jeremiah Gottwald begins to sneeze. Villetta hands a tissue.

"Is something wrong, General Gottwald?

Jeremiah shakes his head, "No, I must have caught a cold from someone."

"Or someone is talking about you," Sayoko comments.

"That's just some Japanese superstition," Jeremiah says with a smirk before starting to sneeze again.

"Well my cousin Chelsea did say that the prince is using their unit for something today," Villetta comments.

Jeremiah glares at his subordinate, "Do you mean my sweet innocent little sister is going to be around that womanizing prince?"

Villetta clears her throat.

"What I mean is let's get back to work on this attack. His highness is depending on us," Jeremiah looks at his maps, "Wait the prince is in Pendragon. That means that that little blond pervert Knight of Twelve is with him."

Sayoko smacks Jeremiah on the head. However Villetta agrees with him.

"You're right. Sayoko send over a group of your best to take care of Lord Weinberg."

Gino begins to sneeze after Second Lieutenant Chelsea Nu introduces herself.

Kallen smirks, "Maybe someone is talking about Gino."

Lelouch shakes his head, "You silly Japanese and your superstitions. Gino is just having perverted thoughts about the lieutenants," Lelouch pulls out a blank piece of paper, I like to call this plan Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron," Gino smiles at the name as Lelouch begins to explain his plan.

After the explanation, Evelyn asks, "Big brother, the plan makes sense but what's up with the weird name?"

The others nod in agreement causing Gino to get mad.

"Be quiet. Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron is an awesome name."

"Calm down Gino," Lelouch replies, "Let's just finish this. We have ten minutes."

Luciano sobers up enough to come see the match but not enough to keep his mouth shut.

"You know I should get an all girl royal guard like Lelouch."

Aphrodite punches him in the gut.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"You're an idiot."

"Who do you think takes the flag, the little red head or Gino?"

Aphrodite turns her attention back to the game

"What do you mean?"

"Well he isn't going to go after it himself that's not his style. I figure it will be Gino just to piss those guys off."

Lieutenants Gottwald and Nu think that the plan is sheer lunacy. Not only is their best strategist sacrificing himself, but he might actually be their best fighter.

Lelouch's only response is, "If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow."

The Wargame is an upgraded version of what they play at West Point. The objective is the same; capture the enemy's flag while eliminating more of the enemy. In a real game both of those conditions must be met for a complete win. The weapons and equipment pack more of a punch, and everyone is equipped with IF tracking equipment. Lelouch makes a few changes to Gino's and Kallen's.

"Just follow the plan, and we will win. Evie, you coordinate from the back."

Those are Lelouch's last instructions as he moves up the course with his forward team. He begins to breathe heavily, "Damn, when did I get so out of shape?" Lelouch hears several enemy soldiers nearby, "Now I'm fired up," Lelouch prepares his weapons for his attack and signals the others to get ready as well, "For the honor of Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron."

Lelouch jumps out firing at his enemy taking down about half a dozen before begin taken out himself.

"Damn, I'm going to have to work on my aim as well," Are his last thoughts before being shocked and knocked out.

The Wargame's suit sends slight electric current for movements of more than a few inches. It is quite sophisticated and can tell when someone is moving a few inches at a time in order to use their weapon to take down unsuspecting combatants. There are also people in charge of administering more electric current if the suit fails to do so. Of course sometimes combatants are physically removed from the course if they manage to withstand the electricity. Lelouch isn't stupid enough to move. However since he is lying there, he makes a tempting target.

The battle takes the predictable course. Even without Lelouch tampering with Gino and Kallen's IF trackers, his tactics are much too difficult for the enemy to decipher. In the end just as Lelouch predicts Gino and Kallen walk up to the enemy flag.

"You can take the flag, your highness. I'm certain that Lelouch would like you to do it as a symbol."

Kallen shrugs and makes her move, however it is not that simple because Conrad and Thorin come out as a last ditch effort. Gino chuckles a little.

"These guys shouldn't be a problem. Just run for the flag. I'll provide cover."

Kallen isn't so sure.

"Why don't we fight those two guys and go after the flag."

Gino smirks, "Don't worry about me. After we're done ask Lelouch who the second best sharpshooter in the history of West Point, both divisions, is. Besides these guys are lead from behind type of guys. But I am"

Kallen stops Gino from saying what he is about to say.

"It's bad enough I hear Lelouch say that stupid line all the time. I don't need you saying it."

"He is a bad influence. Now let's move."

Kallen runs towards the flag as Gino opens fire on his fellow Knights. Kallen easily makes it to the flag without Gino's help. Gino still makes sure to immobilize Conrad and Thorin. Gino knows of a particular glitch in the suits. If someone is shot around the time the flag is captured, the suit does not recognize the end of the game and continues shocking its wearer. Gino lets them suffer for a few moments before placing the flag back, restarting the game, and pulling it out, finishing the game.

"Weinberg, you bastard."

Conrad rushes at Gino and takes a swing. Gino moves out of the way but trips over the flag. Kallen quickly moves over to defend him, but Conrad pushes her aside. One of the game's guns comes flying at Conrad's head.

"Touch my wife again, and I will kill you," Lelouch states as he motions to his not so ceremonial sword leaving others to wonder why Lelouch is caring a sword with him.

Conrad backs away from Kallen and Gino who stands up.

"Stay out of this Lelouch. This is my fight."

Conrad glares at Gino.

"Is that a challenge?"

Gino isn't sure how to answer.

"Answer his question Gino or I will," Lelouch states.

"Yes it's a challenge."

By this time others are gathering around them including the emperor.

"So be it the Knight of Twelve officially challenges the Knight of Three."

"Too bad I was hoping to teach those jerks a lesson myself," Lelouch says with a sigh, "Let's go Kallen."

As Lelouch and Kallen walk away, Conrad scoffs at Lelouch's comment.

Bismarck frowns, "Be grateful that Lord Weinberg accepted your challenge, Lord Keyshavrin. At least now you have a chance of living. The prince shows no mercy to those that choose to cross him."

The emperor simply smirks and walks away. They agree to make it a knightmare duel on Tuesday morning giving them a roughly a day and half to get ready. Gino is quite angry when he gets to his apartment. It's all Lelouch's fault he is in this mess. Sure Gino has fun during the game, but now they are adults in actuality. It is time that Lelouch acts like it. As Gino fumes there is a knock on the door. He goes over to answer it because he sends most of his servants away. He is a little surprised to find Isabelle there.

"Belle, what are you doing here? It's pretty late."

"I know I just wanted to apologize for yelling at you earlier."

After the others find out about Gino's challenge to Conrad, Isabelle calls Gino a stupid boy doing stupid boy things.

Isabelle continues, "I understand that Lelouch is partially at fault. I just don't understand why boys do what they do."

Gin shrugs his shoulders, "I don't understand either."

They both sit down on Gino's couch. After a few minutes of staring into each other's eyes, exhaustion get the best of them causing them to fall asleep.

In the morning the light begins to seep in through the blinds and Gino can hear his servants preparing breakfast.

"It's a good thing that I am such a good friend and came before Schniezel."

Gino's eyes open wide at the sound of the voice, and he remembers not remembering Isabelle leaving last night. The princess is still in his arms on the couch only now atop Gino. He notices that there are some blankets over them. Lelouch leans forward and picks up Isabelle.

"Let's go sleeping beauty. Gino has some early morning visitors today."

Lelouch walks away with Isabelle. Edward is behind him. Gino tries to avoid Edward's glare. Gino has never seen the prince so angry.

"Lord Weinberg, a bathe is prepared for you. His highness Prince Lelouch informed us that Prince Schniezel will visit us this morning. "

Gino nods and heads for the bathroom. He wonders which of his servants also works for Lelouch or anyone else.

Lelouch enters his car still carrying Isabelle. Edward doesn't look any happier about the fact that Lelouch has Isabelle. Lelouch is sleeping with Euphie after all. Edward is deciding what is worse being with Lelouch or falling asleep with Gino on the couch. Lelouch doesn't help matters by continuing to hold on to Isabelle.

"You know, it's a good thing that she dresses light. It makes her easier to carry, and probably less conspicuous for a neighbor to notice."

Edward nods and looks around Gino's apartment complex which is a misnomer. Still there are some neighbors nearby that would have noticed Isabelle if she comes with all the trappings of a princess. Although if that is the case, Isabelle wouldn't have come. Edward's attention is drawn to the fact that Lelouch kisses Isabelle on the forehead.

"Wake up sleeping beauty."

Isabelle yawns and stretches hitting Lelouch in the face. Isabelle opens her eyes and realizes that she is in Lelouch's arms. It only takes her moments to realize that she fell asleep on Gino's couch, and Lelouch comes to get her in the morning. She sits up and moves away from Lelouch only to see that her brother is angry on the other side of the car. Isabelle stays on the floor for the rest of the trip back to Aries. When they arrive, Carolina is waiting for them with a smile.

"Good morning Belle. Did you have fun last night?"

Edward grabs Isabelle and storms past Carolina.

"Don't encourage her. She's still a child."

"Come on Edward. She is already sixteen."

"You mean she is only sixteen."

Carolina glances over at Lelouch for some help causing him to sigh.

"I agree with Edward. It was foolish for Isabelle to go see Gino last night without taking her age into account. Even if she was thirty years old, it would have been a foolish choice."

Carolina smirks, "Well if she was thirty it would have been risqué since Gino is only seventeen."

"Carolina please. This is serious. Schniezel is arriving at Gino's apartment as we speak. The consequences of that are not something I want to think about."

Isabelle is tired of people trying to decide her future and life.

"Well why don't you challenge Gino to a duel then brother," she says looking at Edward, "Will you be satisfied when you are dead?"

Lelouch waves her comment away.

"Don't be silly. Any of your brothers can challenge Gino. I would have taken it upon myself to do so," Lelouch smirks, "No matter how good he may be, Gino will never be as good as me."

Both Edward and Isabelle freak out at the thought of Lelouch challenging Gino for her honor but for different reasons.

Just as Lelouch said, Schniezel visits Gino and offers brand new Vincents for the duel. Schniezel says that he makes the same offer to Conrad last night. Gino wonders why Schniezel doesn't simply call him last night or this morning. This isn't really a matter that needs a personal visit. Although Gino supposes that Isabelle's visit may have something to do with it. Gino accepts Schniezel's offer and prepares to go out and train with a Vincent.

Gino's first thoughts on the matter are to ask Lelouch for a new Bors because he imagines that he will not be able to use his Tristan since Conrad is the only KOR without a personal knightmare. He does know that the Vincent is a high spec mass production model of the Lancelot. Although Schniezel claims that it is superior to the Bors, Gino suspects that Cecile is working on making the new Bors better by incorporating new technology from the Titian Mirage.

...

"Don't worry about a thing, Charles. My operatives are searching for the others. With Lelouch here in Pendragon, finding them will be much easier."

"Just don't screw this up, XX."

XX smirks, "VV is correct when he calls you a child."

* * *

**Tuesday, December 17, 2018, Fort Yuma Proving Grounds, 150 miles southwest of Pendragon**

To better facilitate the duel between Gino and Conrad, it is moved to an arena outside of the city. Lelouch and his family are part of a procession heading from Pendragon to the base where the arena is located. Carolina is glaring at Lelouch.

"You know you could have helped with Edward yesterday."

Lelouch sighs, "I didn't see the point. There is no way that you could have won that argument," Carolina appears to want to say something, but Lelouch continues, "Besides if their mother discovers that Isabelle spent the night at Gino's apartment, she will cause lots of ruckus that I wish to avoid. I do not feel like having to deal with the emperor over this matter."

"But."

James interrupts them by patting Lelouch on the head.

"Jii-san Oats Guy says that otō-sama is supa smart, and we should listen to him."

The rest of the trip is uneventful. Above the open air arena is the Excalibur II. Kallen is the first one to notice it.

"Why did we fly over in that?"

Lelouch looks up.

"Because it's been here since yesterday getting good camera angles."

"Lelouch vi Britannia, I am appalled that you would use this to get ratings." Milly states in faux horror and taps Charlotte's head, "See sweetheart, that's the kind of out of the box thinking that lead me to fall in love with your daddy."

"Ya that and a nine."

Kallen smacks Lelouch in the head before he can finish what he is about to say.

"See Shirley, Kallen let's Lelouch know when he crosses the line," Isabelle states trying not to glare at Edward.

"That's it! I'll show you crossing the line. After Gino disposes of the old guy, it's on Kalli. Me and you in the center of that arena for world domination."

Luciano and Nonette hold Lelouch back from arranging a duel with Kallen. Gino shakes his head at Lelouch's antics.

"I wish Lelouch had an off button. It would make so much easier."

"Probably but it would be a pretty boring world," Luciano comments, "Are you sure about using a knightmare from Prince Snooty?"

Gino shrugs, "It's what Conrad is using so it makes sense. I practiced in it all day yesterday. It's a little easier to handle than the Tristan but not as cool."

Luciano hums, "Still it leaves a little in his debt even though you are doing him a favor by testing this in a combat situation."

Gino tends to agree with this statement. Borrowing a Bors from Lelouch would not carry any consequences since Cecile and Lloyd want battle data.

"You know this guy is going to go all out from the beginning."

"I know, but he'll try to make it seem like he isn't."

"That sounds about right for Conrad. You should have talked to Lelouch about that guy. You know he doesn't fear any of us because he grew up around the Knights of the Round. That guy could walk up to Bismarck and kick him in the balls without having to worry about the consequences," Luciano sighs, "The rest of us schmucks have to live in fear of something."

Gino nods. He understands what Luciano is saying. Lelouch does what he does because he doesn't fear anything. Not the emperor, not his mother, not Bismarck or Kallen, and certainly not any enemy he faces on the battlefield.

As the two knightmares come out to the arena floor, Gino begins to consider his options in this match. A longer match is to his advantage since he has more experience with higher spec knightmares not to mention that he is physically better shape than Conrad. Just as Luciano predicts Conrad comes charging in with his MVS. Gino easily avoids it and pulls out his own MVS.

Above in his private skybox provided by LL Entertainment and Orange Technologies, Lelouch is watching the fight with the twins and James. The princesses and princess-consorts decide to avoid him and Edward for the duration of the fight. Edward wisely chooses to watch the fight with the other royal children. Lelouch is typing away on his laptop which the others assume is controlling the camera angles. Suddenly his screen changes to a bright purple causing James's eyes to light up. The twins let out a slight squeal causing Kallen to look in their direction. Lelouch simply smiles.

"Let me see, who should we mess with first?"

"Bino."

"Ya let's mess with Mino."

"Gino it is."

Lelouch presses a few buttons on his keyboard. James laughs and smacks the keyboard.

Gino is easily dodging Conrad's attacks. Suddenly his knightmare freezes and doesn't respond.

"Damn, what the hell is wrong with this thing?"

As Conrad nears him, Gino's fists swing forward smashing into Conrad's knightmare (James smacking the keyboard). Gino shrugs because the knightmare responds to his commands again. Conrad charges at Gino again with his MVS. Gino blocks the attack with his own MVS, but as he does his slash harkens fire grabbing hold of Conrad's knightmare. This action causes the two knightmares to collide, however Gino's MVS is pointing in the direction of Conrad's cockpit.

"Weinberg, you bastard."

Gino is unable to move but somehow his knightmare jumps back avoiding the explosion that kills Conrad. Gino is still sitting in his knightmare motionless as the arena crew moves quickly to put out the fire.

"That, that wasn't supposed to happen; I just wanted to beat him." Gino slams his fist, "Damn, damn, damn!"

Lelouch closes his laptop and stands up.

"Well that was boring. I wonder what's for lunch."

The others are still too stunned at what just happened to respond.

"Carne asada and tequila, that's Ano's favorite."

"Ya let's eat lunch with Luci."

Lelouch shakes his head.

"No more hanging out with Luciano for you guys, but carne asada does sound good. I might need the tequila to help me sit through the upcoming speech about how Conrad's death is another example of Britannia evolving into something greater than before."

Gino finally exits his knightmare and appears to be stoic. Bismarck simply comes over and puts a hand on his shoulder. Gino follows the Knight of One to the imperial transport. Despite the twelve being the emperor's official bodyguards, only the top six KOR are allowed aboard the imperial transport with top three being allowed to be alone with the emperor and in the imperial quarters. That night back in Pendragon, Gino is allowed into the Britannian Holy of Holies, before the Sword of Akasha in the Pendragon Thought Elevator. Gino isn't sure what he is seeing nor does the emperor explain it.

...

The next day the emperor makes the prerequisite speech about Britannia advancing despite the loss of Conrad. With a younger generation taking over, Britannia is assured its place in the future. Lelouch takes his place behind the emperor without the need of any sort of drug.

"You know we could be having sex right now instead of being at this silly ceremony. Stupid Conrad. Why did he have to let Gino kill him?"

Kallen elbows Lelouch in the stomach.

"It's your fault for talking about much the soldiers sucked, and how you could do better."

"It's not my fault that I am so awesome pawsome. Besides I have to advertise myself or people will forget how incredibly, marvelous, and awe inspiring I am. Look at the twins they have been working the room since the speech ended. I bet they have three or four more investors in their studio. Look at Evelyn over there selling Siberian property like it was Hawaii. Even Milly and Carolina are getting in on the action."

Kallen looks over at her little in-laws and shakes her head. Lelouch has tears in his eyes.

"Fine let's go tell people how awesome you are."

"Awesome pawsome."

Kallen sighs, "Why did I marry you?"

"Because I have a nine inch."

Kallen elbows Lelouch.

"You're an idiot."

"I know, but this idiot is all yours."

* * *

**Thursday, December 19, 2018, Britannia Palace, Pendragon**

"Sorry for the intrusion, Lord Weinberg. I suspect that you are quite busy nowadays."

Gino smiles, "How could I refuse, your highness? I also wanted to apologize for destroying one of your knightmares."

"I suppose that we can think of a way to make up for that," Schniezel smiles, "I think at the moment the administrators of the Britannian Military Academy, Jr. Division are being flooded with calls from nobles about getting there children enrolled.

Gino gives Schniezel a questioning glance.

"Don't you see Lord Weinberg? The Knights of Three and Eight as well as one of Britannia's best generals graduated from the program. Your victory has consequences that no one could have imagined."

Gino wonders what his former instructors are thinking at the moment. They will soon be flooded with soft and overindulgent nobles.

"According to your post match notes, you stated that the Vincent was difficult to control."

Gino sighs, "Not difficult, but there were times when it wouldn't respond to my commands. There were also times when it moved on its own."

"I see," Schniezel puts a laptop in front of Gino, "Over the past few months someone has been hacking into our systems. We have not been able to track who it is. We suspect the work of several genius level hackers."

"Do you think it could be someone else in the government?"

Gino's question stuns Schniezel for a moment. Schniezel assumes Gino's question is caused by Lelouch's influence.

"On the day of the duel, we managed to track the source of the interference to the arena."

Gino is looking at the data intensively.

"I am afraid I must take my leave, Lord Weinberg. Kannon will call to set up a test session."

Schniezel leaves Gino to think. Gino looks through the data that Schniezel leaves him. He can only think of one person that would do such a thing.

"Lelouch."

* * *

**December 25, 2018, Underground lab, Viceroy's palace, Manila Settlement, Area 11**

"I certainly didn't expect Lelouch and VV to keep everyone here. Siberia makes more sense. Still my informants say this is the place so it must be."

XX carefully makes his way through the maze that leads into the underground lab where his informants say that VV has his lab.

"Once I am finished here, I will return to Pendragon and kill the gods."

"Looks like I'm out of pizza. Mao, can you be a dear and fetch me some more."

"Of course CC my love. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Mao runs off to get CC's pizza.

VV grunts, "You could have at least told the little fool to put on a jacket. It gets fucking cold out there."

Twenty minutes later Mao returns with CC's pizzas.

"What took you so long?" CC asks opening the first box.

Mao is visibly shaking.

"I for-forgot my jacket, and it is quite cold outside."

VV shakes his head.

"What a moron. Of course it is cold outside. We're in freaking Siberia."

XX makes his way past several rooms until he sees light ahead. There are several boisterous voices.

"They must in there. VV is such a workaholic," XX kicks the door open, "This is the end. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. My operatives are ready to come rushing in here."

There is no response. XX looks around and sees a small disc player on a table, but nothing else.

"What the hell? Those bastards said that they came in here and saw VV and CC working on some project."

XX walks into the room slowly and soon finds himself trapped in a glass cage.

"What is this?"

"You must be XX. Lulu told me about you."

A pink haired girl in a pink dress comes over and taps on the glass.

"Don't worry about your friends. I took care of them."

The smile on the girl doesn't ease XX's mind.

"Would you mind telling me why you have trapped me here? I am on a mission from the emperor."

"Too bad I don't recognize the wishes of that man. I am Euphemia li Britannia, Viceroy and sole judge of Area 11. You didn't think that you and your friends could move around doing whatever you please. My orders are the only ones that matter here."

XX leers, "Eh, so what are you going to do? Are you going to hand me over to VV?"

"Don't be stupid. I know that you probably have a homing device inside of you," now Euphie leers, "No, the answer is much simpler. You have something that I want. No, you have something that I need."

"Like I would give geass to a brat like you."

Euphie laughs, "I don't want geass. I want your life."

"Do you think I would willingly surrender my code to you?"

Suddenly gas begins to fill XX's cage.

"It's going to take more than a little gas to put me out. My body has trained itself to withstand even the strongest forms of gas."

Euphie smiles, "You only need to be out for a few seconds for me to take your code. Then I will kill you."

XX begins to get woozy.

"You wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Is that so? Who do you think killed Clovis?" XX's eyes open wide, "Remember I loved Clovis. You, I couldn't give a fuck about."

Euphie's language surprises XX as he gets drowsy and falls down.

Lelouch is in the middle of the greatest Christmas present ever. He begins to think of ways in which it could get much better. Kallen goes to smack him, but suddenly his expression changes. Along with six other people, Lelouch clearly hears these words.

"Hello is this thing on. It's me Euphie. I guess I joined the club. "

* * *

Author's note: In case you are wondering Euphemia li Britannia outsmarted the oldest living person in existence. Even the most adamant Lelouch/Euphie shipper (Marianne raises her hand) wouldn't have suspected that Euphie would be the first of Lelouch's girls to get a code. Trust me the idea didn't come to my mind until a few chapters ago. I always thought that Kallen would be the first one. Despite their denial of it, code bearers are human and can get excited about certain things. Here Lelouch has gathered most of the code bearers needed to activate this story's version of Ragnarok. All Charles and XX have to do is get them. Euphie's geass is visual in nature. She makes XX's spies and informants think that they see VV working in a lab.

Lelouch has been spending months hacking into the systems that operate the Vincents. Obviously it doesn't take him much effort to make sure that two particular Vincents are used for the duel. Gino was hoping to drag the fight out and win. With this method both KOR would save face.

Originally this chapter had a large section at the beginning dealing with Cornelia discovering that Lelouch and Euphie have a son hence what the note at the beginning of the chapter is about. It also delayed this chapter because the section was hard to write, but I ultimately decided against it. I thought that doing something at this point would lead Cornelia to Lelouch's side. Cornelia's final allegiance is still up in the air.

If you don't know what the greatest Christmas present Lelouch can receive is and how it can get better, then you need to see a doctor because you may be missing your brain. Why won't Kallen let Lelouch talk his nine inch piece of equipment?

James is smart enough to know when not to speak Japanese. And yes Lelouch is making Gino question his motives and allegiance on purpose.

In a sense the KOR, Marianne, and a few other elite pilots are like the emperor's Soul Reaper captains and lieutenants (from Bleach). They are what makes his army powerful that and sheer numbers. Lelouch and Schniezel are picking them apart. One is already eliminated, but might soon be replaced by someone not as skilled. Two (Merlin and Luciano) are firmly on Schniezel and Lelouch's side respectively. Others may be swayed by upcoming events (Gino, Salacia, Nonette, Thorin, Aphrodite). All this leaves the emperor with only four truly loyal knights out of twelve. Five if you include Marianne. Lelouch has that many on his own (Lelouch, Nunnally, Kallen, Suzaku, and Jeremiah in that order).This doesn't count the Irregulars although they depend more on their geass abilities. It also doesn't include good not great knightmare pilots like Milly, Villetta, and Kewell. Not to mention the burgeoning genius talents of Evelyn and the twins and their knightmare and tank drones. The other part of the equation is Cornelia, Guildford, and the Glaston Knights. Although Cornelia is not as ambitious as Lelouch or Schniezel.

The Knights of the Round are ranked by strength so someone may challenge Gino for his spot.

**Knights of the Round:**

One: Bismarck Waldstein

Two: Merlin Suzerain

Three: Gino Weinberg

Four: Dorothea Ernst

Five: Salacia Ravenguard

Six: Nonette Enngream

Seven: Thorin Odinus

Eight: Luciano Bradley

Nine: Monica Kruszewski

Ten: Aphrodite Venitus

Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus

Twelve: empty


	77. Hustle, Loyalty, Respect

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics_. French is in single parentheses.

Kaguya returns in this chapter. She is not the giggling, worshipful my wonderful husband Zero girl of canon nor is she the over sexualized girl of fanon. She is a fifteen year old girl that understands that she is married to one of the most powerful people in the world. The person that holds power over her people. Lelouch is a mere acquaintance to her. They have not consummated their marriage yet.

The date from the quote below is the date that Lelouch first met Gino. The first time they meet that they both really remember is August 16, 2011 ATB, their first day at West Point. The date below is also the day that Lelouch meets Kallen and Milly for the first time so it is the most important day in all their lives.

_As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another_

_Kyoshiro Tohdoh  
__Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits  
__Day 7 the benefits of friendship  
__Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

...

A man may forget many things, but he will never forget meeting his first best friend. For me that person was Gino Weinberg, December 5, 2005 Ascension Throne Britannia

Lelouch vi Britannia  
Memoirs of the Black Prince  
Tokyo Towers Press 2018 ATB

* * *

**July 15, 2011, Weinberg Manor, Richmond, Virginia**

Lord and Lady Weinberg are glaring down at their son, Gino.

"We will not allow you to become lax in your duty as heir to the Weinberg family. This latest outburst will not go unpunished."

Earlier in the day Gino stops his mother from beating an Eleven maid. After much discussion, Gino's parents decide to send him to the Britannian Military Academy at West Point, Jr. Division. They hope that he will learn some discipline. They also receive word that a prince is attending the academy this year so perhaps Gino can make some good connections.

**Saturday, April 23, 2016, Mindanao, Area 11**

Gino is Area 11 to identify the bodies of his parents. His father is involved in many activities both legal and illegal around the world. Today they just happen to be inspecting one of his warehouses that contain refrain, a drug that Lelouch declares illegal. It does not take Lelouch much time to push his legislation through the Britannian government. Although in a few areas the refrain trade is profitable. However here in Southeast Asia, Lelouch is in complete control of the navy and coast guard. He uses those forces to break the refrain trade. Gino's parents just happen to get caught in the middle of a fire fight between smugglers and the navy. Gino is certain that his father tries to tell them who he is. That wouldn't help the situation. In fact his parents are better off dead. Gino is also better off with his parents being dead. Now he can focus his attention on other matters. He can also use his parents' fortune and influence to his advantage. The first issue is getting them away from the crime scene and making it look like they are victims. He is about to call Lelouch when he remembers that Euphie is sub-viceroy of Area 11. She should be able to take care of this issue.

**Sunday, December 29, 2018, quarters of the Knight of Three, Britannia Palace**

Gino is sipping on some red wine. He has been thinking of switching to something harder but is too lazy to get it. Not to mention the fact that it is still early in the afternoon. It isn't like there is much for him to do. Lelouch remains in Pendragon although Gino has not found time to speak with him. That isn't the issue at hand because Milly is in complete control of Pendragon. That is no joke the emperor gives Milly control of everything but the military units in the city. Milly promises to make the New Year's celebration unforgettable. Milly declares that they will celebrate the emperor's twenty year reign in style.

"Lord Weinberg, Princess Carolina sfo Britannia is here for her visit."

Gino glances at the clock and remembers that Carolina is going to stop by for a visit.

"There is no need to be so formal. Gino and I go way back," Carolina says as she walks into the room.

Gino nods for his maid to leave and bring some refreshments. Although not as formal as other noble households, Gino's servants do take care of him. It is highly improper for Gino and Carolina to be alone in his office. They may be concerned that Gino is being set up.

"You can tell your maid to not bother with the tea. I will, however, have some of what you're having. That is from one of Lelouch's California vineyards."

Gino nods as he pours Carolina a glass of wine. They sip in silence as the servants bring little sandwiches. As the maid leaves she gives Carolina a glance.

"Your maid shouldn't worry. I brought Dalque with me who should be enough to stop me from raping you."

Gino sighs, "How can I help you today, your highness."

Carolina grins, "When did you get so formal, Lord Weinberg?"

"About the same time you got so informal, Princess sfo Britannia," Gino answers with a smirk, "Besides when did you start answering a question with a question. That is so Lelouch of you. Kallen was right when she said that Lelouch was a bad influence."

"That he is. I am here on behalf of my husband who would like to ask a favor of you."

"And that is."

"We need you to take care of Isabelle on New Year's Eve."

"I'm not a babysitter."

"Isabelle isn't a baby."

"The last thing that I need is Edward challenging me to a duel over his sister's honor. That is a lose-lose situation."

"Edward is back in Bali. Besides we can handle him or rather his mother can handle him. You are quite a catch these days, Lord Weinberg."

Gino nods. From what he knows about Lady vu Britannia, the empress can be quite crafty. She no doubt already has several marriage candidates for Isabelle. She might also have a few more for Edward since Shirley doesn't exactly come from a noble family although Edward seems more like a one woman man as far as Gino knows.

"Fine I'll do it, but have her be at her mother's house. I don't feel like going over to Aries at the moment."

Carolina shrugs, "Very well. I should be leaving. Dalque is probably challenging your butlers to arm wrestling contests."

Much to her surprise Dalque is actually sitting down sipping tea. Carolina motions for her to come. Outside waiting in the limousine are the twins and Isabelle.

"What did Gino say?"

"He said yes. Just remind me to talk to Lelouch about it."

Isabelle squeals. The twins look very impatient.

"Can we goes now?"

"Ya, our girls are waiting for us."

Carolina sighs, "Yes, yes boys. You guys are so impatient. Driver, take us to Gloucester Palace."

While the twins are excited, Isabelle is a little wary of returning to her mother's home. The twins have Emily and Miranda to look forward to. Isabelle doesn't even have Shirley who spends her days at Aries with Milly.

"Don't worry Belle. I'm going to stay here to help your mom with the twins."

Isabelle lets out a sigh of relief. Castor and Pollux don't look all that excited about having to deal with Carolina and Isabelle. They are already thinking of methods to get around Lady vi Britannia. They even think of ways to get Shirley and her daughter out of the way. Nothing is going to get in the way of them spending some time with their girls.

**Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo, Area 22**

Kaguya is sitting in her office looking over the latest reports from the Japanese Diet. Although essentially powerless the Diet still serves as a method to gage what the public thinks. For the moment Japan (Area 22) is calm. The presence of the Diet helps as does Kaguya being sub-viceroy and Suzaku being named deputy commander of Britannian Army Group Five. Although those facts mean nothing, the moment Lelouch decides that they mean nothing. Even with Nunnally beign viceroy, it is Lelouch who holds all the power. His conquest of Siberia and destruction of the Russian eastern army only adds to this.

Of course military power is not the only thing that Lelouch has. He also controls most of the economy. Through the use of several dummy corporations, Lelouch controls Japan's entire technological sector. Lelouch even controls most of the food service industry. For some unknown reason he own all the pizza chains in Japan. He also not coincidently owns most of the entertainment industry. Kaguya remembers an oddly hilarious teleconference between the twins and several studio heads in Tokyo. Having nothing else to do, Kaguya also sits in on a teleconference between someone named CC and the mangers of several pizza chains.

General Nagisa Chiba brings some papers for Kaguya to sign. Kaguya looks over the papers and Chiba who is Area 22 only Japanese general. Technically Suzaku is a general but he has duties beyond Japan and is also engaged to Nunnally. The whole married to Euphie business is forgotten even though it has only been two years. Of course Nunnally is much more popular here because of her winning Japan's National Karate tournament.

Technically the power structure goes Nunnally, Kaguya, Suzaku, Nagisa Chiba, Alice Liddell, Ichiro Futaba, etc. There are several deputy governors below Kaguya. They take care of local issues while Nunnally and Kaguya take care things on a national and international level. Nagisa Chiba and Ichiro Futaba are Lelouch's subordinates in charge of Area 22's military garrisons. Suzaku technically is above them and overseers the entire area in Lelouch's absence. Alice is also in principle not in the command structure of Army Group Five since she is Nunnally's knight, but she submits to Lelouch's commands when necessary as does Sayoko. At the moment Kaguya does not have a knight or personal bodyguard although Nagisa is her advisor. With Lelouch as a husband and Nunnally as a sister in law not mention Suzaku as a cousin, there really isn't a need for Kaguya to have more protection. At least that's how Carolina put it.

Kaguya gets back to work after spacing out for a moment. Unlike normal people work doesn't stop for those at the top. Despite what the common man thinks, the government isn't like the Mafia. Those at the top work even harder when they get there. Kaguya sighs as she glances tat the stack of paperwork on her desk. Even in the digital age, there is still a lat of paperwork. Suddenly Nunnally bursts into the office.

"_Kagy-chan, drop everything!"_

Kaguya looks at her sister-in-law who is followed by Alice. Kaguya can tell by the expression on the blonde knight's face that Nunnally is planning something that Milly would be proud of.

"_Kagy-chan, we have to get working on our New Year's celebration. We are going to be one of the first ones so we have to start off with a bang."_

Nunnally continues talking about different ideas. Kaguya wonders why Nunnally is in such a frenzy about this issue.

"_Um Nunna-chan, we already have lots of work to do."_

"_Nonsense. A celebration such as this is good for the moral of the people."_

It is obvious to Kaguya that Nunnally adheres to Milly's thought method. Kaguya sighs surrendering to Nunnally.

"_Fine let's see what ideas you have."_

Nunnally grins and places a large binder on Kaguya's desk.

"_Alice, bring some coffee because we are going to be here for while."_

Alice sighs but does as Nunnally asks. She also brings Suzaku, Nagisa, and Ichiro to help curb Nunnally's more eccentric ideas.

**CaPo studios, Pendragon (**CAstor-POllux studios)

Lelouch is wearing a black suit with those balls on it. The twins decide that it is an awesome idea to put Lelouch in a video game. He doesn't want to do it alone so he asks (forces) Kallen to come. They have to go through a series of moves that the game creators ask them to do. Lelouch notices that Milly and Shirley come in a little after they do.

"I thought Edward went home."

Kallen adjusts her suit a little.

"He did, but Isabelle and Shirley stayed here."

Normally the look on Lelouch's face earns him a smack from Kallen, but today she holds back because she realizes that he is concerned.

"Let's finish this and go home. We're going to need to rest up for Milly's New Year's celebration."

Lelouch is concerned by Edward's attitude towards things. At first his marriage to Shirley seems to be a sort of fairy tale situation. Now the formerly shy Edward has no problem going up to anyone. Lelouch remembers when they are children Edward could barely talk to Euphemia. Now he has several lovers back in Jakarta. According to Euphie during her time in Bali, Edward spends most of his time in Jakarta. It makes some sense it is still the biggest city in the area despite the fact that Area 17's capital is in Bali.

After dropping the twins and Shirley off at Gloucester Palace, Milly and Kallen snuggle up to Lelouch.

"I take it the two of you believe that this is some sort of silly movie plot. The princess and the knight go to the dance together and fall in love."

Milly and Kallen nod.

"Or are you planning on hooking up the abandoned wife with her first crush."

Both girls stay quiet.

"That's what I thought. You two do remember that I'm a genius, don't you?" Lelouch sighs, "Let's forget about the issue. I assume that Carolina has spoken with Gino and he agreed to escort Isabelle to the party."

Lelouch quickly exits the car once they arrive at Aries. Kallen isn't exactly hoping that Shirley ends up with Lelouch, but she is hoping that Lelouch has a talk with Edward about being a better husband. Still there isn't much they can do other than provide Shirley with encouragement. The next few days are a blur as Milly works her magic in preparation for the New Year's celebration. Lelouch doesn't put much effort into it. He has other concerns. Of course he has to show up because he doesn't want Milly to look bad since she plans the event. Of importance to Lelouch is a meeting on the next day with the emperor, Schniezel, and Cornelia.

**Wednesday January 1, 2019, Britannia Palace**

A little after lunch the meeting begins. The emperor is accompanied by his top three knights. Cornelia and Schniezel bring Guilford and Kannon respectively. Kallen and Milly come along with Lelouch. Lelouch quickly realizes he brings the most firepower. Sitting at the table are the four most powerful people on Earth. The only ones with resources to match are the Empress of the Chinese Federation and the Grand Marshal of the EU (now that the EU Central hemicycle has declared martial law through southern Europe.). Of course besides the emperor, only Lelouch has his own independent source of resources and soldiers. People may wonder why Odysseus or Karine are not at this meeting despite being in Pendragon. Lelouch doesn't want to know nor does he care although he will probably discuss the matter with Faramond later. He knows that Schniezel or Merlin will get word to Karine somehow.

"Let us begin this meeting. What is the status in Europe?"

Bismarck brings up several maps.

"As you can tell, your majesty, we have several small footholds in the south. Princess Karine and Monica attempted attacks along the English Channel at Calais and in the south at Gibraltar; however neither attack amounted to much."

"I know that is why they were removed from command in the north. Karine may not remain as viceroy of Area 20 for much longer. Monica has been an utter disappointment."

Lelouch considers the statement odd considering that fact Monica has always been the emperor's favorite.

"I don't see why Karine needs to be removed. She is aggressive and with the proper supervision can most likely do well," Lelouch comments.

"And you would like to be that supervision?" the emperor asks.

Lelouch shakes his head, "Oh goodness no. I would have to explain to Lady le Britannia why her daughter is a cripple. There's no possible way I could deal with Karine. However others here may be able to handle her," Lelouch says looking towards Schniezel.

Lelouch doesn't know exactly what it is, but he knows that Schniezel is planning something. He may be doing it with the emperor's permission.

"Unfortunately I have better things to do than to baby-sit Karine," Schniezel responds leaving the others a little perplexed.

"What is more important that finishing Europe?" Cornelia asks and glances at the emperor, "Your majesty told the Britannian people that eliminating the EU is our top priority."

"Yes Cornelia, but at the moment something has come up that will make the war with the EU much easier. Besides if Lelouch lends a hand from Siberia, we will be much better off."

Lelouch tries not to be insulted at the comment, but cannot help himself.

"Lends a hand. Are you a fucking idiot?" This earns a grunt from the emperor and a nudge from Kallen, "Do you know how big Russia is? I might as well be attacking the Moon. In case you didn't know, the distance from where I am to Moscow or St. Petersburg is the same as from here to New York."

"That isn't the point. If you only apply a little pressure."

Now Lelouch loses his temper.

"A little pressure. All they have to do is sit back while my supply lines get longer and longer and wait for their counterattack."

"Like they did with Darlton."

This earns a glare from Cornelia and Guildford although neither is sure whether they should be mad at Lelouch or Schniezel.

Lelouch presses the issue further, "Not to mention the fact that the Central Asian states or the Chinese Federation may attack my rear. My presence in Siberia is needed to keep them from aiding the EU."

"I am working so that does not happen."

Lelouch does not appreciate anyone messing with his part of the world. He previously only helps in Africa and the Middle East to make those conquests easier, but he does not need Schniezel's help in China. Although Schniezel's preferred methods will probably have a more success there than in Europe. Lelouch has met the High Eunuchs. Those people make the emperor look like a caring, responsible monarch.

"What exactly are you working on, if I may ask?"

Schniezel knows that he has left himself open. The plan is to drop everything on Lelouch's lap when things are set. He notices Milly whisper something into Lelouch's ear. The emperor clears his throat.

"Let me guess you are planning marriage with the young Chinese empress," Lelouch comments, "And who is the groom. Odysseus makes sense since he is crown prince. You wouldn't chain yourself down with marriage would you? The others are quite useless. Leaving only me and Faramond."

Milly's slight nod tells Schniezel that she thinks of the marriage thing before Lelouch, but he thinks of the marriage candidates.

"Yes Schniezel is to head negotiations with the Chinese Federation over a possible marriage between their empress and an eligible Britannian prince. Since you have volunteered, I believe that matter is settled," the emperor responds.

"Your majesty, I don't need Schniezel to," Lelouch begins to say but stops for a moment before continuing, "On second thought I will concede to Schniezel's abilities as a negotiator. I am sure that he will be able to secure much more than I would be able to. In the mean time perhaps I will go to Europe and baby-sit Karine."

Everyone is a little surprised at Lelouch's comments. Both the emperor and Schniezel think that he will fight the issue.

"Besides it allows me to deal with this," Lelouch slides several pictures and disks across the table, "According to Generals Alex, Gottwald, and Nu, this Zero character is making lots of noise about beating Schniezel and Cornelia. He is also claiming partial credit for Darlton's defeat. I believe with what is currently there along with the new soldiers from Areas 10, 11, 17, 18, and 22 victory will be ours. Perhaps even before Schniezel is done with his negotiations."

Cornelia angrily grabs the material provided in part by her second in command (Guilford as her knight is technically not in the chain of command).With Darlton being put on leave, General Alex is Cornelia's immediate subordinate. According to Alex's reports, Zero is making lots of noise, and many of the EU leaders are backing him. He also seems to be getting support from rebel groups within Britannia.

Schniezel looks at the reports. In effect Lelouch is saying that he will deal with someone that Schniezel cannot handle. It is Africa and the Middle East all over again. Schniezel knows that Lelouch is goading him. It is a particular talent of the raven haired prince. It is Lelouch that insults Conrad and Thorin only for Gino to receive their wrath. In fact Lelouch always does the same thing. It's almost as if he enjoys goading the Knights of the Round, goading him and Cornelia, goading the emperor and his mother. Schniezel considers the situation.

If Lelouch manages to defeat the EU, then he cannot marry the Chinese empress. At that point he will be too popular and powerful. Not that it matters to the Eunuchs; they only want the titles that Schniezel hints at during their previous conversation. The allegiance of the Eunuchs will not do Schniezel any favors in Pendragon. Lelouch already have the loyalty of many Numbers never mind the fact that Lelouch is the one that makes them Numbers. Schniezel cannot allow someone else like Odysseus or Karine to gain influence amongst the Pendragon nobles.

"Perhaps you would like to join me at the negotiation table, Lelouch?"

"I don't see what purpose that would serve. If you want someone to represent my interests take Milly or Kaguya, she's had an audience with the empress before," Who else but Lelouch would send his wife to negotiations that may possibly gain him another wife? "I will be in Siberia preparing to conquer the remainder of Russia," Lelouch says with a smirk.

No, Lelouch isn't going to make it any easier. Schniezel cannot look to the emperor for help with this issue. Basically Lelouch back them into a corner with his logic. It doesn't make sense for both of them to negotiate with the Chinese Federation. One deals with that situation and all its repercussions while the other one goes to Europe with reinforcements. Of course the emperor is waiting for Schniezel to make a decision. He doesn't want to make a choice because either way it will be the incorrect one. Schniezel decides to give Lelouch what he really want because in effect it is what Schniezel wants.

"Very well Lelouch. You can have the Chinese Federation. After all this Zero is insulting my honor and that of Britannia. Besides you have dealt with the Chinese Federation in the past officially and unofficially."

This is a good move by Schniezel. Essentially Lelouch wishes to kill several birds with one stone. Milly and Kaguya will work in the Chinese Federation to get Lelouch what he wants. Lelouch and Kallen will go to southern Europe to take control. Nunnally or someone else will take control of the Siberian force and apply pressure. While all of this is going on, Carolina will be working the Pendragon nobles.

"Fine I'll take care of your negotiations," Lelouch says with a pout, "But I really wanted to play with Zero."

This earns him a hard nudge from Kallen.

"It is decided Schniezel and Cornelia will return and finish off the EU or they will suffer the consequences. You have my permission to deal with the neighboring viceroys as you see fit. Bismarck will also assign a few Knights of the Round to assist you. Lelouch will negotiate with the Chinese Federation. I expect a deal that favors Britannia. If necessary, Bismarck will also assign Knights of the Round to aid you."

The emperor's tone indicates that the meeting is over. As the exit they notice the other KOR waiting outside. Luciano flashes Lelouch a grin. Nonette immediately pounces on Cornelia. Thorin can't seem to decide between glaring Lelouch or Gino. Lelouch slightly nudges Milly who nods and slowly moves towards Monica. Lelouch whispers something into Kallen's ear, and she goes in the direction of Luciano and Aphrodite. Lelouch heads back to Aries Villa as his wives get to work. He finds his mother sitting there alone with Shirley. He finds the scene rather odd. They are drawing portraits of the garden. Clovis would be so proud.

"Oh Lelouch dear, is the meeting over already?"

"Yes, the emperor didn't say much. He just wanted an update on the situation in Europe."

Lelouch knows that his mother knows what the meeting is about, but there is no need to be rude in front of Shirley.

"The emperor assigned me the task of negotiating with the Chinese Federation."

Marianne almost drops her brush. Lelouch smirks when he sees this. He cannot see the expression on his mother's face since the two women have their back to him.

"What sort of negotiations?"

Lelouch gives both of them a peck on the cheek.

"You know mother, the usual sort of negotiations. I should probably get back. I left Milly and Kallen alone with the Knights of the Round. It's good thing that Nunnally isn't here because she would have challenged them to a fight."

Marianne grins, "When are Nunnally and Euphie going to come for a visit? It has been over a year since they have come. You know perhaps I should drop in for a visit to see how my little girls are doing."

"They aren't so little any more mother."

Marianne mumbles something and smiles. She suspects that something is going on between Lelouch and Euphie.

"Well I'll see if I can fit a visit into my schedule. I am worried about them."

Now Lelouch smirks. He wonders what his mother is doing in Pendragon since she doesn't have to deal with any of her children.

"If you need something to do mother, I can always leave Evelyn or the twins. Since Emily and Miranda are staying here with their aunt, the twins would be more than happy to stay. It might even be easier to make them behave in such a situation since the girls can usually keep then in check."

Marianne slightly shudders at the thought of having to take care of prepubescent children again. Lelouch and Nunnally are enough. She doesn't need the added aggravations as she approaches forty.

"Don't worry about me dear. I will find a way to keep busy."

Lelouch sighs, "I better go see what Kallen and Milly are up to."

"I'll go with you, Lulu. Milly said she was going to take me back."

Lelouch notices and odd look on his mother's face when Shirley wraps herself around Lelouch's arm and leans her head on his shoulder.

"Where's Elizabeth?"

"Evelyn has her. She is taking care of James and Charlotte too."

"How are you feeling" Lelouch points at Shirley's womb, "I mean how is your baby coming along. Well you know what I mean."

Shirley giggles a little, "I'm fine. I've been getting more tired than before. Edward's been under a lot of stress. Especially with Belle in Area 10 now. Sometimes I think that he…"

Shirley trails off as they reach Evelyn's room.

"You don't have to say anything Shirley. I understand that marriage can be difficult at times."

Shirley squeezes Lelouch tightly and wipes the tears from her face. Lelouch gives her a nod before opening the door to Evelyn's room. James smiles when he sees his father and runs up to him.

"Look out otō-san. James kick."

James kicks Lelouch in the shin. Lelouch tosses James up on his shoulder and spanks him.

"Lulu spank."

James is a little confused.

"Who's Lulu?"

Shirley answers, "That's what we call your daddy. It's a nickname."

James kind of understands.

"Like Grampa Oats Guy, it's a secret."

Shirley rubs her hand through James's hair.

"That's it."

"Oto-san calls kaa-san, Kalli sometimes."

Lelouch sets James down and picks up Elizabeth. As he begins to attack her face with kisses, she squirms around. Lelouch sets her down and picks up Charlotte.

"Were you guys good for Auntie Evelyn?"

James and Elizabeth nod. Charlotte just slaps her father's chest.

"Alright let's go see what your mothers are up to. James, watch your cousin Elizabeth because I have to carry Charlotte."

"Kay otō-san, I protect her from goblins." (Aries Villa is known for its goblins)

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders and exits the room. Much to Lelouch's surprise Kallen and Milly haven't done anything to embarrass him. The emperor and the Knights of the Round are still there discussing things with Cornelia and Schniezel. James lets out a squeal.

"Grampa Charlie's here."

James runs up to his grandfather pushing Schniezel out of the way.

Cornelia smirks, "Look out Schniezel. James is doing Lelouch's work for him."

"Daddy says never to push a beautiful lady," James responds causing Cornelia to blush.

"That doesn't like Uncle Lelouch at all. He taught me to push whatever's in your way out of the way," Faramond states as he squeezes between Cornelia and the emperor.

James giggles, "Cousin Faramond's here."

"Your majesty, if you like I can handle things from here," Bismarck comments.

"Boys come here. Let Schniezel and Cornelia talk with the emperor," Lelouch calls out.

"Aww. I wants to show Grampas my knightmare," James pouts.

Everyone is a little surprised by that comment.

"Bismarck, handle things here. Let's go see this knightmare of yours."

Schniezel and Cornelia are not pleased by this turn of events. Lelouch begins scratching his head.

"When did I build James a knightmare?" Lelouch shrugs, "It must have been Lloyd. That guy is pretty crazy. Well I have better things to do than to stand around looking at your ugly faces," Lelouch says looking in the general direction of the KOR.

Once the emperor and his grandsons are away from the others, he stops.

"So what is the purpose of this distraction?"

James hands the emperor a little note.

"Daddy put his papers in my pocket. He said it belongs to you."

The emperor takes the note and reads it.

"So be it."

**Saturday, January 4, 2019 Ascension Throne Britannia, London, England, British Isles Military District**

"I proclaim Faramond eu Britannia to be supreme commander of the Northern Europe Avengement Force."

Lelouch smirks at the emperor's announcement. Faramond may use this opportunity to his own advantage, but either way it weakens the others.

Karine is quite angry at Faramond becoming the commander of the British Isles' forces. She is hoping to take advantage of the fact that the KOR are still back in Pendragon. The last time she makes a move Monica gets in her way. Now she has to deal with Schniezel. Still Europe is a big enough for her to make a name for herself.

Cornelia isn't sure about Faramond being put in such a large role. She will admit his presence along with Lelouch's guarantee that someone will lead an attack from Siberia. Cornelia understands that the next year will determine the fate of the world. With the conquest of Europe and China, there will only be a few nations out of Britannia's control. Although that may not be the issue when that event comes to pass.

Faramond arrives in London aboard HIMAS Yorktown (it is the name that his father previously uses as a flagship). According to Lelouch there is a surprise in the knightmare hangar. Faramond decides to wait until he lands to look at it. Faramond looks over at Monica who is his second in command/advisor. Despite his misgivings about it. Faramond takes Lelouch's advice and brings Monica and Amadeus along. The emperor originally wants to send Dorothea and Salacia who are now in North Africa with Schniezel and Karine. Faramond isn't so sure about Lelouch's other piece of advice relating to seducing Monica. That may have to wait for a little bit until he is ready for such things.

Schniezel looks at the chess board as he considers the current situation. Lelouch and Gottwald will distract Russia. Karine and Faramond will attack in western Europe. This leaves Central and Eastern Europe for Schniezel and Cornelia. No matter how the negotiations with the Chinese Federation go, it will be a quagmire that will take Lelouch years to fix. Meanwhile Schniezel will continue to get stronger and will soon have the ultimate weapon.

Lucretia is sitting in her office. She makes sure that no one can see or hear what she is doing. She goes towards the wall and turns on her teleconference screen. A helmeted figure appears causing Lucretia to smile.

"Hello Zero, how are you doing?"

Zero removes his helmet to reveal Sancia.

"I'm doing fine. What about you," Sancia smirks, "Zero? How are you doing?"

Lucretia removes her helmet and grins. She glances out the window towards the Eiffel Tower.

"Everything here is going according to plan. Now we just have to wait for Lulu or Nunna to come."

* * *

Author's note: I just realized this a few days ago. Japan is Area 22 which is the double of 11. I didn't plan on it, but it is a slight coincidence. In case anyone is wondering Faramond is a month younger than Nunnally making him fifteen. Monica is twenty-three. There is a list of known geass users at the bottom as well as a new character age list.

Wes asked if female code bearers can have children. In this fic they can, but I don't see why they shouldn't be able to if they have not yet reached menopause. I'm not a female so I don't know if anything in the menstruation cycle can be considered an injury thus needing to be healed. Although CC had a scar of the geass sigil on her left breast so it seems that only injuries are healed while non-lethal things like scars remain.

Wes also gave me an idea for a new villain mini arc. Signs of it will start popping up soon. I might also go back and make XX seem more obvious. I wanted to make it sort of a surprise that he was with Charles in planning Ragnarok, but I think it kind of fell flat. Mostly because I did away with him the chapter after said declarations so I might add a few scenes with XX.

This is the order of the Code Bearers by age (when they received their code) _current code bearers in italics_: XX, _Choekyi Gyaltsen_, MM's contractor, CC's contractor, _CC, Khalid Fayez_, MM, _Nikolai Sevastopol, GG, VV, Lelouch vi Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia_. This makes Choekyi, who we have not met, the oldest code bearer. It also the first time in several hundred years that at least half of the code bearers are still in their nature life span. This number will probably increase.

Someone asked for a list of known geasses. An important note is that when a code bearer loses their code, all their geass contracts are cancelled. So when MM loses his code to Lelouch, all his geass contractees lose the geass they gain from him including Lelouch. Someone with a fully enhanced geass can take any code bearers code. Although the code bearer can seal their code like CC does, this is only a temporary measure. Eventually the code bearer will lose their code. A few geasses listed below are kind of spoilers since we haven't seen them. Others we won't see while some are repeats most notably Tohdoh and Chiba also the Kallen and kids to Lelouch, Rolo, and Anya.

Lelouch-1st from CC, absolute obedience, he can order someone to do something once. Can also make people his absolute slaves 2nd from MM, this geass is lost when Lelouch takes MM's code 3rd from VV, can make others see visions and dreams. As the power progresses, Lelouch can be very specific about what he makes others see. It is also possible for this geass to drive its victim insane. The power draws from the person's emotions. Retains two geasses even though he is now a code bearer.

Kallen- 1st from CC, geass canceller. Other's geasses have no effect on her. She can also cancel Lelouch's geass commands. As the power progresses she becomes like a code bearer having instant immunity to geass. 2nd from VV, exactly like Lelouch's third geass. She used it to make her grandfather a vegetable by taking his worst fears and making them real in his mind. 3rd from GG, can see or feel other's feelings. As the power progresses, Kallen can also affect the feelings of others.

Milly- 1st from VV Ward of Absolute Hope, gives others encouragement to continue. from Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Despair, makes those affected feel like there is no hope. Both need eye contact to be completely effective. However once eye contact is made, Milly can activate and deactivate its effects at will. They do have to be nearby. She can't activate it from the other side of the world.

Euphemia- From VV, geass of absolute terror, retains this geass even though she is now a code bearer, needs eye contact.

Anya-1st from VV, Ward of Absolute boredom, causes those affected to be bored during battle in effect making them forget that they are engaged in battle 2nd from Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Frenzy, the opposite of her first geass. It causes those affected to go into a frenzy about even the most mundane things. Both need eye contact to be completely effective although if used correctly there is no need for it.

Evelyn- from VV, exactly like Lelouch's first geass because what else would a little girl want.

Castor- from VV, Can affect the senses of others. It affects all senses not just vision. Quite possibly the most powerful geass around especially when enhanced by VV's geass enhancing machines.

Pollux- From VV, Just like Rolo's only for now without the problem of having his heart stopping

Mao- From CC, can read the thoughts of others

Nagisa Chiba- From Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Loyalty, those affected by it will give their lives for whoever or whatever they pledged their loyalty to, sort of a Jeremiah effect, Chiba uses it on herself to be more loyal to Lelouch, needs eye contact

The Irregulars geass abilities are more or less a form of genetic manipulation. These are taken from the Code Geass Wikia page. They are gain their abilities by having CC's cells injected into their bodies.

Sancia-1st from CC, The Order which accurately identifies the positions of targets within a given range and precisely calculates their probable movement trajectories based on all known variables. 2nd from Lelouch, Shinkiro (mirage), can affect the senses of others at the same time giving them hope

Lucretia-1st from CC, The Land which accurately maps three-dimensional terrain within a given range 2nd from Lelouch, Shinkiro (mirage), can affect the senses of others at the same time giving them hope

Dalque-The Power which augments her physical strength by exaggerating the magnitude of macroscopic forces

Alice-The Speed which allows her to hyper accelerate all objects within a given radius by manipulating gravitational pull

Charles- 1st from VV can manipulate the memories of those that look into his eyes, 2nd from XX, this geass is obviously lost when Euphie becomes a code bearer.

Marianne- from CC, can transfer her soul to another body. She claims that her body has to die for her geass to work.

Schniezel- from Khalid, visual in nature. Allow Schniezel to appear as anyone he wants.

Kyoshiro Tohdoh-from Khalid, Ward of Absolute Loyalty, those affected by it will give their lives for whoever or whatever they pledged their loyalty. Needs eye contact.

Rolo- most likely from VV. The ward of absolute suspension. Can freeze people within a certain range. The bigger the range and more people he uses it on, the more it affects him. Each time he uses his geass his heart also stops. Technically Rolo still has his geass, but his body is badly damaged, and he get cybernetic enhancements including the geass canceller. This effectively cancels out his own geass.

There are several people with geass in eastern Europe and western Asia thanks to Khalid and Nikolai. Their abilities vary. All of Lelouch's forces (Siberia, Japan, Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, Alaska, Jeremiah's Caucasus force) have geass canceller to some degree. There are also a few warriors monks with geass in Tibet.

Character ages as of January 18, 2019. According to the Code Geass Wikia page that is Tianzi's birthday. Charles and VV are in their sixties. The order is more or less of importance going forward. Nina's name is at the bottom of the female list because her character is basically done doing stuff, but her ideas remain. She is still alive.

Lelouch vi Britannia 19, Gino Weinberg 18, Schniezel el Britannia 28, Jeremiah Gottwald 30, , Suzaku Kururugi 18, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia 6, Lloyd Asplund 32, Naoto Kouzuki 28, Edward vu Britannia 19, Luciano Bradley 24, Jinta Futaba 10, Bismarck Waldstein 42, Merlin Suzerain 38, Gilbert GP Guilford 29, Kannon Maldini 30, Li Xingke 25, Hong Gu 37, Kyoshiro Tohdoh 40, Kosetsu Urabe 33, Asahina Shogo 32, Thorin Odinus 30, Amadeus Doedilus 28, Salzaar Gluten 21, Deithard Reid 34, Kewell Soresi 28, Ichiro Futaba 23, Odysseus eu Britannia 34, Maximus va Britannia 27, Cassius ru Britannia 26, Octavius ka Britannia 23, Theseus ju Britannia 22, Luther ti Britannia 19

Marianne vi Britannia 39, Kallen kou Britannia 18, Milly Ash Britannia 19, Nunnally vi Britannia 15, Evelyn vi Britannia 8, Euphemia li Britannia 18, Kaguya yama Britannia 15, Tianzi (Jiang Lihua) 14, Carolina sfo Britannia, Lucretia 18, Sancia 19, Alice 15, Dalque 18, Cornelia li Britannia 27, Sayoko Shinozaki 25, Anya Alstriem 16,Villetta Nu 28, Cecile Croomy 25, Ayame Futaba 18, Rakshata Chawla 31, Zhou Xianglin 21, Guinevere su Britannia 32, Karine le Britannia 16, Nonette Enngream 29, Sora Cummins 16, Isabelle vu Britannia 16, Shirley Fennette 18, Nagisa Chiba 30, Marika Soresi 18, Liliana Vergamon 17 Dorothea Ernst 33, Salacia Ravenguard 21, Monica Kruszewski 23, Aphrodite Venitus 24, Hannah Gottwald 16, Chelsea Nu 16, Mariel Labie 20, Annabel pe Britannia 17, Victoria ka Britannia 16, Gwendolyn ti Britannia 15, Regina ha Britannia 15, Selene ge Britannia 15, Nina Einstein 18


	78. Prisoners of Fate pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

...

Believe you can and you're halfway there.

Theodore Roosevelt

...

Do what you want. This is your country.

Heero Yuy to Relena Peacecraft

* * *

**Monday, January 6, 2019**

Naoto is walking through a battlefield filled with dead bodies. The stench is so pungent that it stings his face. Body parts are strewn everywhere. He has to use all is strength to not vomit. As Naoto walks he tries not to step on anything or anyone, but he is unsuccessful. He steps on someone's head causing their brains to spill out. Naoto tries to run away, but something grabs a hold of his leg. He looks down and sees Ohgi lying there.

"Ohgi?"

"Naoto why. Why did you let me die?"

Naoto's eyes open wide as his friend stands. Behind him are Tamaki, Minami, and others from Naoto's knightmare brigade. Naoto shakes his head and backs up. He falls as they overtake him. Naoto's eyes close as they reach out to him.

Naoto wakes up startling Inoue who is beside him. She goes back to sleep. Naoto is not sure why he brings the woman with him from Japan. Still it is nice to have someone fulfill certain needs. Unlike Rolo and previously Rivalz who take care of such needs on their own. It isn't like Naoto doesn't share. He doesn't consider their relationship exclusive. Naoto is trying not to think about the nightmare. It isn't the first time he has similar dreams.

Naoto looks out his window to the ruins of the Coliseum. At first he isn't sure about coming to the EU. Colonel Madd has a few acquaintances here that work for the Geass Directorate which is sort of the EU equivalent to the Geass Order. Only it is run by someone named XX. It is previously run by someone named MM. A Russian by the name Nikolai Sevastopol and an Arab by the name Khalid Fayez are also associated with it. Although according to what Colonel Madd learns from others at the Directorate, those four have been missing for some time. Because of his connection to the Geass Order, Colonel Madd takes over the Geass Directorate. Naoto wonders what is behind geass. He suspects that Madd is still secretly working for the Britannian emperor.

Naoto isn't all that sure about working with the EU because Zero is gaining influence amongst them for his successful thwarting of Schniezel and Cornelia. However unlike Tohdoh and friends, he isn't concerned with taking Japan back. Along with Asahina and Urabe, Tohdoh has been going around looking for Japanese exiles and mercenaries. Personally Naoto doesn't trust all of them. Certainly many are willing to prove their loyalty to Lelouch by joining Tohdoh's group and betraying it at a crucial moment. They have several small bases in India and Iran. Contact with them is tenuously conducted through Russia and the Central Asian Federation. Even so it is tricky because Iran has a large Britannian army on its western border and India is part of the Chinese Federation. The moment either of those situations falls apart, all of Tohdoh's work is wasted.

Naoto is tired of others controlling his fate. He has his own group of Japanese expatriates on his side. Naoto will make his own moves. Through various means (black market, gambling, stealing), Naoto manages to get his hands on quite a few knightmares: Glasgows, Sutherlands, Io, Burai, Gekka, and Musketeers. He even has a few French soldiers willing to lend a hand. After some investigating her discovers that they hate Lelouch (and who doesn't). Naoto also manages to gather a few disenfranchised Arabs. Naoto is gathering a force for a specific mission.

Despite being in Italy, all of the higher ranking military officials are German or French. Italy is a unique case. France dominates the west including Spain, Portugal and formerly the British Isles while Germany controls central and southeast Europe, but Italy is in between. Not only that but the Italian hierarchy falls apart when Schniezel invades from Sardinia and Sicily. Only French reinforcements previously heading for the British Isles save the peninsula. Throughout the peninsula people are on constant alert. Naoto wonders if they had been like before would they still control their own country. Although that is an unfair comparison to Japan, where several individuals and groups attempted to bring down the pro-Britannian government. Japan really had no hope of stopping one of the three powers from eventually taking over. The EU is also more united now with Schniezel and Cornelia in the south.

Naoto doesn't have much time to ponder on such matters because he has to meet with his French sponsors and prepare to move. A new Britannian commander has been sent to the British Isles, and Naoto wants to find out who it is. He also has to check up on the repairs and refurbishments of his knightmares. Since the majority of them are from one of Lelouch's companies. A fact Naoto would have killed for several years ago when the Burai first comes out.

'Commander Kouzuki, there is someone here to see you.'

Naoto nods and goes towards his office. His small apartment contains pretty much everything he needs. Naoto holds no actual military rank within the EU and does not want to use his Japanese one since he has rejected that part of his life. A few of his followers are working on creating uniforms to distinguish themselves from the EU and Britannia. Naoto enters his office and finds a rotund older Japanese man waiting for him.

"_Senba? You are Senba Ryoga, aren't you?"_

The older man nods, _"Yes I am Senba Ryoga. You may wonder how it is that I am here. After by ejected a few loyal soldiers found me. It took a lit of hard work to get out of Japan, but we made it out."_

Naoto slowly nods_, "I suppose that you are looking for General Tohdoh. I don't know where he currently is, but I can find someone that can contact him. Just wait here, I will go look for someone."_

Naoto exits his office hoping to run into someone that can get the old geezer out of his office. There is no way that Senba is here on his own. He must be sent here as a spy. Naoto will activate his geass canceller when he returns to his office. Naoto prepares for Senba's reaction to the geass canceller, however nothing happens. Naoto directs Senba to the people that will get him in contact with Tohdoh. Naoto wonders if those that are with Senba are under the influence of geass or perhaps they are just working for Lelouch. There is no way for Naoto to know for sure. Not that it matters to him anyways since he has other matters to worry about.

**Tokyo, Area 22**

Lelouch is arriving in Japan to visit Nunnally and Kaguya. He also has to prepare to go to the Chinese Federation. He decides to send Kaguya and Milly first. Kallen is in Siberia preparing the troops for the many different possibilities. Carolina is in Area 17 talking with Edward. It is not part of Lelouch's plan, but she doesn't give him much a choice. Lelouch would rather be preparing to attack Europe because Milly and Kaguya can see that his interests are met. Still Lelouch will have to turn the situation to his advantage. The Excalibur docks on the roof of the Viceroy's Palace. Nunnally, Kaguya, and Alice are waiting for him; however, Lelouch's attention turns to Marika and Liliana who have the latest information on what Kallen and Milly are doing. Lelouch nods towards them signaling for them to begin.

Marika goes first.

"Your highness, Princess Kallen is in Irkutsk with Lord Kururugi. They are already beginning to reform the divisions. Lord Kururugi is on his way back to give us a detailed report."

"Princess Milly and Lord Soresi are in Vladivostok at the moment conducting preliminary negotiations."

Lelouch nods, "Thank you Captain Soresi, Captain Vergamon. I will speak with Suzaku when he arrives. Tell Milly to come here. I want Kaguya to go first. Most likely in a week or so."

Lelouch looks over at Kaguya who is standing between Alice and Nunnally who nudges for Kaguya to go to Lelouch.

"Where are General Chiba and Colonel Futaba?" Lelouch asks, "They are supposed to be here."

Nunnally glares at her brother.

"They are working."

Lelouch ignores Nunnally's glare.

"They work for me not you. I requested that they give me a full report upon my arrival. I will go see them. I suppose that the sub-viceroy is going to give me the report of the situation here in Area 22."

Nunnally frowns and walks away. Alice chases after her. Lelouch smiles and walks over to Kaguya. He lightly kisses her on the forehead.

"Has Nunnally been grouchy since Suzaku left?"

"A little," Kaguya answers, "Do you want to speak with General Chiba?"

Lelouch shakes his head.

"I thought that Nunnally would try something simple like this. I spoke with Nagisa and Ichiro before landing so there is no need. I am starving though. If you still wish to inform me of what the status of Japan is, then join me for dinner."

Along with talking about the current status of Japan, Lelouch informs Kaguya about her mission to China. With the Chinese empress's birthday coming up, Kaguya and Milly being there for the celebration will make negotiations easier. Ichiro, Nagisa, and Alice join them for a short post-dinner meeting. Nunnally is occupied with the arrival of Suzaku.

After everyone leaves, Lelouch and Kaguya get ready for bed. Kaguya looks over at Lelouch nervously. They have yet to consummate their marriage, a fact that Kaguya is nervous about. At first it seems as if Lelouch wants to give her time and space, but now she isn't sure what to think. Lelouch pulls her towards him as he sits on the bed. Kaguya sits on his lap as Lelouch assaults her face and neck with kisses. Kaguya tries to let herself go but is unable. As Lelouch's hands move over her body, she shudders a little.

"_Is something wrong?" _Lelouch asks.

"_It's my first time."_

"_I should hope so,"_ Lelouch says with a smirk, _"There is no rush. There is plenty of time."_

Kaguya nods. After some more kissing they go to sleep. In the morning Kaguya notices that Lelouch is not there. She sighs and gets ready for work. Despite her feelings about the situation with Lelouch, Kaguya must continue to work for Japan everyday. She does wonder where Lelouch is this early in the morning.

After Kaguya falls asleep, Lelouch gets out of the bed. The kissing session turns Lelouch on, and he needs some relief. A part of him is hoping to find Nagisa in her office instead he finds Marika and Liliana still awake. Lelouch makes his move, and several hours the two girls are completely exhausted. Lelouch decides to rest a little out of habit. He wakes up and heads back to Kaguya's room hoping to get back in bed before she wakes up. He notices that she is gone and decides to take a shower. Lelouch decides to walk around the palace.

The Viceroy's Palace not only contains Nunnally and Kaguya's apartments but their offices as well. The first floors also house a military base making it almost impossible for someone to get in without being noticed. The top floor has another surprise. It houses Nunnally, Suzaku, Alice, and Nagisa's knightmares. The Boudicca and for the moment the Excalibur hover ominously above. Since Nunnally and Kaguya usually only deal with the highest levels of government, having everything in one building isn't that bad.

After walking around the palace, Lelouch decides to go to Kaguya's office. When he reaches the door, he hears light whimpering coming from inside. Once inside he finds Kaguya masturbating and decides to take care of her needs. Lelouch shows Kaguya the many ways in which they can give each other pleasure without vaginal penetration, although Kaguya is still eager to try it sometime soon. Kaguya falls asleep satisfied. Lelouch makes sure that her clothes are arranged properly. He cannot risk having someone walk in on her in this condition. With certain needs met Lelouch moves on to plan his next move.

* * *

Carolina is not very happy with Edward's attitude. Nothing that she says gets to him. She is only here as a favor to Lelouch and Isabelle. Both are worried about Edward's newfound womanizing ways. Carolina doesn't expect Edward to be a one woman man like some of the others do. Still with Shirley pregnant, it makes sense for him to pay a little attention to her. Carolina doesn't want to insinuate that Edward will lose Shirley. Saying something like that might cause Edward to do something rash. It is already bad enough that Edward has so little power even though he is viceroy. Just like Euphemia isn't really in control of Area 11, Edward isn't in control of Area 17.

Being commander of Britannia Unified Armed Forces Group Five puts Lelouch in complete control of every soldier, sailor, pilot, technician, etc in Eastern Asia from Siberia to Japan down here to Java. Over the years Lelouch has tightened his grip. With most of the region having just recently been conquered by Lelouch there is a lot o military personal around. The navy in particular holds sway in Southeast Asia due to all the islands. Edward like Euphemia and the others simply has to make a few speeches to encourage the people. Carolina decides that Edward is beyond hope and looks forward to Shirley leaving him soon. Not that Edward fears such an event since he is a prince. Carolina decides to go to Area 10 until Isabelle returns since the area is important to Lelouch's plan.

* * *

Nunnally slides off Suzaku. Wanting to preserve her virginity until their marriage Nunnally and Suzaku engage in other pleasurable activities. She gets the idea from Milly. Suzaku cannot say that he is not pleased even though he has never done something like this before. Of course his sexual experiences are limited to having sex three times with Shirley. They did make out a few times although those were a few years ago. Suzaku also kissed Euphemia a few times. Nothing someone could consider serious. Basically for being three years older than Nunnally, Suzaku has only had sex three more times and made out a handle of times.

At first she thinks of fellatio (she refuses to use the more common colloquial term) as disgusting, but it makes Suzaku happy, and he doesn't complain about returning the favor. Nunnally sits there pensive as Suzaku cleans their bodies.

"You know this morning I went into Kagy-chan's office, and it smelled funny," Nunnally comments.

"Maybe she was masturbating again."

Nunnally shakes her head.

"No, I know what that smells like. I've caught her doing it before. The smell was a little like," Nunnally scrunches her face as the answer hits her, "Hm onii-sama must have been in there with her. I wonder how far they went."

Suzaku also sits there pensive. Kaguya did seem awfully chipper all day. Lelouch is pretty much the same all the time. Suzaku wonders how Lelouch did it. He must have just gone up to Kaguya and said something romantic like let's fuck. That seems to be his method for getting things done. Suzaku wonders if such a thing will work on Nunnally. Suddenly Nunnally slaps Suzaku.

"Don't be getting any pervy thoughts; Onii-sama and Kagy-chan are married. They can do whatever they want."

Suzaku rubs his cheek.

"You didn't have to hit me so hard, Nunners. That really hurt."

"It's what you get for being so pervy. Look at this thing," Nunnally says pointing at Suzaku's erection, "What am I going to do with you, Suzu?"

Suzaku grins and puts his arms around Nunnally.

"Nunners, you can do whatever you want with me."

**Thursday, January 9, 2019, Paris, France, EU**

Naoto along with the rest of his force is waiting for the Britannian invasion. Calais is the closest point on the European mainland to the British Isles so it is the expected attack point. He has been trying to get information on the new Britannian commander but is unsuccessful. Not that it matters because Britannia is coming. The few spies that have been able to get back safely do say that an invasion is imminent. Attacks are most likely to happen on every front. Those in the EU are finally taking the war seriously.

"_It's about time," _Naoto comments.

Despite being in a technical state of war with Britannia for almost a century, those on the European continent never think about it too much. Only after Britannia (Lelouch) conquers Africa, the Middle East, and Siberia in successive years does anybody really pay attention. Even so they have to depend on Zero and his group to push back Britannian forces in Italy.

"General Kouzuki!"

Naoto looks over at the person calling him. Despite spending several months in Europe, Naoto is slow in learning French. While in Japan he picks a little Russian and Chinese, but neither of those do him any good here. However many of those in the area speak English and it is called English here not Britannian like in the rest of the world, although the accents are different than what Naoto is used to hearing. Normally his own accent would seem out of place, but most just assume it is because Japanese is his first language. Naturally Naoto does not correct them of this misconception. Japanese is actually his second language. Of course he learns it before he enters school.

Naoto snaps out of his slight daze to answer the man in English of course.

"What is it?"

"The Field Marshal wishes to see you, He says that it is a matter of supreme importance."

Naoto nods and signals for the official translator to follow. Naoto puts his earpiece on. Since there are others from different countries, most everyone at big meetings wears earpieces with translators in a separate room. The meeting starts a little after Naoto enters the room.

"_Gentlemen, something unexpected has happened. This morning a Britannian force has landed to the south at Normandy. While we believe it to be a diversion, if not stopped it will become a nuisance. The forces we have in the Netherlands are already being moved south since it seems as if their objective is to take France by combining with the forces from Africa."_

Naoto doesn't make any comments about the situation. Naturally they think that Britannia's objective is France. He supposes that German high command believes it to be Germany. Despite their previous unity, the EU seems to be falling apart just as the pressure is getting intense.

"_General Kouzuki, although your force will maintain its defensive position since you only have knightmares. They will provide more rapid reinforcements throughout."_

Naoto nods. It makes sense, however Naoto had been hoping to invade the British Isles. Naoto heads back to his office to begin dividing up his force. He will have to choose which troops to use as reinforcements and which to keep for defense.

* * *

Faramond smiles as he is informed that the EU is thinning their defensive lines in the Netherlands. Everything is going according to plan. Cornelia and Schniezel are keeping the pressure in Greece and Italy. Karine is going to make a mess in Spain or southern France. Monica comes over to Faramond.

"Your highness, General Upson has informed us that the landings in Normandy are going as planned. The EU is maneuvering troops around to meet the threat."

Faramond isn't sure what Lelouch did to Monica to make her so submissive and loyal. Whatever it is it sure is helpful.

"Thank Lady Kruszewski. Prepare the knightmares for deployment. Once the air force is done with their bombing run, we will commence landings."

"Yes your highness."

Faramond looks down at the map. He doesn't understand Lelouch's strategy of spreading out the attacks. Although to be fair, Faramond has not received any instructions from Schniezel or Cornelia. He isn't exactly sure who is in charge of the European theater. Technically Schniezel as prime minister has no authority in the military although it is a well known fact that he has several military units under his command. Cornelia is actually Commander-General of the Britannian Unified Armed Forces. Of course there is a large contingent of Britannian officials who want Lelouch to take that position even though his current rank is only lieutenant general. Then of course there are the Knights of the Round and their royal guards who only answer to the emperor. All of these make for a very complicated situation.

"Your highness, the air force has commenced their bombing runs."

Faramond nods and taps his throne. The bombing will destroy much of the Netherlands infrastructure by destroying the series of levees and dams that protect it from the ocean. It is a dirty trick, and one that may strengthen the enemy's resolve, but if done properly can severely damage the enemy's capacity to fight.

"Very well. Let's move to the next stage of the attack."

**Monday, January 13, 2019**

Lelouch spends the week making sure that Kaguya and Milly understand their mission in the Chinese Federation. Kaguya leaves first in order to speak with the Chinese empress. The empress's birthday celebration begins in a few days, and Kaguya will take part in it. Milly and Kewell will also leave in a few days to begin negotiations. Despite wanting to be in Europe, Lelouch will turn these negotiations to his advantage. With Schniezel battling phantoms in Europe. Lelouch will make his move. The stage is set for final act. However at the moment Lelouch is enjoying Milly before she goes to the Chinese Federation.

After sending Milly to the Chinese Federation, Lelouch is unsure about what to do next. Staying in Japan for much longer seems foolish since Nunnally can take care of the situation here. Going back to Siberia may make seem like he is ready to attack. He isn't ready for others to make that assumption. He decides to head south and get Euphemia. Things are about to get to dangerous for her to stay in Area 11. Lelouch also remembers that Carolina is in the south dealing with Edward. He should probably get her as well although she is useful for other things.

Lelouch is already thinking of all the things that he will do to Euphie when he gets her. It will probably be a few weeks before he has to go to the Chinese Federation to settle things. He hopes that it takes about a month. He needs that time to prepare for his next move. He just has to position his pieces. A trip to the south will also allow him to assess the situation with his naval forces. He can also speak with his allies face to face.

Euphie is very excited to see Lelouch visit her.

"Lulu, why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders.

"I had some extra time so I stopped by."

Euphie wraps herself around Lelouch's right arm and leans her head on his shoulder. Anya is following them closely.

"This is going to be the best week ever!" Euphie exclaims despite the fact that Lelouch hasn't said how long he will stay.

"What do you mean?"

Euphie snuggles closer.

"First my Lulu is here and tomorrow Shirley is coming. I guess Isabelle is coming too, but it's still going to be great."

After spending some time with Anya and the other high ranking military people, Lelouch is finally free to be with Euphie. Unlike Nunnally who thinks of the romantic stuff first, Euphie knows that Lelouch is also here on business. She learns this lesson from her time with Cornelia. She knows that once Lelouch satisfies his desire for knowledge, he will want other things. For this first night Euphie picks what she thinks is her sexiest lingerie.

"You look beautiful."

Euphie turns away from the mirror and shrugs.

"This is just something a found in the drawer. Are you done with your meetings?"

"For now. Tomorrow I want you to attend. If Isabelle comes with Shirley, I want them to be there as well."

Euphie jumps into Lelouch's arms.

"Well that's tomorrow. What about tonight?"

Lelouch sets Euphie down on the bed and pulls out a list.

"Well I was hoping to get through this list by the end of the week. If you can't handle it yourself, I was thinking of getting Anya involved."

Euphie gulps when she sees the size of the list. Euphie never imagined that there could be so many different positions.

"What's on there?"

"All the good moves, the flying seahorse, the twisted turtle, bucking bronco, hanging mongoose. There's even some role-playing on here: nurse and patient, teacher and student. All the good stuff."

Euphie takes the paper and rips it up.

"We don't need any of that. I'll show you what I had planned."

Lelouch grumbles, "It took me five minutes to think of all that stuff."

Lelouch's grumbling ends once Euphie gets him into the bed. When they are finished Lelouch lies there thinking about Shirley. The day that Lelouch leaves Pendragon, he and Shirley have sex. It isn't something that either of them plans. It just sort of happens. Kallen, Milly, and Carolina all leave a few days before Lelouch. For some reason Shirley comes over with the twins. Emily and Miranda want to be with Castor and Pollux until the last moment. Lelouch shrugs and lets them be. Of course he knows that the girls are planning on sneaking aboard the Excalibur. Lelouch stays down in Aries which is quiet with his mother gone. As he is sitting there alone with Shirley, he doesn't remember which of them makes the first move, but he does remember taking initiative and taking Shirley to his room. Everything after that is a pleasurable blur. Thinking of his time with Shirley gets Lelouch excited. Euphie notices this and sighs.

"Lulu, you're so insatiable."

**Paris, France**

Despite Britannia consolidating their landing sites in Normandy and Netherlands, Naoto is still Paris. He is very uneasy about the situation. A part of him wishes he would have gone with Tohdoh. At least there is a chance for action on that front. From the information Naoto is receiving, Tohdoh is in Russia and will soon head south. Naoto looks at a map of the current situation. As a child he remembers a certain form of Chinese torture that involves thousands of needles. Alone each needle doesn't do much harm, but together they are enough to drive a man insane. That seems to be Britannia's strategy. Naoto has his own plans for revenge to consider. Soon those plans may take him out of the EU.

**Thursday, January 16, 2019, Manila Settlement, Area 11**

"How long has she been missing?" Lelouch asks.

"She has been making trips out of the country for several months, but she has been missing for three or four weeks," Ichiro answers, "We assumed that she was making trips to Siberia. It wasn't until these latest reports that we began to suspect something else."

Lelouch looks at the reports that Ichiro is referring. For months Tohdoh has been traveling through the free nations of Europe and Asia looking for allies. For the most part he has been somewhat successful. The only problem is with Lelouch controlling Siberia; Tohdoh's main route to Japan is gone. The current negotiations with the Chinese Federation should close that route; however the situation there leaves Lelouch uneasy.

"Keep looking into the situation. I will recall Sayoko and have her send a team to investigate."

"Yes your highness."

Lelouch cuts the connection with Ichiro. He tries not to show any visible anger at the fact that Rakshata is missing. He assumes that she must be in India. Given the present state of things, it will not be much longer for most of the world is ruled by Britannia. Rakshata has always been working for Indian independence. She now must believe that that will never happen if she stays with Lelouch. Lelouch must prepare several worst contingency scenarios. He has a few already in the works, but there are now several new items to be factored into the situation. He will also have to move his wedding with the Chinese empress forward a few weeks. Instead of early March it will now take place in early February. Not that the Eunuchs will care, they only want their new Britannian titles. Of course it also gives others less time to move.

**Saturday, February 1, 2019**

The final preparations for Lelouch's wedding are being made. The funny ting of course is that he has yet to meet her in person. Although technically the biggest piece of the puzzle the Chinese empress is nothing more than a pawn. Even with less than three weeks notice, Milly is able to plan the wedding. Lelouch makes some necessary changes. He is wiling to have a Japanese style wedding with Kaguya because it suits his needs, and he admires Japanese culture, but he must show those in the Chinese Federation who is the dominate partner. Tonight is the pre-wedding celebration. With the war once again in full swing, very few from Britannia can attend the wedding. Those that are attending are Lelouch's allies. They have been arriving since last night.

Li Xingke looks up at the airships hovering above. Two have been here for several weeks (Ganymede and Yamato) while the others have been showing up in the past few days (Excalibur II, Avalon, Shiva, Boudicca, Aphrodite, Silencer, Gemini, Sparkle, Cookie Monster, Ichihime). The foolish Eunuchs think nothing of it. Of course not all the airships are visible.

'_Those fools. Don't they know who Lelouch vi Britannia is? This is the man who conquered Africa and the Middle East in a matter of months. We must act quickly before it is too late.'_

'_Everything is in place, commander,' _Zhou Xianglin states, _'We are only waiting for your instructions.'_

'_Hong Gu, inform everyone that we will go ahead as planned. That includes our new allies.'_

'_Yes commander.'_

'_I have to make an appearance at the pre-wedding celebration.'_

Lelouch is sitting quite bored. Since he is getting married tomorrow, he cannot very well dance or talk with anyone else including his wives. Of course only Kaguya and Milly are here, but even sitting by them is more exciting than sitting with his future wife. Lelouch couldn't possibly imagine a shyer person.

'_Is that Li Xingke standing by Kaguya?'_

The Chinese empress immediately perks up and nods. Naturally Lelouch notices this.

'_I wonder what sort chess player he is.'_

'_Xingke once showed me how to play chess, but I'm not very good.'_

Lelouch smiles because it is only the third time that she says something to him.

'_Perhaps he would indulge me in a game.'_

It takes a few minutes to set up a game between Lelouch and Xingke. Lelouch does it not only to test the Chinese commander's mind, but also to see who supports him. There are bets going on throughout the room. Lelouch decides to kill all those who are Chinese and bet on him. Once he takes over of course. The game is too easy for Lelouch's taste. Xingke rarely does anything that remotely endangers the king or even the queen for that matter. Meanwhile Lelouch is overly aggressive. He sacrifices several pawns just to see Xingke's reaction. He moves the king when there is no need to. He says his two favorite sayings. If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow. The only ones, who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed. The latter is said jokingly as Lelouch takes one of Xingke's pieces. However at the end Xingke's defensive manner is no match for Lelouch's unorthodox offensive play. Lelouch is polite enough not to point out that while Xingke is know for his tactical mind, he didn't stand a chance at beating Lelouch. The point of the exercise to get into Xingke's mind at crucial moment.

'_That was an interesting game, Commander Li. Perhaps we could it again sometime.'_

Xingke nods and bow politely.

'_It would be an honor, your highness.'_

With that he walks away. Lelouch smiles at that comment. Yes Xingke is an interesting individual indeed.

The next day the wedding ceremony is going according to plan until the doors burst open, and Li Xingke walks in with several soldiers.

'_We ask this question. By the force of heaven, the roar of the land, and the hearts of the people! How does this marriage represent the will of the Chinese Federation?'_

One of the Eunuchs yells out at Xingke.

'_Be silent, Zhao Hao! In the name of my fellow country men I challenge the legality of this wedding!'_Lelouch smiles and pulls out his not so ceremonial sword.

'_Right on time, Li Xingke. Only you are too late.'_

Before Lelouch can continue, a helmeted figure comes flying in and grabs hold of the empress. Lelouch is not at all pleased at this turn of events.

"Zero!"

Lelouch is not sure why or how someone dressed as Zero is here, but that is only a small setback.

'_Lelouch vi Britannia, I, Zero, declare you the enemy of the free world and will take you down personally,_' Zero looks in the direction of the others including Li Xingke. Zero puts a tighter grip on the empress, _'Everybody, stay where you are. I know exactly what you are thinking.'_

Unfortunately for Zero, he doesn't know what Lelouch is thinking and even with a voice modulator gives himself away. Lelouch puts his sword away because a simple duel with Xingke won't end this. He signals for Deithard to cut the transmission of the wedding

"This is Lieutenant General Lelouch vi Britannia, commander of Britannian Army Group Five, Viceroy of Area 23, and eleventh prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia. With these actions the Chinese Federation has shown itself to be an enemy of Britannia. They have conspired with our enemy, Zero, and have personally insulted me," Lelouch cracks his knuckles, "Excalibur drone system activate," Lelouch raises his hands dramatically and silently thanks Mao for this betrayal. Lelouch continues with a smile, "It's time for your entrance, my Kalli."

A red blur kicks Zero in the gut. Zero releases the empress who Lelouch wisely detains. Zero growls and points his gun at Lelouch.

"That won't work, Mao."

Zero freezes for a moment and points the gun at his red haired assailant; however Kallen is too quick for him. Kallen knocks Zero's helmet off revealing Mao.

"What's going on here? I should be able to counteract your geass cancellers with my geass enhancer," Mao states.

Lelouch sneers, "Not that it matters anymore, but you are forgetting Kalli's geass of no geass. Only now she has something better."

Mao notices the red markings on Kallen's forehead and lets out a yell.

"You little bitch."

Kallen smirks, "Too bad you weren't there to save CC. Killing her was so much fun."

Mao lunges at Kallen but is not strong enough to hurt her. Kallen kicks Mao back down.

"You shouldn't be so mean to Mao. It's not his fault he's a little slow."

"Of course not but that is you're fault, right CC," Lelouch states.

Mao is a little confused as CC walks towards Lelouch. Xingke has slowly been making his way towards the empress hoping to attract her attention, but Lelouch sees this.

"Here you green haired witch hold on to her while I take care of business."

Xingke prepares for Lelouch's attack; however Lelouch attacks the Eunuchs who are unwisely hiding behind Kaguya. The Eunuchs understandably beg for their lives but to no avail. Xingke tries to use the distraction to get the empress, but a knightmare crashes through the ceiling.

"Look out bitches because Nunnally is coming!"

A pink knightmare is standing behind Lelouch.

"Nunnally, take her away."

Nunnally reaches out and grabs CC and the empress. After that she flies away. Xingke is stunned.

"Empress!"

Above Xingke can see that the Britannian airships have moved. With the Eunuchs eliminated and the empress a Britannian prisoner, Xingke must do what he can to get things under control, however there is a small matter to contend with.

Lelouch points his bloody katanna at Xingke.

"This sword is an heirloom of the Sumeragi family. It has seen many wars in its day. Now I am going to use it to kill you. Kallen, do us all a favor and kill Mao."

"It will be my pleasure."

Xingke moves to save the Chinese albino masquerading as Zero, but Lelouch gets in his way.

"Don't worry about him."

Mao recovers and points his gun at Kallen.

"This is for making me believe that my CC was dead."

Kallen staggers as bullets rip through her chest. Xingke is stunned that Lelouch does not react in any form. Mao stands over Kallen and points the gun at her head.

"Now to end this."

Suddenly Kallen grabs Mao's legs and trips him.

"You little prick that hurt. Just because I didn't take CC's code doesn't mean that I don't have one."

Xingke is so shocked that Lelouch almost cuts him in half. A short brown haired half cybernetic boy saves him.

"Rolo, what a surprise. Are you here to die as well?" Lelouch asks.

Rolo ignores Lelouch and looks at Xingke.

"Commander Li, it is imperative that you take control of the situation out there."

Lelouch attacks Rolo as well.

"You two really shouldn't ignore the most dangerous person in this room."

Lelouch pulls out a second sword.

"This is my own sword. I call it, Scooter. It was forged in the fires of Mount Doom by dark elf sword masters or was it Lloyd and Cecile in a lab? Check it out. It glows."

Kallen shakes her head at the fact that Lelouch is playing around. Of course keeping Xingke here is beneficial since the Chinese forces not involved in his coup will be in disarray especially after hearing the empress's upcoming announcement. Naturally Xingke has no idea what is going on out there. In spite of the fact that he has allies that know a little about geass, Xingke knows nothing about it.

Rolo grunts at the situation. Naoto is more capable of handling Lelouch, but he is also needed to keep his own troops in line. Not to mention that he looks a lot less Britannian than Rolo. There is really only one way to escape. Rolo tosses a few smoke bombs hoping that Xingke takes the opportunity to leave as well. He doesn't really care about Mao who has caused enough problems. Unfortunately for Rolo while Xingke does escape so does Mao who tags along. Rolo takes Mao with him to their headquarters.

Xingke quickly heads to his headquarters. Zhou Xianglin will be maintaining whatever order she can there. Once the key areas in the city are taken things will fall into place. Xingke notices that the Britannian airships are scattered over the city. If only he had some sort of communicator to get in contact with his troops. Luckily for him Zhou Xianglin is bringing the Longdan to him.

'_Xianglin, thank goodness you are here. Where is Hong Gu? I have a message to relay to the troops.'_

Xianglin points towards a door on the far side of the room. Xingke's worst fears are on the other side. Hong Gu along with several officers is dead. Xingke hears a gun click behind him.

'_I am sorry about this commander, but I have to follow my heart.'_

Xingke closes his eyes. Turning around and attacking the traitors will probably kill a few of them, but in the end Xingke will also die. Suddenly the Longdan is rocked by several explosions. Xingke takes the opportunity to escape.

"After him!" Xianglin exclaims.

"No, it is too dangerous out there. Besides his highness wants us to go to his location," Sayoko comments.

Xianglin nods and continues moving the Longdan towards the temple where Lelouch is getting married.

Xingke is saved by the last person he wants to be saved by, Naoto Kouzuki. Xianglin's betrayal is made worse by the fact that she knows every part of Xingke's plan. In fact much of the actual details are mapped out by her. Britannian forces do not have to take the entire city. They just have to take out Xingke's men.

"It seems like he is going through with the wedding despite what happened," Naoto tells Xingke, "We have certain resources that will allow you to let the people know your reasoning for the coup."

Obviously Xingke expects to have the empress, and then make his announcement. Now he has to rely on Kouzuki's resources. He wonders where Tohdoh is at this crucial moment.

Naoto isn't exactly pleased to have to help Xingke, but there is no other way to get to Lelouch. He really isn't happy about working with Mao. Although not having worked with the Chinese albino before, Naoto has not heard good things. Mao does bring interesting information about Kallen that Mao is going to have to test for himself.

After Evelyn takes care of the Chinese empress, she is sent back down to get married. She will soon return to the safety of the Excalibur. VV looks at a screen showing the positioning of Lelouch's force. It will be a matter of hours for the capital to be under their control. However if Xingke is able to escape and rally others to his cause, things will get difficult. If that is the case most of Asia and Europe will be involved in a war against Britannia. Iran, the Central Asian Republic, Kazakhstan, along with anti-Britannian rebels in the Middle East will join the EU and Chinese Federation. If Lelouch isn't careful things will get out of control.

Zhou Xianglin and Sayoko are giving Lelouch their reports. The situation isn't exactly to Lelouch's liking. Naturally he is prepared for certain situations, but the addition of Mao, Rolo, and Naoto just pisses him off. He should have killed Mao long ago despite CC's objections. Naoto is supposed to be in Europe.

Things are not going to go according to Lelouch's plan. He expects Xingke's interruption. From there Lelouch's plan is to make Xingke and the Eunuchs look like traitors. Now the plan is going to have to be tweaked.

"I am really going to kill those bastards for ruining my plan. They also made me pull out Scooter and didn't me use him," Lelouch looks over at the kids getting into their drone control systems, "Kill them. Kill them all."

* * *

**Author's note: **In case anyone didn't figure it out, both Lelouch and Schniezel are providing the EU with some assistance. Things will be much harder for Schniezel if he is discovered because he is providing the EU with soldiers while Lelouch is using Zero to trick the EU. Lelouch planned on taking over Britannia after his marriage with Tianzi. It really doesn't matter what he gives the Eunuchs since he will just eliminate them when he is emperor. Of course that aide is going to stop now.

Lelouch supposes that Xingke is going to try something. Mao is left behind in Siberia and decides to make an appearance. Mao acts completely lovesick, but he has been looking for a way to get rid of Lelouch and take CC for himself. When everyone leaves for the wedding, Mao decides to get in on the action himself. Naoto and Rolo leave Europe when it appears that they will not be used as they wish.

Airships:  
Excalibur I, II-Lelouch, Villetta  
Avalon-Kallen  
Ganymede-Milly  
Shiva-Carolina  
Boudicca-Nunnally  
Aphrodite- Euphemia  
Silencer-Anya  
Yamato-Kaguya, Nagisa  
Apocalypse-Jeremiah  
Apotheosis-Irregulars  
Gemini-twins  
Sparkle- Evelyn  
Cookie Monster-Isabelle  
Ichihime-Stealth team  
Nike- Cornelia  
Damocles-Schniezel  
Yorktown-Faramond


	79. Prisoners of Fate pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'Thoughts are in single parentheses'

For the sake of simplicity the capital of the Chinese Federation is Beijing. There are administrative centers at Mumbai (Bombay), Kolkata (Calcutta), Xian, and Shanghai. There will be a purpose to it. The Chinese Federation includes present day China, Korea, Mongolia, Burma, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and parts of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Kazakhstan and Iran are mostly the same. The Central Asian Federation is everything in between. Lelouch and friends will refer to the Chinese empress, Tianzi, by her given name, Lihua Jiang (western form) while Xingke and others will refer to her as Tianzi.

...

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.

Aristotle

...

Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Proverbs 16:18,

* * *

**Friday, February 7, 2019**

It has been over a month since the war began. Schniezel is getting a bit impatient with the situation thus far. He is going to have to find a way to crush his enemies and move on to much more important things especially now with Lelouch bogged down in China. Cornelia's progress isn't much better. Schniezel still has no idea what Faramond or Karine are doing. Karine's actions amount to noting more than mere piracy. Her force conducts raids on the Iberian coast. Faramond's force is divided between Normandy and the Netherlands.

"Kannon, bring up that plan suggested by General Fayer."

"Yes your highness. Let me see. Do you mean the Anzio plan?"

"Yes that one. We need to do something else besides slowly pushing up this peninsula. I think that it is time to release Damocles."

"Are you sure that is wise, your highness?"

"We have to find an opening."

* * *

Cornelia dismisses the admiral from the Special Naval Forces unit. The Britannian military has always been land dominated. The process of conquering the North and South American continents assures this. The Navy does have its moments in conquering the Pacific Islands. Even Lelouch while conquering Southeast Asia and Africa uses the navy for a small portion of his attack. However here the EU controls most of their Mediterranean ports and in fact is making it hard for Cornelia to maintain control of Greece and the Bosporus. Cornelia looks over at Guilford and Darlton (who has just returned from a long vacation).

"What do you think of the admiral's proposal?"

"Once we take the ports his point is moot." Guilford answers.

"I don't thing the admiral will wait for our approval. If he has permission from the head of the Naval Department," Darlton retorts.

"The Naval Department falls under the jurisdiction of the Commander-General. They cannot move until the princess decides!" Guilford states angrily.

"I am no longer Commander-General of the Britannian Unified Armed Forces."

Everyone in the room looks at Cornelia.

"Your highness."

"It was my choice. If I am going to devote my time to this operation, I cannot deal with the bureaucracy of the entire Britannia military."

Darlton and Guilford understand Cornelia's feelings. However the bespectacled knight is unsure.

"Your highness, what do we do next?"

"We will finish with our assignment."

* * *

Faramond is standing near the newly constructed airship landing platform.

"What is the name of the airship we are waiting for?"

Monica looks at her paperwork.

"The Naruhina, you highness."

Faramond shakes his head.

"Who names these things?" (Somewhere in China, Evelyn begins to sneeze).

"It doesn't say, but it is supposed to be something special."

"Call me when it gets within radar range."

Faramond turns around to return to the barracks.

"Your highness, what is that?"

Faramond turns back to face the North Sea but sees nothing. Monica turns him around. Now Faramond sees small airship landing.

"When did that get here?"

Faramond can tell that the ground crew has no idea that the airship is here until it lands.

"I suppose we will have to investigate what is going on."

* * *

Edward is leading a small force from Area 12 (Cambodia) into the Chinese Federation (Burma). With Lelouch concentrating on the north, Edward will be able to make a nice little empire in the south. The emperor has lost control. Control that he will never be able to regain again. The soldiers in the field are loyal to Lelouch, Schniezel, Cornelia, etc. There are very few that will say they are loyal to the emperor. In fact Edward is not all that certain that the Knights of the Round are loyal to the emperor. Still Edward must move carefully. Cassius and Annabel are here in Southeast Asia. Either of them may be waiting for Edward to fall. Even his sister, Isabelle, may be dreaming of creating a small empire for herself. Isabelle has her own airship fleet after all. Still there is enough room for all of them if nobody gets too greedy.

"I just have to take it slow, and let the others do the work."

Edward has to wait for his assigned KOR, Amadeus Doedilus, to give the final signal.

"What's taking him so long?"

"Lord Doedilus is known as the most cautious of the Knights of the Round," one of Edward's subordinates states.

"Screw this. Send everything we have forward. They are not stupid over there. They know we are coming."

"Yes your highness. By the way Lord Doedilus is on his way here."

"Damn that man. Why is he wasting tie coming here? Send everything in. That is an order. Get in contact with Lelouch. Maybe he can get this man sent somewhere else."

* * *

Lelouch is looking down at certain accounts that are set aside for research purposes. For several years now Rakshata has been diverting funds from several of Lelouch's knightmare projects, both Britannian and Japanese. While Rakshata does build several hundred Akatsukis for Lelouch, she also manages to sneak a few to India. Immediately after Lelouch's wedding, India declares its independence. Lelouch is expecting this and hopes that it will drain the resources of his enemies in the Chinese Federation. The problem is that he doesn't expect the Indian rebels to be so effective. Nor does he expect the Chinese rebels led by Xingke to accept Indian independence. The longer Lelouch allows the rebels to remain. The less they look like rebels, and the more Lelouch looks like an invader. The situation is so unlike Japan where the public literally cheered when Lelouch takes over.

Lelouch slides Jiang Lihua (Chinese empress) to the side. Surprisingly she prefers to be called by her name which is something that has not happened since she is a little girl. Lelouch's only concern is that Evelyn makes her a little too devoted to Lelouch. At least she doesn't mind hanging out with Kaguya. In a few days both of them will probably head back to Tokyo. Of course they will probably be safer here. At least Kaguya should go back to Japan. It will also make sense to separate them since Kaguya doesn't know about geass.

Lelouch heads to a conference room where Kallen and Milly are waiting for him. They are looking over several maps. The situation makes Lelouch wish that Jeremiah and Villetta were here. Even with India declaring its independence, the Chinese Federation is too large. Lelouch does have a few things going for him. He promises Korea and Tibet independence for now. He knows that Xingke and his group will not do the same thing. They allow Indian independence for the moment. That may change depending on how the war goes.

Of course Jeremiah has his own problems. Iran, Kazakhstan, and the Central Asian Federation have declared war on Britannia. Though how much aid they can provide is still unknown. They will definitely be able to do enough to distract Jeremiah's push into Russia. For this reason Lelouch has Sancia and Lucretia stop their activities as Zero and join Jeremiah. Luckily it coincides with Mao's appearance as Zero.

"What new information is there?" Lelouch asks.

Milly answers, "I have finished negotiations with the Korean representatives. We have agreed on the Yalu River being the basis for the border. For now there is a tentative defense pact. I guess what happens after that is up to you."

"I see," Lelouch signals for Ayame, "Send Glasgows or Burais whichever we have a surplus of to Korea. I have a few people in mind to train the Korean police force."

"Yes your highness."

"I suspect that Russia will try to convince Kazakhstan to provide soldiers for a renewed attack. Gino and Nonette are on their way to Vladivostok. Milly head north to take control. Take Marika and Liliana with you."

"That sounds good. There are several Mongolian representatives asking for some sort of autonomy."

"When you get back to Irkutsk, deal with them."

"What about Gino and Nonette? Won't they tell the emperor about it? He did order you to take it all."

"Yes and I will take it in my way. If a few million Mongolians or Koreans think they are independent so be it. When push comes to shove, I will show them who is in charge."

Milly nods. Kallen begins her report.

"Suzaku and Nunnally are on their way. They should be arriving soon. Sanderson and Goodley are with them."

"Where's Luciano?"

"On his way."

"Good. Let me see Bismarck will stay back in Britannia. Gino, Nonette, Luciano, and Aphrodite are coming here. Monica is the Faramond. Amadeus is with Edward. Salacia and Thorin are with Karine. Merlin and Dorothea are with Schniezel," Lelouch sits pensive for a moment, "I guess that's all of them."

"What about the raids?"

"I have a plan to deal with them. "

"The reports you wanted about the land around the capital. It's going to take a long time to fix the corruption around here."

"I know. The point is to show the difference."

Kallen sits back pensive.

"Do we know who we're facing? Who is responsible for the raids?"

"According to our information Tohdoh is India and is planning on moving east towards the coast. The most logical place is Shanghai since Xingke's faction controls it. Xingke's current base is in Xian. The only options are other Chinese factions or Naoto's group although most of them have joined Xingke or Tohdoh."

"If that's the case, I will prepare a team to go after them."

"Don't worry about it. I have a plan."

Kallen rolls her eyes.

"If you say so."

"Just get ready. Is Carolina back in Irkutsk yet?"

"She arrived this morning," Milly answers.

"Very well. Return and take control of the military before Gino and Nonette arrive. That should be all for now."

Milly and Kallen exit the room leaving Lelouch and Ayame alone.

"Ayame, do you know where the kids are?"

"I believe they are in their morning lessons, but I can look into it."

"I can do that myself. Have Midori schedule a press conference for later today. Lihua is working on a new speech."

"I will tell her," Ayame nods, "Um Lelouch, your highness, about my two friends."

"Are they here?"

"They are aboard the Avalon pending your approval."

"If they are your friends, then I approve," Lelouch says with a sigh, "Assign them positions as your assistants or give them to Kallen or whoever you have planned."

"Yes your highness."

"That is all for now. Schedule lunch with everyone here. We probably need to work through it."

"One more thing, the new aide-de-camp you requested is here. She is fresh out of West Point Jr. Academy."

"What's her name?"

"Lilicia Gottwald."

"Send her in in five minutes."

Ayame nods and exits the room. Lelouch looks at the files of Ayame's two friends.

"Mutsuki Minase and Ichijiku Hinata. I probably should have met them or something."

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders and gets to work. A few minutes later he notices something as the door opens.

"Wait, did she say Lilicia Gottwald?"

"That's right 2nd lieutenant Lilicia Gottwald reporting for duty."

A slender aqua haired teenage girl is saluting Lelouch from the door. Lelouch returns the salute and signals for her to take a seat.

"Fuck. Jeremiah is going to kill me."

"Don't worry about my big brother, your highness. Hannah and I can handle him."

"It is that," Lelouch sighs, "Very well lieutenant Gottwald. You are now a 1st lieutenant. 2nd lieutenant is a rank given to those that aren't going anywhere. If I like your work, you will be promoted to captain in a few months but most likely by the end of the year."

"Your highness, that seems rather sudden," Lilicia says a little stunned, "My sister is only a 1st lieutenant. Chelsea is still a 2nd lieutenant."

"I have promoted Lieutenant Nu so don't worry about her. As for you sister, she requested combat duty. Given her age and experience, a promotion will take longer unless she proves herself. You are aide-de-camp to a prince. Previously Chelsea's cousin, Villetta, held the position, but she is of better use elsewhere. The position has been filled by several people. But with a war breaking out, I need someone to do the job permanently, and I can't have a 2nd lieutenant doing it."

Lilicia notices that Lelouch barely looks at her. Although only fifteen, she is used to men staring at her. She notices the prince going over her file when the door opens. A blonde woman with the biggest breasts Lilicia has ever seen walks in holding a small blonde haired girl. She sets the little girl on Lelouch's lap.

"Say bye to daddy."

Lelouch kisses the little on the head.

"Bye munchkin."

Lelouch pulls Milly in for a kiss.

"Now back to work both of you."

Milly smiles and leaves. Lilicia knows that Lelouch is married. She never imagines him to be married to someone like this.

"Well let's get moving, Lieutenant Gottwald. We should probably go to the knightmare hangars and introduce you to Cecile and Lloyd."

"Yes your highness."

Before exiting Lelouch puts his hand on Lilicia's shoulder.

"When we're alone please call me Lelouch." Lelouch says with a smile.

"Yes your highness, I mean Lelouch."

**Tuesday, February 18, 2019, Shanghai, self proclaimed Republic of China**

Tohdoh and company have been traveling non-stop for over a month. In the weeks leading up to the wedding of the Chinese empress, they assist the Indian independence movement. After that they begin to make their way to Shanghai. From here they will make their way to Japan while Lelouch and company are occupied in China. Unfortunately the plan is dependent on Japanese pirates who have been hiding along the Chinese coast. For months they have been training with their motley crew of knightmares. Tohdoh hopes that it will work. Their first goal will be to establish a small beachhead.

One of the young men who joined Tohdoh's group on the way out of Tokyo, Saburo Okawachi, comes towards him. He is well educated and knows Chinese and Britannian so he is the general staff's translator.

"_General Tohdoh, several men from the Republic of China want to meet with you and your staff."_

Tohdoh nods and signals for the soldier to take care of it. With the fall of the Chinese Federation, it split into several different nations. The northeast is under the control of Britannia. The central and some of the south is under the control of Xingke's faction. The cost from Shanghai to Hong Kong is under the control of the Republic of China. They are the remnants of the High Eunuchs supporters. For now Mongolia, Korea, Tibet, and Xiankang appear to be gaining autonomy. Tohdoh doesn't want to think about what is happening in India. For a few weeks everything seems to be going well. Now there are several warlords battling for control. Every major city is declaring itself the capital.

"_General, the men from the Republic of China insist on meeting with you now."_

Urabe raises an eyebrow and shrugs.

"_I will see them over in the knightmare holding area, Captain Okawachi."_

"_Yes general. One more thing, general."_

"_Yes."_

"_They speak English quite well. Their Japanese is," _Okawachi pauses for a moment, "_Let's just say that horrendous would be an improvement."_

"_Very well, captain. I understand the language well enough to follow along."_

Urabe grunts, _"Say whatever you want about the Britannian bastard in Beijing, but at least he has the courtesy to the language of those that he conquers. I hear he speaks Vietnamese, Swahili and Russian quite well."_

Tohdoh doesn't really have a comeback for that.

"_Who do you think comes at these guys first?" _Urabe asks.

"_Why would they bother?" _Asahina asks, _"There isn't anything here worth taking."_

"_You are ignoring prestige," _Senba states_, "It would make sense for Li Xingke's faction to come here. It would give them control of the majority of traditional China."_

"_According to Kouzuki that guy is completely fixated on recovering the empress," _Urabe comments.

They continue the discussion as they walk over to the knightmare holding area. Where they are met by Kizuna Kagesaki, one of the knightmare technicians and pilots.

"_General Tohdoh, Okawachi brought some Chinese officials over. I put them over in the makeshift conference room."_

"Thank you major. Have someone send refreshments if there are any available, but do not inconvenience anyone."

"_I'll see what I can find." _

Captain Okawachi is talking with three finely dressed men.

"General Tohdoh Kyoshiro, allow me to introduce Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Ziyang, and Hu Yaobang."

Tohdoh introduces Urabe, Senba and Asahina.

"What exactly is the purpose for this meeting?" Tohdoh asks bluntly.

"We understand that you are on your way to Japan."

Tohdoh isn't sure which of the men is speaking.

"Yes, we are."

"It may concern you that a Britannian force is heading in this direction."

Tohdoh remembers the conversation from before.

"I do not see how this concerns us. By the time they arrive, we will be gone."

"Unfortunately General Tohdoh, the force is coming by sea from Japan. Does it concern you now?"

Tohdoh looks over at his comrades. The Chinese men continue.

"One of our fishing boats was able to pick up a transmission. It seems that the force is being led by a Nunners and a Suzu. They were chased away before anything else could be picked up. The Britannian force has subsequently sent out knightmares to attack any boats in the area."

"_It appears that they wanted us to know they were coming," _Senba comments.

"_Let's fry the bastards," _Urabe states.

Captain Okawachi translates it for the Chinese men. It doesn't take Tohdoh very long to realize that defeating Suzaku and Nunnally's force leaves Japan open for a counterattack.

"Very well we will work with the local forces."

Tohdoh hopes that using the term local forces lets them know who holds the real power.

* * *

While introducing Lilicia to Cecile and Lloyd, Lelouch asks if they have any family members who might suddenly show up. Cecile has an older brother who works in the telecommunications industry and a few cousins. Lloyd doesn't remember having any useful family members. After ten days of working for Lelouch, Lilicia gets used to the routine. Unless something needs to be taken care of immediately she is better off telling Kallen or even Euphemia. They are also the best options if Lelouch needs to be convinced of something. However today Lilicia has something that Lelouch needs to be informed of immediately.

"Your highness, the report from the outer walls."

Lelouch looks quickly at them report.

"Inform Kallen. I am going to investigate the situation myself."

Lelouch hands the report to Luciano and heads to the knightmare hangar.

"This should be fun," Luciano says with a grin.

"Just hang back. I have something else for you."

Luciano scowls at that request.

* * *

Sayoko and her team are moving through Shanghai in preparation for Nunnally's attack. Despite the chaos throughout the rest of the country, the so called Republic of China has a tight grip on the city.

"N2, this is B2. Everything appears to be ready."

"This is N2. Everything is good to go over here. I'll inform R1."

Jeremiah is watching as Sancia and Lucretia are being put into geass enhancing machines.

"What will these machines do?" Jeremiah asks VV.

VV states, "You do know how their geass abilities work," Jeremiah nods, "Their geass abilities allow others to see the enemy's position and trajectory. Unlike Alice and Dalque transferring their geass abilities to knightmares via the drone system has no benefit. Alice and Dalque can transfer their abilities to knightmare connected to them via the drone system. It has its drawbacks, but the system works," VV continues his work, "Since Sancia and Lucretia's abilities don't actually affect their victim's mind, geass cancellers don't work for the most part. With the help of these machines, their geass will track machines rather than people."

"I see."

"These machines are equipped with the druid system. Now you may have heard of the system before since it is equipped in the eighth generation knightmares. The system is used to its greatest extent on the Titan Mirage. The basic druid system tracks the trajectory of enemy projectiles and provides shielding accordingly."

"So this system is going to provide shielding for the knightmares that Sancia and Lucretia control."

"Yes, but that is not its main purpose. Combining it with their geass abilities lets us know where the enemy is and where it will be. The knightmares react accordingly. The first wave of knightmares that they use will be Ios with later waves being newer units. Of course they will be providing all this information to your other units."

Jeremiah sighs and nods.

"Just tell me when you are finished."

With that Jeremiah leaves to attend to other matters. Apart from having to deal with Russian forces along the Caucuses front, Iran is mobilizing it army, and Kazakhstan is increasing activity along the Caspian Sea. There is so much for Jeremiah to do.

"Um Mr. VV."

"Yes Lucretia."

"How is um Lulu, I mean Prince Lelouch."

VV sighs, "He is doing well considering the situation. I suppose that he is in his element once again."

"I'm glad he's happy," Lucretia says with a smile.

"Now let's start this thing. These new machines should be less draining since they include feeding systems. Still you shouldn't be on them for more than a few hours."

"Don't worry about that the enemy shouldn't last long," Sancia answers.

* * *

Naoto and friends have been raiding the outskirts of the Chinese Federation capital for over two weeks. Apart from antagonizing Lelouch, they do it to get necessary supplies. Not all raids all successful. A few are utter failures. Naoto hopes that today's raid brings a whole new set of consequences.

"Commander Kouzuki, the enemy is sending out a large patrol against us. It is being led by."

"I know who is leading them," Naoto switches off his communicator, "Kallen."

The others look at Naoto.

"Let's use Plan B. They won't know what hit them."

"Yes sir. I'll get the order out to the others."

Naoto's group is traveling southwest of the capital where Lelouch's control is not strong. It is sort of in between Lelouch and Xingke's zones of control. The area is full of broken up roads and bridges. Rolo and a small team are waiting at a particular canyon that is a decent distance away from the city.

Kallen is mowing down the members of Naoto's force.

"Q1, hold back and send in the drones. They are waiting to ambush you at that small canyon ahead."

Lelouch has not made an appearance yet but is nearby since he keeps communicating with Kallen. Kallen does as Lelouch orders and sends in the drones. She makes sure that they are Bors drones to make it look genuine. The drones are naturally destroyed by the ambush, but being remote controlled they don't go down easily. It doesn't take Naoto long to realize this, and he orders his troops to pull back to their next position.

"Keep pursuing them."

"Where are you?"

"In position to attack."

Kallen sighs, "You are so annoying."

"I know, that's why you love me. Lulu out."

Naoto pushes his troops forward to their next position.

"Commander Kouzuki, there is a knightmare blocking our path."

"Put it up on my screen."

The Titan Mirage shows up on Naoto's screen. This causes Naoto to smile.

"Take that bastard down."

"Yes sir."

Naoto's force rushes towards the Titan Mirage.

"We have you now bastard!"

"So it seems," Lelouch responds, "But let's try this."

Lelouch fires his hadron cannons at a nearby levee. Naoto's smiles gets bigger as his troops get closer to the Titan Mirage. Naoto is the first one there, and he takes a swing. Lelouch does nothing to block it.

"It's over, you cocky bastard!"

"I think not."

Naoto crushes he knightmare which is revealed to not be the Titan Mirage, but a simple drone as the rest of his force reaches his position. The Titan Mirage disappears. Naoto takes the Shen Hu up in the air looking for Lelouch.

"There is a reason why this knightmare is called the Titan Mirage or _Shinkirō. _A mirage isn't just an optical illusion. It is about hope," The water from the levee continues to run down. "Naoto, you seem to think that the water is not enough. That's why you didn't order your men to move. However this is not Japan where the leaders although corrupt still watched out for the people. But here in China things are not so."

Several prisms followed by a single beam head straight for Naoto's force.

"Move you fools."

"Commander, we're stuck."

"What?"

Naoto looks down and notices that their knightmares are beginning to sink into the mud. Naoto manages to dodge a red flash. Kallen catches up to them.

"Damn!"

Lelouch begins to reload the Zero beam.

"A few more should finish you off."

"Come out and fight me you bastard!"

"Where's the fun in that? Besides I promised to let my Kalli finish you off."

Naoto begins pulling the survivors out of the mud. Rolo and those not in the mud begin to do the same. However Kallen continues to harass them with her radiation wave.

"Damn I better take care of Kallen before she destroys everybody else. Rolo, keep pulling them out."

Naoto maneuvers the Shen Hu to fight Kallen. Lelouch uses the opportunity to attack him from behind.

"Commander Kouzuki!"

One of Naoto's men gets in the way and gets impaled by Lelouch's MVS.

"Stupid fool," Lelouch grins, "Now to finish the rest of you off."

Naoto can't believe it.

"You were here all along."

"Not quite. I was further away when I started firing and moved up," Lelouch laughs, "With you men stuck in the mud, you didn't even notice that the beam was taking less time to reach you."

"Commander Kouzuki, I think it's time to retreat."

"What about the rest of you?"

Several of Naoto's troops self destruct their knightmares. Apart from distracting Lelouch and Kallen, it also dislodges a few of their knightmares. Naoto grudgingly orders a retreat. Kallen is about to order for a pursuit.

"Let them go, Q1."

"We can finish them off. At least let me take my guard," Kallen responds. She knows that Lelouch does want to pursue because it will weaken the capital's defenses.

"They aren't going to be a problem. Capture those that ejected and collect the destroyed knightmares. Post a few knightmares here from now on. We need to push our influence further south."

Kallen scowls but obeys.

* * *

Mao watches at Naoto and his obviously defeated troops return to their secret base.

"You should have taken me with you, Commander."

Naoto notices the scornful tone in Mao's voice.

"Your geass doesn't affect Lelouch and Kallen. Those were your own words."

Mao notices that Naoto is tired. He never refers to his brother-in-law by his name. He usually doesn't refer to his sister by her name most of the time.

"Yes but with my geass enhancers, the others are affected."

Naoto rubs his forehead and shakes his head.

"I don't have time for you. Why didn't you go with Xingke? You're Chinese."

"Why didn't you go with Tohdoh? You're Japanese, aren't you?"

"My revenge comes before my race," Naoto growls.

"Is your revenge worth the life of your men? You aren't good enough to beat Lelouch."

Naoto glares at Mao.

"When did you become a fountain of wisdom?"

Mao smiles, "I have spent most of the last three years living in Britannian facilities. You don't even have the equipment to beat Clovis."

Naoto grunts and leaves for his makeshift office. Rolo goes after him. Colonel Madd approaches a wary Mao who remembers that the man was at one time Bartley's subordinate. He remembers what those people did to him and CC.

"Those two have no patience," Colonel Madd states.

Mao cannot disagree.

"If there is a next time, I am going whether he likes it or not."

"I would agree with that sentiment. Kouzuki is too hot headed to realize that vi Britannia is predicting his moves," Colonel Madd looks towards Mao, "However you are an unknown quantity. Even though it was temporary, the look of surprise on the bastard prince's face was noticeable. He wasn't expecting you to show up. I suspect that he has changed his plan a bit with your arrival."

"Do you think so?"

"Yes, I would even assume that he has moved the green haired woman if she is still alive."

Mao has learned some restraint, but when it comes to CC he loses it sometimes.

"What do you mean?"

"He may have moved her to a safer location. Perhaps back to Siberia or Japan. Maybe even as far away as Area 11 although she may not want to return there. Conceivably he could have moved her somewhere else. Somewhere like Europe or western Asia. Gottwald is out west. The prince trusts him. She may have gone out there with VV on some sort of mission."

Mao never considers the fact that CC might not be with Lelouch. He is going to have to make his own inquires into the matter.

* * *

"Commander Dalque, we have received the go ahead from R1."

Dalque pounds her fist into her open hand and smiles.

"Do we have permission to tear things up?"

"Yes commander. B2 and N2 are also in place."

"That's good. Prepare the knightmares. Get N2's knightmares set up as well. She's going to need them."

At first Dalque is not happy about having to spend two weeks on a submarine, but now the time has come to move.

"Are you certain that we aren't being tracked?"

"If they can see us, they aren't showing it."

Dalque nods. Nobody is certain if a stealth submarine will work. That's another reason why Dalque has issues traveling this way, but they have arrived.

"Let's get to work. Follow your checklists and fire when ready."

"Yes commander."

Dalque boards her knightmare and activates her drones. A few soldiers will take Alice's drones ashore. She has her main knightmare with her. Dalque cracks her knuckles.

"It's clobbering time."

* * *

"Look out bitches because Nunnally is coming."

"It's Suzaku time!"

"That's stupid. What does it even mean?"

"Hey it's my saying."

"Well it sucks."

"Pff, whatever Nunners. Let's just to work."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I get Tohdoh. You get the weirdoes."

* * *

Tohdoh lets out a string of curses so poignant that even the Chinese men understand.

"_How did they get behind our lines?"_

"_Does it matter?" _Senba asks, "_We need to move."_

Several Chinese soldiers come running towards them. Captain Okawachi quickly investigates what is going on.

"_It seems that there are more knightmares coming from the sea than we previously suspected. There are two squads of knightmares coming from a submarine."_

"_Looks like someone at screwed up big time,"_ Urabe comments.

"_The knightmares are good to go so we should probably get moving," _Asahina states, _"The question is where do we head."_

"_If the princess is behind our lines, then Kururugi is with her. They are our targets."_

"_That's good enough for me," _Urabe remarks.

It doesn't take long for Tohdoh and Nunnally's groups to meet. Tohdoh flings himself at the Lancelot.

"Sorry Nunners, but I guess I got Tohdoh."

"Fine I'll take the other three."

"_I'm afraid not," _Senba says as he charges Suzaku. Luckily the Lancelot's blaze luminous does its job.

"_Well that was dirty," _Suzaku comments.

"_We don't have time, Mr. Kururugi, to play nice."_

Tohdoh doesn't quite agree with the sentiment but knows that Senba is right.

"_The rest of you take care of the other knightmares," _Tohdoh calls out to his force. Once they take care Nunnally and Suzaku, everyone else should be no problem.

Nunnally laughs and asks, _"What other knightmares?" _Nunnally presses a button to reveal that the other knightmares that are with her and Suzaku are just piles of junk made to look like knightmares, "_Those things can't even move, but it's pretty convincing. I told Suzu if we just slap an IFF transponder on some junk that is welded together and used the camouflage projector that you would fall for it. Why do you think we landed so far from the dock?"_

Tohdoh looks towards the sea. While not far all that far away, the city of Shanghai is between them and the invading Britannian force.

"_Looks like your guys fell for it," _Nunnally states as she and Suzaku take their knightmare to the air.

Tohdoh is about to go after them when he notices that his men are approaching the piles of junk.

"_No, get away from those things!"_

But it is too late; the explosion is powerful enough to push Tohdoh, Senba, Asahina, and Urabe back.

"_Damn ! What do we do now?" _Urabe asks, "_Do we head to the docks and fight the Britannians?"_

Several buildings around the docks begin to go down.

"_What was that?" _Asahina asks.

Before anyone can answer, four knightmares come flying at them.

"_Damn these guys are fast," _Urabe growls, _"I can't keep up."_

If not for the radiation shielding, they would have been torn apart. Tohdoh can't help but notice that the knightmares are inhumanely fast. Even as others try to help them, they are still no match for the enemy's speed.

"_These must be drones being controlled by someone," _Tohdoh comments.

"_That may be, but it doesn't help us at the moment," _Urabe remarks, "_We won't be able to hold up much longer against these guys."_

"_You are right. We will hold them off while some of you search the area."_

"_Yes sir."_

It doesn't take them long to find Alice's position, but the damage is done. They spend too much time looking for Alice. The Chinese forces are routed by Dalque and the rest of Nunnally's force. Of course they still have to take care of Alice and her drones.

Dalque frowns, "I thought these guys were going to be tough. Where the Japanese dudes? I would even fight the old guy."

"That's a good idea. Alice probably needs some help," Nunnally responds, "There over on the other side of the city."

"I'm on my way. Those bastards won't even know what hit them."

Tohdoh manages to gather what is left of his force to deal with Alice and her drones. With Alice under direct attack, the drones don't move as quickly.

"_If we just keep going at the source, the drones should fall in no time," _Urabe states.

"There are five more knightmares coming in from the city," Senba remarks, "Although they aren't moving as fast as the others."

"_I'll handle them."_

"_Don't get cocky."_

Urabe charges the incoming knightmares. His sword blade is smashed.

"_What the hell? This one is crazy strong." _

"Hey Alice need some help."

Alice sighs in relief.

"Dalque!"

"Ya, it's me. How are you holding up?"

"I'm almost at my limit."

Dalque can hear Alice's breath getting ragged.

"We should get moving. Just send the drones in for a final attack."

"Sounds like a plan."

Alice and Dalque move back and send their drones in to attack. However Urabe and Asahina pursue them.

"_You aren't getting away that easy!" _Urabe screams.

"Damn these guys aren't giving up," Dalque scowls.

Suddenly a lone figure jumps between Dalque and Alice.

"Sayoko!" Alice exclaims.

Sayoko jumps in the air and throws bombs in the direction of the pursuing Japanese soldiers.

Urabe attempts to dodge the bombs, but they are strong for their size.

Sayoko tosses another bomb in their direction before leaping onto Alice's knightmare.

This time Urabe has to sacrifice his right arm to stop the bomb. Asahina backs up to avoid the second bomb.

"_Looks like those bastards are going to get away," _Urabe states.

"_What the hell was in those bombs?" _Asahina asks_, "They were too little to back such a big punch."_

"_We better head back. We need to decide what to do quickly. Those Brit bastards aren't going to wait for us." _

Nunnally is out in the Ganymede Legacy. She is leading the final attack against the protectors of Shanghai. Tohdoh's force is last seen heading south. That puts them further from Japan although they still might cause trouble later. She orders Alice and Dalque to get some rest because both overused their geass abilities.

**Tuesday, February 25, 2019**

Jeremiah is staring in amazement as VV releases Sancia and Lucretia.

"Well Lord Gottwald looks like the system works."

Jeremiah cannot believe that it actually works. Iran begins to mobilize only three days ago. Within hours of the news Sancia and Lucretia begin a systematic attack of their military bases. Since Iran is only now beginning to take the prospects of war seriously, they do not have the technology to handle an attack. They have plenty of older tanks and even a few outdated knightmare, but against Sancia and Lucretia's geass abilities, they are nothing. Of course VV aids them by controlling several dozen drones.

"Naturally, they will need to rest," VV states.

Jeremiah notices that both girls are struggling to stand. Unlike geass abilities gained from making a geass contract with a code bearer, the so called Irregulars gain them from being injected with CC's cells. Lucretia walks over to Jeremiah.

"Mr. Jeremiah," she pauses slightly, "General Gottwald, can we go back home? I want to check on our little sisters."

"I'm sure that Alice and Dalque are fine," Jeremiah responds.

"No, our other little sisters. The ones we rescued."

"Yes it may be a good idea to head back now. Lelouch probably has his hands full. I doubt that he would mind some help," VV answers, "Besides it doesn't appear like Iran or the C.A.F. are going to be a problem."

Villetta decides to interject knowing that Lelouch wants Sancia and Lucretia with him.

"General Gottwald, we have been recruiting quite well in Africa and Japan. Given the skill of our pilots and these new recruits, the Russian numerical advantage will not matter."

It is not that Jeremiah wants to keep the two girls. The problem is that he does not quite trust VV with them.

"General Gottwald, I believe that Lucretia has point. There are several things that his highness needs to know and are too dangerous to tell to him over the phone or video conference," Sancia states.

Jeremiah sighs, "Very well. General Nu, go with them and deliver some information to his highness."

After making the final arrangements, they board the Apotheosis (Irregulars' airship). VV decides to take a nap because it will be several hours before they are off the coast of India where they will test the system once more. All the commotion wakes CC.

"Hey, what's the big deal?"

"Is that all you do eat and sleep?"

CC grunts, "I helped you with your little game the other day."

VV grins, "Yes, you did. Who knew you were such a good pilot? Those drones aren't the easiest thing in the world to command."

"Who do you think used to spare with Marianne? Can I go out now or do I still need to hide from Jeremiah?"

"Yes, you can go out now. We are going back to China. Villetta is coming with us so I'm sure you will have lots of fun with her."

"Ah she is delicious isn't she, but I wouldn't mind getting back home."

VV looks over at CC.

"You almost sound excited to return."

CC ignores the comment.

"Are we going back to return the two little girls to Lelouch?"

"Yes that is our primary purpose. We also plan on testing the system at least one more time on the way there."

"Wake me up if you need anything preferably with some pizza."

"You're an annoying witch."

"Of course because I am CC."

* * *

Mao is sneaking into the Forbidden City. Lelouch has firmly asserted control over the capital and the northeast of the country. Little by little his influence is extending. The attack on Shanghai a week ago gives him control of the biggest city. That is followed up a few days later by an attack on Hong Kong (Luciano and Aphrodite). Mao knows that if he waits any longer that his chance to get CC will slip. It doesn't take Mao long to get people who are thinking about CC. Why wouldn't someone be thinking about CC? She is the best, most beautiful thing in this dreary world.

"Well look what we have here, a lost little boy."

Mao growls angrily at Lelouch.

"I should have you know that I am older than you and had CC first."

"Oh I think someone had CC several centuries ago," Lelouch says with a smirk, "Besides I doubt you have even had CC while I have had her several times. How do I best describe CC's aura?"

"She smells like pizza. You always complain that having sex with CC makes you full from the pizza on her breath and all the pizza boxes in her room," Kallen responds, "She is a little annoying as well."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Mao yells startling both Lelouch and Kallen, "I've had enough from the two of you."

"You don't really think you can take us, do you?" Lelouch asks.

"I came prepared with this."

Mao pulls out two tranquilizer guns.

"You only get one shot at each of us. And you seem to have forgotten abut our geasses."

"You lost those when you gained immortality. Now the question is whose code do I take."

Lelouch and Kallen allow Mao to ponder the situation. Others however are not so patient and decide to act. Mao's head begins to fill with other's thoughts.

'I wonder why Aunite Euphie has green hairs. Pink is better.' (James)

'This Mao guy is such an idiot. If Aunt CC wanted to be with him, then she would be.' (Evelyn)

'Hm, I wonder what Castor is thinking about. It's probably food.' (Pollux)

'Hm, I wonder what Pollux is thinking about. It's probably food.' (Castor)

'This isn't very memorable. Princess Euphemia needs to go back to her original hair color so we can match.' (Anya)

'Pizza good, but burgers good too. I wonder what Grampa Oats Guy is doing. I should call him and make sure he is taking his medicine.' (James)

'This stuff coming down from my nose tastes good.' (Gabriel)

'Ha, little Gaby is eating his boogers.' (James)

'Oh goody when we capture that Mao guy, I get to run all sorts of experiments on him.' (Lloyd)

'Lloyd has that crazy look in his eyes.' (Cecile)

"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" Mao screams.

Lelouch and Kallen are really confused.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Lelouch asks.

"All those people in my head."

"There isn't anybody nearby but us."

"You're lying! There is some crazy going to experiment on me. Somebody called me an idiot. A kid eating his boogers. Something about the Quaker Oats Guy. You dressed someone up as CC."

"Oh that. I guess they must be closer than I thought," Lelouch remarks, "I figured you wouldn't bother to see if anyone was thinking of CC. You only looked for a beautiful green haired girl," Lelouch chuckles a bit, "It really wasn't all that hard to trick you. Besides Euphie is much more beautiful than CC."

"That's it!"

Mao fires both tranquilizers at Lelouch. Of course he has been practicing his aim so the darts hit Lelouch square in the chest. Only to bounce off as if hitting something hard. Mao reloads and fires again. The same ting happens.

"You didn't think you could beat me, did you Mao?"

Lelouch reveals that he is wearing a power suit. He begins to walk towards Mao.

"Now do you realize the situation? You must realize that you could never beat me. Not only am I smarter than you. My body heals all wounds, and with this power suit my strength is tripled."

Mao charges at Lelouch, but even without the power suit he is no match for Lelouch who is a skilled soldier. Lelouch pins Mao to the ground. Lelouch takes one of the tranquilizer darts and breaks it.

"I only need a little bit for this."

Lelouch jabs Mao in the arm with the tranquilizer.

"Now what should I do with you."

Mao begins to lose consciousness.

"Too bad you can't use your geass on me again."

Lelouch smirks, "Don't worry about that. I have a back-up plan."

A black haired girl stands over Mao. Mao is horrified at her thoughts.

Evelyn smiles that evil looking vi Britannia smile, "Now what do I do with this guy."

* * *

Author's note: Mao has been taken care of, sort of. Lelouch is not exactly right about where the Knights of the Round are heading because I thought of something better.

All of Lelouch's forces and groups use chess notation as code names. Lelouch= K1, Evelyn, Castor, Pollux=K2, Kallen=Q1, Milly=Q2, Carolina=Q3, Euphie=Q4, Villetta=N1, Alice =N2, Jeremiah=B1, Sayoko= B2, Nunnally=R1, Suzaku=R2, Kewell P1, Sancia, Lucretia, Dalque=P2. P3, P4. Everyone else=P5 and up.

Obviously there is only one king in chess, but the kids are just that important. Milly, Carolina and Euphie see themselves as Kallen's equals taking everything into account. Milly and Carolina bring nobles and money. With Euphie it is possible to bring Cornelia and everything that entails. Knights are a piece that novice players such as me ignore since it isn't an easy piece to move for the checkmate. Villetta and Alice are the knights because they aren't important enough to pay to pay attention to until they do something. The bishop is a piece that everyone recognizes as potentially dangerous. Everybody knows how it moves, but sometimes are surprised when a bishop is moved to check or check mate. Everybody knows what Jeremiah and Sayoko are capable of, but that doesn't mean they are prepared for them. Nunnally and Suzaku are the rooks. Powerful pieces that are usually used late in the game. A player with both rooks at the end is in a good position. Although Suzaku and Nunnally might eventually become queens.

The names Jiang Lihua, Minase Mutsuki, and Hinata Ichijiku have been modified to the western naming convention. At least I think I did since I don't believe their names are ever said in the anime. I remember reading somewhere that most anime/manga names wouldn't happen in real life. I do find it interesting that Li Xingke is always called Xingke by everyone. Using the Chinese/Japanese naming convention wouldn't someone call him Li.? I have seen a sub-titled version of the show so I know that they call him Xingke. Saburo Okawachi is a subject too frustrating to get in to. If you check out the characters on the Code Geass Wikia, he's there, and it just pisses me off. The Chinese guys are real Chinese leaders that would be in the forties and fifties at this time. They are basically the second generation of communist leaders all being born in the 20th century. Here they support the High Eunuchs and would be their replacements.

I found the awesomest section at the TV tropes page, the wild mass guessing (WMG) page. You can blame this page if the next chapter takes a little longer to come out. Someone on there had an idea that Chiang Kai-shek started the current ruling dynasty in the Chinese Federation since Jiang is a form of his family name. It isn't that far fetched an idea. It would more or less make him the current empress's grandfather or great-grandfather. Chiang's vice president, while on the mainland, was Li Zongren who could be Li Xingke's grandfather. There is also Zhou Enlai who can be Zhou Xianglin's grandfather. I couldn't find anyone to be Hong Gu's ancestors. Not that it matters since I killed the guy off last chapter. I could always have someone turn him into a cyborg but his girth would make him a worse cyborg than Rivalz. I'm a fat guy so I can say that. I would make a shitty cyborg. Then again maybe Hong Gu wasn't even there; it was Castor's geass making Xingke think he was there. So watch out for Hong Gu's big moment coming up some time soon or maybe he is just dead. I should do a poll. Screw it. There is a Hong Gu poll on my profile. The options were really influenced by the WMG page.

**Knights of the Round **

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Galahad  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Gawain  
Three: Gino Weinberg, Tristan  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Pelleas  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Andraste  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Epona  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Loki  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, Vlad  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Andarta  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Pellinore  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Gareth  
Twelve: vacant

**Known Areas and their viceroys  
**1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Luther ti Britannia sub Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16-  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-Regina ha Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016  
20 Northern Africa 2017-Karine le Britannia  
21 Middle East Federation 2017- Selene ge Britannia  
22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia sub Kaguya yama Britannia  
23 Siberia 2018-Evelyn vi Britannia sub Carolina sfo Britannia  
24 China 2019- Lelouch vi Britannia


	80. Warriors of Destiny

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

...

The point of it is to put the best pilot in the best knightmare because anything else is foolish that is what made Lelouch vi Britannia so successful. On side note who names the first personal maser vibration sword, Scooter.

James kou Britannia  
Age of Knightmares  
Neo Pendragon Press 2057 ATB

...

War is gloomy enough. Why do the soldiers have to be dressed in such plain colors? I wish to bring back the fun gaudy colors of the past.

Clovis la Britannia  
Princely Fashion for the economically and fashionably challenged  
Neo-Pendragon Press 2025

* * *

**Saturday, March 1, 2019 **

Edward is not exactly pleased with the situation. Even though they can float over the enemy, they are still bogged down. War is a lot more complicated than Edward ever imagines. That isn't what pisses him off the most. It isn't even dealing with Amadeus Doedilus. His biggest moment is usurped by a flying Muppet. Isabelle comes in with her flying cookie bombs and decimates the enemy opposing Edward. If that isn't enough, that moron Gino is here as well. At least he is leaving later today. He is on his way west and will end up as Karine's problem. As soon as Gino leaves, Edward will order another attack. He also plans on sending Isabelle back to escort Shirley back to Britannia. That will take care of two birds with one stone.

* * *

Zero wakes up with a massive headache. The last few days are a blur. He walks over to the mirror. He brushes his hand through his white hair which needs to be cut. He looks at his eyes for a few moments. A thought of something from the past begins to surface, but it quickly goes away. After a quick shower, he begins to dress. Suddenly there is a knock on the door.

'Commander Zero, the meeting is about to commence.'

Zero reaches for his helmet and puts it on.

'I am on my way.'

The first thing Zero must do is regain control of the situation. He must explain his absence. Interfering in the wedding between the Britannian prince and the Chinese empress is a good excuse because it spreads Britannia's forces. First he needs to gain control of the French military from there everything else will fall into place. Yes everything will go in Zero's favor.

Faramond has not made any gains in the last few weeks. His attack on Normandy is eventually stopped. His push south towards Belgium is also stopped. There just isn't enough manpower to go around. Schniezel, Cornelia, and Lelouch are getting all the new and best recruits leaving Faramond with the scraps. Technically Karine and Edward are also getting the scraps, but they are side shows. Faramond is attacking France itself. He wonders if Monica can do anything about it. He doesn't want to be simply a footnote while others take down the EU.

* * *

"Things are not working out as we planned. Are they, Kannon?"

"Your highness."

Schniezel begins to look at the chess pieces on his board.

"Nothing Kannon. I am just musing on the situation. I wonder if Lelouch was able to deal with Zero."

"The latest information states that Zero is done working with the rebels in the Chinese Federation and is on his way back to Europe."

"Yes we will deal with Zero when he arrives."

Schniezel and Kannon at their maps. They are still only slowly making their way up the Italian peninsula. The Anzio plan which calls for several landings long the western coast has been a failure. In addition they have been unsuccessful in taking Sardinia. It isn't like the others have been successful.

"I wished to avoid this, but increase the bombing of the industrial sector perhaps that will cause them to surrender."

"Yes your highness."

"I will finish this. I will send Karine and Faramond back to Britannia if I have to. They are getting in the way."

* * *

Cornelia's army is holding a small ceremony as she is the first to officially cross over into Serbia. A few days ago several units use stealth ships and submarines begin to bombard the Bulgarian and Albanian coasts. At the same time two stealth flight teams begin to soften the interior defenses. Cornelia has to admit that Lelouch's stealth units are quite useful. She will have to recommend that they used by military as a while. At the moment the units are loyal to Lelouch. To improve Cornelia's odds, Jeremiah launches an attack from the Caucasus. Cornelia also hears that Lelouch is having someone attack from Siberia although at the moment it is unclear who. Cornelia can feel Schniezel's anxiety. Lelouch continues to grow in power. Soon the will be no stopping the rift and conflict. Cornelia is still undecided about what to do when it happens.

* * *

Hannah Gottwald and Chelsea Nu are overseeing the unloading of supplies. There is still fierce fighting going on at the edges of Shanghai. Princess Nunnally and Lord Kururugi are both leading their groups out in the field leaving the two lieutenants in charge of the dock. The job isn't dull because there are still pirates operating from nearby islands despite the navy's best efforts. Not to mention that Taiwan is not conquered so there is the hope that they will be sent there. They notice come commotion a few yards away and decide to check it out.

"As you can see, your highness, things are progressing as well as they can. The biggest problem is the lack of basic, essential supplies such as food. It seems like the government here was saving everything for themselves and their army."

"Thank you for the report, Colonel Cunningham. You can return to your duties. If you need you need anything else, let my office know. Miss Futaba," Lelouch gestures to Ayame, "and her subordinates are in charge of the tasks relating to the governance of Area 24. Lieutenant Gottwald is in charge of military issues. If it is an issue relating to a specific zone then you should check with the area's commander."

"Yes that seems like a good idea. With the enormity of the task, coordination is a bit of a problem. Luckily we were able to capture most of the food stuffs that the government was storing. We are using those first and are bringing in military materials first. It is a good thing that Japan has so many able technological companies."

Of course that is not a coincidence. Japan has always been crucial to Lelouch's plans. Lelouch wonders if Colonel Cunningham calls it Japan because of Lelouch or Ayame.

'How are the other supply routes?"

"The air routes are undeterred. However most of our airships and planes are helping with the war effort. This makes shipping over the sea crucial. Despite the navy's best efforts, the is still lots of pirate activity."

"Yes unfortunately the navy has many priorities. We also have to focus on the land war. Although a solution to the problem may soon present itself. I will let you get back to your work Colonel."

Colonel Cunningham salutes and leaves.

"Oh, Lilicia looks so cute in her uniform, doesn't she?" Chelsea comments.

"I guess she does. I think that it stinks that she outranks us."

"You're just jealous because she gets to work with a handsome prince," Chelsea says with a smirk.

Hannah begins to sputter, "No, that's not it. Besides the prince is married."

"Yes I am, to four annoying women," Lelouch glances back at Ayame, "Remember you work for me not them."

"Hm Princess Milly's cooking is so convincing."

"My cooking is much more superior," Lelouch pouts.

Though startled at first Hannah and Chelsea recover and salute. Lelouch notices and returns the salute.

"Technically you shouldn't salute me because I'm not in uniform."

"You are still a general, your highness sir," Hannah responds.

Lelouch smirks, "Spoken like a true Gottwald," Lelouch nudges Lilicia in the shoulder, "You should learn from your big sister."

"Your highness is the one who orders me to act so informal," Lilicia responds.

"That doesn't mean you need to do it. Jeremiah would never call me by my name. I bet he still calls Sayoko, Shinozaki in."

Lelouch doesn't finish the sentence mostly because he wants to get the image of Jeremiah and Sayoko having sex out of his head.

"Anyways," Lelouch says rather informally, "Do the two of you want to see some action?"

Hannah and Chelsea are rather startled by Lelouch's question. They figure that he makes some sort of promise to Villetta and Jeremiah to keep them out of heavy action.

"Yes sir."

"Good because an opportunity may soon present itself."

Lelouch gestures for Ayame and Lilicia to follow him. Hannah and Chelsea stand there as they walk away.

"Is your sister a part of the prince's royal guard?"

Hannah looks around.

"I don't think that the prince has an actual royal guard. I guess he is actually protecting them."

"We should probably get back to work."

"I was enjoying a break from all the action."

"That's not the right kind of attitude, and you're supposed to be my superior."

"Fine, let's get back to work, Lieutenant Nu."

A few hours later Hannah and Chelsea are sitting in their knightmare running simulations.

"This blows."

"Eh."

Hannah turns off her simulator and looks at schedule for tomorrow.

"Looks like more of the same."

"Lieutenant Nu, we have a bit of a situation going on out here?"

Hannah looks at her monitors and doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. There is a rather large airship, but she figures that somehow the prince gets one to help with the transportation of supplies. She also doesn't understand why they would bother calling her when there are other high ranking officials out there.

"I'm on my way out. Chelsea, let's go see what is going on."

"Anything is better than just sitting here."

They head over to the dock looking for the person that calls them.

"What seems to be the issue sergeant?"

"Lieutenant Gottwald, this airship isn't on any of our schedules."

"Have you bothered to hail it?"

"Yes ma'am. The pilot says that it is the Apotheosis, and that the general in charge was asleep but is on her way to the bridge."

While Hannah is talking with the sergeant, Chelsea heads over to the communications area and decides to investigate things herself.

"This is Lieutenant Nu, second knightmare brigade, 75th division, 25th corps, 5th Army Group."

"Little Chelsea, is that you?"

Chelsea almost drops the communicator.

"Cousin Villetta, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Russia."

"That's General Nu to you Lieutenant."

"Ah sorry, general sir, I mean ma'am, sir."

Villetta begins to laugh.

"Just tell them to let us land."

"Yes General Nu."

Lelouch is walking towards the temporary airship dock. A few tall buildings would be nice, but Dalque tears most of them down. The streets are mostly empty not only because Nunnally declares martial law, but because there are not any real jobs for locals to do. Most professionals leave the city when Nunnally invades. All that is left are commoners and low wage earners. Ayame is busy messaging away to the others still back in Beijing. Lilicia is keeping an eye on the surroundings.

A Chinese man comes out screams in a heavy accent.

"Sic semper tyranis!"

Ayame instinctively goes behind Lelouch while Lilicia stands in front of him. Lelouch gently lifts her and places her besides Ayame. He reaches back and pulls out his sword.

"This is a job for Scooter."

The man tosses a homemade bomb at them. Lelouch effortlessly pushes it away and stabs the man with his sword. Lelouch pushes the man down.

'_As soon as I pull my sword out, you die.'_

The man tries to spit at Lelouch, but nothing comes out. Lelouch concentrates and activates his geass.

'_Now then tell me who sent you.'_

After Lelouch is done with the man, he returns to check on Ayame and Lilicia.

"Are you two alright?"

Both girls nod.

"Good. Don't tell anyone about this. It's a good thing that Scooter has a self-cleaning function or else it would be a pain in the ass to clean," Lelouch smiles, "Now let's keep walking. I think there is a surprise for us over there."

**Tuesday, March 4, 2019 **

Gino arrives in Area 20 a few days ago. He takes the fastest available transportation from Burma. Gino carefully considers the placing of the Knights of the Round. All the top Knights are in Europe or Britannia. Gino is not all that excited about his assignment. At least in Siberia there is room to operate even with Milly being technically in charge, but here in Europe there are too many people in charge.

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Britannia  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, Britannia  
Three: Gino Weinberg, North Africa/Spain  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, British Isles  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Italy  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Siberia  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Caucasus  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, China  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, British Isles/N. Europe  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, China  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Burma

Gino has been looking at the progress reports. Only Cornelia in the east has been having any success. Even Schniezel seems to be failing. Gino immediately makes an appointment with Karine. He walks the corridors of Karine's base in Gibraltar. One of Karine's aides is leading him. For someone that hasn't been at this for very long, Karine sure has a large staff. It almost rivals Lelouch's, and he has been at this for several years. It appears that Gino arrives at his destination. Gino enters the room only to discover that it is Karine's bedroom and that she is not dressed.

"I am sorry, your highness."

Gino struggles to open the door.

"Is something wrong, Lord Weinberg? You aren't nervous at the site of a beautiful naked woman, are you?"

Gino continues to avoid looking at Karine. Naked or not the princess is not much to look at. She doesn't even have a favorable persona like Nunnally or Anya who share similar bodies. Although she has the same hair color as Kallen, the two are nothing alike. Gino remembers the first time he saw an almost naked woman. It was Villetta back at West Point. Of course after that day he keeps trying to sneak a peek of her. Gino quickly tries to put those thoughts out of his head because they are getting him excited.

"What's this? Getting excited, Lord Weinberg."

Gino doesn't notice Karine walking up behind him. He does notice her rubbing her body against his. He certainly notices her hands on his crotch. It's been a few weeks since Gino saw any action in that department. Of course screwing up here puts Gino in lots of hot water. He may even have to beg Lelouch for help. However if Gino is successful, he will have a new ally. Gino turns to face Karine who has a grin on her face. Behind the grin Gino can see fear in Karine's eyes. She is obviously a virgin. She may have experienced kissing and petting with friends or royal guards. Gino decides to make his move and puts his arms around Karine.

"Let's see if you are man enough to handle this, Lord Weinberg."

A few years ago Gino would have bluffed and boasted, but now he is much more confident in his skills. It helps having a maid that is in love with you. Gino takes Karine to her bed and proceeds to pleasure her.

* * *

It has been a week since Nunnally and Suzaku met Tohdoh in Shanghai. Unfortunately the Japanese soldiers have stayed in eastern China. This means that Nunnally has to chase them down. Well she doesn't actually have to do it herself. She has others that can help her. Of course with Villetta, Sancia, and Lucretia in Shanghai, Nunnally is free to pursue the Japanese soldiers.

At the moment they are returning from a small break in the action. Sanderson and Goodley are currently leading the scouting party. Luciano and Aphrodite are far to the south near Hong Kong.

"Nunnally, there is something going on about twenty miles to the north," Alice states.

"Tohdoh," Suzaku replies.

"Do you really think so, Suzu?" Nunnally asks.

"I can go check it out," Alice replies.

"Don't be stupid," Dalque remarks, "If it's them, then we are going to need you."

"I contacted Captain Hellerman for air transport," Suzaku comments, "They should be here in a few minutes."

"Good job Kururugi. Now we don't waste energy getting there," Dalque says with a smirk, " I knew you were good for something else besides being Nunnally's sex slave."

"Dalque!" Alice exclaims.

"Don't worry about it Alice," Suzaku responds, "Maybe this time Dalque can actually beat Senba."

Dalque grumbles as their air transportation arrives. A few minutes later they arrive at their destination. They find the scout team decimated except for the two Mordreds fighting off four knightmares.

"About time you show up, your highness," Goodley states, "Didn't you get our message?"

"Hm, they must be jamming the signal or something because we didn't get any message," Nunnally responds, "We will handle them from here. Scout out the area and look for their remaining forces. Captain Hellerman will provide air recon."

"Yes your highness."

Nunnally, Suzaku, Alice, and Dalque land their nightmares and face off against Tohdoh, Urabe, Asahina, and Senba.

"Do you geezers need some time to rest before we go at it?" Dalque considerately asks.

"_That was just a warm up," _Urabe responds, _"Are you going to fight us one on one or are you going to use your drones?"_

"Suzu, are you ready?"

"Ya, Nunners. What do you want to do?

"They were waiting for us so they probably have a plan. They might even know about Alice and Dalque."

"So what do we do? Should we wait for them to move first?"

"Hm I think that would be a little out of character."

"So we charge them."

Nunnally nods.

"_Hey are you guys coming or are you going to sit there with your thumbs up your butt?" _Urabe asks.

"What's your problem? Do you have some Geezer Convention to attend?" Dalque asks in response.

"_You little brat!"_

"_Urabe!"_

"_Sorry sir."_

Nunnally makes a slight gesture with her knightmare. Suzaku nods and prepares to rush.

"Now Suzu!"

Nunnally and Suzaku move towards Tohdoh's group. As they move, they constantly switch places.

"_Trying to trick us," _Asahina comments, _"Well that isn't going to work."_

Asahina charges towards Suzaku and Nunnally, but is met by Alice.

"_You shall be my opponent, Asahina Shogo."_

Dalque jumps over Suzaku and Nunnally landing between the three remaining Japanese soldiers. She quickly moves towards Senba and pulls him aside using her geass.

"_Let's do this, Senba Ryoga."_

"_Urabe, aid Senba," _Tohdoh states as he moves towards Nunnally.

Suzaku stops him.

"_I am afraid that I am your opponent, sensei."_

Nunnally fires a slash harken at Urabe stopping him.

"_You aren't afraid to fight a fifteen year old girl, are you Urabe Kosetsu?" _

Tohdoh understands Nunnally's strategy. The Holy Swords work better as a team. It's a strategy that they have always used. However their opponents are one person armies. Although twice as old as their opponents, the Japanese soldiers do not have as much experience with knightmares.

"_Are you prepared for the consequences of your actions, Kururugi?"_

"_Hai, sensei."_

"_Then draw your sword," _Tohdoh says with a smile.

Suzaku pulls out his MVS and charges Tohdoh.

* * *

Lucretia and Sancia are being strapped into the geass enhancing machine.

"I wanted to spend some more time with Lulu," Lucretia pouts.

"Don't worry. We are going back with his highness to Beijing," Sancia responds.

"Why isn't he here?" Lucretia asks.

"He has other matters to handle in Shanghai," Evelyn comments.

"Evie, what are you doing here?"

"We's here too!" the twins exclaim.

"We are here as well," Sancia corrects, "What exactly are you doing here?"

"We ares here to kick butt," the twins respond.

"Let's go to the command room," Evelyn states.

Evelyn and the twins go to the next room to take control of the drones.

* * *

Suzaku and Tohdoh trade sword blows as Nunnally and Urabe size each other up.

Alice notices that Asahina and Senba are try to stay away from each other. Now that they are separate it seems that the strategy of the Japanese soldiers is to keep the others away from Alice. They may not know the exact details of geass, but they know that something is up. During their last meeting they may have noticed that Alice's geass is not unlimited.

"Dalque, let's switch."

Dalque sighs, "Fine. This old guy is annoying anyways."

They maneuver so that their opponents have their back to each other. Of course there is about a hundred yards between them. Dalque moves first jumping over Senba. Dalque uses her geass to push her nightmare forward through the air. This allows Alice to travel unimpeded on the ground. All four Japanese soldiers are prepared to fight Alice and Dalque. Senba fires repeatedly at Alice who uses her geass to avoid getting hit. Then he begins to wave his sword blade around randomly. Alice is forced to back up. She begins to think about ways to get around to Senba's rear, but it is obvious that he is expecting this.

Asahina keeps moving away from Dalque avoiding the brunt of her hits.

"Come back here, you coward!" Dalque screams.

Alice notices that Senba and Asahina are trying to keep the fight at a distance to lessen the effect of their geass. Alice moves quickly towards Asahina hoping to catch him off-guard. She manages to catch but he manages to shrug her off before Dalque can deliver the killing blow.

"_That was a smart move, young lady," _Senba states, _"But we have you figured out. In all your battles you come in close to use your special powers. We just have to keep out distance."_

"Cowards," Dalque comments, "Keep your distance from this!"

Dalque throws her lance towards Senba with all her power.

"Alice!"

"I'm on it."

The lance hits Senba's knightmare through the leg. Asahina comes over quickly to take it out. Alice is able to land quick blows on them, but the Japanese soldiers continue to move away.

"These jerks aren't going to fight fair," Dalque remarks.

Suddenly there is a scream heard throughout the battlefield.

"Suzu!"

Suzaku and Tohdoh continue to clash while Urabe is doing his best to avoid Nunnally.

"_Maybe I should have fought the old guy or the four eyes. It looks they are giving Alice and Dalque a good fight."_

"_You talk a big for a little girl."_

"_Why not I'm the best knightmare pilot in the world."_

"_You sound cocky to me."_

"_If you would stop running away, you would find out,"_ Nunnally says with a smirk.

"_If you're so good, then you won't have any problems catching me,"_ Urabe retorts, _"Looks like your boyfriend isn't having such a fun time."_

Suzaku is struggling in his battle with Tohdoh. The truth of the matter is that he is unsure about what he is fighting for. Suzaku follows Nunnally who unquestionably follows Lelouch even though she doesn't now what his ultimate goal will be. Does Lelouch want to rule the world to bring it true peace or does he want to control everyone? Unlike Kallen, Suzaku is not absolute in his devotion to the cause.

Suzaku backs away for a moment.

"_Sensei, you cannot win," _Suzaku looks down at his hands, _"There is not a person on Earth who can stop Lelouch," _Other than Nunners, I hope. Suzaku thinks.

Tohdoh stops as well.

"_What is your point, Suzaku?" _Tohdoh asks, "_Am I supposed to stop fighting for what I believe? Didn't I train you to always fight for your beliefs?"_

Suzaku nods, _"Hai sensei."_

"_A man should never enter the battlefield if he is unsure of his convictions. If you are unsure about your actions, then you shouldn't be fighting."_

Suzaku charges Tohdoh to prove his conviction. Tohdoh avoids Suzaku's attacks.

"_Why are you avoiding confrontation, sensei?" _Suzaku asks, _"The longer you wait, the more time you give to the Britannian forces."_

"_Yes, but we take you down with us."_

Suzaku considers the situation. Any Britannia forces that come will let the battle to continue uninterrupted. Suzaku doesn't notice that Tohdoh is guiding the battle towards Nunnally and Urabe. Suddenly Urabe jumps towards Suzaku. Luckily his blaze luminous activates, but it is quickly put to its limits when Tohdoh attacks him from the other side. Suzaku loses his left arm and is pushed to the ground.

"Suzu!" Nunnally screams and attacks Urabe and Tohdoh.

"_Damn! She damaged my arm," _Urabe states, _"Maybe it's time to hit the road." _

Urabe motions to the half dozen Japanese knightmare that hid for this moment.

Suzaku's knightmare is too damaged to stand properly. The recently arrived Japanese knightmares raise their rifles at Suzaku.

"_Is this what your honor is worth, sensei?" _Suzaku asks grudgingly.

"_I am sorry, Suzaku, but this is war," _Tohdoh says with his head lowered as he and Urabe keep Nunnally from shielding Suzaku.

"_I concur with that sentiment."_

A single blast destroys the other Japanese knightmares leaving Tohdoh and the Holy Swords stunned.

"_What the hell is that thing?" _Urabe asks.

"Big brother."

"_Whatever it is, it's mine," _Urabe states as he rushes through the air at Lelouch.

Urabe's blade crashes against Lelouch's shield while Lelouch's sword slices Urabe's knightmare in half. Urabe's ejection pod comes out awkwardly causing him to crash into the ground.

"_Urabe!" _Asahina screams, _"Senba let's go."_

"_Hai." _

Asahina and Senba rush at Lelouch with their assault rifles out. Lelouch does not bother turning to face Asahina and Senba. He simply fires his slash harkens towards them. His druid system predicts their movements, and the slash harkens disarm them. The two Japanese soldiers are stunned for moment. That is all Lelouch needs to fire his wrist hadron cannons at them. The hadron blast slams into the torso of both knightmares. They are ejected automatically before their knightmares explode. Tohdoh cannot believe that in a matter of minutes Lelouch has defeated Urabe, Senba, and Asahina.

"_You seem to be confused, Tohdoh-san,"_ Lelouch states, _"As I explained to Naoto's friends back in Tokyo before I killed them. I am the best knightmare pilot in the world in the best knightmare ever created. You may not be a fourth rate hack, but you do not stand a chance."_

"_Is that so?"_

"_Not only that, but I do not have any problem killing you and your men. If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow."_

"_So be it."_

Tohdoh rushes at Lelouch.

"_Sensei, don't do it!" _Suzaku yells.

"_Pipe down Kururugi."_

Tohdoh and Lelouch clash swords.

"_Did I come in to fast for your shield?" _Tohdoh asks with as smirk.

"_Don't be silly. I do not need to bother with such a thing to defeat you."_

Lelouch pushes Tohdoh back and immediately begins to charge the Zero beam. Tohdoh notices this and quickly moves to the side. Lelouch cancels the beam.

"_That is an interesting weapon," _Tohdoh comments.

"_It is a mere tool," _Lelouch comments, _"Like other pawns and puppets in this game, it moves like I want it to."_

Tohdoh rushes Lelouch once more. Lelouch maneuvers his sword so that his hands are point towards Tohdoh's knightmare. Lelouch fires his hadron cannon and destroys Tohdoh's legs. Tohdoh flies his knightmare back.

"_You may think that a useless move since your knightmare can still fly. However considering that flying wastes energy while standing does not, this battle will not last much longer."_

"_Very well. Let's end this."_

Tohdoh makes the predicable move of rushing Lelouch while activating his knightmare's self-destruct sequence. Unfortunately Lelouch's defense shield self activates to its maximum setting. Tohdoh manages to escape as his knightmare explodes. He staggers to his feet and grins watching the blast from his knightmare.

"_So much for the best knightmare ever created."_

However horror quickly overtakes Tohdoh as the Titan Mirage floats in the air unscathed. Lelouch sets his knightmare down and exits it. Tohdoh can barely stand.

"_You may recognize this sword. It is a Sumeragi family heirloom and has seen many battles. Now I am going to kill you with it," _Lelouch raises his sword, "_It is really a shame because I rather like you, Tohdoh Kyoshiro."_

Lelouch swings his sword only to have a slash harken stop him. Despite stopping his motion, the slash harken is destroyed by the sword.

"Big brother, stop. He is my prisoner."

Lelouch sighs and puts his sword away.

"_You are lucky that I did not use Scooter for this. I just thought a proud Japanese soldier should be killed with a proud Japanese sword," _Lelouch begins to walk away, _"Nunnally saved you this time. You will not be so lucky next time. The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed. But you already know that, don't you," _Lelouch boards his knightmare, "Major Sanderson. Major Goodley, secure the prisoners."

Everybody just notices that Lelouch is not alone. There are two dozen knightmares waiting nearby.

Later that night Nunnally, Suzaku, Alice, and Dalque are sitting in silence.

"Those jerks don't fight fair," Dalque pouts, "Then the magical prince flies in with his overpowered mecha and takes them out without breaking a sweat. I wonder if he was even paying attention to the battle. Jerk was probably playing chess against Evelyn or Schniezel at the same time."

Nunnally pounds the table which surprises everyone because Nunnally is usually calm.

"We have to train to get better. We cannot have big brother lording this over us. He handled them like they were Level One bad guys."

"Nunners."

"It's true, Suzu. No more Miss Nice Nunnally. From now on we train until we are as good as big brother and his team."

Suzaku finds himself nodding. It is true that Lelouch and his subordinates work quite well together. Suzaku would not be surprised if Kallen and Milly, even though there are hundreds miles away, are working a part of Lelouch's plan without the need for communication.

"Nunnally is right," Alice states, "We can never beat guys like that because they work as a team."

Nunnally squeezes Alice.

"I knew you would side with me, Alice."

"Let's get moving. We can't get better sitting around."

* * *

Kallen is fighting her way through a Chinese mook squad.

"These guys are absolutely useless. We did they even bother showing up."

"Your highness, there are more coming."

Kallen charges her radiant wave surger.

"I will handle them. Stay here and protect the palace."

"Yes your highness."

Meanwhile moving through the other side of the Forbidden City are Xingke and a few select soldiers. Their aim is to get the empress or someone else that they can trade for her. Just their luck they happen to run into someone important.

'_Are you guys here to kidnap Lihua?' _Euphie asks.

This comment causes Xingke to growl.

'_How dare you refer to the empress by her name!'_

'_Because we're friends, and unlike some people here,' _Euphie gestures towards the Chinese soldiers, _'I am royalty so it is not that strange,' _Euphie grins, _'You must be the clingy guy that Lihua talks about.' _

Xingke's only response is a grunt.

'_Just as I though. You are nothing but a commoner," _Euphie gets all serious, _'You are not taking Lihua away from here.'_

'_We don't need to get the empress when you are available.' _

'_You don't actually think you can win. You are less than a speed bump on the road. That's why you are afraid to fight Kallen.'_

Xingke signals for two of is men to apprehend Euphie causing her to smile.

'_You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?'_

Euphie snaps her fingers, and Britannia soldiers begin to surround her.

'_Everybody out!_' Xingke commands his men.

Chinese soldiers run towards their knightmares and transportation as quick as they can. Xingke quickly goes back for Euphie, however he is met by a slender white knightmare.

"Unfortunately I cannot allow you to take the princess," Anya states, "Allow me to introduce knightmare frame Iseult Ice."

**Iseult Ice  
**Height: 5.92 meters  
Weight: 6.79 metric tons  
**Design features:  
**Factsphere sensor  
Cockpit ejection system  
Landspinner propulsion system  
Blaze Luminous  
Integrated Air Glide Wing System  
Druid System  
Color: white with light pink edges.  
**Armament  
**4x Stark Hadron Cannon  
Miniature Proximity Missile Launchers  
2 x shoulder mounted Slash Harkens  
2x hip mounted Slash harkens  
2 x Stun Tonfa  
1x maser vibration sword  
Multiplex chaos mines

"Prepare to meet your doom, Li Xingke," Anya says in a monotone voice.

Xingke is pushed back.

'_Do not disregard the power of my Shen Long.' _

**Shén Lóng  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 4.53 meters  
**Weight:** 9.33 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Design Features  
**Air Glide Wing System  
Landspinner propulsion system  
**Armament  
**2x Electrified Wrist Slash Harken  
Baryon Cannon  
Short Sword

Xingke charges at Anya who simply moves out of the way.

'_Damn that knightmare is fast.'_

Anya slams down at Xingke with her MVS. He uses his slash harkens to block the blow. Anya goes back into the air so Xingke fires at her with his baryon cannon. Anya responds with her hadron cannon. After both energy blasts dissipate, Anya moves in to attack Xingke once more. This time Xingke uses his short sword to block the attack. Anya uses her other arm to pull out a chaos mine and places it on the Shen Long.

"Tag, you're dead."

Xingke quickly flings the chaos mine away sending it towards the palace complex. Anya fires a stark hadron blast that Xingke barely dodges. However the blast damages the palace even more.

"You should be careful, Li Xingke because you might just destroy the palace."

Xingke grunts finally understanding Anya's strategy. Anything that happens to the palace will be blames on him.

'_Commander Li, we must retreat. Britannia forces are beginning to come from the other side of the city including the Red Demon.'_

Suddenly their objective comes into view. Euphemia is standing with the empress not far from the battle.

'_Commander, we must retreat.'_

'_No, the empress is there. That is our objective!'_

'_Commander, it's a trap.'_

Xingke ignores the obvious fact that Euphemia makes an appearance to trap him. In his heart he knows that it is his duty, no his destiny to save the empress. Xingke charges towards Euphemia and the empress, however his path is blocked by several of his own men.

'_Commander, please we must retreat.'_

One of Xingke's men decides that the best thing to do is to go after the empress himself. Euphemia and the empress are revealed to be a hologram. The knightmare is destroyed by hidden cannons. A pink knightmare comes through the smoke.

'_Once again I ask if you thought that this was going to be easy. I know what you thought. With Lelouch in Shanghai and the overly aggressive Kallen in charge, you thought that all had to do was a little misdirection. Allow me to introduce you to Knightmare Frame, Freyja Vanir. Don't bother attacking me because it boasts the best defense of any nightmare ever created.'_

**Freyja Vanir  
****General characteristics  
****Height:** 5.07 meters  
**Weight:** 7.36 metric tons  
**Power Source:** Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler  
**Color: **pink  
**Design Features  
**Absolute Defense Field  
Druid System  
Fortress Mode  
Integrated Air Glide Wing System  
Landspinner propulsion system  
**Armament  
**2x Wrist-mounted Hadron Cannon  
Chest-mounted Diffusion Structure Phase Transition Cannon (a.k.a. Zero Beam)  
Chaff Missile Launcher(s  
2x maser vibration swords  
2x wrist mounted slash harkens  
2x hip mounted slash harkens

'_Where is the empress?'_

'_Who knows,' _Euphemia responds.

'_Retreat,'_ Xingke commands with a heavy heart.

Xingke's force begins to retreat. Anya moves towards Euphemia.

"Let them go, Anya. We have other concerns at hand."

The situation for Xingke is not as easy as just retreating because they are met by the worst possible person.

'_Commander, it is her, the Red Demon' _

'_This is the end of the road, Li Xingke.'_

Kallen fires the radiant wave frying the knightmares that foolishly rush at her.

With a heavy heart Xingke continues his retreat.

'_Why are you running, Li Xingke?_' Kallen asks, _'Isn't the empress your objective?'_

A third knightmare shows up besides Anya and Euphemia. It sets down Zhou Xianglin and the Chinese empress.

'_If you defeat me in battle, the empress and Xianglin are yours.'_

'_Commander Li, we need to retreat. It's a trap.'_

'_Euphemia, take the empress away,' _Kallen says with a smirk, '_I guess Li Xingke's devotion is not what we believed it to be'_

Xingke quickly thinks of the last six years that he has served the empress. Everything from her saving his life to his promise to take her out to the outside world. He watches as Xianglin takes her away. He sees tears coming out of he little eyes.

'_I accept your challenge, Kallen kou Britannia.'_

* * *

Author's note: Now the question is will Kallen fight fair or has Lelouch been a bad influence on her.

Evelyn geassed Mao to forget about his previous life especially CC and even his own name and geass. He believes that he is Zero. As long as he doesn't see CC, he will remain that way.

Princes and princesses hooking up with knights or subordinates is nothing new. There is a reason why the previous Knight of Three and the current Knight of Seven are so loyal to Guinevere. Now the question is who is controlling who.

Lelouch took care of the Japanese mini boss squad in a few minutes because he is the best in the world. At the moment only Kallen or Anya could challenge him for the title.

Anya's knightmare is different. It retains the stark hadron cannons of the Mordred but can also be used for in close fighting. Just as Lelouch's knightmares have changed from simply distance fighting models to close combat models, so has Anya's. It makes sense since she is Lelouch's apprentice going back to their West Point days. There is reason why she is assigned to protect Euphie.

The Shen Long is the Shen Hu with a few minor adaptations. The original Shen Hu is with Naoto although it has a few geass inspired changes. The Freyja Vanir is a pink version of the Titan Mirage/Shinkiro. Obviously Euphie doesn't work the absolute defense shield the same way Lelouch does. Her shield is more automatic like the blaze luminous so it takes up more energy than when Lelouch uses it. Although if Euphie takes control of the shield commands, it wastes less energy.


	81. Blind Devotion

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.  
**Leo Tolstoy**

A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.  
**Thomas Carlyle**

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject_.  
_**Winston Churchill**

* * *

**Tuesday, March 4, 2019 **

'_I accept your challenge, Kallen kou Britannia.'_

Kallen smiles, _'Good. You should probably tell your men to spread out so that they do not get in the way.'_

'_Commander, this is a bad idea,' _One of Xingke's soldiers states.

'_Will Princess Euphemia honor your word?' _Xingke asks ignoring the concern of his men.

'_Of course, she will.,' _Kallen answers.

'_Lieutenant, have the men take their knightmares away from here.'_

The Chinese soldiers do as Xingke asks. Xingke grabs hold of the Shen Long's controls and prepares to fight Kallen. Kallen begins to do the same. Xingke is not sure about fighting over the Forbidden City although it appears that it is mostly empty. Over in Beijing, the city appears to be quite vibrant despite the fact that there is a war going on.

Aboard the Avalon, Deithard Reid is making sure that his cameramen are in the right position to capture Kallen's victory. Earlier today several cameramen are with Lelouch when he defeats Tohdoh and the Holy Swords although that footage will have to be edited. The cameramen will also capture the brilliance of Lelouch's plan being conducted by Kallen. The Chinese rebels will have their head cut off today. Not only will Xingke fall but so will the rest of his force.

Marika Soresi is leading strike on the headquarters of Li Xingke's rebel group. While there are other smaller rebel groups further south, Xingke has the elite troops with him. Once those soldiers are gone, the rest of the rebels will fall.

"Major Soresi, the enemy hideout has been found."

"Very well. Inform Captain Vergamon. Her force will make the first strike."

Although not a huge issue between the two friends, Marika's higher rank is at times a sore spot for her best friend. It certainly is not Marika's fault that her princess sees more action.

"Now to give these Chinese bastards a surprise. All units turn cloaking devices on. We are past the point of no return."

Every piece of machinery in Marika's force has camouflage and stealth capabilities. The only problem is that they waste a lot of energy. Not an issue if you bring along some transports with energy fillers. Of course if the enemy has a few scouts wandering around, they can spot you and ruin the surprise. With the majority of Marika's force coming from Irkutsk, they slip through without being spotted since the Chinese forces are concerned with the route to Beijing.

"The princess is doing her part. Now it's time for us to do ours. Captain Vergamon, the attack is your hands," Marika says as she turns off her communciator, "Now let's see how this new system works."

It only takes Liliana seconds to issue the order to attack.

Kallen and Xingke spend a few minutes sizing each other up. Unbeknownst to Xingke, Kallen can fight until late into the next day since her status as a code bearer takes care of the weariness. Meanwhile the Chinese commander is already starting to feel the effects of time; however he pushes on for his empress.

Xingke makes the first big move by firing his baryon cannon only for Kallen to counter it with her radiant wave. Kallen moves in quickly with her fork knife, but Xingke deflects the blow. This however only pushes Kallen to the side; it does not stop her fork knife from slicing the nearest Chinese knightmare. Cecile makes an interesting addition to the Callisto Ultima. Inside the left arm of the knightmare is a chain which can be attached to the fork knife making it work like a more powerful slash harken. In this instance Kallen uses the superior power of her knightmare to swing the chained fork knife through the weaker Chinese knightmares.

'_I am quite certain that I asked you to move those soldiers.' _

Xingke angrily fires the baryon cannon which is again met with the radiant wave. This time however Kallen swings the fork knife chain towards Xingke. Xingke is able to block it with his short sword, but Kallen yanks it away. A trick she learns from Lelouch except he uses his slash harkens. Kallen swings the fork knife once more, and this time uses the hand gun built into her left arm as well. Xingke is forced to use his electrified wrist slash harkens. Kallen fires her chest mounted missiles. This causes Xingke to move, and he is hit by Kallen's hand gun shots.

Xingke effortlessly picks up his short sword and charges Kallen. This time Kallen use her chest slash harkens to attempt to disarm Xingke only his electrified slash harked are stronger. Kallen's fork knife is still out there so she quickly yanks it back towards Xingke. He notices the movement of her hands and turns to knock the fork knife off the chain. Kallen uses her hip slash harkens to pull her towards Xingke's knightmare. She is able to quickly fry his right arm before he breaks it off. Xingke quickly spins around and activates his baryon cannon hoping to catch Kallen off guard, but her radiant wave is already activated.

The resulting blast pushes them apart. Kallen uses the opportunity to pull out her second fork knife and puts it to use by slicing several more Chinese knightmares. Xingke tries to catch her off guard with the baryon cannon. This time Kallen simply moves out of the way and fires her hand gun. Xingke responds with another baryon cannon blast. Kallen moves out of the way again. This time she swings her fork knife towards Xingke. He tries to use his remaining slash harken to block the attack, but his knightmare fails to respond. The fork knife slashes through Xingke's left arm. Kallen retracts the knife fork and swings it once more to slice through Xingke's legs. Kallen charges her radiant wave and moves in for the kill.

'_You must be asking yourself why your knightmare is down and mine is still moving. After all I have used my radiant wave about as many times as you have used your cannon. In addition to that, I have used my hand gun and fork knife chain,' _Kallen taps her head as she stops before the defenseless Shen Long running on emergency power, _'Did you really think I would get into this fight without changing my energy filler?' _

Xingke cannot believe he is outsmarted by a Britannian princess.

"Kill them all. The only important one is Xingke," Kallen orders, "Euphie, you may return the empress to the Avalon. Anya, Sora, secure the prisoner."

Later that night Kallen is having a video conference with Lelouch, Milly, and Jeremiah (who luckily has the advantage of being a later time zone).

"So the operation was successful," Lelouch comments.

"Yes, we have captured Li Xingke," Kallen responds, "Marika and Liliana also damaged the Chinese forces that stayed at their base. However they were not able to find Naoto or Rolo."

Lelouch twists his mouth a bit.

"I have no doubt that they will turn up somewhere. Perhaps back in Europe only this time on the other side. They worked with Schniezel before."

"I am moving forward with the attack from Siberia," Milly states.

"Good. Once everything is wrapped up in Beijing, Liliana and Sora will head north. Marika and Anya will remain in Beijing," Lelouch replies, "I was hoping to send Sancia, Lucretia, Alice, and Dalque north, but Nunnally insists on keeping the latter two with her. Not that it matters since the kids can work the system as well. Villetta will remain in Shanghai and take control of the front here. With the capture of Xingke, the other factions should not last long," Lelouch smiles, "If things are not resolved in a week, I will unleash Luciano on them."

"Is that wise, your highness?" Jeremiah asks.

Luciano's reputation as the Vampire of Britannia is known throughout the world. The last thing some poor Chinese rebel needs is having the most vicious person at Lelouch's disposal unleashed on them. There are times when not even Aphrodite can control him. At the moment he is sitting in Hong Kong allowing her to command their force.

"He will be a last resort. However Edward down south continues to be our biggest problem. At this rate India will have reasonable claim to independence. I have been thinking of sending Nunnally down there. Her group is looking for a way to redeem themselves. A trip to India might be what she needs."

The others nod in agreement. Keeping Nunnally happy is always at the top of Lelouch's list.

"Hannah and Chelsea will be in charge of communications between Shanghai and Beijing. For the moment they will also be in charge of communications with Japan. While not a dangerous assignment, it gives them a something to do and an independent command. Lilicia is in charge of my military matters so contact her for anything in that regards."

Jeremiah nods at Lelouch's creative way to keep his little sisters safe

"Is there anything else?" Lelouch asks. When the others shake their heads, he nods, "Very well."

Once Lelouch stands up, Lilicia sits down.

"Hey brother."

However her presence is short-lived because Castor and Pollux shove her to the ground.

"Hey sister Kallen!"

"Waits I want to talk with sister Millys."

The twins begin to fight so Lilicia tries to get back, but the twins stop her.

"Boys stop this," Evelyn states sitting down on the chair, "Hey sister Kallen."

Now Hannah joins in on the action by pushing Evelyn to the side.

"Hey it's brother."

However the Gottwald sisters are no match for the kids and their ninja skills which they learn from Sayoko. Lelouch just stands there shaking his head.

"You guys are idiots."

"That is not nice, big brother," Evelyn states.

Lelouch walks over and punches a few buttons on the keyboard.

"See that's all it takes. Really what are they teaching in schools these days if people can't even do a simple video conference re-route. Now little Hannah and Lili can talk with Jeremiah. And the munchkins can talk with my Kalli and Millsies."

"I will be sure to put that on the kindergarten curriculum," Milly responds sarcastically.

"You better. How am I supposed to take over the world if my subordinates can't even handle a simple video conference," Lelouch shakes his head, "My head hurts. I'm going to play with Scooter."

Jeremiah looks confused.

"Is Scooter some type of game or did the prince meet some Chinese kid and name him Scooter?"

Jeremiah is hoping for the former, but expects the latter.

"It's the name of his sword," Lilicia responds, "Don't worry Ayame will stop him from killing anyone. She seems to be pretty good at that."

* * *

In the morning Lilicia goes to get Lelouch for his morning meeting. She finds him in the shower, but on his bed sound asleep are Ayame, Sancia, and Lucretia. The latter looks particularly satisfied. Lilicia feels slender but muscular arms wrapping around her. Light kisses begin to dot her neck.

"Are you jealous, Lili? Do you wish it was you in that bed?" Lelouch asks.

Lilicia steps away from Lelouch.

"Princess Nunnally is waiting for you in the conference room. As you requested the situation in India as at the top of the agenda and all material and maps dealing with the issue are on the screens and walls."

"Thank you Lieutenant Gottwald. I will head to the conference room now. Wake Ayame up and tell her to get ready."

Lelouch manages to give Lilicia a kiss on the cheek. Lelouch exits the room and prepares for his meeting with Nunnally. He has to find a way to convince her to go to India. Although knowing Nunnally, she probably already figured it out. Moments later Lilicia joins Lelouch so he decides to take his time walking to the conference room.

As expected Nunnally's group is looking over the information on India. Also in the room are the kids, Villetta, Hannah, and Chelsea. Lilicia quickly moves away from Lelouch making it obvious that she does not mind his advances. Lelouch being Lelouch ignores their looks and sits down. A faint aroma of pizza hit their nostrils as VV and CC enter the room. The Gottwald sisters and Chelsea have not been properly introduced to the two code bearers so they eagerly await the introduction which does not come. As Lelouch takes his seat, Ayame comes into the room. Lelouch shrugs and motions for Ayame and Lilicia to begin the meeting. Sancia and Lucretia walk in as the meeting starts.

"With the capture of several rebel leaders, things are already starting to calm down in Area 24," Ayame states, "Throughout the night and into the morning; Mr. Reid has been broadcasting the events."

Everyone knows about that part of Lelouch's plan. They have been watching Kallen's defeat of Xingke and the edited battle with Tohdoh's group.

"We will begin to make inquiries to the remaining rebel groups," Ayame continues, "It is our hope that they surrender."

"But isn't Xingke their best guy?" Nunnally asks, "Shouldn't they just give up?"

"Yes, Xingke is their best leader, but that doesn't mean that the local leaders, many who have held power for decades, will surrender," Lelouch answers.

"That's dumb," Dalque comments, "If they can't win, why do they bother fighting?"

"Dalque don't interrupt," Lucretia remarks.

"I wiil answer Dalque's question. They fight because their power is going to be taking away," Lelouch answers, "We will wait a few days until things settle down. In the meantime we will begin to expand our area of control. From there we will begin to push west."

Lelouch does not tell them about his plan to bend Korea and Mongolia to his will. At the moment they are semi-autonomous but that will end soon.

"Speaking of the situation out west. We have a considerable problem in India. Our old friend Rakshata is using whatever she can get her hands on to make knightmares. Given the current situation, I believe she may sell a few to the remaining Chinese rebels. Unfortunately she can get supplies from Russia through Kazakhstan."

"Perhaps Prince Edward can shift something in that direction," Villetta comments.

"I suppose he can, but at the moment he is stuck in Burma," Lelouch sighs, "I would replace him or turn over control of his area to Luciano and Aphrodite, but it would cause irreparable damage to our relationship, " As opposed to fucking his wife which Lelouch did less than three months ago. Of course the others don't know about that.

"Then maybe I should go there and handle the issue myself," Villetta responds.

"No, I need you here to establish the military hierarchy while I concentrate on finishing off any remaining rebels. More to the point we don't have enough soldiers or materials to open another front in India."

"Then maybe I should go, big brother," Nunnally states.

"Actually I wanted you to go back to Japan. You are viceroy after all."

"But Kagy is doing a good job. Besides it isn't like there is much to do there. Not with the economy doing well and we are getting some good recruits from there."

The last statement is true. Of Britannia's (Lelouch's) recent conquests only South Africa and Indochina provide better soldiers than Japan.

"I suppose, but this time you will have to follow the mission plan," Lelouch is talking about their failure to overwhelm and capture Tohdoh, "The mission is simple. Capture Rakshata and her team. Destroy whatever you cannot bring with you."

Nunnally nods, "Who is going with me?"

"Take your team especially those trained by Sayoko. Their skills will be useful. Take Sancia and Lucretia with you. Their new drone system was effective against the Indian defense systems. Of course you need to recall Sayoko."

"Anyone else."

"Let me see. Oh Belle should be arriving soon. You can take her and her airship. I love that thing."

"Isn't a giant Cookie Monster sort of against the idea of being covert?"

Lelouch smiles that grin that frightens his enemies and turns his women on.

"Yes, yes, it is. Lilicia and Ayame will provide you with all the information you need," Lelouch stands, "Villetta, Hannah, and Chelsea, come with me."

Lilicia and Ayame begin to go over the situation in India with Nunnally's group. They send a coded message to Sayoko to inform her of the situation. They spend the day choosing troops for the different parts of the mission. Several small groups will be attacking along the coast distracting the rebels. A small group led by Sayoko will go in and find Rakshata. After that the Irregulars will use the geass enhancing system to send the drones in to finish the job.

Lelouch takes Villetta, Hannah, and Chelsea to the knightmares hangar where Cecile is waiting.

"Hey Cecile, I brought over little Hannah and Chelsea."

"They don't look like much," Lloyd mumbles from the other side of the room.

"I suppose they don't," Lelouch responds, "Tailor Legacy Command Models to their specifications. From there begin to make them specialized knightmares from my plans."

Lloyd looks over at Lelouch.

"You mean the Thanatos and Tartarus. Aren't they a little overpowered for these girls?"

"I think they can handle them. Are the Hade and Tartarus ready?"

Cecile answers, "Yes your highness. They are on their way here. The Yomi and Yokai are nearing completion. The Excalibur III is also on its way."

The last bit of new surprises Lelouch who isn't expecting his new airship to be completed so soon. The Excalibur III is the largest airship created thus far. Due to its size, it requires a lot of energy. To ensure that there are no problems, the airship also features solar panels and some systems run on oil. Lelouch's conquest of the Middle East gives him an overabundance of the latter.

"I see that is good to hear," Lelouch comments, "Are the Shinigami and Valkyrie in Beijing?"

"Yes."

"I take it that you have already begun to convert the original Excalibur into a floating lab."

Both Cecile and Lloyd nod.

"I guess Hannah and Lilicia can have this airship once the new one arrives."

"Princess Isabelle dropped off plans for her next project," Lloyd states, "It is a knightmare named Elmo, and yes it is what you are thinking."

"Belle has her own budget so just get it from there. Make sure that she has a Legacy Command Model for her trip to India. She most likely isn't going to use it, but I want her to have the best available knightmare."

"Of course, your highness. Cecile don't dawdle take the two specimens, I mean girls to the simulator."

Lelouch signals for Hannah and Chelsea to follow Cecile. After they leave, he takes Villetta to the lower part of the knightmare hangar, the holding place of the Titan Mirage. Beside the Titan Mirage is a black knightmare holding a wicked looking scythe.

"This is knightmare frame Charon. With it you will guide my enemies to the afterlife."

"Your highness, I am not worthy of such an honor."

"That may be, but this is your knightmare," Lelouch exhales, "To be honest with you, Cecile is the one who insisted on making this knightmare for you. I will remain with you here in Shanghai for the most part. I must also travel to Beijing and Irkutsk to make sure that matters there are progressing."

"I will not fail you, your highness."

"As soon as Lloyd and Cecile get Hannah and Chelsea some Legacy Command Models, I want you to fight them with Charon. So if you don't want to be a disappointment, you had better look over the manual and get used to the controls"

"Yes your highness."

Lelouch leaves Villetta to get to work and heads back to his room. Waiting for him at the door is Nunnally.

"Isabelle and Shirley are here."

Lelouch nods.

"We're going back to the Boudicca to plan some things out," Nunnally states as she begins to walk away.

"I love you, Nunnally."

Nunnally pauses before turning around and smiling.

"I love you too, big brother."

With that Nunnally walks away, and Lelouch begins to search for Isabelle and Shirley. It doesn't take him long to find them because they are in the family lounge next to Lelouch's room.

"Um Lelo, um Lulu!" little Elizabeth yells out.

Lelouch lifts up Shirley's daughter.

"Hey little one, how are you?" Elizabeth giggles, "Here sit down with your mom," Lelouch sets her down next to Shirley.

"Hey Lelouch, is that Lloyd guy here?" Isabelle asks.

"Yes, he is down in the knightmare hangar working on some projects including yours."

Isabelle smiles, "Good because I have some more ideas."

Isabelle looks over at Shirley as she reaches the door.

"Don't worry about Shirley. I can get one of the twins' nannies to look after Elizabeth. There are plenty of servants here to look after Shirley."

Isabelle nods and leaves the room.

"Lelouch, I don't want to be a burden," Shirley comments.

"Nonsense, let me call someone to take care of things," Lelouch responds.

A few minutes later several servants and the kids come into the room.

After Nunnally's team leaves, Lilicia goes over to check on Hannah and Chelsea. They are going over knightmare blueprints with Lloyd and Cecile.

"Are those the new knightmare plans?" Lilicia asks.

Hannah nods, "Yes, it's a little scary knowing that if I screw up, I am wasting millions of pounds worth of investment."

Lilicia knows this of course. That is the reason why she chooses to work as Lelouch's assistant rather than out in the field. Lilicia notices a very familiar signature on the blueprints.

"Why did Prince Lelouch sign these blueprints?" Lilicia asks.

"Because his highness designed these knightmares," Cecile responds.

"Really he thought of all this cool stuff."

Lloyd grumbles a little from the other side of the roof.

"Well he created the basic structure. Most of the weapon systems were created by Lloyd," Cecile answers, "I helped with the energy systems. Rakshata and a few others helped with several things."

Lloyd grumbles even more at the mention of Rakshata's name.

"Let's have a match cousin Villetta and Lili versus me and Hannah," Chelsea comments.

Of course Lloyd thinks it's a good idea since you can never get too much data, and he has very little data on Lilicia.

Villetta also thinks it is a good idea, but restricts action to the simulator for now. Much to everyone's surprise Lilicia kicks their butts on the simulator. Lloyd nearly creams his pants at her scores.

"You may be good in here, but we will see when get in real knightmare," Hannah states.

"Well I do not know, I am pretty busy with work for his highness," Lilicia responds.

"He says you can have tomorrow off to participate in a knightmare battle," Lloyd remarks.

Everyone but Cecile looks at Lloyd. Lloyd notices this and looks down at his shirt.

"Is there something on my face or something?"

"How does his highness know about this?" Lilicia asks.

"His highness is informed of anyone using these particular simulators. Anyone that Lloyd and Cecile bother to observe personally must be of importance," Villetta responds, "A quick message to or from Cecile probably informed him of the specifics."

Cecile nods in agreement, "Knowing him, he is probably working on securing a location and knightmares for the fight."

"Yes, yes, off you go to rest up. We can't have you being tired for the big fight," Lloyd says excitedly.

Villetta stays to speak with Cecile and Lloyd.

"Did he plan on this?" Villetta asks.

"Something like it," Cecile responds, "If not this than a larger sparing session against Princess Nunnally's team."

"However this will show the true skills of those girls," Lloyd comments, "He may even have some surprises for us."

Villetta sighs and exits the room.

**Thursday, March 6, 2019 **

The next morning is quite routine for Lilicia. She meets with Ayame to plan Lelouch's schedule. They balance military and civil matters. Today is Lilicia's day to get Lelouch for his morning meetings. As usual he is exercising with the twins and Evelyn. Today Isabelle and Elizabeth join them. Shirley sits and watches.

"Hey it's Lili!" One of the twin screams.

"Come stretches with us. Looks Sister Belle, Lili can stretch really far."

Lilicia being of slender and lanky build can stretch really far. A fact that amazes the twins who even at their young age can no longer perform the splits.

"Come on boys. There isn't any time for that. We still have hit the weights for fifteen minutes."

The twins begin to flex. They love showing off their weightlifting abilities. Lilicia decides that now is a good time to discuss the proposed knightmare battle. Lelouch obviously senses her uneasiness and comments on the situation first.

"Hannah and Chelsea requested Bors for the knightmare battle. I thought about declining the request and forcing all four of you to use Ios, but I figured that Villetta would have an unfair advantage since she was one of the test pilots for it. Don't worry I have something special for you."

The mention of the knightmare battle catches the twins' attention

"Are you going to fight someones, big brother?"

"Maybe," Lelouch thinks about things, "We should cut our morning work short. Clean up and go to your lessons. I will send Ayame to pick you guys when it is time to begin."

Lelouch leaves to prepare for his morning meetings. Lelouch wants to give the remaining rebels a few days to deal with the loss of Xingke before moving. That does not mean that Lelouch is staying still. Little by little his forces are extending their territory. Lelouch also makes a few calls to prepare for tonight's knightmare battle. He secures an appropriate location. A little before noon several airships arrive from the northeast. The Excalibur III, Yokai, Yomi, Tartarus, and Hades are flying towards Shanghai.

"I guess Cecile and Lloyd weren't kidding about those airships. Ayame."

"Yes, your highness."

"Begin transferring everything over to the Excalibur III. Begin with the Titan Mirage and the knightmare engineers. Cecile and Lloyd will transfer their projects to the Excalibur I. After that move the kids and their tutors. I will decide on the command staff later."

"Yes your highness."

"Inform Nunnally that her new airship is here. It is the Yokai. Have the prisoners transferred to the Yomi. Chiba will take them back to Japan for judgment. I am going to go see the Excalibur III myself. Have Villetta and Lilicia join me."

"I will see to it."

Ayame leaves to attend to her duties. Within half an hour Lelouch is joined by Villetta and Lilicia aboard a transport. The Titan Mirage is already aboard the new airship. A combination of Ayame's efficiency and Cecile's thinking ahead probably has something to do with it. Even the kids are aboard the new airship, although that may just be due to their general curiosity since the airships have been visible for some time.

Lelouch takes them down to the Titian Mirage's holding area which is off limits to everyone but its technicians. In fact only Lelouch can come down alone.

"Lilicia, put your hand on the scanner. After that you will have to put your eye up to the retina scanner."

After Lelouch gives Lilicia and Villetta access, he leads them down into the hangar. He leads past the Titan Mirage to the other side of the hangar where two identical knightmares stand. Villetta instantly recognizes them.

"It is the Titan."

"No, it is not," Lelouch responds.

Lilicia at first believer they are Ios, but up close they look different. They only knightmare she has seen up close are Ios. She has been around a few Bors but only at a distance. Unlike her sister Hannah who trains to be a frontline soldier, her time at West Point includes some light basic training and is tailored for her future as Lelouch's aide. This means that Lilicia has never actually been in a moving knightmare although her simulation scores are almost as high as Lelouch and Gino's.

"As Villetta probably knows the first Titan was the basis for the Io series of knightmares. The second Titan was the perfection of that series. The Titan Mk. III was the prototype for the seventh generation knightmares to come. Of course you know that because it was your personal knightmare."

"What are these?" Lilicia asks.

"I was just getting to that. Unfortunately there is not enough time or money to make eighth generation mass production knightmares. The problem is that the current knightmares are too high tech and spec for the ordinary soldier which is why they are tailored to fit the needs of their specific pilot. With few exceptions most eighth generation knightmares can only be piloted by one person. While we do have the Legacy Command models, they are nothing more than Bors outfitted with certain features from the Europa Queen. They are not true eighth generation knightmares."

Villetta understands what Lelouch is trying to say first.

"Are you saying that these are the first mass production models?"

"They are more like prototypes. For us to make more they have to perform well."

"Are sister and Chelsea going to pilot these?" Lilicia asks.

"No," Lelouch responds with a smirk, "You two are," This comment causes Lilicia to gasp because she obviously does not want to cause the impediment of an entire generation of knightmare. Lelouch continues, "I understand your concern, but you are perfect for the situation. Their systems are of coursed based on the Io/Titan system that all my knightmares use."

Once again Lilicia is reminded that Lelouch is the developer of these knightmares.

"Allow me to introduce you to the Titan Mk IV. It borrows several features from other knightmares. It has the spread sakuradite method that Lloyd and Cecile like to use now. That makes it the fastest knightmare ever. I figure that only Kallen or Suzaku in their knightmares will be able to keep up with this knightmare's speed," By now Villetta and Lilicia are looking over the knightmare's spec themselves.

"Does it have shielding like the Titan Mirage?" Villetta asks.

"The shielding is more like the blaze luminous than my own shield, but it actually has both," Lelouch responds, "It is more of a front line unit than a command model. It is more of spearhead like the original Titan. The weapon systems are pretty standard, MVS, slash harkens, etc. I had them replace one set of slash harkens with chains similar to what Kallen has. Pretty much anything can be attached to them. The slash harkens themselves are more like knives. The MVS can be replaced with a MVS pole that can be separated to form to small swords that go great with the chain."

"Is the system like the simulator?" Lilicia asks.

"Yes, the exact same thing."

Lilicia grins as that comment.

"Do you think sister will be angry if I beat her?"

Lelouch laughs and walks away.

* * *

A lot of thoughts are swirling through the heads of Hannah Gottwald and Chelsea Nu as they prepare for their knightmare battle. They decide to put other matter aside and prepare for the battle. Their plan is simple. Hannah being the better pilot will take out Lilicia quickly while Chelsea holds off Villetta. Then they can combine for the win. They are quite used to working as a team. They arrive first and select their starting point. They are not paying attention to their opponents entering the make shift arena instead they concentrate on using the environment to their advantage. The no flying rule is in place for the battle. Soon Hannah's attention is drawn to the two black knightmares opposing them.

"Are those Ios?" Hannah asks assuming that their opponents would be using Bors as well.

Chelsea shakes her head, "No, those can't be Ios. Look the lines are different," Chelsea pauses for a moment, "Holy shit! Is that the Titan?"

Every West Point Jr. Academy cadet knows the knightmare created by one of their own. The Titan is basis for every other knightmare created after it.

"It looks like the Titan, but it can't be. Can it?" Hannah asks now very confused.

"I remember that cousin Villetta once had her own Titan. Something like the Titan Mk III. They say that it can go up against a Bors."

Before the girls can continue to contemplate the situation, Lelouch signals for them to get into place for the match to begin. Hannah cannot figure out which one is Lilicia since both knightmare look the same. She figures that Lilicia will come to her since she and Chelsea color coordinate their knightmares.

Once the signal is given, Hannah and Chelsea cautiously but assertively begin to move forward. Suddenly one of the knightmares jumps out at Hannah who is caught off guard by the knightmare's speed. She manages to deflect the first attack. Hannah goes to make her own strike, but the other knightmare moves too quickly for her. If the audience could see Hannah's face, it would look like a good guy anime character when he realizes that the enemy is too much for him. Hannah pushes her knightmare back, but the enemy is quickly in pursuit.

Lilicia quickly recognizes Hannah's knightmare and prepares to charge it. One of the interesting features of the Titan Mk IV is the power distribution system. The pilot can decide where the knightmare's power goes. Lilicia figures that she needs speed to keep up with her opponents. The second feature is called the Zero System. In essence it puts the knightmare completely under the control of the piloting by tapping into their brain. Lilicia can control the knightmare simply by thinking. Lilicia quickly pushes Hannah back into a corner. The odd thing is that Lilicia has yet to withdraw her MVS. She is able to push Hannah back using only her slash harkens, chain and momentum. It does not take long for Hannah to be severely damaged.

On the other side Villetta is having trouble adjusting to the Zero System. She is not able to think fast enough for the system to work. However her pride precludes her from deactivating the system. It doesn't take long for Chelsea to damage her knightmare. As Chelsea goes for the finishing blow, a chain grabs hold of the MVS and pulls it down. Now Lilicia withdraws her own MVS and slams into Chelsea.

Lelouch watches the battle with quite pleased and amused.

"I told you it would work," Lelouch states.

The others just stay quiet. Even VV is amazed that Lelouch's Zero System is so successful. The most important thing, of course, is that Lilicia is not a knightmare pilot. Her intelligence is just below genius level, and her physical ability is above average.

"Your highness, it is apparent that the system is not for everyone. Villetta's failure proves it," Jeremiah responds through video conference.

"Yes, the system has its disadvantages. It would never work with Nunnally or Euphemia because they value human life too much. If they used the system too much, it would make them unable to hurt a fly. Someone like Suzaku may be able to use it if he gives in to his single-minded stubbornness and decides that protecting Nunnally is the most important thing in the world. Obviously Kallen, Milly and I can use the system with minor problems."

One of those minor problems being that it can drive the pilot insane.

"I am just surprised that little girl could handle it," Kallen comments, "I would expect it from the other two girls since they ranked below you and Gino on the all time list at West point."

Lelouch notices a bit of jealousy in Kallen's voice since he personally chose Lilicia to work for him

"That isn't saying much. It isn't like we were at a hundred, and they were at ninety-nine. The difference was so much more. Besides Lilicia's intelligence scores are higher while her physical ability is above average. It makes her the perfect candidate. If Suzaku relied on his physical strength, he would fail. The Zero system like the drone system requires mental strength and focus."

"The system needs some more tests. It is not quite completed," Cecile comments.

"I suppose it does, but at the moment it is only installed in certain knightmares. In addition it can also be shut off."

The discussion is cut off because the four combatants enter the room. Hannah and Chelsea do not look pleased.

"Well done ladies. I think we obtained what we needed," Lelouch states as he walks away. Ayame signals for Lilicia to fall into place at his side. They walk in silence until they reach Lelouch's office.

"How did it feel?" Lelouch asks.

"It felt a little odd," Lilicia responds, "It felt like if the knightmare was reading my thoughts and acting upon them."

"Very well. You two are dismissed for the remainder of the day."

A few minutes after the girls leave, Cecile and Lloyd enter the room.

"What do you two think?"

"The system obviously works if used by the right person," Lloyd states, "I do not agree with you that Suzaku could use it. No matter how he may think."

"I suppose that you are right," Lelouch responds, "Why didn't Hannah and Chelsea use it?"

"I spoke with them in the morning when I gave them their knightmares," Cecile comments, "and explained the Zero System to them. I believe they used it during their training session but decided against using it in the fight."

"Their confidence probably had something to do with it."

"I believe that explains it."

"All the new specialized knightmares have the Zero system," Lloyd states, "as do the new drone systems."

"That shouldn't be a problem for now. It can always be disabled if there is a need," Lelouch states as he gets back to his work.

Lloyd looks over at Cecile and leaves the room allowing Cecile to deal with Lelouch.

**Thursday, March 13, 2019 **

After a week of hassling with Lelouch and others about whom and what she can take, Nunnally departs for India, Sayoko and her teams are already on the move. Others that are trained by Sayoko are departing Areas 10 and 11. Rakshata is previously believed to be in a secret base in the Himalayas, but now she is most likely in Calcutta. From there she can help with the war effort against Edward.

Nunnally's team is departing in several groups. Nunnally is traveling aboard the Yokai while Suzaku commands the Boudicca. They will travel together until they reach India. The Irregulars will all be aboard the Apotheosis and are actually leaving first since they are also escorting the Tartarus as far west as they can. Isabelle and her flying cookie bombs will bring up the rear.

With their personal knightmares being built Hannah and Chelsea take the Titan Mk. IVs. They practice with the Zero System each day. According to Lelouch the key is to control the system and the knightmare not the other way around. VV, Lloyd, and Cecile are in agreement that the Titan Mk IV and the Zero System are monsters that need to be kept secretive. Villetta trains everyday with the Charon to meet Lelouch's expectations.

At the moment Lelouch is having a video conference with his wives (including Euphie) to discuss the current situation. The main topics of discussion are the new knightmares, the renewal of the war in Siberia, and the unexpected transfer of Tohdoh and company to mainland Britannia.

"Let me ask you a question," Kallen states, "Was it your idea to have the radiant wave come out of the MVS on the Shinigami?"

Lelouch smiles at the question.

"Why do you feel I might get sued because I created knightmares that can do the Gestuga Tensho?"

"Did you say knightmares?" Milly asks.

"Yes, other knightmares have the ability to send energy waves through the MVS, although I was the first one to have it."

"I have never seen you through energy waves through your MVS," Kallen comments.

Euphie gasps, "You can do it with Scooter."

"Yes but I have to be wearing a power suit. The new power suits are coming with the latest shipment of weapons and knightmares. Lord Cummins has been working really hard lately down in Area 9."

With all the success that Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata have been having, no one seems to remember that Lord Cummins basically drops off the face of the Earth six years ago. Most assume that he is dead and that Sora is now the head of the household. Not that the old noble does anything to change that perception. Living in the peaceful environment of New Zealand adds a few years to his life.

"Are you sure that Nunnally and Suzaku are going to be all right?" Kaguya asks.

"As long as they follow they follow the plan, there shouldn't be a problem."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy," Carolina states.

"Of course," Lelouch responds, "That is why I thought of several hundred different contingency plans. My favorite is the one in which Scooter and I come in, save the day, and get the girl."

Milly shakes her head, "You already got the girl. In fact you got several different girls to match all of your insane multiple personalities."

Lelouch mumbles something and says, "Do you want to hear some of my plans?"

"Did Nunnally want to hear them before she left?" Euphie asks.

Lelouch doesn't bother lying.

"No, I sent her a copy. Stupid Nunners, Lili likes to listen to my plans."

"It is because you are a living legend to her," Kallen states, "She is Jeremiah's sister for goodness sake."

The others agree.

"I guess so," Lelouch sighs, "Tomorrow I am going to Beijing, but in the morning I am having a knightmare battle with little Hannah and Chelsea."

"Doesn't she get mad when you call her that?" Euphie asks.

"Why, it's her name."

"I am pretty sure that her birth certificate does not say Little Hannah Gottwald."

Lelouch shrugs, "Enough of you people. Put the munchkins on. The kids want to talk with them and say happy birthday to Gabriel."

The twins and Evelyn walk into Lelouch's office with Elizabeth. The presence of Shirley's daughter earns a glare from Kallen since Shirley is supposed to be back in Britannia. Lelouch knows that he is going to have to explain that since Shirley is staying in the Excalibur and is going to Beijing with him.

* * *

Kyoshiro Tohdoh, Ryoga Senba, Kosetsu Urabe, and Shogo Asahina are transferred to a prison on the Britannian mainland almost immediately upon the arrival to Area 22. From what Tohdoh is able to overhear their transfer is not cleared with any of the vi Britannia siblings or their cronies. It is an obvious sign that someone in Britannia is willing to stand up to Lelouch. Tohdoh is under the impression that only the emperor or Schniezel are willing to do such a things as cross Lelouch. Tohdoh is not exactly sure how to feel about that. Their new prison is not the kind of place that instills fear in it occupants.

They hear some commotion at the end of the hall. A finely dressed dark skinned woman is speaking with the guards.

"_I think that's one of those Round Knights,' _Urabe states.

"_Knights of the Round," _Senba corrects_, "But which one is she?"_

Eventually the guards come to get the Japanese soldiers and bring them to a room where the woman is waiting.

"_It is a pleasure to meet you gentlemen," _she states in surprisingly fluent Japanese, "I am Dorothea Ernst, the Knight of Four," she pauses to make sure that they understand her, "His highness would like to have a word with you."

* * *

Author's note: The Zero system basically does what is stated in the chapter. It gives the pilot complete command over the knightmare. Instead of moving a lever or control to move the right arm, the pilot simply thinks it. The physical controls are available, but not necessary. The main problem is that while on the system does not stop probing the brain of the pilot and can develop a conscious conscience. With someone like Euphie and Nunnally who value individual human life a lot more than the others, the system would make them ineffectual pilots because it would begin to affect their mind. The system would make them see all life even those that are enemies as too precious to kill. It would probably do the same for Suzaku, and in his case make him fight Lelouch who is seemingly the bad guy here. For someone like Luciano, the effect would be the opposite. He would see everyone as his enemies if they get in his way. Making him like a crazier version of the canon Luciano if that is possible. For those with a strong mental capacity, it allows them to move a knightmare effortlessly. It obviously works better with more advanced knightmares and pilots. Although the pilot only has to know what the knightmare is capable of for it to work. This is how Lilicia is able to command the Titan Mk. IV so effectively. She knows what the knightmare can do and what weapons it has at its disposal. The system is entirely created by Lelouch. He gets help from some computer programmers to actually make it.

The canon Kallen-Xingke fight always pisses me off because there is no rematch. The other annoying part is that they can't decide how smart or good of pilot Xingke actually is. Lelouch remarks that he is a combination of Lelouch and Suzaku which he obviously isn't. He figures Lelouch out because Lelouch's plan was also Xingke's plan. Meaning that it was the obvious thing to do. The most annoying thing is that they imply that if Kallen has a full energy filler, Xingke suffers the same fate as Kewell. Kallen was also not using the kickass Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight elements. Later on Xingke has problems with Gino who Kallen earlier disabled with minimal effort. Obviously the whole point of their fight is to have Kallen captured so that the Guren gets a major upgrade and so that Kallen gets to meet with Nunnally. The former puts one of the best knightmare pilots in what is probably the best knightmare while the former makes Kallen fall in love with Lelouch even more because she discovers that he is a super awesome big brother.

The point to their fight here is to have Xingke get captured and to show the connection between Lelouch and his subordinates. Even from hundreds of miles away Lelouch is able to use Xingke's desire to free the empress to his advantage. Here is clue on what is going to happen to Xingke. Evelyn decides to forgo her birthday and Christmas presents for the next decade to get her hands on him.

In case anyone didn't get it, Lelouch has been drawing plans for knightmares for over eight years. Most of his friends and subordinates didn't know that they were going to do for recess while Lelouch already decides to work with knightmares by drawing the plans for the Titan and the Callisto in 2010. By 2012 those knightmare and the Europa were already being created. Lilicia is Nunnally's age (at least in this story) so she was only ten by the time Lelouch comes in for the save with the first Io back in chapter to be taken into account that Lelouch is a legend back at West Point Jr. Academy. Lilicia and others know what Lelouch has accomplished in the field of knightmare research and development, but it is different to experience it.

Just remember Lelouch created the knightmare used by the regular Britannian soldiers, the Io. Cecile made the knightmares used by commanders, the Bors. Lloyd, Rakshata, and Lord Cummins made the weapons and certain systems for both. Lloyd and Cecile created the Legacy Command Model knightmares which are sort of eighth generation knightmares.

Lloyd helped finish the Lancelot and created all of Nunnally's knightmare which are based on the Lancelot. He also will make all knightmares for Euphemia and Isabelle. He is responsible for the initiation of the Tristan (Gino), Vlad (Luciano), Gawain (Merlin), and Pelleas (Dorothea). He also helped with most of Milly's knightmares and some airship designs. Lloyd also makes the haken booster which improves the speed of projectile weapons including slash harkens and Kallen's chain. Finally Lloyd made the first Titan from Lelouch's design which is the basis for every other knightmare except for the Glasgow and Sutherland.

Cecile made the Mordred and Titan Mirage. She has also taken over making knightmares for Kallen, Milly, and Anya. She is basically in charge of making anything for Lelouch and his consorts except for Euphemia (not a consort but close enough). Her concepts were used for the Galahad (Bismarck), Andraste (Salacia), Epona (Nonette), Loki (Thorin), and Pellinore (Aphrodite).

Rakshata is responsible for Kallen's knightmares which are all based on the Guren design. In fact the Guinevere is the Guren Mk. II with a different name. The Callisto Ultima is a precursor to the Guren SEITEN which will happen since Cecile is now in charge of Kallen's knightmare. Rakshata's biggest contribution is taking over the Japanese knightmare making process which had previously been indirectly controlled by Lelouch. There Rakshata made the Shen Hu, Shen Long, and the knightmares for Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords. Rakshata's ideas and concepts have been used for other knightmares including the Titan Mirage/Shinkiro and Andarta (Monica).

VV and the Geass Order are responsible the Siegfried and the Irregulars knightmares. Lord Cummins and Sora are also responsible for the new knightmares, Charon, Shinigami, Valkyrie, Thanatos, and Cerberus. They also developed most of the weapon systems for various knightmares including the MVS and hadron cannon.

In case anyone is wondering Lelouch's new knightmares have a death/underworld theme from different cultures. Villetta's new knightmare and airship are named Charon and Hades. Charon takes the dead to the underworld, Hades. The Charon looks like a giant grim reaper. Chiba's airship is the Yomi. From what I understand it is the name for the Japanese underworld. Marika and Liliana's knightmares are the Shinigami and Valkyrie because they select those that go to the underworld. Kallen's royal guard, Marika, gets the one with the Japanese name. Hannah gets the Thanatos which in Greek mythology is the personification of death. Chelsea gets the Cerberus, the three headed dog that guards the underworld. Jeremiah's new airship is the Tartarus which in Greek mythology is the worst part of the underworld.

The point is that if you are a Britannian soldier, you are probably using a knightmare based on one of Lelouch's knightmares. The exceptions are the Glasgow, Sutherland, some versions of the Gloucester, and the Vincent which is built by Schniezel who funds the creation of the Lancelot and Gawain.


	82. Blind Alliegence

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'Tibetan is in single parentheses'

...

China was the beginning of the end. It was a mistake from which Britannia never recovered.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

...

A man should never bite more than he can chew. It only results in more work.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

* * *

**Friday, March 14, 2019 **

Karine and Faramond decide to take advantage of the fact that Dorothea is back in Britannia. Gino and Monica meet with their respective royal charges and their military advisors to plan their strategy. Through his connections with Lelouch, Gino is able to get several stealth airships for the meeting. Gino does not tell Karine where the airships come from. Their plan is simple. Both armies will move on the same day. Hopefully Schniezel and Cornelia decide to make moves shortly after that.

Karine's force will move first so Gino is busy planning little details. A successful attack will probably lead to glory for the red haired princess. Defeat will probably get them both sent home. Gino tries to think of which is actually better. Regardless of what Karine believes. Schniezel and Cornelia will get the credit for the defeat of the EU. Karine will stay back in her new airship which Gino can tell is a copy of the Boudicca, but he is not stupid enough to tell Karine that.

Meanwhile Gino is moving forward in his own airship. He is not going out in the Tristan yet. He is saving that for later. He can see two EU airships coming over to fight. They appear to be nothing more than flying tanks loaded with as many guns as could fit. Gino is surprised that they can fly. Behind them Gino can see several smaller airships that look to be nothing more than converted bombers. Around them are several planes.

"Lord Weinberg, we are being hailed by a Colonel Nicole Hillis."

Gino thinks about it for a moment.

"Put her on," Gino waits a few second before continuing, "Colonel Hillis, this is Gino Weinberg. How may I be of service to you today?"

"Yes Lord Weinberg, General vi Britannia informed us that you would be more willing to accept our help than your royal charge."

To Gino this means that the female colonel speaks with Karine, and her offer to help is turned down. Gino's next move is easy since everyone aboard his airship is part of his royal detail.

"General vi Britannia is the smartest man I know. What can I do for you, Colonel?"

"Stay away from those flying monstrosities. We will handle them."

"What if their jets begin to harass you?" Gino asks.

"General vi Britannia also told me that you would think of something."

This comment causes Gino to smile.

"I see. Well I will allow you to do your work."

"Thank Lord Weinberg. We will not fail."

The connection is cut. Gino begins to formulate a plan to take out the jets. Gino has advantages that only members of royalty and nobility have. He is independently wealthy in addition to being a Knight of the Round. Most of his wealth comes from investments rather than from agriculture and manufacturing. He also has the advantage of being a KOR which keeps most people from trying to cheat him.

"Are the modified Ios ready to go?" Gino asks his second in command.

"Yes sir and the pilots are anxious to test them in battle."

"Then let's see what they can do."

Gino prepares for what is going to be a long day.

* * *

Andreas Darlton is on his way to Naples to confer with Schniezel. Cornelia has solid control of Greece and southern Albania, but is having problems moving north as the continent widens. Meanwhile Schniezel is slowing moving up through Italy. At this rate either the EU forces break or Britannia breaks. Darlton does not want to think of what the consequences of the latter happening will be. The meeting with Schniezel is coordinate activity along the Adriatic Sea.

"General Darlton, a pleasure to see you once more," Schniezel shakes Darlton's hand and gestures over to a nearby table, "You have met Salacia Ravenguard, the Knight of Five, before."

Darlton nods, "Lady Ravenguard, it is a pleasure to meet you once more."

Salacia bows slightly.

"It is always a pleasure to meet with you, Lord Darlton."

Despite being Cornelia's advisor for fifteen years, Darlton has been an instructor at West Point for twenty years although now he is just a guest instructor. He also is a guest instructor at other Britannian military academies. Everyone from Cornelia and Nonette to Lelouch and Gino to the younger KOR has had Darlton as an instructor.

"Let us get to the issue at hand," Schniezel comments, "I understand Cornelia's request, but at the moment I am unable to move anything. My naval forces are in a fierce battle here in the western Mediterranean."

"It is a shame that Princes Faramond and Princess Karine have not been more useful," Darlton remarks, "Lady Ravenguard, do you have any suggestions?"

"Having spoken with the Knights of Three and Nine," Salacia sighs, "It seems as if Prince Faramond and Princess Karine are not ready to command such large forces."

"Yes unfortunately there are no more experienced commanders available," Schniezel states.

The truth of the matter is that Britannian society gets in the way of its progress by holding back capable commoners. There are methods for them to advance, but it is not easy.

"Any frivolous moves hurt our position so we should be cautious of making any impulsive moves," Darlton warns.

"Yes that would be wise," Schniezel remarks, "Perhaps Lady Ravenguard can converse with her fellow Knights of the Round about the current status in western Europe."

"I will see what I can do, your highness."

Schniezel and Darlton continue to work on their problem.

* * *

Jeremiah looks at the map trying to figure out his next move. His position is the most tenuous. He has to keep several enemies at bay while keeping the pressure on. Jeremiah is recipient of Lelouch's popularity amongst the Numbers. Jeremiah cannot be the only one that finds it strange that people are willing to serve the person that turns them into second class citizens. Jeremiah is also grateful that the Knight of Seven is in northern Africa.

Despite Nonette disagreeing with it, Milly orders an attack from Irkutsk. Obviously Milly's task is not to conquer but to distract. Milly hopes that she does not lose many soldiers in her attacks. Naturally her biggest objective is to prove that she is as capable as Kallen. This is Milly's biggest opportunity to prove her worth,

"Captain Vergamon, contact General Soresi and order him to commence the attack."

"Yes your highness."

Nonette stands quietly on the other side of the airship's bridge.

"I should probably head out to see if I can provide any assistance," Nonette comments.

"No, you are to stay here. Your orders are to observe and advice," Milly responds, "You can do both from here."

"Yes your highness," Nonette states grudgingly.

Milly tries not to smile at having maneuvered Nonette onto the Ganymede only to keep her aboard the airship.

* * *

Lilicia has to wake Villetta up in the morning so that she can go to her new airship and so that Lelouch can leave to Beijing Lilicia remembers the first time she caught Villetta with Lelouch. It was the day after the knightmare battle, Hannah and Chelsea want to speak with Lelouch about having another battle so Lilicia takes the to Lelouch's office to wait until he wakes up. Much to their surprise they find Lelouch and Villetta having sex on the couch. That is also the day that Lilicia vows to never interrupt Lelouch having sex again because of the consequences.

At the moment Lelouch is going over things with Lilicia and Ayame. There are still several rebelling warlords in the central, south and west of the country. Lelouch is formulating a plan to deal with them. Ayame sets several folders in front of Lelouch.

"What are these?" Lelouch asks.

"The official budgets for Areas 23 and 24," Ayame answers.

Lelouch appears to be confused.

"Since when do we have an official budget, don't we just spend what we need to spend?"

Ayame shakes her head.

"There has always been an official budget for the Areas under your control since back when you were Viceroy of Area 10. Back then Miss Lohmeyer took care of those things."

"Oh ya Miss Lohmeyer. What ever happened to her? She's been missing for a while."

"I think Evelyn took care of her."

Lelouch sighs, "Too bad. It's always good to have a racist bigot on your team to blame stuff on. Well I guess I can always blame stuff on the old man or government bureaucracy. Now about this budget stuff."

Lilicia smacks him on the head.

"Stop acting dumb. These old budget forms have your signature on them."

"Ah Lili, why do you have to be so mean? I was just trying to have some fun with Ayame on the way to Beijing."

"Have fun on your own time."

"Fine let me see this budget. The first thing I am doing is cutting Lili's wardrobe budget."

Before Lilicia can begin to argue for her wardrobe budget, the captain informs them that they have reached Beijing. They begin to walk towards the docking section of the airship.

"I bet you, your wardrobe budget that Kalli or Euphie challenge us to a knightmare duel with Marika and Anya as their partners. Maybe they will want to make it a three way thing."

Lilicia shakes her head.

"I am not stupid. There is no way I am taking that bet."

"Of course, you're too cute to be stupid, Lili. Fine I will double your wardrobe budget for night of wild debauchery," Lelouch looks back at Ayame, "Remember you work for me."

Ayame shrugs her shoulders.

"I will keep the same wardrobe budget. What would your wife say about you propositioning another woman?" Lilicia asks.

"That depends on the wife. Kallen would be pissed since you are a little girl. Milly wouldn't care as long as you can cosplay. Carolina is pregnant and wouldn't care as long as you bring her spicy food. Kaguya would probably want to be your friend. Lihua would be okay with it if you promise to be her friend," Lelouch smirks, "Besides what is this other woman stuff. Villetta is a woman. You're still a little girl."

Before Lilicia can respond the kids enter the room.

"Ah man I thought Sister Kallen was here with little James," Castor comments.

"What do you mean? Kallen is here. She is on the other side of this door. I just locked it because I was having a discussion with Lili."

Lelouch unlocks the door and Euphie and Marika tumble into the room.

"Hey my Kalli!" Lelouch yells out as he yanks Kallen towards him, "Let me give the tour of my airship. Let's start with the bedroom," Lelouch lifts Kallen with minimal effort, "Evie, you're Viceroy of Area 23. Ayame has some budget forms for you to sign."

Several minutes later Lelouch and Kallen are cuddling in his bed. Kallen is a little frustrated because she wants to get it on, but Lelouch is happy with cuddling.

"Ah cuddling is so much better with my Kalli."

"Are you staying for a while?"

"Yes, but I will have to go north to check up on Milly," Lelouch sighs, "Even though he can be a bit of a jerk, I would have preferred for Gino to be in Siberia instead of Nonette."

"Well at least I have you for tonight and tomorrow."

Lelouch pulls out a list.

"You better rest up because the things I am going to do to you are illegal in most countries."

Kallen shuts Lelouch up with her lips.

"Why don't we get started now?"

"Yes why not."

**Monday, March 17, 2019 **

Rakshata has been uneasy for several days. It takes a few days for the news of Xingke and Tohdoh's defeats to trickle down to India. The news does not bode well for a united front against Britannia. With the major Chinese leader gone, other lesser ones will rise up. The news is already having an effect on the Indian subcontinent. To the west there are those that want to form there own independent nation or unite with Iran or the Central Asian Federative Republic. Even here in the east clamors for independence are getting louder. Every major city in the south is claiming to be the capital of an independent republic in the south. Rakshata is glad that she is not the Maharaja especially with several competitors.

Making things even more difficult are the language barriers. Without a common language amongst the different parts of India, Chinese or English are used for interregional communication. Those that serve in the previous bureaucracy speak Chinese out of habit. Those that rebel against the Chinese use English or French. The latter two have some colonial history within India, although only the most ancient will have any memories of that. Rakshata uses both usually to agitate whoever she is talking with.

'_Dr. Chawla, there may be a problem.'_

"Lead the way."

Rakshata's response earns a slight grumble. There are several ways to think about the issue. Do they use the language of the current or future oppressors? Rakshata puts those thoughts out of her head as she enters the control room. There is quite a frenzy in the room. She notices several of her technicians running in and out of the room as well.

"Maybe I should head back to the knightmare holding area," Rakshata comments,

"Dr. Chawla, please stay."

Rakshata notices that it is the Maharaja's representative that is asking her to stay.

"We will not launch any knightmares until we know what we are facing."

"_That is a good way of thinking," _Rakshata responds trying to lighten the mood by switching languages.

There is commotion over by those monitoring the city security cameras.

"Are those the people monitoring the docks?" Rakshata asks.

This comment causes others to go over to those monitors. A single white knightmare appears. Behind it a pink and white knightmare is slowly making its way into view.

"Is that Lelouch vi Britannia?" one of the technicians asks.

"No," Rakshata answers, "It is worse."

Rakshata does not bother telling them who their opponent is because they will not believe her when she says that Nunnally is worse than Lelouch. Sure Lelouch has been shown to be the brilliant genius conqueror of Britannia, but there is reason why Nunnally is here. It also means that Suzaku Kururugi, Sayoko Shinozaki, and Alice Liddell are somewhere nearby. They are the real danger.

"I should head over to the knightmare holding area to see what we have," Rakshata comments.

"Yes that is a good idea," the Maharaja's representative states, "I should go with you so that his grace is kept up to date on the situation."

As they walk towards the knightmares, several individuals join them. Rakshata does not pay attention until one of them covers her face with a rag.

"I am sorry Dr. Chawla, but they are holding the Maharaja hostage. All they want is you. Besides what is one knightmare scientist compared to the symbol of an independent and unified India."

...

-**Tuesday, March 11, 2019 -**

Sayoko and her team successfully make their way through western India and reach Delhi. They are already infiltrating the Maharaja's palace. She hopes that Rakshata is somewhere here if not they will take the Maharaja hostage to get her. Sayoko's principal team is quite skilled. They are almost like ghosts. No one sees them coming or going. A few have been hanging around the palace for a few days. Sayoko herself just arrives. Sayoko appropriates Lelouch's sign language for her purposes. Along with that they have several non-human noises.

In less than an hour they are in the palace and have the Maharaja. To keep the situation from getting out, the palace aides say that the Maharaja is sick. The Maharaja's representative is sent out to get Rakshata.

...

They take Rakshata to the meeting place. A slender Japanese man steps forward.

"My name is Saburo Okawachi. Lady Shinozaki sent me here for the package."

"Contact your principal and inform her that the drop-off has been made."

The Japanese solider pulls out a phone and pushes a button. Seconds later the call is answered.

"Done."

The Maharaja's man takes the phone away from the Japanese man.

"You can have Dr. Chawla when the Maharaja says that you are out of the palace."

It takes a few minutes, but the go ahead is finally given.

"Unfortunately for you, we never had any intention of surrendering anyone as important as Dr. Chawla."

Saburo Okawachi laughs a little.

"Unfortunately for you, we are always prepared."

Several figures appear from the shadows and kill the Indian men.

"Colonel Futaba, the prisoner is yours."

Ichiro comes from the shadows and takes Rakshata.

"If the choice were mine, this woman along with Tohdoh would be dead. However his highness is more forgiving than I am."

"Are you not going to call Lady Shinozaki?" Ichiro asks.

"I never hung up. You should really get moving now."

Ichiro nods and picks up Rakshata.

* * *

The Irregulars are in Madras meeting with local leaders.

"These terms are from his highness Prince Lelouch."

"Yes if you do not accept them, then we will be forced to go to one of your competitors," Sancia responds.

Lucretia, Alice and Dalque are aboard the Apotheosis waiting for the answer. Sancia and a few officials take the risk of meeting with Indian officials.

"Give us a day to go over the terms."

"Very well you have twenty four hours from this point. You had better consider the consequences of refusing the offer."

Sancia boards the shuttle to return to the airship. As Sancia makes her way back to the airship, two missiles slam into her shuttle only to be stopped by the blaze luminous.

"Let's toast these suckers," Dalque remarks.

"Dalque's right," Alice agrees.

"Yes Lulu said to make an example of anyone that crosses us," Lucretia comments.

"Prepare to withdraw the airship and fire The Weapon," Sancia responds.

Even though she does not agree with its use, The Weapon, as it is referred to, has its purpose. The other girls are stunned at Sancia's command.

"But," Lucretia begins to stammer, "Very well. Captain, prepare the Apotheosis for the launching of The Weapon. Aim for the largest concentration of military power."

Alice sighs, "This is Major Alice Liddell. The Apotheosis has entered into a state of emergency. All personnel are to return to their battle stations. All non-combat personal are to go the mess hall. "

Dalque continues, "By order of Colonel Sancia Lamperouge and in accordance with the general orders given to us by his royal highness, General Lelouch vi Britannia, Supreme Commander of Britannian United Armed Forces Group Five and Viceroy of Area 24, we will commence the launch of the Field Limitary Effective Implosion Armament."

Once Sancia's shuttle makes it to the Apotheosis, all four girls make their way to the knightmare and weapons hangar. All four girls have to be present to launch The Weapon.

"Why don't we just call it the Super Bomb or the Pink Hole?" Dalque asks in reference to the Weapon and its effect.

"Who know? Just get your key out." Sancia responds.

Since it is such a sensitive and dangerous weapon, the girls have to follow a certain sequence. Although it is possible for either Sancia or Alice to launch it, this process requires them to undergo more layers of security. With all four girls present, they just have to enter their keys and speak their password into the voice recognition machine.

"Sancia Lamperouge, bondage."

"Lucretia Lamperouge, Lulu."

"Dalque Sparkle, clobbering time."

"Alice Liddell, Scooter."

"Colonel, we have a target and are just waiting for the ship to get out of range. We have also limited the range of the weapon."

"Have the jets prepare a bombing run as soon as the weapon dissipates. We will also send knightmares in to finish the job."

Several hours later Dalque is pounding the shit out of some helpless Indian officials.

"Where is the bastard who fired the missiles at Sancia?"

Unfortunately the survivors only speak the local language.

"Can we get a translator in here?" Dalque asks, "Shit of I spent the last six years trying to learn Japanese. I'm not going to learn Indian."

"I don't think that the language they speak is called Indian," Alice comments, "Besides you messed most of these guys up. How are they supposed to answer your questions?"

Dalque answers with a grunt.

"Let's go. Maybe Bangalore will be more accommodating," Sancia states.

"And if they are not?" Dalque asks.

"We have two more bombs for Bangalore and Hyderabad," Sancia responds, "Along with the damage that Sayoko's team is doing to the transportation and communication system from Delhi, Bombay, Goa, Karachi, and Calcutta, India will be hurting for some time."

"It's the price that these jerks pay for being so stupid," Dalque comments.

Lucretia and Alice are not so sure.

"Let's go there is still more work," Sancia orders.

* * *

Nunnally and Suzaku are waiting to Ichiro to bring back Rakshata before going on the attack. Several knightmares appear to be heading towards them. They have familiar look.

"Hey those knightmares look familiar," Nunnally comments, "They look like those knightmares that are after Naruto."

Suzaku looks a little confused. Although it has been some time since he has seen Naruto, he does not remember any knightmare frames in it. Then it dawns upon Suzaku what Nunnally means.

"Oh you mean Akatsukis," Suzaku looks over at the Indian knightmares, "I guess it must be because Rakshata helped design them both."

"First one to ten has the loser go down on them."

Suzaku begins to cough. He is not in the mood to get his ass kicked by Alice and Sayoko when they return to Nunnally.

"Oh there's Ichiro with Rakshata. Let's go."

Suzaku grudgingly follows after Nunnally. He isn't sure whether he wants to win or lose this contest. Either way he gets pleasure now and a little blonde girl kicking his ass later.

**Monday, March 31, 2019 **

The past two weeks have not been as easy as Gino hopes they would be. Karine and Faramond's attacks are failures. Karine is lucky to be holding onto Gibraltar and some of southern Spain. From what Gino hears, Faramond is lucky to make it back to Great Britain alive. Both will probably be sent back to Britannia because Schniezel needs all available troops to finish off Italy. He has Rome surrounded on all sides. The city is surviving on air drop offs and some impressive sea smugglers. Cornelia is not doing as well. But with Milly and Jeremiah distracting Russian forces, Cornelia is still poised to move forward. Although there appears to be some dissension amongst her higher ranking officers about what to do next.

The worst part of it for Gino is that he cannot even have a simple conference with Monica or Salacia without having to travel a great distance. To see Monica, he has to go south through Area 14 and then west over the Atlantic. To see Salacia, he has to go south as well and then east. He also has no idea where the stealth airships and jets are. Since they work for Lelouch, he can't exactly order them back. Gino's most important task is keeping the Spanish and French navy away from Italy, and of course keeping Karine happy about the situation, although she does not seem that distraught about it. It almost seems like she wants to get sent back to Britannia, and naturally Gino is going to have to escort her back.

* * *

For the third time in the last hour Darlton, Guilford, and several of Cornelia's other top men are arguing. Cornelia wants two attacks: one towards Bucharest and eventually Kiev and Moscow, and the other towards Belgrade and eventually Vienna and Berlin. Darlton is not sure that they have the manpower or equipment to see either of those through. They certainly do not have enough to see both of them through. If Lelouch was not bogged down in China, things would be different. A few of the others agree with Darlton, but Guilford being the whipped puppy that he is agrees with Cornelia.

Darlton now remembers his last meeting with Schniezel. The blond prince mentions the situation between Cornelia and Guilford. Darlton and the purple haired princess once shared that closeness. Darlton saw to Cornelia's need to be dominated, however her need to control was greater, and Gilbert G.P. Guilford stepped into the picture. Over the years Darlton recovers from being replaced. He adopts five sons who now are all great knightmare pilots. Now the bespectacled man not only wants to take Darlton's place in Cornelia's bed, but his roll in the military.

Darlton regrets not having taken a position with Prince Lelouch after he graduates from West Point. At the time the choice is actually a difficult one to make. Cornelia is an established general with years of experience. The princess is involved in the taking of Areas 10-13 and 15. Lelouch is a young cocky prince who wants to prove himself. This leaves very little room fro Darlton to maneuver so staying with Cornelia is the obvious choice.

The meeting takes the predictable course. After a few minutes of being worn down by Cornelia and Guilford, the other generals concede to her point of view. Now Darlton has to help put the plan together.

* * *

Lelouch is not sure how to feel about the situation in India. His aim to weaken his enemies which he does. However while weak all his enemies are now firmly united against him or rather against Edward's invasion force in Burma, and Lelouch's (Evelyn's) new Chinese lackeys. The only people that know about the new Chinese geass slaves are Lelouch, Evelyn, and Kallen. The others do not need to know about this particular situation. Although most know that Evelyn turns Xingke into her personal servant.

Still little by little Lelouch is taking over China. Everyday more territory becomes part of Area 24. Rather than conquering India, Lelouch decides isolate the area from the outside world. The only area that Lelouch can not cut off is the west. Through there they can receive aid from Europe through central Asia and Russia; however Sayoko's team continues to maintain a presence in the area. They destroy even the smallest road and bridge. They steal anti-aircraft equipment and wreck havoc in that manner. The naval blockade to the south provides a good base for constant bombing.

At the moment Lelouch is walking through the mountains of Tibet. According to MM's information the only code bearer not under Lelouch's control lives here.

'_That is far enough Lelouch vi Britannia.'_

Lelouch stops walking but his eyes keep looking around.

'_I take it that you are Choekyi Gyaltsen,' _Lelouch says with a smirk before switching languages, 'Are you more comfortable speaking in this tongue?'

"Do you learn the languages of al the people you conquer?"

A short middle aged man walks from out of a nearby shadow. As the man gets closer he appears to be getting younger with each step. Now standing before Lelouch is a young adolescent boy.

"Are you the source of this," Lelouch pauses, "this curse?"

"Curse."

'Do you not understand the word? The English language has changed a lot over the centuries.'

The boy shakes his head.

'I understand what curse means. And for your information, Standard English has been mostly the same for several hundred years.'

'That is nice, but is does not answer my question.'

'No, I am not the source. In fact XX was around before me. If anyone knows the truth it would have been him. Unfortunately all knowledge of what this power was for, and where is came from is lost. I do however have a unique code.'

'I see,' Lelouch is a little distraught at the comment.

'But why do you call it a curse? Most people would consider geass and eternal life a blessing.'

Lelouch nods and sighs, 'I guess it is a product of being around CC.'

'Ah yes the green haired girl. She still cannot find someone to take her mark.'

'No unfortunately for her, all her contractees fail her. I suppose we have nothing else to talk about. I should be on my way.'

Lelouch begins to walk away.

"Wait, why did you come here, Lelouch vi Britannia?"

Lelouch stops but does not turn to face Choekyi Gyaltsen.

"To get to know my enemy."

Choekyi Gyaltsen is surprised at Lelouch's comment.

"Enemy, I am not your enemy. I am no man's enemy."

"Then why are you followers gathering weapons. A man with no enemies requires no weapons."

Choekyi Gyaltsen chuckles a little, "That's pretty good. Let me ask you a question," Lelouch nods, "Who is your enemy?"

Lelouch breathes deeply before answering.

"This world, this world is my enemy. I will destroy it and create a new one."

"A new world in your image?" Choekyi Gyaltsen asks.

"I am not that vain. I will give my life and soul if I have to."

'I see. Let me you ask you a question. How do you know that I am going to let you leave?'

Lelouch points towards the sky. Barely visible on the side of the mountain are several men dressed in camouflage.

'Are those ninjas?' Choekyi Gyaltsen asks.

'They were instructed not to permanently harm your followers.'

Choekyi Gyaltsen glares at Lelouch.

'I see so you could have killed us all with minimal effort.'

'I look forward to meeting you on the battlefield, Choekyi Gyaltsen.'

With that Lelouch makes his exit.

'What an interesting young man,' Choekyi Gyaltsen states, 'Perhaps it is time for me to make an appearance.'

**Wednesday, April 9, 2019 **

The first part of a very complicated plan on all sides is complete. Karine and Faramond are back in Britannia. Gino and Monica escort them back and report to the emperor. Merlin and Salacia are sent to the British Isles and Spain respectively. Thorin is also back in Britannia. However the winner of the game is yet to be determined, and it is not even certain who is ahead. The only certainty is that the Knights of the Round are once more a dozen. On the recommendation of Schniezel and due to his actions in helping preserve a sliver of Spain for Britannia, Salazar Gluten is appointed Knight of Twleve. The young man will be officially knighted at a more convenient time. For now he remains in Europe, but carries all the privileges of a Knight of the Round.

Knights of the Round and their current location  
One: Bismarck Waldstein, Britannia  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, British Isles  
Three: Gino Weinberg, Britannia  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Britannia  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Spain  
Six: Nonette Enngream, Siberia  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Britannia  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, China  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Britannia  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, China  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Burma  
Twelve: Salazar Gluten, Italy

Most unfortunately for the emperor who truly controls only one of the dozen and for those that want to rely on their power, the Knights of the Round are not the best knightmare pilots in the world. Although each is a great pilot, there are others who are better or have more potential. Still for the sake of simplicity the more KOR that one controls, the better their odds. In regards to this a certain blond haired believes that he holds a higher hand and has a better poker face than his perceived opponents.

"Well Kannon, now we just have to play our part in this drama."

"Your highness, are you sure about this? There are still many factors to take into consideration."

"Yes Kannon, I understand, however, nothing of consequence is occurring just yet. How are the tests coming along?"

"Unfortunately we have not been able to duplicate what Prince Lelouch has done in India."

It is a slight concern for Schniezel that Lelouch has been able to perfect the FLEIA to the point where it can be used in an actual battle. Still for Schniezel's purposes the weapon works fine as it is. There is just the matter of controlling the reaction long enough for Schniezel and company to get away.

"Still Kannon, we must press forward."

"Your highness, there is a call from the Chancellor of the Exchequer."

Schniezel grimaces a little. Unlike Cornelia who resigns from the post as Commander-General of the Britannian United Armed Forces, Schniezel remains Prime Minister and must also attend to those duties.

"What does he want?"

"He has some questions about the budget. I believe he has noticed the Greenland project."

The Greenland project is of course the FLEIA project. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer notices it, who knows who else has seen it.

"What should I tell him?" Kannon asks.

"Put him on. I will deal with this myself."

* * *

Lelouch is done crushing his opposition in China, but there still remain rebels in India and Tibet. Crucial to his victory are the new technology and Japanese regiments, but just as decimating to his enemies is the loss of Rakshata and her team. Unlike their predecessors, Lelouch's new knightmare and tanks are built for any environment and climate. At the moment they are moving through the northern Himalayas looking for a certain individual.

The entry into Lhasa is peaceful until nightfall. It is one of Lelouch's first major losses of this war. He is not expecting the Tibetans to get help from nearby Chinese and Indian rebels. At the moment Lelouch is meeting with everyone, either in person or video conference.

"Just let me go in there and finish them, " Luciano states, "It shouldn't take me too long."

"This sort of fight is not your strong suit," Lelouch responds.

"Why because these guys are supposed to be a bunch of peace loving freaks?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Lord Bradley," Jeremiah remarks.

The statement is unusual given the fact that Jeremiah does not like Luciano.

"Why don't we send in some mini-drones?" Sancia asks, "

"Yes we can send the minis in first and then come in with the bigger knightmares," Kallen remarks.

Lelouch considers his options.

"Have we located the Panchen Lama?" Lelouch asks.

"Yes your highness," Sayoko answers, "We have narrowed it down to series of caves."

"You should have taken him when you met with him before," Kallen states.

"There is no honor in something like that," Lelouch responds.

"Well your sense of honor earned you a defeat," Milly comments.

Lelouch smirks, "Defeated, only the dead are truly defeated."

"Your highness, what is your next move?" Jeremiah asks.

"I think we have been going about this all wrong," Lelouch sets his arms on the table and rests his head on his hands, "For years we have been doing things covertly, sneaking around. Even when we used force, we did it in a secretive manner."

What do you suggest we do?" Villetta asks. It takes her a few moments to tack on, "your highness."

Lelouch smiles, "Oh I have a plan," Lelouch switches his communicator to the all units setting, "This is General Lelouch vi Britannia, Supreme Commander of Britannian United Armed Forces Group Five and Viceroy of Area Twenty Four. All units not engaged in garrison duty are to report to this location. This is a direct and immediate order," Lelouch switches off his communicator, "In two days we begin the destruction of this world."

**Sunday, April 13, 2019 **

Schniezel is not sure whether to smile or cringe at the news that Lelouch destroys Tibet and northern India. The biggest benefit for Lelouch is that he controls the media not just in that part of the world but in Britannia as well. However Schniezel has his own worries. Since the pressure is off the EU forces in France and Spain, they have more to put into Italy. Schniezel's siege of Rome is slowly being pushed back. Two weeks ago Schniezel completely surrounds Rome, but now his force is only to the east and south. The first move the EU makes is to take back the port. Then they mass troops to the north of the city and force Schniezel to withdraw or be cut off.

"Your highness, General Wallace and his staff is here."

"I am ready, Kannon."

An older man enters first. He is followed by several middle aged men.

"General Wallace, have a seat," After the men take a seat, Schniezel begins, "General Wallace, I need you to be honest and blunt with me about the situation. I will find a way to give the news to the emperor."

"Your highness, I must say that the situation does not look good. I suggest we withdraw to a defensive line north of Naples. Our control of Sardinia and Sicily gives us some good naval bases. It would also help if Princess Cornelia stops her progress and provides us with assistance on the Adriatic."

"That is much more drastic than I imagined."

Such a situation would eventually lead to Lelouch coming to Europe to finish the job off. Considering his newfound ruthlessness, the emperor may send for Lelouch anyways.

"Begin whatever preparations you deem necessary. I expect to see a detailed plan by tonight."

"You shall have it by noon, your highness."

"Very well. You may take your leave general."

No matter the consequences Schniezel must conserve manpower. He hopes that soon he will gain Cornelia as an ally. If Darlton moves as Schniezel expects him to, things will soon be going Schniezel's way. Even if he does not, Schniezel has his own way of getting things done.

* * *

Darlton and Guilford are Belgrade leading Cornelia's assault on the city. For some reason Cornelia is not leading the attack herself. Not that she is needed. In fact it makes Darlton's scheme easier. Despite his reservations about the attack, Darlton presses forward with the attack.

"What's going on Guilford? Has serving under the princess made you slow?" Darlton asks.

"Aren't we moving a little too far forward?"

"Nonsense we are putting fear in the mind of the enemy. They must learn that they cannot win here."

Despite his doubts about the situation Guilford continues to follow Darlton. Since this is Cornelia's plan, he cannot let his princess down.

Suddenly several enemy knightmares ambush them separating them from the rest of their party. Guilford looks over at his equipment and notices that the enemy knightmares do not appear on his screens. Guilford is going to challenge one of enemy to a duel, but two enemy units rush at him. Guilford notices that some of his systems are beginning to fail. Guilford manages to dodge several attacks, but the enemy manages to wear him down. Guilford tries to push for one more flurry, but his knightmare is impaled. Surprisingly the strike manages to miss Guilford, but it does cause his knightmare to explode sending his cockpit flying.

Darlton has no choice but to call for a retreat. However one of the others grabs Guilford's cockpit, and a small party is formed to take the injured knight back. Darlton quickly patches together a defense perimeter. With Guilford injured, Cornelia will not be in any condition to give orders. Darlton begins to draft orders for a general retreat back towards Albania and Macedonia in accordance with Schniezel's general plan. Darlton feels an ominously sinister presence behind him.

"Your men did not finish the job, colonel,"

"No need to fret, General Darlton. My men are efficient."

Darlton turns to face the cyborg colonel.

"Colonel Madd, your men will not have the opportunity to get near Guilford now."

"Do not worry about that. Like I said my men are efficient."

Darlton sighs, "If you say so. How did you get the enemy to attack at the right time? How did you cause Guilford's knightmare to fail?"

"Should we be talking about this out in the open? Anyone could walk by and overhear."

"You are right," Darlton reaches into a drawer and pulls out a gun, "I will personally handle the situation from here."

"Is that so? Like I said my men are efficient."

Naoto comes out of his hiding spot and knocks out Darlton.

"Why couldn't Rolo hide out here?' Naoto asks, "This spot was so crapped."

"Our little friend does not pack enough punch to take the general out," Colonel Madd injects Darlton with tranquilizer to ensure that he is out, "Are your friends on the way?"

"They shouldn't be too far away," Naoto kicks Darlton, "So where do we take his bastard?"

"To the infirmary where Guilford is at."

Naoto is a little surprised at this comment.

"Wouldn't they have taken him up to an airship?"

Colonel Madd shakes his head.

"How did you make it up to the rank of general?" Naoto glares at him, "In case you did not notice General Kouzuki, there are no airships nearby. They have probably transferred Guilford over to the mobile fortress. Pick Darlton up and let's go in that direction."

Naoto grunts as he picks Darlton up.

"This is one heavy bastard. I see what you meant about Rolo not being able to take this guy out. The entrance to the mobile fortress probably has a fingerprint and retina scan security," Naoto taps Darlton, "I guess we need this guy to get us inside."

"Correct. I just hope that Rolo is doing his job. Without his geass the boy has become almost useless."

Naoto tries not to show any displeasure at Colonel Madd's comments. They are the ones that created Rolo and those other Geass Order kids and ruined their lives. Rolo has been using his geass for over half his life. Unfortunately to keep alive they had to make him a cyborg. At the time the cyborg implants come with geass cancellers so Rolo effectively cancels his own geass. Even now with improvements in cyborg technology, Colonel Madd refuses to change Rolo's equipment and blames the teenager for his failures.

Naoto also tries not to think about being under the command of Colonel Madd once more. Had things gone slightly different in China, Naoto would be done with Britannia. In the distance Naoto can hear his EU friends beginning a light attack. The attack is to draw attention away from the mobile fortress. The distraction will not last long unless the Britannia forces completely break which is unlikely to happen even with Guilford and Darlton being unavailable. Naoto also sees an airship nearing their position.

"Looks like our audience made it on time," Naoto says pointing to the airship.

Rolo is waiting for them at the rear entrance to the mobile base. Two Geass Order kids are with him. It's a good thing that Naoto and Colonel Madd are equipped with geass cancellers because the looks that the Geass Order kids give them are enough to kill. Naoto moves quickly because the little pricks have already set fire to the mobile fortress. Naoto makes sure that neither Darlton nor Guilford will be able to get out by placing their bodies in a nice hiding spot. He manages to get away from the mobile fortress before it explodes. Not only does he want to escape the explosion, but he also does not want to have anyone aboard the airship to see him. At this point he has very little choice but to meet with Colonel Madd and the others at the meeting spot.

**Monday, April 14, 2019 **

"Now that is an interesting move," Lelouch states upon hearing about the deaths of Guilford and Darlton, "That is the reason why I do not trust anyone with a few exceptions."

Lelouch begins to cycle through different satellite cameras before finding what he is looking for.

"Look if it isn't Rolo and his little Geass Order buddies."

"Where is that camera angle from?" Kallen asks.

"The mobile fortress, a few minutes before it is destroyed. All standard Britannia vehicles have cameras that transmit information to certain satellites. Now let's copy this before someone erases it."

"Wait," Kallen points at the screen as Naoto shows up.

"Let's make sure we get that in our copy."

Suddenly the image disappears.

"What happened?" Kallen asks.

"Someone erased the video from the satellite."

"Who has access to it?"

"No one."

Kallen looks confused.

"What do you mean? Obviously you have access to it, and whoever erased it does as well."

"Yes, but very few people know about this. Much less know which satellite the video is being sent to and how to erase it."

"Schniezel."

"Yes it would appear so."

"This Schniezel, is he your enemy?"

Lelouch smirks at the question.

"He is in a sense. Schniezel represents the part of the world that is satisfied with the present. He will do anything to see that mankind find peace."

"How is that different from what you are doing?"

"That is a good question, Choekyi Gyaltsen."

"Take your people. If they were an obstruction to peace, then Schniezel would eliminate them," Lelouch shakes his head, "No, he would eliminate them if even half of them opposed his peace. Schniezel talks about honor, justice, and peace as if it were something that could be handed out. At one time he tried negotiating with individual states within the EU. They turned him down and now appear to be winning the war. Schniezel is the one who initiated my marriage to the Chinese empress. He did it so that I would be stuck fighting here for years."

Choekyi Gyaltsen nods, "So it is a good thing that we have you for our opponent. Instead of millions of people dying, they are simply relocated. Although some beautiful land is destroyed. I suppose that it is a small price to pay for true peace."

"Are we still waiting for the others to move?" Milly asks.

"Yes, I have sent Nonette, Luciano, Aphrodite, Euphie, and Anya to Europe to see if they can provide any help. I can only imagine what Cornelia is feeling like at the moment."

"Do you really think that Karine will move now?" Nunnally asks, "She can't have that much support."

'I have wondered about that. My spies have not been able to give me many details. But the way things are here and in Europe, now is the perfect time to move."

"Is that why you sent Suzu and Alice to get Carolina from Alberta?"

"Yes, things are going to get dangerous. I will feel better if she is here."

"I have a question," Choekyi Gyaltsen states, "How did you know they would fall for it? How did you know that they would believe that you destroyed the Tibetan people along with the land?"

"Reputation," Lelouch states, "Geass works on the on site observers while fancy camera tricks and some explosions take care of the rest. Since I control the Britannian media, it does not take long for a story like this to spread. You may not know about it. But I once made the world believe that I was still in Japan when in fact I had been gone for several day. At the time of my big parade I was in Mongolia."

"I see. How far ahead have you planned?"

"Only about ten minutes."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you are a very old wise man."

"Very well then Lelouch vi Britannia. Since you have kept your promise, we shall keep ours. We will follow you in your destruction of this world. Keep in mind that our word is our bond. Our oaths are not to be taken lightly."

Lelouch smiles and looks towards Nunnally, "Neither are mine."

**...**

**June 10, 2009 ATB**

"Nunnally, I swear that I will destroy Britannia and create a better world."

...

Schniezel is sipping some wine considering his next move. On his bed is a dark skinned woman. GG manages to escape at the same time as Mao. She naturally makes her way down to China and is eventually taken in by Naoto and Colonel Madd. In a sense she is their peace offering to Schniezel. She gives Schniezel a geass even more powerful than his previous one.

"Soon all will be right with the world."

Cornelia li Britannia has been sitting in her room for almost a day. She is unable to move. A few days ago she received new that will change her life. Now a part of her life is gone. Cornelia reaches down a lightly touches her stomach.

"I swear by your memory that I will destroy those who did this."

* * *

Author's note: Everyone who didn't appear in this chapter is training to get better including Tohdoh and friends. Xingke is undergoing cybernetic modifications sans geass canceller.

This is the order of the Code Bearers by age (when they received their code) _current code bearers in italics_: XX, _Choekyi Gyaltsen_, MM's contractor, CC's contractor, _CC, _Khalid Fayez, MM, Nikolai Sevastopol_, GG, VV, Lelouch vi Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia, Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld, Milly Ashford_. Kallen and Milly took Khalid and Nikolai's codes before going to China for the wedding.

New list of known geasses. Schniezel is the only addition while there are several subtractions due to Khalid and Nikolai being dead.

Lelouch-1st from CC, absolute obedience, he can order someone to do something once. Can also make people his absolute slaves 2nd from MM, this geass is lost when Lelouch takes MM's code 3rd from VV, can make others see visions and dreams. As the power progresses, Lelouch can be very specific about what he makes others see. It is also possible for this geass to drive its victim insane. The power draws from the person's emotions. Retains two geasses even though he is now a code bearer.

Kallen- 1st from CC, geass canceller. Other's geasses have no effect on her. She can also cancel Lelouch's geass commands. As the power progresses she becomes like a code bearer having instant immunity to geass. 2nd from VV, exactly like Lelouch's third geass. She used it to make her grandfather a vegetable by taking his worst fears and making them real in his mind. 3rd from GG, can see or feel other's feelings. As the power progresses, Kallen can also affect the feelings of others.

Milly- 1st from VV Ward of Absolute Hope, gives others encouragement to continue. from Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Despair, makes those affected feel like there is no hope. Both need eye contact to be completely effective. However once eye contact is made, Milly can activate and deactivate its effects at will. They do have to be nearby. She can't activate it from the other side of the world.

Euphemia- From VV, geass of absolute terror, retains this geass even though she is now a code bearer, needs eye contact.

Anya-1st from VV, Ward of Absolute boredom, causes those affected to be bored during battle in effect making them forget that they are engaged in battle 2nd from Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Frenzy, the opposite of her first geass. It causes those affected to go into a frenzy about even the most mundane things. Both need eye contact to be completely effective although if used correctly there is no need for it.

Evelyn- from VV, exactly like Lelouch's first geass because what else would a little girl want.

Castor- from VV, Can affect the senses of others. It affects all senses not just vision. Quite possibly the most powerful geass around especially when enhanced by VV's geass enhancing machines.

Pollux- From VV, Just like Rolo's only for now without the problem of having his heart stopping

Nagisa Chiba- From Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Loyalty, those affected by it will give their lives for whoever or whatever they pledged their loyalty to, sort of a Jeremiah effect, Chiba uses it on herself to be more loyal to Lelouch, needs eye contact

The Irregulars geass abilities are more or less a form of genetic manipulation. These are taken from the Code Geass Wikia page. They gain their abilities by having CC's cells injected into their bodies.

Sancia-1st from CC, The order which accurately identifies the positions of targets within a given range and precisely calculates their probable movement trajectories based on all known variables. 2nd from Lelouch, Shinkiro (mirage), can affect the senses of others at the same time giving them hope

Lucretia-1st from CC, The land which accurately maps three-dimensional terrain within a given range 2nd from Lelouch, Shinkiro (mirage), can affect the senses of others at the same time giving them hope

Dalque-The power which augments her physical strength by exaggerating the magnitude of macroscopic forces

Alice-The speed which allows her to hyper accelerate all objects within a given radius by manipulating gravitational pull

Charles- 1st from VV can manipulate the memories of those that look into his eyes, 2nd from XX, this geass is obviously lost when Euphie becomes a code bearer.

Marianne- from CC, can transfer her soul to another body. She claims that her body has to die for her geass to work.

Schniezel- 1st from Khalid, visual in nature. Allow Schniezel to appear as anyone he wants. This geass is gone since Khalid is dead. 2nd from GG, Ward of absolute persuasion. It is similar to Lelouch's absolute obedience only it takes a little longer to work. The biggest difference is that even when the geass canceller is used, the person has no idea that they were ever under the influence of geass.

Mao- From CC, can read the thoughts of others. Although at the moment it is latent because of Evelyn's geass command.

Kyoshiro Tohdoh-from Khalid, Ward of Absolute Loyalty, those affected by it will give their lives for whoever or whatever they pledged their loyalty. Needs eye contact. This geass is gone since Khalid is dead.

Rolo- most likely from VV. The ward of absolute suspension. Can freeze people within a certain range. The bigger the range and more people he uses it on, the more it affects him. Each time he uses his geass his heart also stops. Technically Rolo still has his geass, but his body is badly damaged, and he get cybernetic enhancements including the geass canceller. This effectively cancels out his own geass.

All of Lelouch's forces (Siberia, Japan, Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, Alaska, Jeremiah's Caucasus force) have geass canceller to some degree. There are also a few warriors monks with geass in Tibet.


	83. Calm before the storm

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.

It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

Mohandas Gandhi

**Wednesday, April 16, 2019 **

Euphemia and Gabriel li Britannia are aboard the Aphrodite. They are waiting for it to dock with the Nike. Naturally all Lelouch built airships can dock with each other. Euphemia is quite nervous. Although it is a badly kept secret that she and Lelouch are together, the fact that they have a son is not widely known. Given Cornelia's current state who knows how she will react to the news. While Cornelia is now in Istanbul, her force remains in Serbia and Bulgaria. Unlike Schniezel, they do not retreat. Euphemia wonders how this happens.

"Your highness, we have docked with the Nike," Anya states.

"Thank you, Anya. Let me just make sure that Gabriel is ready to go." Euphemia lifts her son, "Come on sweetheart. It's time to meet your Aunt Cornelia."

The airlock door opens. On the other side are several soldiers lined up against the wall. As Euphemia and Gabriel walk, she notices that the soldiers' eyes are directed towards her son.

"Your highness, I am Colonel Churchill. At the moment I am in charge of your sister's royal guard."

Euphemia can tell that the man is still getting accustomed to his position. Even though Euphemia has known Darlton and Guilford for most of her life, they would never refer to Cornelia as her sister. The officers of Cornelia's force are obviously competent, but they lack a personal touch.

"I would like to see Princess Cornelia."

"Your highness, she is not well," Colonel Churchill states nervously.

The truth of the matter is that no one has ever seen Cornelia like this.

"Colonel Churchill, I do not like to repeat myself."

Colonel Churchill nervously sighs, "Follow me, your highness. I will take you to Princess Cornelia's quarters."

After guiding Euphemia, Cornelia's royal guard quickly retreats.

Euphemia opens the door to Cornelia's room. Sitting in the corner is a servant. Euphemia assumes that she is to keep Cornelia from doing anything stupid because she is rather large. The servant recognizes Euphemia and looks at her son for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. The servant looks over at Cornelia before exiting the room. Euphemia sets Gabriel down and sighs.

"Cornelia li Britannia, I order you to stand up. What would your proud ancestors say about the way you are acting?"

Euphemia decides to take a hard line with Cornelia.

Cornelia looks over at Euphemia.

"Euphie, I."

Cornelia notices Gabriel standing in front of his mother. It only takes Cornelia seconds to figure out that Gabriel is Lelouch and Euphie's son. Still she does not move from the bed. Euphemia lifts Gabriel and sets him on the bed.

"We're all worried about you. I know I can never understand the pain you are going through," Euphemia pauses as Cornelia strokes her nephew's hair, "But I don't know what I would do if something happened to Gabriel."

Gabriel naturally looks at his mother at the mention of his name and smiles.

"You're a very handsome boy," Cornelia states.

Gabriel stands up and takes Cornelia's hand and kisses it.

"Gabiel i Bitannia, at your service."

Cornelia chuckles, "And you are quite the charmer. Did Lelouch teach him that?"

"Now it was actually James, his big brother. James probably learned it from the twins."

Cornelia sighs, "Ah the twins. How old are they, six, seven?"

"They will be seven in May. Evelyn is already eight and acts just like Lelouch."

"Does she? I can imagine it," Cornelia chuckles a little.

Cornelia continues to stroke Gabriel's hair. The young prince simply sits there. He is quite amused at the attention he is receiving. Suddenly there is a knock on the door.

"That must be Anya. I asked her to check on us in a few minutes," Euphemia states as she goes to answer the door,

"Your highness, Prince Schniezel is inquiring about Princess Cornelia."

"I see. Does he know that I am here?"

"He may. Prince Schniezel is not an idiot."

Cornelia cannot help but cringe at Anya's statement about Schniezel. The fact that Euphie does not even react to it shows the informality between the two pink haired girls.

"Who else came with you?" Cornelia asks.

"Luciano and Aphrodite are with Lord Gottwald in the east and."

Cornelia receives her answer because of the commotion outside her room.

"Hey you there. Is Nellie up yet? If Euphie can't get Nellie out of bed, I'll do it myself."

Cornelia's command is even stricter than other Britannian forces. Apart from keeping a strict formality, they adhere to the chain of command, and nobody besides the emperor and Cornelia is of higher rank than a Knight of the Round.

"Never mind," Nonette states, "I see little Anya over there. That means that Euphie is in that room so it must be Nellie's room."

Despite not having left her room for a few days, Cornelia still bathes and dresses everyday.

"That is General li Britannia to you, Lady Enngream," Cornelia's voice booms as she walks to the door.

Euphemia cannot stop her sister from picking up Gabriel and taking him out of the room.

"You will be a general again when you get out here and command these troops to victory."

Nonette smirks as Cornelia exits her room.

"When did you have a kid, Nellie?"

Cornelia realizes her mistake. If Euphie keeps Gabriel hidden from her, then she must have hidden him from Nonette and others.

Nonette's jaw drops when she realizes that the boy is not Cornelia's but Euphemia's. It doesn't take her much longer to figure out who the father is.

"Does his majesty know about this child?" Nonette asks grinding her teeth.

Euphemia walks out of the room and smiles.

"I am no longer his majesty's concern. Those are his own words."

Nonette grunts at the answer. While Lelouch sends her to help out Cornelia, Nonette has orders from the emperor as well. With Karine back in Britannia and Nunnally in China, Nonette plans on using Euphemia as a bargaining chip She figures that Cornelia and Lelouch will be mad at her for promising Euphemia to some European noble, but Nonette serves the emperor.

Euphemia continues, "Besides if you did what you were thinking about doing, Lelouch would kill you himself. Those are his words."

Suddenly a light hearted situation turns heavy.

"I shall have to speak with the emperor about this. In the meantime I will assess the situation and see where I can provide aid," Nonette remarks, "Prince Schniezel may not like it, but I may have slide over into his sphere."

Nonette leaves the hallway and eventually the airship. She is not oblivious to the fact that two other airships are docking with the Aphrodite. It does not take her long to realize that they are the Silencer and Excalibur II.

"What are you planning, little Lulu?"

After ensuring that Nonette is gone, Euphemia get down to business.

"Gaby sweetheart, the maps."

Gabriel takes off the backpack that Cornelia did not notice until now. He pulls out several maps that seem to be meticulously folded.

Both li Britannia sister say the same thing, "Lelouch."

Mixed in with the maps are pictures of Gabriel and his two siblings. As well as one with Carolina's stomach. Just her stomach because that's where little Lelouch is hiding. There are also several of Gabriel and a brunette. Cornelia picks one of this up.

"That Elizabeth," Gabriel comments.

Cornelia surmises that the girl must be important since Gabriel pronounces her name correctly.

"Euphie, who is this girl?"

"Oh that's Shirley's daughter."

"Shirley, the girl who is married to Edward."

Cornelia has met Shirley on several occasions and can see the resemblance. It only takes Cornelia seconds to figure out that Elizabeth's father is Suzaku Kururugi.

"Her father is," Cornelia is cut off by Euphemia who motions down towards Gabriel who is now playing with his limited edition Waldobot Prime and Schniezetron. Cornelia sighs and nods, "I see. Does everyone in your little circle know about this?"

"Yes. At first it did not matter because Edward was so sweet and shy. He and Shirley were perfect for each other. Now everything seems so complicated."

Cornelia realizes that her younger sister has been trying to help her best friend carry a heavy burden. While Euphie is basically happily in love with Lelouch who loves her back, Shirley is now stuck in a loveless marriage.

"What makes it worse is that Shirley is pregnant," Euphemia continues.

"Is that child Edward's?"

"Of course, but."

Gabriel begins tugging at Cornelia.

"Princess Cornelia."

"You can me, Aunt Cornelia if you want to Gaby," Cornelia says with a smile.

Gabriel appears to be considering her offer.

"Aunt Cornelia look," Gabriel points at the picture of his two siblings and future sibling, "Little Lelouch is hiding in Aunt Caolina's stomach. Daddy says that he almost come out soon."

Cornelia looks at the picture.

"That's Carolina in the picture," Euphemia states, "At the moment the baby is tentatively being called Lelouch, but Lelouch will probably end up calling him Charles."

Gabriel chuckles a little.

"Charles, that's what the TV peoples call Grampa Oats Guy."

"Okay Gaby. I am going to have an important discussion with Aunt Cornelia. Stay here and play with your toys."

"Okay mommy."

Cornelia leads Euphemia over to her desk which is naturally impeccably clean. Euphemia spreads a map over the desk.

"Let me see. Your troops are spread out from Podgorica to Varna. Nonette brought her royal guard so they will probably head over here to the west."

"She will probably go to Naples to speak with Schniezel. She may even speak with the other Knights of the Round in the area. "

"For now we can leave her out of the equation," Euphemia comments, "You can gather your forces here at Skopje and Sofia. I have also brought my royal guard with me. They have some experience. We will gather here in Varna and push along the coast of the Black Sea. We will also move towards Bucharest. I would like to coordinate with Jeremiah. Selene has been complaining about naval activity in the Black Sea. We cannot allow Russian force here to go unchecked."

Cornelia is amazed at Euphie's demeanor as she explains the plan.

"Will Lelouch's force be all right with you missing from it?"

"Probably we were just reserve forces. Only the top guys were involved in the action."

"I see. How is Lelouch? The rumors about him are quite disturbing."

"He's really fine. He does hate being separated from those he loves. If not out of concern for you, I would still be back in China."

They stay silent for a few moments until the sound of Gabriel snoring catches their attention.

"I guess Gaby hasn't gotten used to the time change. He was pretty excited about coming here to see that he really didn't sleep on the way here," Euphemia yawns, "I guess I need to get some rest too."

"Yes you should get some rest. I will have to discuss matters with my staff."

"That sounds I will go back to the Aphrodite so that Anya can make preparations."

Euphemia and Gabriel go back to their airship. Anya is already there making preparations.

"Did Princess Cornelia agree to our plan?"

"Not yet, but she probably will. For now send Hannah and Chelsea east over the Black Sea."

"As you wish your highness."

Anya leaves to attend to matters. Gabriel has already been taken to his room.

"Your highness, you should get some rest," one of Euphemia's servants comments.

"I will in a few moments, Charlotte."

Euphemia thinks about her meeting with Cornelia. Something seems different about her. Obviously she has gone through a lot with the two most important men in her life dying, but it is much more than that. Euphemia cannot quite figure out what it is.

* * *

Much to Schniezel's chagrin, Lelouch reacts quickly to Cornelia's distress. Nonette Enngream, Luciano Bradley, and Aphrodite Venitus are quickly sent to Eastern Europe. However the worst thing is that Lelouch sends Euphemia. She is the real dangerous one. Euphemia is sure to have a geass. Not only that but Euphemia is the one person that can get Cornelia out of her current funk. Schniezel is scheduled to travel to Istanbul tomorrow. Now there is no reason for such a trip.

In addition Nonette is on her way to Naples to discuss the situation. Nonette is one of the few Knights of the Round that cannot be turned. She will make things difficult because Schniezel has set things up to go in his favor. Schniezel will have to deal with Nonette before doing anything else.

* * *

Marianne finds Charles down in the Pendragon Thought Elevator. He appears to be deep in thought.

"Is something wrong?" Marianne asks.

"It's Lelouch."

"Is it because he's crazy now? I thought you would love that about him."

"That is not it. He did not kill all those people. It was all a lie."

"So you are mad because he is not a mass murderer," Marianne says with a frown, "I am madder because he sent Euphie to visit Cornelia."

Charles raises his eyebrow, "And?"

"Euphie is probably taking her little boy. It isn't fair that Cornelia gets to meet him before I do. It's bad enough that they named him after Euphie's mother."

Charles grunts, "That boy will never be as strong as James."

"I don't know. Gabriel has a double dose of your DNA while James is tainted with Japanese blood."

"Perhaps his grandmother comes from a long line of samurai and ninja."

Now Marianne grunts, "You just love him because he actually listens to you. If you acknowledge Gabriel perhaps he will love you as well."

"The choice is not mine to make. They are the ones hiding my grandson."

"Now that Cornelia knows about him maybe they will make his presence public."

They hear someone walking towards them. It is Bismarck Waldstein.

"Sorry to interrupt, your majesty, but Lady Enngream has called. She says that she has interesting news that you must hear as soon as possible."

Marianne's jaw drops, "That's it. I'm calling my little boy this instant. How dare he let Nonette see my little grandson before me?"

Charles sighs, "Bismarck, take Nonette's message. I have some idea what it may be. I will deal with the situation in a few minutes."

Bismarck bows and turns.

"Wait Bismarck," Marianne states, "I need to test out my new knightmare on someone. It might as well be you,' Marianne walks over to the Knight of One, "You should have the people at the Ashford Foundation look at your knightmare. They are doing some very interesting things."

Charles looks at the Sword of Akasha for a few more moments before going to see what Nonette wants.

* * *

Lelouch makes his way to the Boudicca which has been turned into an airship prison. It is mostly empty because dissidents are taken care of permanently. However there is a particular prisoner that refuses to leave the prison even though she is useful elsewhere. The prisoners are more or less allowed to roam around the airship. Obviously really dangerous prisoner are either executed or transferred to maximum security prisons. Lelouch makes his way through the prison. Most of the prisoners move out of the way. He figures it's because of the big freaking sword on his back.

"Good day, Dr. Chawla."

"Aren't you afraid that the prisoners will gang up on you and take your sword away?" Rakshata asks.

Lelouch sneers. "Do you really think that they will try because that would be fun?"

Rakshata goes back to her puzzles.

"Are you here because I won't play nice with the others?"

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders as he sits down.

"I could care less it you cooperate or not. Besides Cecile has been doing fine without you. She has found brilliant minds and ideas in places most people would not even think to look."

"And she lets you fuck her whenever you want."

Lelouch smirks, "That is actually a perk for both of us. She surrenders her willing body, and I give her pleasure and everything a brilliant scientist could ask for."

Rakshata reaches out and touches Lelouch's thigh. She begins speaking in a seductive voice.

"Is that what you want from me, your highness?"

Lelouch takes Rakshata's hand off his thigh.

"I have five, well, six wives and half a dozen mistresses of all shapes and sizes. I believe that I have that department covered. To be honest I could care less whether you are here or in some other prison as long as you are not making knightmares for my enemies," Lelouch stands, "Personally I agree with Colonel Okawachi that I would better off if you were dead, but others around here like you so my hands are tied. I believe I have said everything I need to say."

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it, always." Rakshata states, "One of my fellow Indians said these words. Of course the Chinese Federation had him killed."

"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."

"Is that some sort of personal philosophy?"

"No, Mohandas Gandhi said that before he died," Lelouch looks at Rakshata, "I know better than anyone that eventually I will lose everything I have gained, however I cannot lose the world until I have it. So until the day I conquer the world, I will never cease moving forward. I move forward because I love those around me. I work endlessly for them. My life is nothing compared to theirs. Good day, Dr. Chawla. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here."

Lelouch exits the Boudicca and heads down towards the Forbidden Palace. With all major threats defeated the empress once more resides on land instead of in the air. Waiting for Lelouch is Zhou Xianglin.

"Your Majesty," Since Lelouch is technically Chinese emperor by marriage, all his Chinese subjects refer to him as Majesty rather than highness, "I have the assessment of the loyal Chinese forces."

Lelouch takes the files.

"What is your personal assessment?"

"I believe that our soldiers are excellent individually but have been subjected to poor equipment. This is a condition that his Majesty has corrected."

"While I do not doubt your words, we will have to test the mettle of our new forces. Select the ones that you believe are the best for a large scale training session. If there are any volunteers, they are also welcome to join. For now let us enjoy lunch out in the garden."

"Her Majesty the empress is currently out in the garden with their highness Princess Nunnally and Kaguya."

"Very well. We shall join them. I would like to hear more of your assessment."

"Yes your Majesty."

It takes some work, but Xianglin is finally over the fact that she is her emperor's mistress and aide-de-camp in all matter relating to Chinese military power. After lunch they set up some knightmare demonstrations that will take place in two days.

* * *

**Friday, April 18, 2019 **

Captain Hannah Gottwald and First Lieutenant Chelsea Nu have been waiting for this moment for several months. A week ago they are transferred along with the Excalibur II to the royal guard of Euphemia li Britannia. It is an assignment that does not please either girl. However things take a turn when Princess Euphemia is sent west to meet with Princess Cornelia. Now they are preparing for an attack along the Black Sea. Currently they are in a meeting with Anya and Lilicia who is explaining Lelouch's strategy via video conference.

"His highness wants the Titan Mk. IV to see action," Lilicia states, "In particular he wants to see it in action against the EU's Leopard and Jaguar. I am sending you images of the latest models. If you see anything that looks newer make sure that you engage it to get information about it. But do not do anything foolish."

"I understand," Hannah responds, "We know what his highness expects from us."

"I should hope so," Lilicia comments and signs off.

You are the older sister, aren't you?" Chelsea asks.

"By thirteen months," Hannah answers.

"Let's get to work," Anya states.

"Yes Lt. Colonel Alstriem," both girls respond.

Two hours later the Excalibur II is flying over Constanta, Romania.

"This is the only major port in western Black Sea that we do not control so it is imperative that we take it," Hannah commands her subordinates.

Chelsea smiles and withdraws her MVS. Hannah does the same, and the two girls clash swords.

"Activating Zero system," Hannah says as the airship's door opens before them.

Below them Britannia fighters and bombers are engaging the enemy.

"Time to show everyone what we can do," Chelsea comments.

South of the city tanks and knightmares are pushing the enemy back. Behind them are the Silencer and Aphrodite. Anya and the Iseult Ice are providing support. Although quality soldiers are in short supply, there are still plenty of materials to build vehicles. Somewhere inside the Aphrodite is a small pink haired teenage girl controlling the attacking tanks.

"Wonder if Sora wants to come out and fight," Chelsea state, "She has that cool transforming knightmare."

"Lady Cummins knows what is good for the team," Hannah responds slightly allowing her Gottwald heritage to surface, "Let's get moving. Their highnesses are depending on us."

"Yes sir!" Chelsea exclaims with a smirk as she jumps out of the airship, "The one with the most kills wins."

"What's the prize?"

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Chelsea responds with a grin.

"You're on."

Both girls land in the middle of an enemy formation.

"What language do these guys speak?" Chelsea asks.

"Who cares," Hannah answers, "They will not be speaking it for much longer."

The girls are soon joined by the other members of their team.

"First one to ten gets a ten thousand pound bonus. First one to twenty gets a twenty thousand pound bonus and two weeks leave starting tomorrow," Hannah proclaims, "The overall winner gets two weeks leave in Bali and ten thousand pounds. All prizes provided by his highness Prince Lelouch vi Britannia."

"Sweet. I need some time off," Chelsea comments.

"Too bad you aren't going to win."

"That's what you think."

* * *

With a knightmare demonstration later today, Lelouch is quite busy setting things up. The most important thing is selecting pilots to go against the Chinese recruits. Selecting Kallen and Milly would probably be overkill. Nunnally and Suzaku are in Japan. Villetta, Kewell and the Irregulars are in Siberia. Jeremiah is on his way from the Caucasus. Lelouch could probably fight them all himself or have the kids use drones. However there are two other people that make perfect sense.

"Marika, Liliana, just the people I am looking for," Lelouch says as he puts his arms around the two girls.

"Are you looking for your wives, your highness?" Marika asks, "Because I believe that they are with Drs. Croomy and Apslund."

Lelouch shakes his head.

"Actually you two fit what I need at the moment."

"What do you mean?" Liliana asks nervously.

Before Lelouch can answer something hits him on the head.

"Let go of my Liliana!" Milly yells out.

"My Liliana," Lelouch responds.

"What?"

"Major Marika Soresi and Captain Liliana Vergamon are my subordinates. I assigned them to you. I can take them away."

Milly visibly pouts at Lelouch's comment.

"Stop being a jerk, and tell them what you need them for," Kallen states as she walks towards Lelouch, "I just spoke with Zhou Xianglin."

"You are no fun, Kalli," Lelouch releases the two girls, "Fine since you already know, then you tell them," Lelouch says as he walks away.

"What did you throw at him?" Kallen asks Milly.

"My shoe."

"Don't you think that was a little extreme?"

"Perhaps," Milly says with a coy smile, "So he wants Liliana and Marika to fight the Chinese recruits."

"Yes."

Both princesses look over at the captains of their royal guards. Kallen smiles in a very scary manner.

"You two are going to have a knightmare demonstration with the new Chinese recruits. The little Gottwald girl will probably be joining you so don't let us down."

Kallen and Milly walk away talking about who gets Lelouch tonight.

For the knightmare demonstration, Lelouch and Lihua are sitting on thrones above the arena. Ayame and Xianglin are flanking them while the kids, Milly and Kallen are seated on a lower level. Lloyd and Cecile are watching the demonstration from above. Rakshata is also watching from the Boudicca.

The Chinese recruits are using Akatsukis that have their programming language changed to Chinese, one of Rakshata's innovations that Cecile perfected. Lilicia, Marika, and Liliana are in modified Bors. The Chinese recruits have been training on simulators. The demonstration begins with the Chinese recruits facing off against Gun-rus. The Chinese knightmares are defeated with minimal effort. Now comes the main event, half a dozen Chinese recruits against the three Britannian girls. As the knightmares prepare for the battle, there is commotion over by the entrance of the arena. Twenty Gun-rus enter the arena floor. Fifteen attack the knightmares involved in the demonstration while the others head straight for Lelouch.

"Ayame, Xianglin please take Lihua inside."

They quickly obey Lelouch's order. Ayame goes down to get the kids as well.

Lelouch smirks as he unsheathes his sword.

"It's been a few days since I've killed anyone. Scooter is getting hungry."

However there is no need for Lelouch to do anything because the Chinese recruits and the Britannian girls defeat the Gun-rus including those going after Lelouch. Lelouch re-sheathes his sword. The nine knightmares bow before Lelouch. He simply salutes to dismiss them.

Lelouch makes his way through the Forbidden Palace. Lihua is already sound asleep. The commotion of the knightmare demonstration is too much for her. Lelouch goes to check up on the kids. The twins are creating some more Converters before bed. Lelouch goes to check up on Evelyn.

"Your highness, his majesty is here to see you."

Evelyn smiles, "Thank you, Xingke. You may rest now."

"I will be next door if you need me for anything, your highness." Xingke bows towards Lelouch, "Your majesty."

After Xingke leaves, Lelouch closes the door.

"Did it work out?" Evelyn asks.

"Yes, the slaves did exactly as you instructed them to," Lelouch answers, "The new recruits attacked them without thinking."

"Good so I get to keep Xingke. The new reprogramming project seems to be working well."

"Yes, you can keep him. You are right about the new project," Lelouch comments.

Evelyn with the help of VV steals an idea from the twins' Converters cartoon. Cybernetic implants that brainwash people. It is an intensive program that includes weakening the body, mind, and spirit. Unlike geass its effects are not easily wiped out.

"I have to go now because," Lelouch pauses from saying that Kallen and Milly are going to wear him out tonight, "I have to get up early in morning."

Lelouch leaves Evelyn's room and goes over to his.

* * *

After her meeting with Euphie, Cornelia talks with Schniezel. They are able to put a plan of attack for Europe. However the emperor wants them back in Pendragon to discuss the situation. Since the Knights of the Round are there, they can leave for a few days maybe even a week. Euphie is not going to be particularly happy about it since her force just got into the action. However there is nothing to be done about it since Lelouch is also recalled. Cornelia is not sure how the emperor will react to the Lelouch-Euphie situation, but something tells Cornelia that he already knows about it. While in Pendragon Cornelia will also have formal funerals for Guilford and Darlton.

* * *

**Sunday, April 20, 2019 **

Lelouch is preparing for his trip to Pendragon. He has to make sure that everything is in order before he leaves. He is leaving Jeremiah in charge of Area 24. The situation in India has not improved, but that can be dealt with at a latter time. Since the Knights of the Round are completely taking over the European front, Hannah and Chelsea are returning to China. Neither girl is happy about it, but there isn't anything that can be done about the situation. Although Lelouch does think about asking Luciano or Aphrodite to take the girls, he decides against it.

The emperor asks for Lelouch, Euphemia, Nunnally, Schniezel, and Cornelia by name. Not that it matters to Lelouch because his plan does not require that he stay in contact with his troops. There is also the matter of Milly's father taking over the Ashford Foundation. Lelouch needs to investigate what is going on there.

"Your highness, there is a call for you."

"Thank you, Lilicia. I will take the call here in the office. Can you make sure that the kids are ready for the trip?"

Lilicia understands that Lelouch wants to be alone so she leaves the office.

"How are things going over there?"

* * *

Nothing Schniezel says can dissuade the emperor from ordering him back to Pendragon for a conference. Despite his reluctance in making the trip, Schniezel is not too worried about the situation. Hopefully he can learn what the others are up to before making his own move.

"Your highness, it is the call you have been waiting for."

"Thank you, Kannon."

Schniezel answers the call.

"How is the situation there?"

* * *

Edward is upset about how things have been going. No matter what moves he makes or equipment he uses, his force does not move further into Burma. The worst part of it all is that Lelouch basically ignores the region. Now the emperor is ignoring him by not calling him for this conference (Never mind that many others are also not called for it). Edward tires of the situation and decides to make moves to guarantee his future. There are very few people he can call to help him out. He decides that now is the time to act on his instinct. He heads for his personal office to make a phone call.

* * *

Faramond's return to Britannia is rather uneventful. Despite this there are plenty of things to do. The emperor's refusal to a ceasefire with the EU only helps the cause. Many nobles are starting to feel the effects of the war. Soon it will be time to act.

"There isn't time to hold back anymore."

* * *

Gino tries to ignore the snoring Karine. Whoever sends Karine to seduce Gino does not count on his sexual prowess. Gino pleases the red haired princess in ways she doesn't even know are possible. Unfortunately for Gino, Karine does not exactly have the body type that he likes. It has been a few months since Gino has had a figure figured girl. Gino picks up his phone and makes a call.

"Hey, I have some free time I just finished with Karine."

…

"No, don't worry about it. Karine is a deep sleeper. Besides I worked her over good."

…

"Well you did ask. I still don't know who else is behind the plan. She only meets with nobles. I have a list of who they are, but you may already have an idea who they are."

…

"I hear his majesty is recalling all supreme commanders for a conference."

…

"Well see you when you arrive."

* * *

"But little Mouse, you are not alone,  
In proving foresight may be vain:  
The best laid schemes of mice and men  
Go often askew,  
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,  
For promised joy!"

"That's a cute little poem, but you are still such a child, Charles."

"So you have finally come to face me, brother."

"Not quite. Only you are not dealing with mice or men. You are foolish to invite the serpent, the dragon and the demon into your home."

"Don't worry. Their pitiful games are of no consequence. Once the final piece is located we shall begin."

"Like I said, you are such a child," under his breath VV whispers, "And you have no idea who you are dealing with."

* * *

Author's note: The ending sequence is meant to be ambiguous. You can guess for your self who is calling who. It is also possible that they are talking with people not shown here. Also the identity of the serpent, the dragon and the demon is a mystery to be solved Gandhi quotes are courtesy of the A Team. They quote him so I was interested in his other quotes.

I just realized that in canon geass is until you die or you take a code. I realized this because Rolo still has his geass after VV dies. I doubt that Rolo received his geass from CC since she seems to be more selective about whom she gives geass to. Bismarck too I guess. Of course it could be a mistake by the creators. Well in this story you lose your geass when they code bearer loses their code.

These are Lelouch's wives and official mistresses. Only the Chinese empress keeps her last name and does not get a Britannia one although her name is now officially stated in western form. Euphemia is technically in between. At the moment she is Lelouch's unofficial sixth wife. She will also get to keep her birth name. The mistresses are in order in which they physically became Lelouch's. For the moment Anya is part of the 'not yet but will eventually happen' club. There is at least one more member of this club. There are also at least two names that are not here because they are not official or even unofficial yet. Also they give away important parts of the plot. CC is part of the why not club. Meaning she has nothing else to do so why not screw around with Lelouch until she finds what she is after. Including the three not mentioned Lelouch has 18 women so that will probably be the end of that. All those not included will have to find someone else (Gino shyly raises his hand).

Kallen kou Britannia nee Stadtfeld 19, Milly ash Britannia nee Ashford 20, Carolina sfo Britannia nee Sforza 19, Kaguya yama Britannia nee Sumeragi 15, Lihua Jiang 14,

Euphemia li Britannia 18, Cecile Croomy 25, Lucretia Lamperouge 19, Sancia Lamperouge 20, Ayame Futaba 18, Zhou Xianglin 21, Nagisa Chiba 30, Villetta Nu 28, Anya Alstriem 15, CC


	84. On the Edge

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

This chapter continues the lighter tone of the previous one as we build towards the end game. Did I mention that Lelouch is crazy and should be committed to Arkham Asylum? He may seem a little out of character even for this story. There is some sexually explicit stuff. I believe that most of it will be with unexpected people.

...

Who is truly insane, the leader or those that follow him?

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

...

You do not realize how high a cliff is until you are on the edge looking down although sometimes it is not until you leap off.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

_..._

_Act today only, tomorrow is too late_

_Day 8 Action  
__Kyoshiro Tohdoh  
__Sensei Tohdoh's daily inspirational tidbits  
__Tokyo Towers Press 2013_

* * *

**Tuesday, April 22, 2019 **

Schniezel wants to travel together with Cornelia and Euphemia, but the sisters stay for a few more days to ensure that their troops are prepared for the change in commander. In reality they want Lelouch to arrive first and hope that he can smooth over the Gabriel issue. Schniezel thinks about doing the same but decides to go to Pendragon to meet with several of his allies. He wants to gauge the support for the other royal children in the capital.

Even with all the comforts of an airship, traveling from Beijing to Pendragon is not exactly exciting although it is more stimulating than Lilicia's trip to Beijing. Since Jeremiah has his own staff, Ayame and Lilicia get to travel with Lelouch to Pendragon. Sayoko and the Irregulars are also traveling with Lelouch and Nunnally since Kallen and Milly are now with Villetta in Siberia.

At the moment Lilicia and Ayame are still aboard the Excalibur III. They are waiting for Lelouch to order them to come down. Both girls hope that that order never comes. Ayame has met Lelouch's mother before and does not relish another meeting. Lilicia has never had the pleasure of meeting Marianne vi Britannia nor does she want to. Of course she would never tell her brother that. The girls are sitting in the conference room looking over information so that they do not fall behind. Suddenly they hear voices and footsteps in the hallway.

"This airship seems to be larger than the other ones."

"Yes, isn't my little boy brilliant?"

Ayame freezes when she hears the second voice.

"I wonder what's in this room."

The door opens and Marianne and Bismarck walk in. Ayame and Lilicia quickly stand. Ayame bows towards Marianne, and Lilicia salutes Bismarck.

"Well what do we have here? My little boy has girls hidden everywhere," Marianne looks Lilicia up and down, "I already know Ayame so who are you?"

"Do you not understand the meaning of private property?"

Ayame sighs a little at the sound of Lelouch's voice.

"Sweetheart, these girls are not property."

Lelouch peaks into the room.

"Aren't you two supposed to be working? Don't let the pirate wannabe," Lelouch points towards Bismarck, "and my annoying mom get in the way of work."

Marianne pouts, "Oh honey, you don't love me any more. What would you do if somebody killed me?

Lelouch puts on his most serious face.

"Destroy the world looking for whoever killed you."

"Ooh that sounds a little extreme," Marianne comments.

"No more than the emperor's wardrobe. Did you see what he was wearing during his speech about my taking over China? Almost makes me wonder why I bother," Lelouch smirks, "What are my descendants going to think about us? We probably set back fashion several centuries," Lelouch motions over towards Bismarck's eye patch.

"Yes, yes, but who is the little cute girl over there?" Marianne asks.

"Oh Lili" Lelouch leans in to whisper into Marianne's ear, "You have to be careful with her. She's Jeremiah's little sister."

"Why do I have to be careful? You're the one who slept with her."

Lilicia's cheeks turn redder than Kallen's hair.

"I haven't had sex with Lili, but you can tell she wants me."

Lilicia, not wanting to seem easy, scoffs at the comment.

Marianne smirks, "I don't know why you are attracted to girls with crazy brothers."

Over in Beijing and Naples respectively, Jeremiah and Naoto sneeze.

"Hey Milly doesn't have any weird relatives. Of course that might be because she's the weird one. Carolina and Kaguya just have peculiar cousins. Lihua has that weird Xingke guy."

"Ah look at my little boy, all grown up," Marianne says while hugging her son.

"Mom not in front of the help," Lelouch notices that Ayame is not happy at being called the help, "I meant Bismarck," Lelouch says with a grin, "Well speaking of girls with crazy brothers, Euphie and Cornelia should be arriving soon."

Marianne lets out a gleeful scream.

"What's he like? Is he like you? Does he go around bossing everyone around?"

"Calm down. He's only a year old. He probably acts more like the twins than anything since that's who he hangs around with. Besides if you want another me, you already have Evelyn."

Marianne pouts, "Who needs a stinking girl? Nunnally is enough for me. "

"Fine, let's go see if Euphie is here. Oh the emperor wants Kallen and Milly here with their kids as well so Ayame should probably call them."

"I will see to it, your highness."

Marianne is getting impatient as Lelouch continues to give the two girls orders.

"Oh Lili, make sure that you prepare Scooter. I think I might need him."

"Your highness, you won't need a scooter. There are plenty of vehicles at the palace," Bismarck comments.

"Oh no, Scooter is the sword that Lloyd and Cecile made for me."

"Oh the personal MVS, but why did you name it Scooter?"

Lelouch chuckles, "Silly Bismarck. I didn't name him. It's what he calls himself."

Bismarck looks confused as Lelouch tells Marianne of all the adventures he has had with Scooter and Muramasa, his Japanese sword. Lilicia sighs and shrugs. Bismarck quickly follows after the empress and prince.

"Then Scooter said this place stinks," Lelouch says with a chuckle as the Excalibur III completes docking with the Aphrodite.

As the door opens Marianne begins to bounce around giddily. Euphemia and Cornelia are walking slowly with Anya and Sora following closely. A little boy is in Cornelia's arms.

"And then he said it stinks," Euphemia says with a chuckle.

Cornelia stops moving because she notices that Marianne is point at Gabriel. Cornelia sets him down and gives him a little shove. Gabriel appears to be waiting for something or someone else. Marianne puts her arms out.

"Where's Grampa Charlie?" Gabriel asks,

Marianne's face twitches a little, "What as that sweetheart?" she asks calmly.

"James-nii says that Grampa Charlie lives in Dragon City."

"Holy shit," Bismarck mumbles, "He talks just like him."

Marianne sighs, "Grampa Charlie is working, but your Grandma Marianne is here. We are going to have lots of fun."

Gabriel does not appear convinced. Before Marianne can continue, there are voices coming from down the hall.

"Look there they are!" Gino yells and runs towards the crowd. The kids are in hot pursuit. Gino freezes when he sees Gabriel, "Holy shit! When did they clone Lelouch? I thought Evelyn looked at lot like him," Gino bends down to look at Gabriel in the face, "What's up little guy?"

Gabriel twists his mouth trying to figure out who is standing in front of him. He laughs when he figures it out.

"Uncle Gino!"

"That's me."

Marianne shoves Gino out of the way.

"And who am I?"

Gabriel scratches his head deep in thought.

"Grampa Charlie's wife."

Marianne lets out a grunt of frustration.

"Euphie, what have you been teaching your son?"

Euphemia lets out a weak laugh.

"Actually Milly is in charge of education. It's part of a program she calls from the womb to college."

"I am sorry to interrupt, your highness," Ayame states, "I have contacted Princess Kallen."

"Is she mad?" Lelouch asks, "Never mind. Tell her Gino sends a hug."

"And here's one for you."

Gino tries to hug Lelouch but is met by and elbow.

"Hug daddy time," Gabriel says as he puts his arms around Lelouch. The twins do the same. Evelyn makes sure that Gino doesn't get in on the action. "Now it's Grampa Charlie time," Gabriel points at Bismarck, "You pirate man, I seen you on the TV with Grampa Charlie so takes me to him."

A loud laugh is heard from down the hall. Everyone including Lelouch bows for the emperor. Dorothea and Monica are flanking the emperor.

"Your majesty, is it safe for us to gather here?" Bismarck asks, "Our presence could attract attention."

Lelouch snorts, "Who's going to bother trying to kill you," Lelouch points towards the Knights of the Round who are now gathered. Bismarck does not look happy at this comment, "Oh you mean because of the emperor. Don't worry the Excalibur III is the safest place in the world. You only got on because the airship let you."

Bismarck sneers, "Do you talk to the airship as well? Where is this Scooter anyways?"

Lelouch grinds his teeth, "If you say one more bad thing about Scooter, I will have to challenge Gino to a duel to the death."

Gino does not like where this is going.

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me a duel to the death."

The emperor ignores Lelouch, Bismarck, and Gino arguing. He squats down and stares into Gabriel's eyes. The little prince stares right back. After a few seconds Gabriel lifts the paper he has been holding since he came aboard the airship.

"What's this?" the emperor asks.

"Uncle Castor draws it."

The paper has a drawing of the emperor standing. In the background James and Gabriel are in knightmares fighting enemies. The emperor smiles at the picture.

"Did you draw this?" he directs his question at Castor.

"Oh that I drew it up during some free time. Here me and Pollux have some better ones."

Castor pulls out some more drawings. The emperor takes them. One in particular gets his attention. It is a drawing of the emperor and Lelouch standing tall while the other royal children are on the ground. The emperor's foot is on Schniezel's head, but Lelouch has his sword pointing at Odysseus's neck.

"So it's settled in two days me and Gino are going to have a demonstration duel," Lelouch proclaims.

"So be it. After that I expect you, all your wives," he looks at Euphemia when he says this, "and your children to make a public appearance," the emperor remarks. With that the emperor leaves. The Knights of the Round and Marianne follow.

"What was that all about?" Euphemia asks.

Lelouch smirks, "Nothing. They have prepared your rooms at Aries in case you want to go down."

"No, we will stay here with you. Where's Nunnally?"

"She is sight seeing with Alice and Dalque. I believe they are at the Grand Canyon. If anyone needs me, I will be in my office."

Lelouch leaves everyone and heads for his office. As he sits down, his phone rings, he transfers the call to the video conference wall. Kallen appears on the screen.

"So I guess you were right," she states.

"Yes, the emperor wants all of you here."

"Are you sure that it is okay for Euphie and Gabriel to be there? I think it's a little dangerous."

"Don't worry about them. Anya and Sora are with them. I wouldn't want to mess with either girl."

"By the way Carolina is bringing Isabelle and Shirley," Kallen comments.

"That is her choice."

"Are you sure it's wise? Considering what is happening."

"Don't worry about it. I can handle it."

Kallen grunts, "I've seen what you can handle."

"Whatever. So you are on your way?"

"Yes we should be there some time tomorrow."

"Good, I'll prepare things here for your arrival. Oh by the way I am having a sword demonstration duel with Gino in two days."

"You two are ridiculous."

"What do you mean? It should be a good fight. I pretty sure I am going to win."

"Maybe you should televise it," Kallen says sarcastically.

Lelouch smiles, "That's a good plan. I'll call Reithard right now."

"Diethard."

"Ya that guy. I'm going to get on this right away. See you later Kalli."

**Thursday, April 24, 2019 **

Lelouch and Gino are having a sword duel today, an event which attract much attention from all over Pendragon. Diethard has Lelouch move it to a larger arena to accommodate the number of nobles that want to attend, and also because it has cameras ready to go.

"Don't you think that this is a little juvenile?" Carolina asks

"Maybe," Lelouch answers.

"As if carrying your child wasn't bad enough. Not to mention having to deal with Edward and Shirley's marriage falling apart," Carolina glances at Lelouch, "Poor girl. She doesn't know what to do."

"What do you want me to do about it? I already spoke with Edward, and he didn't want to listen."

Carolina sighs, "I suppose. At least Shirley has Euphie and Milly with her because she is ready to pop."

Lelouch puts his head on Carolina's stomach.

"When you are you going to come out? Here let me introduce you to Uncle Scooter."

Carolina shakes her head.

"You know when you talk like that people think that you are crazy."

"It's probably because he is," Kallen says as she and James enter the room.

Carolina laughs when she sees what Kallen and James are wearing.

"Why are you wearing I heart Gino t-shirts?"

"Because I am the secretary for the Official Gino Weinberg fan club."

"Really. Who is the president?"

"Belle."

"I'm the treasurer," Lelouch remarks, "And Scooter is the vice president."

"I see. Do you have any fan clubs?" Carolina asks.

"Thirteen in Pendragon alone. My official one is run by Euphie and Evelyn. Scooter has two. I run the official one, and Gino runs the other one."

"Oh the other idiot is waiting for you," Kallen comments

"Excellent. Scooter. Muramasa, let's be on our way."

Lelouch goes the arena entrance. The other members of the royal family are standing around talking. The emperor is already in his luxury skybox. Lelouch sets his swords down and appears to be trying to decide which one to choose.

Bismarck nudges Gino on the elbow.

"What is his highness doing?"

"He is listening to Scooter and Muramasa explain why they should be used for this fight."

'"Is the prince all right mentally?"

"Oh ya, Lelouch is good. I just hope he doesn't use Scooter because that sword is crazy."

Lilicia brings Lelouch a thin katana like sword.

"I guess you're up, Blinky."

Bismarck snorts at the name of Lelouch's sword. He hands Gino a large sword.

"Lord Weinberg, this sword has been a Waldstein family heirloom for over a century and a half. It was presented to my ancestor by the Empress Elizabeth III."

"Well me and Suzaku stole Blinky from a museum last month."

Karine shakes her head, "Why would you steal a sword that you can order them to give you?" she asks.

"Because it's funner that way," Lelouch answers.

"He means because he's an idiot," Kallen remarks.

"Hey my mommy says that I'm a smart boy."

Karine snorts, "What does father think about you?"

"That I'm crazy and should be committed to an asylum."

Karine ignores Lelouch's answer and evil grin. "Why are your wife and son wearing I heart Gino t-shirts?"

"Because we are members of the Official Gino Weinberg fan club. You think he will sign my Knight of Round trading card. It's limited edition."

"You are an idiot."

"I know it's so cool," Lelouch says with a smile.

Karine looks at Lelouch.

"Are you sure you can fight?"

"Of course. I can beat Gino with one leg and my eyes closed."

Since it is only a demonstration duel, they are wearing the latest in fencing technology. Their suits are powered by sakuradite and have a light blaze luminous system that protects their face so there is no need to where a mask. The suit is also covered with sensors that keep track of points.

"Listen up, Blinky that guy is Gino. He is my best friend in the entire world so do not, I repeat, do not kill him." there is a slight pause, "Crazy Blinky. It does stink."

Gino lifts his sword and is surprised at how light it is compared to its size. Lelouch and Gino enter the arena which is filled with screaming fan girls. Gino leans in towards Lelouch.

"How much money are you making off of this?"

"Oh the entrance was free, but we are making a killing off the vendor booths and commercials."

Lelouch versus Gino is the main event to a day full of all categories of fights: sword duels, boxing, and mma style fights.

"Don't worry; you'll get your cut."

Gino smiles weakly.

"So do you want to go slowly at first?"

"I guess, but I really wanted Blinky to get a work out."

On the way down the aisle Lelouch smiles and waves to the crowd. However his demeanor begins to change when the official begins to give instructions. Then the Lelouch that Gino knows all too well appears. The Lelouch that hates to lose, the Lelouch that hates to barely win makes his appearance. It is all fun and games until the competition starts. Once a fellow West Point cadet almost beats Lelouch at chess, taking him down to a few pieces, after that Lelouch makes sure that that cadet understands that that match is a fluke.

The official steps aside allowing so Lelouch and Gino clash swords as is customary in sword duels. Lelouch slides his hand over his sword as if activating it. Gino raises his sword and gets in a fighting stance. Lelouch stands there with his sword pointing down. Gino sighs because he knows that Lelouch's purpose is to embarrass him today.

After the official gives the signal Gino makes the first move. He places two hands on the sword and swings down hard. Lelouch effortlessly blocks the blow and pushes Gino away. Lelouch moves so fast that Gino barely notices. Lelouch is able to strike a blow to Gino's side. The scoreboard above immediately responds to Lelouch striking Gino once more on the shoulder. Gino takes a wild swing at Lelouch who blocks it with ease.

"You're swinging that big sword around pretty easily," Lelouch says with a smirk, "Waldstein family heirloom, my ass."

Gino figures out that Bismarck's sword is his own attempt at creating a personal MVS.

"What about your sword? Is it an MVS?"

"Maybe, but Blinky doesn't feel like talking. He feels like attacking."

Lelouch swings towards Gino. Gino can only dodge the attack. Anyone else would think that Lelouch tampers with his bodysuit to give him more speed. Gino remembers what Lelouch says the first time someone comments on his speed.

"I am the son of Marianne the Flash, after all,"

Lelouch continues to attack Gino. Despite his speed, Lelouch's best physical quality is his deceptive power. His best overall quality is his intelligence. Gino has seen Lelouch defeat bigger, stronger, faster people simply by being able to outthink them.

"Come on, Gino. You have to score at least once."

Gino looks up at the scoreboard and sees that he is down six to zero.

Above Karine is in her personal skybox with Guinevere. The older princess is watching the fight with slight amusement at the fact that Karine's lover is losing.

"How bad is it when the best knight at your disposal is losing to that half commoner mutt?"

Karine is glad that no on else is in the room. Guinevere's long standing hatred of the vi Britannias is well known. Only those in the government (and only because they have to) deal with both the su Britannia and vi Britannia families. Private companies and nobles have to make a choice between the two. Most with connections to commoners and technology prefer to deal with Lelouch. This in effect leaves Guinevere outside of new technological advancements. All this means that she hates Gino as well. Not only because Gino is technically Lelouch's best friend but also because Gino severely cripples Conrad. At first the former Knight of Three is assumed to be dead, but Guinevere secretly spends a fortune in medical equipment to keep him alive. Not that most people care since Conrad is no longer useful because if he cannot beat Gino then he certainly cannot beat Bismarck, Merlin, or Lelouch.

Karine's phone rings earning a glare from Guinevere.

"What do you want?"

…

"I see. You found the person behind that. What is his name?"

…

"Nina Einstein. That's interesting. Where is she?"

…

"That's sneaky. According to my people, we do not have the resources or facilities to duplicate the weapon, but there may be a way to counteract its effects."

…

"No, I have the perfect person for the job."

Karine ends the call and turns her attention back to the fight.

Lelouch has been toying with Gino for several minutes allowing him to land a few blows. Still Lelouch has a sizeable lead as time winds down. Gino decides to try something and flips over Lelouch who just stands there with his sword at his side. Gino knows that Lelouch is going to swing at him the moment he lands so he is ready to block and counterattack. However when Gino lands, he realizes that he makes a mistake.

Lelouch grabs hold of his sword with both hands and swings at Gino's head. Gino is able to bring his sword up to block Lelouch's swing. However Lelouch's swing is too much for Gino's sword to handle. Not only does Lelouch go right through Gino's sword, but he still has enough momentum to hit Gino's face shield. Lelouch continues pushing until he overloads Gino's body suit. The blonde knight collapses from the shock of the attack.

Bismarck rises from his seat.

"He destroyed the sword and the suit."

"Perhaps the prince tampered with his suit to gain more power and speed," Dorothea comments, "He was moving awfully fast."

"Impossible, I checked those suits myself before handing them to the competitors."

"There is not way that the prince can be that strong," Monica remarks, "Even if he used a MVS, he wouldn't have been able to break Lord Waldstein's sword. Much less disable Lord Weinberg's suit. Those are obviously set to withstand a great deal of pressure."

"We should go check on Weinberg."

Gino lies there for a few minutes before getting up and heading back towards the locker rooms.

The other Knights of the Round are waiting for him.

"What happened out there?" Bismarck asks bluntly.

"Do you mean the time when Lelouch almost cut me in half or the time that Lelouch almost chopped my head off? I'm a little confused by what you mean."

"How did you lose so easily?"

"He's a lot faster than I remember. There is no way I can match his speed. It's almost as if his body does not tire."

After hearing the rest of Gino's thoughts, Bismarck confers with the emperor.

"What did he say?" the emperor asks.

"It is as I suspected there is something different about the prince. If he is a code bearer, he is using it in a manner never seen before. Rather then be satisfied by immortality, the prince is using the code to his advantage."

The emperor sighs, "Keep me updated on the issue."

"Yes, your majesty."

* * *

Lelouch takes a shuttle up to the Excalibur III. By now everybody is down in Aries Villa so the airship is pretty empty. He heads for his office where Cecile is conferring with Lloyd via video conference. Lelouch places his swords in their holding places.

"I see the sword worked well, your highness," Lloyd states.

"Quite well, Lloyd. How are the new additions to the knightmares coming?"

"Slower than I thought. We still don't have enough power for the energy wings. Perhaps the data from the new sword can tell us something."

"Do you know who made that sword for Bismarck?"

"Oh the sword for Waldy. I have narrowed it down to a few people. There is still the matter of The Weapon."

"Don't worry. I have that matter covered. Just take care of things there."

"As you wish."

Lloyd signs off.

Cecile stands, "I should be on my way as well."

Lelouch puts his arms around Cecile cupping her breasts.

"Actually you are spending the night here with me."

Lelouch lifts Cecile and takes her to his bed. Lelouch begins by stripping Cecile. After spending a few moments sucking and fondling her breasts, Lelouch decides to get to work on the rest of her body. In the morning they are back in Lelouch's office. Only this time Cecile is on her knees between Lelouch's legs licking and sucking. The blue haired scientist is amazed at the prince's stamina. Not that she questions it since he brings her so much pleasure to both her body and mind.

**Sunday, May 11, 2019**

It has been almost nineteen days since Cornelia and Euphemia' arrival and seventeen since Lelouch and Gino's duel. A few days after that the emperor announces that Lelouch and Euphie have been together for over two years. This announcement shocks everyone. The whole Suzaku-Euphemia marriage thing is explained as some sort of imperial plot that nobody questions because it is an imperial plot. Of course there is severe backlash from the other imperial consorts. Many of them are now starting to see the advantages of marrying their children to each other. Of course this naturally upsets high ranking nobles who want to marry off their children to royal children.

Still after that things return back to how they were. Schniezel and Cornelia return to Europe. Nunnally, Kaguya, and Suzaku are also planning a return to Japan. However not everything stays the same because on the May 6, Shirley has her second daughter, Liliana Euphemia vu Britannia. Though Edward does not bother making the trip to Pendragon for the birth of his daughter. Instead Euphemia and Lelouch are at the birth.

But on this day, another birth is the one of consequence. Charles Lelouch sfo Britannia is born to Princess-consort Carolina sfo Britannia nee Sforza, Duchess of Alberta. The birth is quite a momentous occasion because apart from being Lelouch's fourth child, it is his third son. A feat unmatched by any of his eight living older brothers or his two older sisters. In terms of imperial pecking order Lelouch is the total package. Although many nobles still have hope that Schniezel will be able to produce offspring.

* * *

After spending a month in Pendragon conferring with the emperor and other leaders, Schniezel and Cornelia return to Europe. The return trip is the first chance that they get to converse alone.

"How should we go about the situation?" Schniezel asks as they fly over the Atlantic.

Cornelia does not answer immediately, but continues to look at the map.

"We need to keep the pressure on especially here in the east. We cannot have Russian soldiers and knightmares entering the European theater."

"I agree, but who can command in those areas. Lelouch is busy governing Area 24. He may continue to keep the pressure on from the east, but it is so far away."

Cornelia keeps looking.

"Perhaps it does not matter who is in command as long as they do not make mistakes. Taking western Europe is the key. Keeping the pressure is the key."

"Yes, perhaps that is what we should do," Schniezel comments.

Despite participating in the conversation, Cornelia seems distracted by something else.

"Are you still bothered by the fact that Lelouch and Euphemia are together?" Schniezel asks.

"No, I am just trying to focus on the situation here."

Schniezel is not insane enough to ask if the deaths of Guilford and Darlton are still bothering Cornelia. In fact Schniezel wants Cornelia to forget about her deceased knights. Since they are aboard his airship, Schniezel knows that there will be no interruptions. Schniezel activates his geass and looks into Cornelia's eyes which increases its power.

"Why don't we have a glass of wine and relax, Cornelia. We still have a few hours before we arrive."

Cornelia glances down at the map once more before nodding.

"Yes that would be nice."

After providing the wine Kannon exits the room and makes sure that they are not interrupted. Now under the complete influence of Schniezel's geass, Cornelia succumbs to all his advances. Unlike Lelouch, Schniezel does not have the advantage of being a code bearer so his stamina leaves something to be desired. He does have his geass which makes Cornelia think otherwise. In her mind it is the greatest night of her life. However Cornelia has other growing concerns.

**Tuesday, July 1, 2019**

Naoto is on the run once more. He doesn't exactly expect Schniezel to play fair. But the fool saves the bodies of Guilford and Darlton. After Naoto dumps Darlton and Rolo sets fire to the mobile base, GG comes in and takes the bodies. She leaves two doppelgangers in their place. The fire and attack from Naoto's EU friends provide a nice distraction. Naoto does not discover what happens until Rolo leads the two newly cybernetic knights in an attempt to kill Naoto.

Naoto barely escapes. He also manages to steal a few disks from Colonel Madd's lab. Only he does not know what is on them. He does not want to risk opening the disks in a public location. His actions of the last few months leave him with very few places to go. Only Zero is willing to give him a position in his force. With Tohdoh gone, there is no major Japanese rebel force. There are a few units within the EU forces. None of those want Naoto. In fact everyday the EU loses trust in its Japanese contingent. It doesn't help that Japan is now a peaceful territory within the Holy Empire of Britannia. Naoto does have one option that he does not want to consider. The disks in his possession may have important information about Schniezel that certain individuals may want to see.

* * *

In spite of the fact that her marriage is falling apart, Shirley has spent most of the last two weeks in sheer ecstasy. While she does other things such as spend time with her daughters and Euphie, what Shirley remembers the most about the past two weeks is being with Lelouch. Not only does she do things that she does not do with Edward, she actually enjoys them. Things that at one point she finds uncouth and disgusting.

At the moment the orange haired princess-consort is on all fours. Lelouch is behind her cupping her breasts and thrusting. After ejaculating for the third time that morning Lelouch lays an exhausted Shirley down, but continues thrusting. After expending himself one more time, Lelouch stands up and heads for the bathroom to clean himself up.

After showering and getting dressed Lelouch heads for his office. Obviously his affair with Shirley needs to be kept secret so they have sex aboard the Excalibur III. About thirty minutes later Shirley peeks into the office.

"Oh Lulu, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Lelouch smiles, "I wasn't really doing anything. Did you need something?"

"No, I just wanted to tell you that I was going to spend the day with Euphie if that's okay."

"Of course. I have lots of things to get to today. Tell Euphie that I will down there for dinner."

Shirley nods, "Okay."

After Shirley leaves, Kallen pops out of her hiding spot.

"Are you that this is wise?"

"What, eating dinner at Aries?"

Kallen smacks Lelouch on the head.

"No, I mean making Shirley your sex slave."

Lelouch looks intrigued.

"Do you really think I am that addicting?"

This time Lelouch grabs hold of Kallen's wrist when she goes for the smack and pulls her onto his lap.

"Hopefully this will teach Edward not to fuck with me."

Kallen smirks, "Or what you will fuck his wife."

"See we think alike."

Kallen stands up.

"Whatever. Are you almost done here?"

"Just about although my insider source has not been able to track down who is at the top because it certainly isn't Karine."

"Do you think Schniezel could be working both sides?"

"Hm, I wouldn't put it past him, but there should be a something that points in that direction. Whoever is backing Karine is covering their tracks well," Lelouch thinks for a moment, "Or not covering them at all."

"What do you mean?"

Lelouch ignores her for a moment and begins to look things up on his computer.

"Can you turn on the other computer, Kallen?"

Kallen does as Lelouch asks.

"Do you know if Milly is busy with anything this morning?" Lelouch asks.

"She didn't mention anything last night," Kallen responds, "but she might hang out with Shirley and Euphie."

"Get her and Carolina up here. I will have Cecile or Lilicia set up some more computers."

"Fine."

Kallen goes and gets Lelouch's other wives. When she returns Cecile and Lilicia are setting up several more computers in Lelouch's office. Evelyn, Jinta, the twins (both sets), and James are watching Lelouch typing away like a mad man. Ayame cautiously brings breakfast into the office. Lelouch begins to write on some scrap pieces of paper. He directs Evelyn to hand them out to Milly and Carolina who come in a little after Kallen. Charlotte waddles over to her big brother and uncles.

"What are we looking for?" Milly asks. She is a little upset at having her breakfast and possible shopping day interrupted.

"Financial records," Lelouch answers as James puts some toast in his mouth.

"How exciting," Carolina comments sarcastically.

"See and Scooter said that you girls would be mad about this," Lelouch remarks.

Milly sits down and gets to work. She knows that Lelouch will not be satisfied until they do what he wants.

"These are the records for the Ashford Foundation. You don't expect my parents of doing anything treasonous."

"No, but don't the records seem too perfect. Each month shows a slight increase in profit. Nothing noticeable, but it is still there."

Milly looks at the records closely and sees that Lelouch has a point. Being her grandfather's legal heir, Milly is technically in charge of the Ashford Foundation; however she cedes day to day controls over to her parents because of her responsibilities as Lelouch's wife in the Areas he controls.

"Holy shit," Carolina says not remembering that young children including her cousins are in the room, "There are several obvious dummy companies buying up real estate throughout my family's territory."

Kallen finishes her searching.

"Is this who you are looking for?"

Lelouch looks over at Kallen's computer and smiles.

"Yes that's it. I never suspected him to be behind all of this Everything seems so perfect until now."

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

"No, there would be no point. Our power base is not located here. We must return home and continue with the plan. It will only be a matter of time before this little group strikes."

"What is this?" Milly asks as she continues to search through the Ashford Foundation files, "Ganymede Supremacy. This wasn't in any of the share holder documents."

Lelouch goes over to Milly's computer and sees an imitation Lancelot similar to Nunnally's, but with some advanced features.

"What is that indeed," Lelouch remarks.

Suddenly Milly's computer goes haywire.

"Seems like they have some good protection over there, but mine is better. Of course it shouldn't take them long to figure out who is responsible for the breach. Lilicia, dispose of this computer. It has been compromised."

"What now?" Carolina asks, "It might make sense for you to return to Beijing. But if anybody thinks that they will buy up the land that my family earned through hard work, they have another things coming to them. I will not allow someone no matter who they are to disrupt the lives of my subjects."

"Don't worry about that. I have taken everything into account. I just had to be sure that everyone understands who we are dealing with."

"What about Euphemia?" Kallen asks.

"Do you really need to ask? Euphie is prepared for anything I ask her to do."

"Who are we dealing with?" Milly asks because the others do not get to see who or what is on Kallen's computer.

"Ah it's no fun if I just tell you. You have to guess."

"Odysseus eu Britannia," Evelyn answers.

"Ah no fair. You guys cheated. Evie doesn't count."

Carolina chuckles, "Come on. You don't expect us to believe that. Someone has to be using him. There is no way that he is plotting behind the emperor's back."

"I wonder," Kallen states, "It's like Lelouch said everything is too perfect. I don't think that he is behind everything here. If anyone is behind the activity at Ashford, it is probably our mother-in-law. Schniezel is probably the one behind the corporations buying up land in Oregon and Alberta."

"Oh I see now," Milly remarks, "Who else could hold the loyalty of the nobles? Sure world conquest is nice, but Lelouch and Schniezel are too nice to the conquered peoples. It also stretches our resources. Wouldn't Britannia be better off exploiting the rest of the world economically without having to worry about fixing the areas up?"

"See but that's my point," Carolina comments, "He wouldn't be the mastermind. It would be the nobles. There has to be someone pulling the strings."

"There is," Lelouch responds, "It's Karine and Faramond."

The others are confused.

"But you said that Odysseus is backing them and that Karine is not smart enough to pull this off," Kallen states, "How can they be pulling the strings?"

"Odysseus and Guinevere are the public face of the movement. Only Faramond and Karine have experience commanding troops. Even though they failed in the end, the blame can be put on Schniezel or me not providing them with enough soldiers. The point is not to tell the truth but to have enough people believe your version."

"That makes sense. Britannia is such a socially structured nation," Kallen states, "If enough nobles and businessmen back the new regime, then the commoners will stay quiet."

"Yes that is why we must return to Asia. They expect us to stay there and do nothing. After all none of us consider Pendragon home. Only Carolina considers any part of mainland Britannia her home."

"Yes but it's a little too perfect," Milly comments, "Don't you think. Nothing points to what you just said. You have stated repeatedly that your insider source, whose identity you refuse to reveal, hasn't gotten to the bottom of the situation."

"Still we need to return to continue with our own plans. Even if they do not act, we will."

"I guess you are right," Milly sighs, "Do you think it is a good idea to let them have Nina? She still has most of her memories."

Lelouch smirks, "There is no need to worry about Nina. They don't have enough time to make use of her. Besides that issue will no longer be of any concern to us."

**Saturday, July 5, 2019**

"Your highness, the rocket is nearly ready to launch."

Lelouch glances over at the technician.

"It is your show, Mr. Rollins. I am merely an interested stock holder who is here to observe the launch of the new communications satellite."

"Of course, your highness. Does the rest of your party want to see the launch as well?"

"Oh little tech things like this don't interest them. They are only interested in the benefits that the satellite will bring. They do not know how to appreciate true skill."

"Very well then. We shall begin launch preparation. If you will excuse me, your highness," Lelouch gestures for the man to do his job, "This is the control tower calling the rocket tower. We are awaiting your signal for launch."

"This is rocket tower. We are making final preparations and should be ready in a few minutes. I hear we got some VIPs up there. This should blow there snooty socks off."

Lelouch chuckles at the comment.

"Nice to see that everyone is in such high spirits."

A few minutes later the rocket tower gives the signal for the launch sequence to begin. Lelouch watches as his newest telecommunications satellite exits the planet's gravitational pull and enters into orbit around it. Space exploration and satellites have only been around a few years before Lelouch is born. However since then things have really taken off. There has even been talk of sending a man to the Moon, but at this point there really is not money in the budget for it. Lelouch spends a few minutes with the crew before exiting the Area 13 Space Center. With most of the Area's economy based on fishing the Space Center is a huge boon to the economy despite the fact that most of the natives only do menial tasks. Since Lelouch pays for the Space Center, the cost of putting it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is never brought up.

The most crucial thing as far as Lelouch is concerned is that the task of launching telecommunication satellites is divided. While Britannian Space Exploration Agency, BSEA, is responsible for the rocket and its launch, LL Entertainment is responsible for the contents of the rocket, the satellite itself. Since a prince is involved, the BSEA does not even bother checking the contents.

Lelouch boards the Excalibur III and heads for his office. He turns on is computer and goes to an older satellite.

"Now let's see what we can find."

* * *

Author's note: So some personal stuff came up this week, and I always find this little transition chapter difficult to write. Anybody else get bored and listen to exit trance remixes of anime songs on Youtube. It's good music to exercise to.

So in chapter 76 Gino killed Conrad. At least Conrad would have died if Guinevere hadn't saved him. This might be a spoiler, but his body is obviously useless, and he wants to kill the person responsible for it.

Lelouch has some ideas about certain things going on, but needed confirmation. Milly and Carolina can access certain things that Lelouch cannot. At least not without having to hack into several systems. All of Lelouch's wives are independently wealthy and have family possessions that are kept separate for their children. Lelouch does not always have access to these things. Apart from needing their help to make searching for things easier, Lelouch wants them to know what is going on.

Am I exaggerating Lelouch's sexual prowess and stamina? Perhaps, but keep in mind that he has been having sex with Kallen and Milly for almost four years. With Cecile, Ayame, Lucretia, Sancia, Euphie, Carolina, and Villetta at different points during that time. Lelouch has also been a code bearer for two years so he has obviously been working on to use that to his advantage.

I was thinking about some code bearer stuff while writing this chapter. The most obvious fact is that the body remains in stasis after gaining a code. The body does not grow or age in any way since growth and aging can lead to death. Of course that got me thinking. What happens when a code bearer does not eat? How does the body produce the essential nutrients to survive or does it no longer need them? Does the body process the food that is eaten? More importantly does blood still serve the same purpose? Is blood even needed to take oxygen and other nutrients around the body? Do code bearers tire? Do code bearers die and revive or do they live through it? Do wounds hurt? How fast are they healed? In the cave after Narita, Lelouch says that CC's vital signs are at normal levels. This probably means her heart beat. Does this mean that a code bearer's body keeps doing the normal things until there is a need to change? CC is also unconscious when Lelouch takes her into the cave. He also states that he is going to have her blood analyzed, but this is never brought up again. There is just so much stuff that is not known.


	85. Carpe Diem

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_ 'French is in single parentheses'

We will see the return of some regular soldier OCs and canon characters that get so little screen time; they might as well be OCs. Have I mentioned that Lelouch is an insane megalomaniac with a sister complex, and that Suzaku is damn lucky that Nunnally loves him.

...

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;  
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3

* * *

**Sunday, July 6, 2019**

Once in space Lelouch's satellite begins to ascent to its location. With his recent conquests Lelouch has been replacing the satellites the orbit Asia with his own. He takes out the old ones causing them to crash into the Pacific Ocean. As the satellite moves towards its location, it splits into several pieces. The main satellite piece continues on its orbit while the pieces that break off just float in space.

...

"Your highness, Lord Hultgren is here."

"Thank you, Kannon. I will meet him out in the garden.'

A few minutes later a middle aged man comes to meet Schniezel in the garden.

"Your highness, I have the items that you asked for."

Schniezel takes two manila envelopes from the man many call the Wizard of Wall Street. If anyone is able to move money around without being detected, it is Lord Edward Hultgren.

"Who is the person that asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to look into our business in Greenland?"

"Prince Odysseus. If you look at the documents, it seems like someone else is also interested in this information."

"Thank you, Lord Hultgren. I will look these documents over."

"I am glad I could be of help, your highness. I shall return to the mainland and continue to monitor the situation."

With that Lord Hultgren exits the garden, and Kannon comes out.

"Your highness, General Williams and his staff is here."

"Send them to the office. I will be there in a few minutes."

...

There is absolutely no doubt about it now. Cornelia li Britannia is pregnant. However this does not stop her from continuing her work in Eastern Europe. Even with Nonette's help, the situation is still precarious. Given Cornelia's condition things are not going to get any easier. At some point Cornelia is going to have to surrender her command to someone else. After that she will probably visit Euphemia and have her child there. Of course that is still many months away. For now Cornelia will have to devote as much effort as she can to the war effort.

**Sunday, July 20, 2019**

Lelouch arrives in Beijing and immediately gets to work. There is so much work to do. He has to continue to organize Areas 24 (China) and 25 (India). Upon his arrival the emperor informs him that Milly is now viceroy of Area 25. It is an effort by the emperor to separate Lelouch from those important to him. Not that it matters since Lelouch is in control of everything. In addition Xianglin informs Lelouch that she is several months pregnant.

At the moment he is with Milly, Kallen, and Carolina trying to create a staff for Milly to take with her to Delhi. Over the past three years Lelouch's former Area 10 staff has been stretched thin by his recent conquests. Many of the government officials in Siberia and China are assigned by the emperor and Empress Marianne.

"I have brought as many of people from the Sforza household to Siberia as I could," Carolina states, "but they know very little about running a country."

"Yes that appears to be our biggest problem," Lelouch comments, "We will have to make due with what is available. We will also continue to deal with the rebel groups."

"What about my western border?" Milly asks.

"Once the rebels are completely dealt with that should no longer be a problem,' Lelouch answers, "For now we will continue to use our current staffs. Not only are we being stressed, but so are the rest of Britannia's resources."

With the royal family's complete control of the media, the fact that Britannia's military is nearing a breaking point is kept from the public. Schniezel and Cornelia continue to feed soldiers to the meat grinder in Europe. This forces Lelouch and other viceroys to increase the amount of Numbers in their Area defense forces.

"We shall meet again in week to assess the situation once more. There are a few other Areas that I think we can borrow from."

Kallen and Carolina exit the room. Carolina has her son to take care of. She also has to help Evelyn govern Siberia. At the moment Jeremiah and Kewell are there governing the area as a military district. Lelouch wants that situation to change and for the government to be handed over to Evelyn and her bureaucracy. Kallen has to meet with Villetta and assess the military situation throughout Asia. Lelouch's other wives and lovers are busy with their own affairs. Milly and Lelouch state at each from across the conference table.

"So I guess the emperor did as you expected," Milly comments.

"Yes he did," Lelouch responds.

For years has been crediting Milly with a lot of the success of his administrations from Area 10 to Africa to Siberia. It is not a complete lie since Milly is the biggest help out of all Lelouch's wives, but there are hundreds of people that help things run smoothly.

"Although it would have been easier for him to let me put Cassius in India."

"I wonder if he knows that we are code bearers."

"Perhaps he suspects that I am, " Lelouch remarks, "Still you should be careful about what you do."

"I will try," Milly comments, "Although it is hard to stop working because I don't really need rest."

"Yes but that doesn't stop CC from taking naps whenever she wants."

Since Lelouch's return to Beijing, CC has taken up residence aboard the Excalibur III. A fact that does not please Kallen at all since she already has to put up with Shirley.

"I can't really think of a reason, but I really like CC," Milly states.

"It's probably because she annoys Kallen so much."

"Darling, I'm not that petty."

"Yes you are."

Milly frowns, "And I was going to allow you to make love to me all night long."

Lelouch shrugs, "I'll just call Cecile or Shirley. They'll be glad to take your place."

Milly sticks her tongue at Lelouch.

"Fine you can have me, but nothing weird."

"Ah why not, CC and Shirley let me do all the cool stuff to them."

"Let's go. Maybe I'll change my mind."

**Friday, September 9, 2019**

**Edo Palace, Tokyo, Area 22**

Nagisa Chiba, Duchess of Edo, is attending a party in honor of the pregnancy and birthday of Princess-consort Kaguya yama Britannia, Duchess of Kyoto and sub-viceroy of Area 22. Although no Japanese person or most of those in the local government ever refer to it as Area 22. Nagisa sighs as she steps out on the balcony. She is still not used to attending these sorts of functions even though she has been a Britannian noble for over a year, and she previously is an observer following Lelouch. Of course it helps that Lelouch does not really like these sorts of events although several of his wives do, but not the half Japanese kick ass knightmare pilot one which makes a difference.

"Getting some fresh air, Lady Chiba," a familiar sarcastic voice calls out.

Nagisa sighs and grins, "Tokyo nights are so lovely at this of the year."

"Yes, they are."

"Shouldn't you be inside enjoying the festivities, your highness?"

Lelouch grins, "I suppose, but there are some things going on inside that I would rather not hear."

Nagisa peaks inside and sees that Nunnally and Suzaku are talking with Kaguya. The princess and the Japanese boy are redder than Kallen's hair and knightmare.

"I do not believe I have congratulated you, your highness."

"Congratulated me on what?" Lelouch asks.

Nagisa shakes her head.

"Oh you mean because Kaguya is pregnant," Lelouch says with a smirk, "You know, I think at some point I am going to have to demand a paternity test because this is getting ridiculous."

Several servants come out looking for Lelouch.

"Your highness, the viceroy requests your presence inside."

I shall go in after I finish my discussion with General Chiba."

"But your highness, the viceroy."

"Is my little sister," Lelouch answers, "I do not answer to her even if she is the viceroy."

The servants are quite unsure what to do since no one ever disobeys Nunnally.

"You may leave us alone now. And tell Nunnally that is she thinks about bringing the party out here, I will make her regret it."

Lelouch's words are accompanied by a glare that sends the servants back inside. Nunnally is not happy with Lelouch's response. Chiba looks over at Lelouch.

"Your highness, I don't understand."

"I have preferred my duties as a husband and expectant father, but I will not participate in a charade. Lady Sumeragi understood what this marriage was about from the beginning."

Nagisa has heard Lelouch speak in this manner before. His marriage to the Sumeragi heiress is not loveless one, but it does not have the same passion as his other marriages. That is something that Nunnally can never understand. Kaguya has been her friend since the beginning. Before either girl even understands what the other is saying, they are already friends.

Lelouch has always been a practical person. His having children makes him look weak. It makes him a target for those that would love and hate him. If he could, he would have a dozen children. The only thing holding him back is that it incapacitates the mother for a few months. At the moment his wives are his greatest allies and subordinates.

"Besides that party looks boring. Just a bunch of people trying to kiss ass."

Nagisa agrees with Lelouch's opinion about the party, but that does not mean that she agrees with his reason for not attending it. Of course she cannot bring herself to say this to him, but she is saved by someone who can.

"Your highness, it is time for you to return to the party. If you want, I can take General Chiba's report for you."

Lelouch frowns, "I don't like you anymore, Ayame."

"Whether you like me or not is not my concern, your highness. It is my duty to make you go back to the party."

"Fine, but first tell me who sent you out here. I know it wasn't Nunnally or Kaguya."

"Sorry your highness, but that is none of your business."

"So that means it was stupid Suzaku. I'll have to get some people together and kick his ass."

"Did his highness forget that he only has one friend?"

Lelouch smiles, "I wasn't talking about getting my friends to do it, but my enemies. Besides me and Gino can beat up Suzaku and Nunnally, probably Alice too. I don't about Sayoko. She's tough. I think Kalli would have to handle her."

Lelouch hands Nagisa a manila envelope before reentering the building. Inside she finds pictures of Tohdoh and company training with their refurbished knightmares.

Later that night Lelouch and Kaguya are in bed. Lelouch is sitting while Kaguya is riding him. However she is embarrassed to have Lelouch see her face so she has her back to him. Kaguya has her hair tied up in a ponytail so that it does not get in Lelouch's way as he gently kisses her on the neck. After Kaguya is spent, she slumps onto Lelouch.

"My beautiful little Kagy."

Lelouch begins to stroke her cheek as he turns her around and lays her atop him. Kaguya sighs and fall asleep. Normally after sleeping with Kaguya, Lelouch's ravenous sexual appetite leads him to find another partner. However tonight he finds himself very satisfied. He remembers CC mentioning something about him maturing. In the morning he will return to Beijing to continue putting the pressure on the Russians and rebels. Perhaps he can hold off returing for a few days to spend more time with Kaguya and Nagisa.

**Wednesday, October 15, 2019**

**Manila Settlement, Area 11**

Gabriel li Britannia is staring at his Aunt Cornelia's stomach. She is about six months pregnant.

"Momma, when is little cousin going to pop out?

"In a few months sweetheart. Now leave your Aunt Cornelia alone and come get your snack," Euphie responds.

"It's fine Euphie. I love spending time with this little guy, "As expected Cornelia dotes on her nephew as much as she once does to his mother, "Besides you should get some time off today. It is your birthday"

"Momma, when daddy coming?"

"He will be arriving soon."

"Okay."

"Lelouch is quite busy these days," Cornelia comments.

"Yes he has a lot of work."

Cornelia considers Euphemia's words. Cornelia has only been here about a week. This will be the first time that Lelouch visits while she is here.

"Euphie, does it bother you having to live here in Area 11 while Lelouch is up north?"

"You mean does it bother me that his other wives get to spend more time with him."

Cornelia sighs.

"It did at first," Euphie responds, "but it isn't like they get to be with him much either. Other than Kallen, no one gets to spend as time with Lelouch as they would like."

"Kallen is big brother James's mommy," Gabriel comments.

"Yes, she is. Now come, you have to get dressed for daddy's visit.

"Okay."

Lelouch's visit has very little fanfare despite the fact that he comes in a giant airship. Of course he doesn't come alone. He brings Shirley and her daughters.

A few days after his arrival Lelouch and Cornelia re left alone because Euphie decides to spend the day with Shirley. Lelouch is staring at Cornelia's stomach in mild amusement.

"Lelouch, isn't that girl Edward's wife?"

"Yes, she is friends with Euphie. They met each other when we attended Ashford."

"I see so you met her there as well."

"Yes we had a few classes together and served on the student council."

"When did she meet Edward?"

"Probably at one of my weddings. I think Belle and Ayame schemed to introduce them."

"I see," Cornelia looks around, "By the way where is your little assistant. Lady Marianne appears to be quite fond of her."

"Oh Ayame, she is with Milly in India," Lelouch leans in to whisper, "Now I have to deal with Lili who is really mean."

"Who? I do not see anyone."

"She's probably hiding somewhere which makes it really hard to protect her. Of course she might be with Anya and Sora."

"Can you stop staring at my stomach?"

"Why? Kallen and Milly let me stare at theirs. Sometimes I would put my mouth on it and make fart noises. Ah good times."

Cornelia smiles at Lelouch's comment but does not like the look in his eyes.

"Don't even think about it. Lelouch!"

But it is too late because Lelouch is already hovering over Cornelia pulling up her shirt. Despite her objections to it, Cornelia allows Lelouch to make his fart noises on her stomach.

"Lulu! What are you doing?" Euphie asks from the door.

Euphie, Shirley, Gabriel, Elizabeth, and baby Liliana are standing at the door.

"Making fart noises for Nelly's baby."

Gabriel giggles, "I help daddy."

"Come here, little man."

"That's enough," Cornelia states as she pushes Lelouch away.

"Ah you're no fun."

"Your highness," Lilicia says coming out of her hiding spot.

"Hey Lili, what's up?"

"Princess Nunnally wants to remind you of her birthday party."

"Ah crap, I forgot to buy Nunnally a present."

Euphie grumbles, "Nunnally."

It has always been an issue that Euphie and Nunnally's birthdays are ten days apart.

"I'll just give her some money."

This earns Lelouch a slap on the head from Cornelia.

"Fine I'll get her some gift cards."

This time Lelouch avoids Cornelia's hand.

"Well I have a few days so maybe Lili will do her job and buy the present."

Lilicia sighs, "I have already taken care of that issue, your highness."

Lelouch smiles, "I knew I liked you for a reason."

Cornelia shakes her head.

"This will not do, Lelouch. Birthday presents must come from the heart."

"Is that why you got me this My Little Pony Diary and Evelyn a book on war tactics?"

Cornelia glares at Lelouch holding the birthday present that is meant for Evelyn.

"Why didn't you two just trade?"

"Because Evelyn wanted to keep the war tactics book, and the diary has little inspiration tidbits so I use it to write notes to Lilicia and Ayame."

"Enough talk about Nunnally. Look at the stuff that me and Shirley bought," Euphie states.

Lelouch grumbles, "You know I just remembered that I have a conference call with Milly and Kallen."

Lelouch scampers off. Lilicia follows after him. Euphie begins to gripes about Lelouch running off.

"Here Euphie, I'll look at what you bought," Cornelia comments.

Euphie and Shirley both blush.

"Um well we can look at that later. Why don't we get ready for dinner?"

Gabriel and Elizabeth cheer because they are hungry.

**Monday, October 27, 2019**

**Aboard the Excalibur III above Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement**

After celebrating Nunnally's birthday all weekend, Lelouch prepares to return to Beijing. He is somewhere aboard the Excalibur III preparing for the trip. Since she is returning to Area 11 with Cornelia, Euphie comes aboard to say goodbye to Lelouch. When she opens the door to his room, she finds something she did not expect. Shirley is on his bed in sheer ecstasy however above her is CC. Euphie has done some kinky things with Lelouch, but this is Shirley. She is the last person that would be doing something like this. Euphie is not sure how to react as her best friend screams in pleasure.

"Shirley is quite exquisite, isn't she?"

Euphie feels two familiar arms and lips on her.

"You did this to her. Didn't you, Lelouch?"

Lelouch continues to nuzzling Euphie's neck.

"Did what, maker her happy? Look at her face. She gets this pleasure almost every night."

Euphie does not say anything as Lelouch lifts her and takes her to the bed.

Cornelia shakes Euphie who has been in a daze since they left Japan.

"Euphie, is something wrong?"

Euphie shakes her head and smiles.

"Oh I just spaced out thinking about something."

"Why isn't Edward's wife coming with us? It makes sense since Area 17 is next to yours."

"Oh, Shirley is staying with Nunnally for a few days. Then she is visiting Milly before returning home."

"Well if it is fine with him, then I shouldn't worry."

...

The smell of pizza fills Lelouch's office as he has to make CC happy for not letting her touch Euphie.

"Since you provided me with all this pizza, I won't say anything else about you not letting me touch the pink haired girl."

Lelouch stays quiet and continues with his work. CC walks over to Lelouch's desk dripping pizza sauce and toppings on it.

"Watch what you are doing, witch."

CC grunts, "What will you do if I don't?"

"Stick you in a sealed coffin and toss you into the depths of the ocean."

CC goes back to the couch.

"You're no fun."

"Perhaps you want me to bring Mao back."

"Perhaps I'll tell the emperor about your little plan."

"Too late. He already knows."

"What do you mean?" CC asks.

"I sent VV crawling back to the emperor. He should have told him that I am planning on hiding the other code bearers to keep him from activating Ragnarok."

"Isn't that a little overconfident?"

"Don't worry. It isn't like he told the emperor the truth. The emperor thinks that I am hiding the code bearers somewhere in the Himalayas. That is why he separated India from China so that his observers can begin the search."

CC stands and gets her pizza boxes.

"I'll be in my room. Call me if you need anything," CC says in a seductive voice.

Eventually Lelouch heads over to CC's room but moves the party over to his room because of the smell of pizza is so strong in the green haired immortal's room.

**Saturday, November 15, 2019**

**Forbidden Palace, Beijing**

Early in the morning Zhou Xianglin gives birth to son, once again showing the potency of Lelouch's Y-chromosome sperm.

"I say we name him, Scooter," Lelouch remarks.

Everyone else shakes their head except for Lihua, but that is only because of Evelyn's geass.

"You cannot name your son, Scooter," Kallen responds, "What is going to happen to him when he grows up."

"He'll kick ass. With a name like Scooter Jeremiah Lamperouge, who wouldn't kick ass? Then if he has a brother, I will name him, Blinky Gino Lamperouge."

Jeremiah smiles at the name, but glares from Hannah and Lilicia put a stop to that.

"Why not give him a Britannian and a Chinese name," Lihua comments.

Lelouch smiles, "Good thinking, Lihua. When we have kids, you can name them," the young empress blushes at the comment, "Let me see. Scooter Bilbo Lamperouge."

Kallen smacks him on the head.

"Your child isn't half hobbit. Why don't we just let Xianglin name him?"

"No, I meant give him a Chinese name," Lihua says while lifting her right hand, "and a Britannian name," she lifts her left hand.

"Good thinking, Lihua. Chen Hu Long will be his Chinese name. Henry William Michael Lamperouge is his Britannian name," Lelouch nods, "Well that is that. If anyone needs me, I'll be playing with Scooter and Blinky in the courtyard."

**Pendragon**

The emperor is meeting with the Knights of the Round stationed in Pendragon so Karine doesn't have to worry about Gino following her. Not that it matters because Karine has dozens of excuses that she can use. However secrecy is needed for her trip because it involves a delicate matter. She even dresses the part. Karine normally likes to show off, but at this stage of the game, she is better off not doing so. Although she is not quite as good as Lelouch at being covert. She does not have a fleet of undercover cars. Still this is an important meeting for her group. Much to her displeasure Karine is the last to arrive.

"Having a little fun before the big meeting," Guinevere says mockingly.

Karine groans and sits down.

"Shut up. At least I," Karine stops before she says something that will enrage Guinevere, "Never mind."

"Good let's begin this meeting," Odysseus declares, "According to our scientists, we do not have time or resources to create this FLEIA weapon."

"Can't we just take them from where we need them?" Guinevere asks.

"Unfortunately we cannot. We need sakuradite and uranium. While there are quantities throughout areas that we control, the quality is not good enough."

"Besides we need to build a facility where there is plenty of running water," Faramond states, "There are very few areas like that that are not near population centers."

"Why do we need to worry about that?" Guinevere asks, "We are members of the imperial family."

Karine shakes her head because even she understands the problem.

"Sure we can establish a facility in the Mississippi, but that will draw the attention of the emperor, Schniezel, and Lelouch. All three will have operatives and spies in our facility as soon as they find out."

Guinevere grumbles.

"No need to worry," Odysseys remarks, "With the help of Miss Einstein, we are developing a countermeasure for this FLEIA. At first the countermeasure is too difficult to use."

"What do you mean?" Karine asks.

"It would require someone of great intelligence and speed or strength to be able to use it. But now the time required is almost to normal human capabilities. In no time it will be at the level where it can simply be launched at a FLEIA."

"With that out of the way we must continue working on our main plan," Faramond states.

"Yes, how much longer do we have to wait?" Karine asks.

Odysseus answers, "Just a few more months. By then Cornelia will be completely incapacitated because of her pregnancy. Schniezel will be embroiled in Europe. Lelouch will be dealing with rebels and Russians. We just need for our other operatives to continue working on their projects."

"Good, I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they realize what is going on," Guinevere says with a smirk.

**Somewhere west of Miami**

Kyoshiro Tohdoh, Ryoga Senba, Kosetsu Urabe, and Shogo Asahina have been training for several months at a secret Britannian base. It is located in a long peninsula full of swamps although the entire coast is full of Britannian settlements and at the center is a large amusement park/entertainment center. Their knightmares have been salvaged; however their pride and most of their former followers are gone. After several months of training and watching footage there is one thing very clear to all of them, they will never be able to defeat Lelouch vi Britannia and his wives in knightmare combat. Obviously Lelouch has already defeated them. It appears that Kallen is almost at the level where she could beat them single-handedly as well. But their concern is an entirely different group of people. One day they will fight Nunnally's group. It is inevitable for the pride of both sides.

**Teracina about 50 miles north-northwest of Naples. **

"Captain Libbon, the officer from West Point is here to see you."

Captain Steve Libbon puts down his paperwork and leaves his makeshift office. One that he shares with several other captains, lieutenants, and a colonel. There are no majors in his battalion. Being the lowest ranked captain, he is not up for that promotion. Not that he wants it since most of the majors in this army are front line commanders due to it being a knightmare force. Of course being the newest captain means he gets shit duties like dealing with some snooty West Point officer. He is not at all surprised to find that the man is several years younger and is also a captain.

"I am Captain Steve Libbon. How may I help you captain?" he pauses because he is not told the other man's name.

"A pleasure to meet you, Captain Libbon. I am Captain Michael Oppel. I serve General Sanders, the superintendent of West Point Jr. Academy."

Steve sighs. He is not expecting the assistant to the superintendent of West Point. At least the man does not seem to have a stick up his ass.

"How can I help you, Captain Oppel?"

"We have been receiving complaints that our recent graduates that they are getting thrust into frontline action."

Everyone in the military knows that West Point Jr. Academy is populated by nobles. Most of them expect to be given a cushy command position. Very few of them expect to be put into direct combat.

"You must understand, Captain Oppel, that soldiers are simply put into empty slots. We have very little control of policy down here on the ground."

It is as close as Steve gets to telling Captain Oppel to blame Schniezel and his general staff.

"I understand that policy comes form above, but."

Steve understands what Captain Oppel wants to say next.

"You want us to leave our frontline forces undermanned so a few noble brats can relax in rear."

Captain Oppel clears his throat.

"I know how it sounds, but don't you believe that it is foolish to put fresh troops in the front."

"Actually they perform quite well. They spend three years training on how to respond to adverse situations while we commoners only get a few months in boot camp. You should have more faith in your recruits."

Before the conversation can continue, an alarm rings.

"What the hell?" Steve growls, "What the hell is going on out there?"

Several lieutenants burst into the office

"Captain Libbon, the colonel wants every capable officer to get out there."

"I'll there in a minute," Steve responds, "See Captain Oppel. We need every capable out there."

Steve quickly leaves the office and heads for the knightmare holding area. As he runs, he sees an object tumbling to the he just departed.

"Holy shit."

The object lands at the entrance of the makeshift office killing anyone nearby. Steve hears the anti-aircraft guns going off so he continues moving.

"What the hell is going on?" he asks one of the knightmare techs.

"It seems like the enemy is tossing scrap metal at us."

"Scrap metal. Sneaky bastards," Steve scowls, "I don't hear any jets. What are the AA shooting at?"

"The enemy figured out that our sensors are based on metal and sakuradite so they are using old propeller planes loaded with bombs."

"What? Wouldn't the pilot get killed as well?"

"I hear they're Japanese."

Steve boards his knightmare as another plane is torn to shreds sending its deadly cargo tumbling to the ground.

* * *

"Colonel Fayer, I am afraid that we cannot budge from our position. Your men will just have to make due with what they have."

"General Upson, if we do not get the reserves, we will have to retreat. There may be not stopping this time."

"That has been said over these last few months, and we have still maintained the line."

"Yes, but we have always retreated strategically and pushed our reserves forward. This time you are refusing to release the reserves."

The two high ranking military officer, both from minor noble families, stare at each other.

"This time Colonel Fayer, your men will have to make due. Our reserves consist mostly of recent Academy graduates and nobles."

"Then they have more experience piloting knightmares than our common soldiers."

"That may be but they are the future leaders of our nation. We cannot risk their lives on a frivolous situation like this."

Before the discussion goes any further, Schniezel and Kannon walk in on the meeting.

"Your highness," both men say as they bow.

"General Upson," Schniezel states, "What is the current situation?"

"Your highness, the front is stabilizing. I was about to send in the reserves to finish off the enemy."

"Be certain to retain enough to maneuver around the enemy's flank."

"I will see to it, your highness."

Schniezel and Kannon continue walking.

General Upson glares at Colonel Fayer.

"You have thirty minutes to move the reserves forward. If we lose ten percent of them, you will be manning the coastal defenses of Montana by tomorrow."

"I will see to it, General."

Once Colonel Fayer leaves, General Upson lets out a sigh. The Italian front has not been easy. Despite having superior equipment, Britannia is unable to make any big moves. Over the last few months the front has moved up and down the peninsula. Even Schniezel's genius has not been able to figure out a solution. Not that the others fronts are doing any better. The European war as a whole has been a drain on Britannia. However General Upson knows that the only way to advance is to do as he is told.

* * *

Kizuna Kagesaki is one of the many Japanese expatriates who have chosen to fight on the Russian front rather than in Europe. Many feel that this brings them closer to Japan. Once they smash through Lelouch's front lines, they will press onward towards Japan. Even though it has not happened yet, they are certain that it will happen this time.

* * *

Lelouch is sitting in his office aboard the Excalibur III. He finds it easier to work aboard the airship during the night because subordinates ask fewer questions. After the commotion of the last few days, he needs some quiet time. However this does not do Lilicia any favors since Ayame and Midori are in India and Siberia respectively. This means that Lilicia has responsibility over all of Lelouch's issues: domestic, military, foreign, etc.

"Your highness, you have a visitor," Lilicia tone indicates that she does not like the visitor at all.

A thin middle age man steps into Lelouch's office. From the man's demeanor, Lelouch can tell who he works for. Lelouch slides his finger across a button underneath his desk.

"Lilicia, you may leave us."

Lilicia nods and exits the room.

"Your highness, I am Agent Lynch of the OSI."

Lelouch nods indicating that he suspected as much.

"How can I help you Agent Lynch?"

The OSI man looks towards the door.

"That little girl isn't coming back with refreshments, is she?"

Lelouch frowns, "Did I ask her to bring refreshments? I simply asked her to leave. My subordinates follow my orders."

"I see. Your highness, I am here to ask about your recent satellite launchings. Some of my superiors are questioning your motives."

Lelouch smirks and places a manila folder on the desk.

"Agent Lynch better known as Walter Yeager IV. Your ancestors are part of a Germanic group of soldiers that aided the Britannian crown during Washington's Rebellion. For their help, they are rewarded land in the west," Lelouch stands up, "Through their continued service to the crown, they gained more influence. Until one of them becomes the director of the OSI. That man being your grandfather, Walter Yeager II."

"That information is classified."

"Nothing is classified to me, Agent Lynch. I suspect you and your superiors already know what I am planning on doing with my satellites so I will not tell you any more."

The OSI agent nods and pulls out his gun, "Lelouch vi Britannia, I am placing you under arrest for conspiracy against the crown."

"You do not actually believe that you can take me without a fight. Mr. Yeager, I have known about you since before you were born."

The OSI agent is quite confused because he is at least ten years older than Lelouch.

"I knew what you were going to do before you did. Let me guess you have not told anyone about your suspicions except for those that came with you. Nothing happens in my Areas without me knowing about it. The moment you crossed into Japanese airspace, I knew you were coming," Lelouch says with a sneer, "You have probably begun to feel a slight burn were your tracking chip is located. Don't worry about your friends. They are being taken care of. "

Lelouch begins to walk towards the OSI man.

"Stop or I will shoot!"

"Bullets do not scare me."

The OSI man fires at Lelouch, but the bullets are stopped by Lelouch's power suit blaze luminous.

"I don't suppose a lowly OSI agent such as you knows about the newest model power suits."

Lelouch slices through the man's gun with Muramasa. The agent withdraws a second gun but is able to shoot with it. Some force compels the OSI man to drop his gun.

"I doubt that you have heard of the Geass Order, Agent Lynch, or that you know much about it."

"Geass Order?" The OSI agent asks confusedly.

"The Geass Order is an organization that has existed for centuries. Its purpose is to study geass and its effects. At the moment it is under the control of Britannia," four little girls step into the room and stand behind Lelouch, "However at the moment, there is a conflict in the Order."

Lelouch snaps his fingers. One of the little girls points towards the OSI agent, her eyes glowing red with the geass sigil. As she lowers her hand, the OSI agent drops to his knees. When another girl raises her hands, the OSI agent feels as though chains are holding him down. Lelouch leans down and whispers into a third girl's ear. The girl walks towards the OSI agent and places her hand on his head.

The OSI agent feels pain and lets out a scream. After a few moments the pain recedes and the OSI agent's eyes turn red with the geass sigil.

"Who sent you here?" Lelouch asks, "How many people know that you are here?"

"His highness, Prince Odysseus sent us here. Only my father and the prince know of our mission."

"Does Odysseus suspect my satellites?"

"The prince knows nothing about the satellites. Once he instructed us to come here, we simply found a plausible excuse. Through quick research we discovered several older satellites being disposed of."

Lelouch grins, "Dispose of him."

The fourth girl approaches the OSI man and whispers into his ear. The agent leaves the Excalibur III and is never heard from again. Lelouch takes a seat on his couch. The four little girls sit with him. He puts his arms around them.

"Did your sisters take care of the other agents?"

"Yes big brother Lulu," the four girls answer.

"Good. Who wants ice cream?"

The four girls are hesitant.

"Big sister Lucretia says that we shouldn't eat ice cream late at night."

Lelouch smiles, "Don't worry. I won't tell her," Lelouch stands, "Let's go. Lili is probably going to get your sisters."

**Monday, December 8, 2019**

Schniezel moves his meeting with Zero from Friday to Monday because he doesn't feel like making any possible announcements on Lelouch and Evelyn's birthday. The stalemate in Italy and Spain leads both sides to the negotiating table. Although those in Eastern Europe do not seem to want to bargain about anything especially with Russia doing so well in the Caucasus. Though Lelouch seems to have some success against them in the east. Little by little Area 23 increases in territory. Schniezel is not at all surprised to find Naoto at Zero's side. The Japanese general is worse than a cockroach. He refuses to die or disappear.

After introductions, Schniezel decides to get down to business.

"Let us begin with this meeting."

Despite the fact that he is wearing a mask, Schniezel can sense Zero's smile.

"Yes, here is our first offer. Britannia will evacuate Spain and Italy. If you think you can keep the British Isles that is your problem. As for eastern Europe if the Russians want that powder keg, they are welcome to it."

Schniezel expects negotiations to be difficult, however if this is the starting point, things can only get much worse. Still at this point in the game, Schniezel has to at least try.

"Why should we surrender what we have conquered?" Schniezel asks, "If you haven't taken them back yet, I doubt you can."

"Even with your superior technology, Britannia has not been able to conquer even Italy. Your attempts last year to invade France ended in failure."

Schniezel needs to turn the conversation to his favor for his geass to effective. He needs to find a way to keep talking with Zero eventually his geass will take effect.

"That may be, but we maintain a presence on the continent. We can renew our attack on northern Europe whenever we please."

"You may renew your attacks but will that be beneficial to your nation. How much of your resources and manpower can you use here?"

"I will continue here until the emperor orders me to stop. We need to come to an agreement so that we can both get what we want."

Schniezel puts an emphasis on the last phrase hoping that is geass continues to work on Zero. Zero appears to be dazed at Schniezel's comment.

"Get what we want," Zero states. He pauses for a few seconds before continuing, "You have heard our offer, and we have heard yours. Perhaps we should meet in a few days after we have discussed matters with other involved."

"Yes perhaps that is beneficial."

Zero and Naoto quickly make their exit and return to their temporary headquarters. Zero quickly excuses everyone from his office but Naoto. This causes concern from the others and bewilderment from Naoto.

"Is there a problem, Zero?"

"No, I just can't think with all these people making noise."

Zero's voice seems different than before. It seems almost familiar.

"What do you mean making noise? Most of your people seem pretty quiet. Unless you were talking about something else."

Naoto activates his geass canceller. Zero seems to be frozen, but finally sighs.

"That was stupid of you. I was beginning to recover my memories and power, but still retained Zero's knowledge."

Naoto is sure of it now.

"Mao, is that you?"

Zero removes his helmet and reveals himself to be the albino Chinese mind reader.

"What are you doing here?" Naoto asks, "And what do you mean by Zero's knowledge?"

"I was captured by the Brit bastard. He had some scary little girl geass me into believing that I was Zero. They also implanted memories into my head that made me a decent commander. Thanks to you those are gone."

"Does it matter? I believe that Schniezel will give to your demands. I think that something big is about to happen back in Britannia."

"Don't be an idiot. The only reason I can stand to be near you is because of the canceller of yours. There is no way that I can make it through a meeting with those people. Although I would like to get into the blonde fool's head."

"You know you sound quite reasonable when you aren't thinking about CC."

Mao growls at this comment.

"There is no way that I can meet with them and maintain my composure. Even here it is becoming nearly unbearable."

"What do you want to do?" Naoto asks.

"If the blonde prince is going to try anything, I want to find out what it is. My only choice is to sneak onto their base."

Naoto sighs, "I owe those bastards."

Sneaking onto a Britannian military base is not the easiest thing in the world to do, but Naoto knows a few weak points. The talks with Zero also make some of the soldiers a bit lax. Mao uses his geass to track Schniezel. Not an easy task since Schniezel does not have much communication with common soldiers. This means that Mao and Naoto have to move further into the base to find what they are looking for.

"Found the bastard. Now let's see what he knows."

Naoto nods, "I think we should split up. We will be harder to find that way."

Mao agrees and makes his way towards Schniezel. Unfortunately for him, the easiest way for him to get off the EU base is to dress as Zero. He does not think about bringing a change of clothes since the Zero costume is black. Mao makes his way slowly through the base gathering information as he goes. He has done this sort of thing before so it is not a problem.

This time, however, things are not so easy because suddenly there are several explosions. While this draws attention away from Mao, it puts everyone on alert. Then several larger explosions take place near the knightmare holding area. Despite sensing their presence Mao is unable to do anything about the Britannian soldiers that quickly surround him.

Schniezel quickly calls for Colonel Madd to examine the body of the intruder in the Zero costume.

"This appears to be Mao. I wonder how he got here."

"I see. I expect a full report in the morning."

"Yes your highness."

Late in the morning word begins to spread that Zero has been killed while attempting to assassinate Schniezel. Naoto decides to leave for somewhere quieter. Both sides will be looking for him in Italy so he has to make a quick escape. With the information he has, there is really only one place for him to go.

**Saturday, January 3, 2020 **

"Don't worry about Lelouch. He has a lot of things on his mind," Edward states, "I doubt that he has noticed the shipments."

…

"Yes it is a little risky, but our goal is Britannia. Let these other fools have the rest. Things will be pretty chaotic for several years perhaps decades."

…

Edward notices a dark presence behind him. Lelouch snatches the phone away from him and puts it to his ear.

"I really am sorry, but Edward cannot continue this conversation. Call him back in ten minutes after I am done with him."

Lelouch tosses Edward his phone.

"Lelouch, I, it."

"Pathetic, that's what you are," Lelouch says as he unsheathes his sword.

Edward begins to back up.

"Lelouch, I, I will," Edwards straightens himself, "I will let you have Shirley."

"Let me have Shirley," Lelouch says with a smirk, "Shirley is mine and will remain so."

Edward attempts to stand tall.

"If that is how you think, I will make your affair with Shirley public."

Lelouch laughs, "Don't be silly. That will only make you look weak. The public will wonder how long the affair has been going on," Lelouch puts his sword away, "On second thought, Scooter doesn't feel like killing you today. He says that your blood smells bad. What's that Scooter," Lelouch chuckles, "And it stinks. I know," Lelouch begins to walk away, "Tell Odysseus that he cannot win against me," Lelouch pauses for a moment, "or the emperor."

Edward sighs in relief when Lelouch leaves. He quickly opens his phone to make a phone call.

Lelouch quickly boards his airships. He only stops in Bali to see Nunnally for a bit before going to Manila. Nunnally and Isabelle want to speak with Edward about something. Meanwhile Euphie calls Lelouch and tells him that Cornelia is going into labor, and she wants him to be there. Euphie that is. As Lelouch sits at this desk looking over documents, the door opens and Shirley steps into the room.

"Lulu, are you busy?"

"Not at all. Did you need something Shirley?"

"Um well Lulu, you see."

"Come here, Shirley."

Shirley obediently moves towards Lelouch. He pulls her onto his lap. Lelouch begins nuzzling her neck.

"Lulu, where are we?"

"On our way to visit Euphie. Cornelia is entering labor, and Euphie wants someone else there for Cornelia to yell at."

"Elizabeth will be happy to visit Gabriel."

Shirley appears to be pensive about something.

"Is something bothering you, my orange haired goddess?"

"No," Shirley says shaking her head.

"Good, we have some time before we get there."

Lelouch continues to kiss Shirley's neck as she begins to undress.

* * *

Kallen and Milly are discussing the current situation. In her almost six months as Viceroy of Area 25, Milly brings the Area firmly under Britannian control. There are still a few rebels in the western mountains supported by Iran and Russia. There is hope that Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell's offensive from Siberia coupled with Luciano attacking Iran from the west.

"Lelouch said we should be careful," Kallen comments, "The others might begin to make their moves soon."

"Liliana has begun to tighten security around some of our crucial areas. Where are the kids?" Milly asks.

"They are with Nunnally as are Sayoko, Sancia and Lucretia."

"I see so he is taking security seriously."

"Yes that is why Hannah and Chelsea are on their way down to India."

"Did you tell Jeremiah and Villetta? We still have a substantial rebel problem down here."

"If they don't like my decision, they can shove it up their asses. Until Lelouch returns I am in control of the military for Areas 23, 24, and 25."

Milly grins, "Just don't let it go to your head and be careful."

"You too."

They end the conference call. Marika stands there quietly waiting for her mistress to say something. She knows about the rivalry between Lelouch's first two and arguably favorite wives.

"Was it the right thing to do?"

"Your highness."

"Oh nothing, Marika. Let's go. We have work to do."

"Yes your highness."

* * *

The past month has been difficult for Naoto, but he finally reaches his destination. At the moment in Europe Schniezel is enjoying the renown of being the person who takes down Zero. That won't last long if the real Zero reveals himself. Naoto wonders when that will happen. However Naoto has other problems like finding a way to get into the Viceroy's Palace without being seen. For some reason he has the feeling that others are trying to do the same thing.

* * *

Guinevere enters the basement of her palace.

"How is he?"

"We should be done in a few moments, your highness."

Guinevere smiles as she puts her hands over Conrad's new cybernetic body.

"How are his other functions?"

"Everything is normal except for his heart which is mechanical. It also means that he has much more stamina and endurance."

Guinevere smiles, "Good then he will be quite useful."

* * *

Amadeus Doedilus scowls at this procrastination. Unfortunately to accomplish his mission, he has to wait for Lelouch to leave. Once he is gone everything will begin.

"Carpe diem."

"Lord Doedilus, is something wrong?"

"Oh just musing."

"The Excalibur appears to be making preparations to leave."

"Very well. I will make my way to the Viceroy's Palace."

Amadeus knows that he must perform his part.

"It begins today, the Day of Reckoning."

* * *

**Author's note: **Well I guess I pushed through 2019 quite rapidly. Despite only a few big things happening, in the background soldiers and nobles are being recruited and trained. Knightmares and other weaponry are being stockpiled. Lelouch is the only person with a blaze luminous power suit since it is expensive and difficult to make.

I suppose I also tossed in the part about Xianglin being pregnant. It happened a little after Lelouch's wedding to the empress. It makes sense since Lelouch spends most of his time in Beijing except for a few months in Britannia. For the time being other than Kaguya, maybe Lihua, and a person to be named later, Lelouch will not have any more children for a few years until everything is settled.

Naming the child was a little difficult because Britannian naming conventions seem to be more European than English. Chen Hu Long means great or tremendous tiger dragon. Henry means ruler of the household. William means determined guardian. Michael means who is like God.

Lelouch's other children are named after Kallen's father (James), Lelouch's father (Charlotte and Charles), and Euphemia's mother (Gabriel). This child is the first born from one of Lelouch's mistresses rather than wives. If you consider his future, his Chinese and middle Britannian names have meaning.

Location of Britannian commanders and Knights of the Round

1st Odysseus eu Britannia, Pendragon  
2nd Schniezel el Britannia. Italy  
1st Guinevere su Britannia, Pendragon  
2nd Cornelia li Britannia, Eastern Europe  
5th Karine le Britannia, Pendragon  
Faramond eu Britannia, Pendragon

One: Bismarck Waldstein, Britannia  
Two: Merlin Suzerain, British Isles  
Three: Gino Weinberg, Britannia  
Four: Dorothea Ernst, Britannia  
Five: Salacia Ravenguard, Spain  
Six: Nonette Enngream, eastern Europe  
Seven: Thorin Odinus, Britannia  
Eight: Luciano Bradley, Caucasus  
Nine: Monica Kruszewski, Britannia  
Ten: Aphrodite Venitus, Caucasus  
Eleven: Amadeus Doedilus, Burma  
Twelve: Salazar Gluten, Italy

**Known Areas and their viceroys**

1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16-  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-Regina ha Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016-Victoria ka Britannia  
20 Northern Africa 2017-Luther ti Britannia  
21 Middle East Federation 2017- Selene ge Britannia  
22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia sub Kaguya yama Britannia  
23 Siberia 2018-Evelyn vi Britannia sub Carolina sfo Britannia  
24 China 2019-Lelouch vi Britannia sub Lihua Jiang  
25 India 2019-Milly ash Britannia


	86. Days of Reckoning pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. '_'French is in single parentheses'

If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. It has also been said that if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. How does a nation coincide these two ideals? Is it better for a nation to accommodate or hide its sins? No, in all cases this leads to more tribulations. First it must cast out its sinful nature. It must rid itself of what causes it to stray from the path of true justice and righteousness. Only then can the divide be healed. Only then can what has been rent asunder be restored. Only when the enemies of justice are defeated can peace reign. But the righteous must always be vigilant because the enemies of justice are everywhere.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

Those who start wars are usually not there to finish them. It has been said that old rich men start wars, but young poor men fight them. The only thing more disheartening than a battle lost is a battle won. After a lost battle, one simply retreats leaving behind everything. There may be heartbreak, but it is only temporary. If one happens to win, then they have to walk the battlefield of the slain. It is not easy to ignore the cry of a dying man on the battlefield. That is, of course, once you get past the stench. The aftermath of a battle is an image that remains in your memory for as long as you live.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

**...**

**Saturday, January 3, 2020 **

The emperor is meeting with Bismarck and Marianne before the Sword of Akasha in the Pendragon Thought Elevator. VV is off trying to regain control of the Geass Order. Since his abrupt departure the Geass Order has fallen into incompetent hands. They are attempting to sort things out. At the moment the emperor still maintains power. However if things take longer to get started, the would-be royal rebels will gain more supporters amongst the nobles. The other matter to sort out is figuring out who is backing who. For the most part the Knights of the Round support either Odysseus or Schniezel except for Luciano who is with Lelouch. The wildcard is Gino. Although he is now with Karine, he has been known to conspire with Schniezel. Of course he is best friends with Lelouch.

"Your majesty, perhaps we should put them down before they get too strong," Bismarck states.

"I think it's a little too late for that," Marianne comments.

"Perhaps," Charles remarks, "Once these pitiful fools begin their mundane conflict, we shall finish collecting our pieces."

"Don't you think that is foolish?" Marianne asks, "While I'm sure that Schniezel and Odysseus will take your bait, how does going to war benefit Lelouch?"

"Lady Marianne has a point. The prince appears to getting ready to create his own little empire in Asia."

Charles smirks, "Of course he is coming. What does he gain from standing still while the others fight it out?"

Bismarck and Marianne wonder about that. Lelouch can just bide his time in Beijing while the others fight it out. However Charles knows his son well enough to understand how he thinks.

"What about VV?" Marianne asks, "Do you really trust the little bugger?"

"I have the solution in case he betrays us again. Bismarck, be prepared to take action the moment that they act."

"Yes your majesty."

Bismarck and Marianne leave Charles alone. Marianne sighs because she knows that there is no way to get Charles to make any preparations for war. However she has other ideas. She has been working with the Ashford Foundation on creating new knightmares from designs stolen from Lelouch. Charles may believe that he can trust VV or trust that he knows VV or Lelouch, but Marianne will prepare for the worst.

**Irkutsk Settlement, Area 23**

"General Gottwald, Generals Nu and Soresi are in the conference room waiting for you."

"Thank you, captain. I shall be there shortly."

Jeremiah is looking over the list of available knightmare pilots and ground troops. Lloyd and Cecile have been working on making weather resistant equipment and vehicles. Rakshata's weather proof Akatsukis are still in good condition. Those models and systems are simply copied into newer knightmare models.

In the conference room, Villetta and Kewell are discussing things with their respective staffs. They are simply waiting for Jeremiah because he has the orders from Lelouch. Jeremiah wonders if they will be up to the task that Lelouch has set out for them. If it is something simple like conquering the rest of Russia, Jeremiah is sure that they could accomplish it. However the task is not as easy as that. They have to put up a fight but find a way to conserve manpower. Naturally they cannot tell anyone about this not even their immediate subordinates. Of course with winter in full swing, the task is more difficult.

"Let's get down to business," Jeremiah states, "General Soresi, you will command the 28th Corps into Kazakhstan. His highness promises that a corps of Chinese soldiers will aid you. Lord Bradley and her highness Viceroy ash Britannia are keeping Iran occupied."

Kewell and Villetta have been looking at several maps trying to figure out Lelouch's possible orders. They assume that one of them will get the thankless task of subduing Kazakhstan while the other provides support for Jeremiah's continued invasion of Russia. Neither task is exactly coveted. Of course neither of them wants to be separated from Lelouch and be sent to the European front. Kewell wants to stay because his wife and children are in Tokyo. Villetta wants to remain here because going to Europe will mean having an independent command. She would much rather stay here and be subordinate to Lelouch.

Jeremiah continues, "I shall lead the main force attacking Russia. General Nu shall command the reserves and also be tasked with keeping his highness informed in the manner to which he is accustomed to." Jeremiah hands them manila envelopes, "Here are detailed instructions listing who and what actions to take. His highness was very specific in saying that we are to follow his orders."

Kewell and Villetta nod. Their task is simple. Jeremiah is to continue doing what he has been doing. Kewell is to attack along secondary front that can be abandoned at any time. Villetta will keep doing what she has been doing for most of the last three years, serving as Lelouch's eyes and ears in places he cannot be.

"If you have any questions, be sure to call my assistant. He is in contact with his highness's staff."

Villetta and Kewell leave with their staffs. Jeremiah dismisses his for the night. Most of them will have to work through the night in preparation for the move west. Jeremiah continues to look at maps and lists.

"I hope you know what you are doing, your highness."

**Tabriz, provisional Area 26**

Aphrodite is north in the Caucasus meaning that Luciano is in sole command of the Iran task force.

"Lord Bradley, the enemy is making its move."

Luciano smiles a devilish smile, "Good, then we shouldn't keep them waiting."

Luciano heads over to the knightmare hangar where Lelouch's late Christmas present awaits him. Luciano lets out a chuckle.

"That guy has a sick sense of humor giving someone a killing machine for Christmas."

Luciano boards his knightmare, Vlad Taranis. It is equipped with a maser vibration lance. Lelouch is kind enough to provide Luciano's personal force, the Impaler Squad, with red Legacy Command knightmares. Luciano's aim is quite simple. They will simply follow the mountains to Tehran. He does not expect the road to be easy. In fact he is counting on it to be difficult. It gives him a chance to spill some blood.

"We must be careful, my lord. The enemy has lined the mountains with forts."

"Who cares. As long as there is enough to go around."

"Enemy knightmares up ahead. They do not appear to be coming in very fast."

Coming at Luciano is every non-Britannian model of knightmare except for seventh generation ones. Luciano slices through several Burais that are unfortunate enough to cross his path.

"This will hardly do for me. Why such meager offerings."

Several modified Cossacks rush at Luciano. They attempt to trap him by using their rifles and slash harkens. Luciano deflects all the attacks with his pole.

"Looks like they went all out on this thing."

Luciano's pole contains a form of the radiant wave. He uses it to slice through his assailants. Luciano uses his pole to pin one of the enemy knightmares down.

"What do people value most?" Luciano asks as he cuts open the enemy's cockpit hatch.

The pilot screams at Luciano in his native tongue that Luciano does not bother to learn. Realizing that Luciano does not understand him the pilot begins screaming obscenities in English. Luciano smirks as he kills his enemy.

Luciano takes to the air once more as several Bamides join the attack. The Impaler Squad quickly moves in and disposes of them. Luciano grunts as he looks down at the battlefield. Given the current status of weapons technology worldwide, it will not be much longer until Britannians are fighting amongst themselves for control of the world.

"Let's hurry up and finish these weaklings off and move on to bigger prey."

"Yes sir!"

Luciano pushes forward until he finds a large cave containing several large cannons.

"Let's see what this thing can do."

Luciano activates his pole and begins spinning it around. He charges the enemy position. The Impaler Squad activates their blaze luminous and follows him. They smash through the enemy defensive positions and crash into the cave. Inside Luciano realizes that this is an important cave. The cave is full of knightmares and VTOLs. There are several offices in the back. The Impaler Squad quickly covers him with their blaze luminous.

"Good job. Keep them occupied while I charge this thing up."

Luciano spins his pole around charging up the radiant wave.

"Get out of the way."

Luciano swings his pole unleashing the radiant wave. Luciano power up once more and slams the pole into the roof. This causes the roof to begin collapsing.

"Keep this bastards form getting out."

The Impaler Squad blocks the cave's exit. At the entrance the rest of Luciano's force is battling with the enemy. Luciano fights his way out of the cave.

"Send the suicide drones into the cave. It's loaded with knightmares and personnel."

"Yes sir."

Luciano's force sends in Ios full of sakuradite bombs. The Impaler Squad comes flying out as the cave explodes.

"Lord Bradley several new knightmares are heading in our direction."

Luciano sees the knightmares approaching on his monitors.

"What the hell are those?"

"They appear to be modified Cossacks."

Luciano grins, "I hope they put up some sort of fight."

**Sunday, January 4, 2020 **

Lelouch arrives in Manila during the night. For now Shirley stays aboard the Excalibur III.

"Is Cornelia ready to pop yet?" Lelouch asks as he enters the viceroy's palace.

"Lulu, that is not nice," Euphie comments.

"What do you mean? I am concerned about our big sister."

Euphie giggles and drapes herself on Lelouch's arm.

"Did Shirley come with you?"

"Yes, she's up in the airship."

"Is she coming down?"

"Maybe later. Let's go see Cornelia."

Euphie nods and smiles, "She's already in labor."

"Is she, then maybe we should leave her alone. It might be dangerous in there."

Euphie groans, "Oh no Lulu, you are coming in there with me. We are the only family that is here for Cornelia."

Lelouch pouts, "Fine, let's go."

As they walk, they run into Anya.

"Your highnesses, Princess Cornelia is asking for you."

"Hi little Anya, what's up?" Lelouch asks as he pets Anya on the head.

"Um Lulu, I don't she likes that."

However the pink haired knight seems pleased at the attention she receives from Lelouch.

"Of course she does. Now let's go see Nellie pop that baby out."

...

Nagisa Chiba and Ichiro Futaba are watching Japanese soldiers train.

"_It is quite impressive that we have been able to acquire so many recruits," _Nagisa states.

"_Yes the viceroy and sub-viceroy are extremely happy with the participation," _Ichiro comments.

"_How is production of knightmares coming?"_

"_Quite well. His highness will be pleased."_

Nagisa nods. Ichiro is in charge of knightmare and equipment production while she is in charge of recruitment and training.

"_Have you spoken with his highness lately?" _Nagisa asks.

"_No, he has been too busy," _Ichiro responds, "_My sisters are stationed India and Siberia so it is hard to get in contact with them."_

"_I believe that his highness is down in Area 11. He may be touring the region," _Nagisa glance towards Ichiro, _"How are things on the personal front?"_

While visiting his sister in Beijing, Ichiro is introduced to her friends, Ichijiku Hinata and Mutsuki Minase. He hits it off with the latter who returns to Japan to work in the government.

"_Things are well."_

Nagisa smiles but doesn't say anything, Unlike Lelouch who is a showman, Ichiro has an understated nature that is attractive in its own way.

"_I understand that the viceroy and sub-viceroy are also pleased with the economy," _Nagisa states.

"_I do not know much of the details, but I hear things are going well"_

Despite surrendering to Lelouch, the Japanese economy does not suffer. This is obviously due to the fact the he previously controls much of the technological sector. Now under his complete control, the Japanese business, industrial, and military sectors work as one. The Japanese economy is on par with that of the Britannia homeland and the EU except there is very little drain on its resources because of the war.

"_I have also heard that his highness is pleased with the rate of growth in the former Chinese Federation. Other than India, every area is experiencing some growth," _Nagisa comments.

The destruction caused by the almost year long civil war in the Chinese Federation provides lots of opportunities for employment in the construction industry. Along with fueling local employment, construction related industries from as far as Africa provide supplies.

Ichiro sighs, _"I should probably get back to work. Even though I haven't spoken with him, his highness does still require that I send him weekly reports."_

Nagisa nods, _"I should probably give my status update as well." _

Nagisa returns to her office and begins to write her report. The most important thing to report is the success of Area 22's scholarship program for those that serve in the military. Apart from having their college paid for, they become Britannian citizens. However things are not that simple. Many Japanese still oppose Britannia and Lelouch. Regardless of the situation Nagisa continues to work for Lelouch.

**Monday, January 5, 2020**

Amadeus Doedilus has been in Bali for several weeks, and Edward has not noticed his presence. It is not a surprise since he is just viceroy in name. In reality the military, i.e., Lelouch controls all of eastern and southern Asia. This is why it is important for Amadeus to act as soon as possible. However Amadeus has been able to pick up some interesting information. It seems that Edward's wife has been gone from the area for almost a year. Amadeus needs to find a way to use that information. Amadeus has been given a mission by his master, and he will see it through.

Nunnally is sitting outside the viceroy's place in Bali having tea with Isabelle.

"My mother is coming to visit us," Isabelle states.

Nunnally sighs as she sips and asks, "When will she be arriving?"

"Later in the week," Isabelle replies with a sigh of her own, "I don't think she will like what is going on here. Shirley and the girls haven't been here in several months. Several of Edward's mistresses have been making an uproar about being recognized as official wives."

"Didn't one of the mistresses have a son?" Nunnally asks, "What do you think she will say?"

"I don't know. Mother won't like the fact that Edward's mistresses are all Numbers."

Nunnally doesn't say anything about that comment. Edward and Isabelle's mother is very old fashioned. In her mind royalty, nobles, commoners, and Numbers are to be kept separate. While there is certainly nothing wrong with taking a lover in a lower class, the definition of the classes must always remain.

"Well if she can get Edward to ask Shirley to come back, it will be good," Nunnally comments although she isn't sure that Shirley would come back even if Edward begs.

Isabelle yawns, "I think it's time for an afternoon nap."

"You're probably right. I feel like lying down too. Don't worry about this mess. I'll have one of the servants clean up. You go rest. I know if my mom was visiting I would get all the rest I could.

Isabelle stands and enters the palace. Nunnally stays seated. Alice and Sayoko appear suddenly.

"What did you two find out?" Nunnally asks.

"The Knight of Eleven has been probing around the military base. He has also been seen in the outer edges of the viceroy's palace," Sayoko answers.

"It seems funny, but I don't think that the viceroy has noticed his presence even ours," Alice remarks.

"Well it isn't like Edward actually rules Area 17," Nunnally comments, "But let's keep a close eye on the situation especially with big brother visiting Euphie."

"Yes your highness."

...

If there is one thing that Kallen hates about being Lelouch's wife, it's the paperwork. It seems to pile up everyday that he is gone. It doesn't help that Lilicia, Ayame, and Midori are also gone. To make matters worse Marika is not any better at paperwork than Kallen is. If all that isn't enough, Kallen has to deal with Chinese officials who still believe that they run the country. Lelouch's advice isn't any better.

"Marika."

"Yes your highness."

"Change all my meetings from the palace to the Avalon."

"Yes your highness. What should I do if they refuse to come?" Marika asks.

"Well Lelouch says I should kill them if they refuse to do things my way."

The comment startles Marika for a second.

"I will see to it, your highness."

Kallen does not to be as heavy handed as Lelouch, but she has no choice.

"That idiot better come back soon."

...

Milly and Liliana are observing the construction of the Britannian Settlement at Delhi.

"Things appear to be ahead of schedule, your highness."

"Yes, several companies from the homeland and from a few Areas are cooperating. There are lots of contracts and money involved."

"I see, but the local population has been uncooperative."

"That is unfortunate, but we will have to get around that little matter."

While many of the former Chinese Federation territories rise in armed rebellion, India rebels passively. Most of the population refuses to work with the government. The locals are quite lucky that Lelouch is occupied with other matters. Perhaps in future Lelouch will need their cooperation, but for now it isn't necessary.

"Has there been any word from Hannah and Chelsea?" Milly asks.

"They are pushing the rebels into the Hindu Kush."

"I see. Have you informed Lelouch or Lilicia about this?"

"Miss Futaba is taking care of keeping his highness informed."

"I see," Milly says with a sigh, "I wonder when he will have time to visit us here," Milly shakes her head, "Don't worry about it. Who am I meeting with next?"

"Several newly arrived nobles after that General Clark wants to give you an update on the situation in the northwest. He also wants to discuss what to do about the uncooperative locals."

"Before we meet with them, contact Lelouch to see if he can video conference with us for the general's meeting. I would like to get his opinion on the issue."

"As you wish, your highness."

Milly looks over the files for the nobles she is about to meet with. For her Area to grow, she will need investments of money and time.

...

After the incident with Zero (Mao) and the general stalemate of the war, the EU is meeting with Schniezel to resolve the problem Naturally he wants to meet with the officials to use his geass on the leaders. First he must meet with lower ranked officials. Once he convinces them, things will go Schniezel's way. Kannon leads the EU official and their military attaches to the meeting place.

"Your highness, allow me to introduce Louis Napoleon Bonaparte V."

'It is a pleasure to meet you, Minister Bonaparte,' Schniezel states.

'And it is a pleasure to meet you as well, your highness, although I would much rather be meeting you under different circumstances. These are my military attaches, Layla Malkal and Akito Hyuga.'

Schniezel's geass is beyond the stage where he can control all the time. He is not quite like Mao, but he isn't always in control. Not that it matters in this situation because he plans on using his geass to its full capability. Schniezel has been having meetings with different officials. All that work earns him a meeting with Louis Napoleon Bonaparte V. Now all Schniezel has to do is get a meeting with the other EU leaders. After that he can press forward with the rest of his plan.

'Believe me, Minister Bonaparte, this war is not one that I wish to fight," Schniezel remarks. His geass is greatly aided by the geass amplifier that Colonel Madd provides. Schniezel does not understand all the details, but he knows that it works, "Perhaps if I had the backing of the EU, I could convince the emperor to stops this senseless war. I have enough influence to see that things go our way. You could personally be a big part in bringing the peace.'

While Minister Bonaparte seems taken in by Schniezel's words, his two attaches are more cautious. Schniezel's use of French aids his geass's effect on the minister. The military attaches not being French are not as affected.

'Yes, we must find a way to bring peace,' Minister Bonaparte comments.

'Of course, a peace that is agreeable to all sides. If such a thing is possible think of the possibilities. You would be hailed a hero around the world. First we must meet with other officials from the EU. Perhaps you could set up a meeting.'

Minister Bonaparte seems to space out for a moment.

'Yes perhaps I could set up a meeting.'

Schniezel stands so that he is looking down at Minister Bonaparte, 'Then it is settled. In a week or so, I will meet with the EU's central Hemicycle to discuss a peace agreement.'

'Yes that is agreeable.'

'Kannon will provide you with further contact information.'

After the EU officials leave, Schniezel goes over to his chess board and moves a few pieces around.

"It will not much longer until the game starts for real. Are you ready for this little brother?"

**Wednesday, January 7, 2020**

Lelouch decides to make a short visit to Beijing. He will return to Area 11 because he promises Euphie that he will stay with her for the first few weeks of Cornelia's recovery. Lelouch does spend some time with Kallen before getting to the real reason for his visit. The Excalibur III is docking with the airship prison Boudicca. Most of the prisoners have been removed. Most are either executed or sent to high level prison back in the homeland where if they escape, they will be in a foreign land. There is, however, one very high level prisoner and that is who Lelouch is here to visit.

"Good day, your majesty. I certainly did not expect a visit from you. Your little wife came to see me the other day. I am not happy with what the Earl of Pudding is doing to my children."

Lelouch smirks knowing that what he is about to say will infuriate Rakshata even more.

"Actually Cecile is in charge of the knightmares for me and my wives."

Rakshata suppresses her anger a bit.

"Shouldn't that be my wives and I? You would think that a prince would be educated enough to speak English correctly."

"No, I go first because I'm the important one," Lelouch says as he takes a seat in front of Rakshata, "Besides I am a soldier. I have killed men and women with my hands so who cares if my English is proper."

Despite being a prisoner, Rakshata lives quite comfortably. Her "cell" is more or less like a small apartment. Rakshata decides to change the subject.

"How is Cecile? Are you still fucking her?" Rakshata asks as she stands up and goes over to sit on Lelouch's lap. She actually does it every time Lelouch visits. Like everything that happens aboard the airship, Lelouch's visits are recorded, and she has access to the recordings. He knows this because Kallen mentions it after one of her visits. Unlike those other visits, Lelouch decides to do something about Rakshata's advances because he needs her brilliant mind.

"Why do ask, are you jealous?" Lelouch asks as he puts his arms around the Indian scientist.

Rakshata grunts and tries to stand, but Lelouch keeps her on his lap.

"Actually I like you right here."

Lelouch is rather pleased that he is wearing pants that showcase his erection. He positions Rakshata so that she is aware of his hardened penis. Rakshata has no chance of escaping Lelouch's gripe. Lelouch has been working on mastery his code. He is able to completely manipulate his bodily functions.

"Isn't this what you want, Rakshata?" Lelouch asks as he turns her to face him, "I have decided that I am going to fuck you today. Whatever happens after that is up to you."

Rakshata answers with a whimper as Lelouch buries his head in her cleavage. Lelouch moves to Rakshata's lips as he begins to tear off her clothes. Within seconds Rakshata is completely nude and at Lelouch's mercy. Lelouch carries her to bed and gets to work.

Lelouch spends most of the day with Rakshata. Lelouch has practice with long sessions like this. After he is done, Lelouch begins dressing himself.

"In case you haven't noticed, this airship is being emptied of its prisoners and is being converted to a flying lab. Unless you don't feel like cooperating, then it will be turned over to someone that is willing."

Rakshata is lying with a sheet covering her body despite the fact that there is obviously no need for it. She simply nods in agreement.

"Very well then I shall inform the commander that there is no need to kill you," Lelouch stops at the door, "I doubt that you will be able to convince them to join us, but the commander can contact members of your former team from India."

Lelouch leaves the airship after informing the commander to remove all the remaining unnecessary prisoners and to give instructions about the final modifications to the airship. Once he is aboard the Excalibur III, it undocks and heads east towards Japan. Lelouch heads for his office and flings himself on the couch. He knows that if he goes to his bed, he will fall sound asleep.

"Just need to take a little nap."

"Hey I was talking a nap," CC says as she pushes Lelouch off the couch, "That's what you get for not inviting me to your little party"

Lelouch grunts as he heads over to the other couch.

"It was not a party. It was a business meeting."

CC sits up revealing that she is wearing one of Lelouch's shirts.

"Did you have sex?"

"Yes."

"Then it was a party. Where are you going now?"

"Japan."

"How long is it going to take to get there?"

"About an hour or so, but I'm not going to get off until the morning."

CC gets up from the couch and walks over to Lelouch.

"Have you recovered from your little rendezvous?"

Lelouch pulls the green haired immortal towards him.

"Why don't we find out."

**Sunday, January 11, 2020**

Lelouch is sitting in his office looking over the reports he has received from various Areas. He is back in Area 11 with Euphie.

"Your highness, Lloyd and Dr. Croomy are here," Lilicia states.

Like her brother, Lilicia does not think much of Lloyd. Not that Lloyd cares about people addressing him formally. In fact the bespectacled man prefers to be informal.

"Have them come to my office when they board the airship."

"Of course your highness."

A few minutes later Lloyd and Cecile enter Lelouch's office.

"Thank you, Lilicia. Can you look over the Area status reports and highlight the important items."

"I will see to it, your highness."

On the way out Cecile says bye to Lilicia while Lloyd know better and stays away.

"Have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?" Lelouch asks as he pours himself a drink.

Lloyd shakes his head and takes a seat. Since he expects Lelouch and Cecile to chat for a bit, he pulls out his tablet and gets to work on something. Cecile takes the drink that Lelouch offers and takes a seat beside Lloyd.

"Let's get down to business," Lelouch remarks noticing Lloyd is already working on something else, "But first, is that the new Z-pad?"

"No, it's something that Lloyd invented himself," Cecile responds.

"I see so let's get down to business."

Lloyd sets down his tablet and mumbles something about silly games.

"We have been working on several projects, but it has been a little hard with all the little girls elsewhere," Lloyd comments, "You should send them back."

Cecile gently taps Lloyd in the head and remarks, "We have finished the upgrades that you asked for."

"Good. Is it possible to do more?"

"Yes," Cecile states, "but it is quite expensive. It also requires materials to be shipped from various areas. In time we will have enough to create several ninth generation knightmares. For now we can make one more. Perhaps two more by the end of the year."

"I see," Lelouch remarks, "I guess we have to prioritize our needs over our wants."

Lelouch takes out a piece of paper and writes down a name. He slides the paper towards Cecile who picks it up. Lloyd glances over at the paper.

"Are you sure about this?" Cecile asks.

"Yes, make the greatest knightmare in existence for the person on that slip of paper."

Lloyd stands up, "I'll get right on it," Lloyd leaves the office.

Cecile slides a disk containing the information about his new knightmare upgrades. Lelouch puts the disk away.

"I will look at this later," Lelouch stand and walks over to Cecile, "but now let's have some fun."

**Tuesday, January 13, 2020**

Amadeus Doedilus makes his way towards the viceroy's palace early in the morning. He wants to find the perfect time to do what he has to do.

Empress vu Britannia arrives sometime during the night, but this does not stop her from trying to meet with Edward early in the morning. Edward is not at all pleased at the fact that his mother is visiting. He does manage to avoid her for most of the day, but sometime in the afternoon she corners him.

"Where is your wife?"

"Visiting Euphemia," Edward scowls, "Mother, I have lots of work to do."

"Do not make me laugh. I know that you don't do anything," Empress vu Britannia waves away Edward's excuse, "I have heard rumors that your wife hasn't been here in several months."

"Don't worry about my marriage," Edward growls, "I may not do a lot in your eyes, but I am quite busy. Now if you will excuse me."

Edwards walks away from his mother and goes outside to his private terrace. Edward pulls out his phone and dials Odysseus's private number. Edward needs to get back to Britannia to get more involved in the planning. He will cut his losses with Shirley and Area 17. As the phone rings, something slams into the door of the terrace.

"Mother, I am not in the mood to talk."

Edward quickly opens the door because he sees something red streaking down the door.

"Mother, I assure you that this is not funny."

However Edward quickly becomes seriously when his mother falls to the ground with blood pouring out of a large gash across her stomach. He goes down to try to cover the gash.

"She moves pretty fast for a spoiled bitch."

Edward looks up and sees Amadeus Doedilus standing there holding a bloody sword.

"Here's a present from Prince Lelouch," Amadeus says while thrusting his sword at Edward.

Edward narrowly dodges and swiftly stands looking for a weapon. Edward begins to run down the hallway looking for assistance; however Amadeus is a lot faster than he seems. Edward begins throwing whatever he can find at the Knight of Eleven hoping to make a ruckus loud enough for others to hear.

"I doubt that Lelouch would send an incompetent idiot like you to kill me," Edward says with a smirk as he flings a vase at Amadeus.

Amadeus knocks the vase out of the way.

"Is that so? Maybe Lelouch didn't want to dirty his hands with someone as worthless as you."

At that moment two members of Edward's royal guard arrive.

"Thank goodness you are here. Arrest Lord Doedilus."

Amadeus grins, "You didn't notice that your royal guard has changed recently."

Edward looks over at the members of his royal guard. They look the same, but who really pays attention to their bodyguards. They get paid quite handsomely to do a job. They are nothing more than employees. Edward wouldn't pay attention to a new gardener or janitor. It isn't like his royal guards have to protect Shirley or Isabelle because they have their own royal guards assigned by Lelouch.

Edward does not think about the matter much more because Amadeus stabs him in the stomach.

"You know you are right," Amadeus remarks as he sinks the sword in deeper, "Lelouch didn't send me, Schniezel did."

"EDWARD!" Isabelle's scream is loud enough to reach Pendragon.

Unfortunately for her, she comes to confront her brother alone.

"Just my luck," Amadeus comments, "I guess I don't have to look for you. If only that whore sister-in-law of yours was here."

Amadeus charges the motionless Isabelle. Now several members of her royal guard appear. Amadeus finds it amusing that just because he is Knight of Eleven, people look down upon him. Sure he will never beat Bismarck, Dorothea or Nonette, but he is far superior to ordinary knights. He slices through Isabelle's royal guard spattering blood on her.

"This is the end for you, your highness."

As Amadeus raises his sword, he is hit hard by someone. Amadeus is pushed to the side. Standing in front of Isabelle is Nunnally holding a katana.

"You aren't going to lay a hand on Isabelle!" Nunnally screams

Amadeus chuckles, "Do you really think you stand a chance? I am the Knight of Eleven."

"I train everyday with someone that moves faster than the human eye can see (Alice), someone stronger than half a dozen men (Dalque), and someone that has been beating people stronger and faster than him since he was ten (Suzaku) so there is no way that I am afraid of someone like you."

Amadeus swings his sword to the side so that the blood from the royal guards comes off.

"I do not wish to hurt someone that isn't on my list."

"You mean you don't want to piss my big brother off," Nunnally says with a smirk, "I would rather not fight someone who has no sense of honor such as yourself."

"I have no honor!" Amadeus screams walking towards Nunnally," You little bitch!"

"Lord Doedilus," one of his men calls out, "I think we should make our exit."

Amadeus notices that Alice, Suzaku, and Dalque are taking out his men.

"Yes perhaps you are right," Amadeus states while throwing a smoke bomb.

Nunnally pursues Amadeus despite the smoke but is unable to catch him.

Sayoko is trying to do what she can to save Edward.

"Your highness, I doubt if we can save the prince's life. You should get his sister over here."

Isabelle is still standing there unable to move. However she is quickly stunned by the kids entering the room. Pollux swiftly chases after Amadeus using his geass; however the Knight of Eleven is already aboard his airship.

"Close off the palace and the island. No one gets off and no one gets on until big brother gives permission," Evelyn commands. She looks over at the returning Pollux, "Were you able to put the tracking device on?"

Pollux shakes his head.

"I guess big brother is going to have to figure something out."

Isabelle collapses to the ground.

"We have to avenge. We have to avenge Edward!" Isabelle snarls.

Evelyn walks over and puts her hands on Isabelle's shoulders.

"Don't worry big brother will take care of it."

...

Despite wanting to spend as much time as she can with her son, Cornelia understands that her child is safer wit Euphie at night. Cornelia would much rather face all twelve Knights of the Round including Nonette than the two pink haired girls protecting her younger sister. Of course there is also the rest of Euphie's royal guard to contend with. Those people can kill with just their looks.

In reality Cornelia would like nothing more than to get back to her army; however that is not possible at the moment. This night Cornelia is enjoying another quiet night training. In spite of the fact that it has been less than ten days since she gives birth, Cornelia is already exercising in order to lose her so-called baby weight.

"You aren't quite skilled enough to sneak past me!" Cornelia screams as she jabs her sword into the dark.

A body staggers out of the shadows. Cornelia notices several more causing her to scowl. Cornelia prepares for them, but a pink flurry takes them down. Standing in front of Cornelia is Anya.

"Anya, how did you?"

Anya slides her hand over her forearm momentarily showing her power suit.

"Stand back, your highness. I shall make a memory of those that dare to defile this palace."

Two more intruders enter through the window. Anya prepares to take them out when someone else comes through the window and knocks them down. Anya looks up at the new trespasser.

"You're Kouzuki Naoto."

"Do I know you?" Naoto asks looking down at Anya. After thinking about it for a moment he shrugs and tosses Anya a disk, "If you have one of those kickass power suits, I assume that the Brit bastard is your boss. That's for him," Naoto says pointing at the disk. Naoto picks the nearest trespasser up, "Now let's see who sent these bastards."

...

Schniezel is sipping some wine. Earlier in the day Amadeus should have killed Edward and secured Cornelia. Within the day Amadeus will be on his way to Europe. Schniezel has already had preliminary talks with the main EU leaders. In a few days he will meet with them all. By then the effect of Schniezel's geass will be complete, and he will be in control of the EU.

Schniezel decides to call it a day when he hears lots of commotion outside. He goes over to the window to see what is going on, but Kannon rushes in and knocks him away.

"Your highness, stay away from the window."

Several shots ring out and a few come flying through the window.

"What is going on outside, Kannon?"

Kannon pushes Schniezel further away from the window.

"There is a mutiny going outside, your highness."

"A mutiny?" Schniezel state inquisitively, "Who is it?"

"At the moment it seems like the Purists and Purebloods. We believe that somehow word of your attempted peace treaty has reached their ears."

"Perhaps it is something else."

There is gunfire down the hall so Kannon looks for a different way to escape. Suddenly a soldier staggers into the room. He is severely injured, but keeps moving forward swinging a sword. Schniezel stands and calmly pulls out a gun blasting the man in the head. Even with have his face blown off the soldier continues to swing his sword until he bleeds to death. Kannon pulls out his own gun and goes to secure the exit. Schniezel's royal guard is standing there finishing off the attackers.

"Your highness, are you alright?" the captain of the guard asks.

"Yes, I am quite fine, Schniezel responds, "What is going out there?"

"About a dozen individuals began attacking our men," the captain sighs, "As you can see, your highness, they seem possessed by something unnatural. We believe that they all belong to the Pureblood or Purists factions, but we will look into it."

"Don't bother," Schniezel remarks. The captain of the guard and Kannon are taken back by this statement, "Have someone clean up the mess. Try to keep news of this issue from getting out. I do not believe that the men's political leaning had anything to do with the attack. I was on my way to get some rest so I will do that."

Schniezel and Kannon walk away. A few members of the royal guard follow them out of hearing distance.

"Do you believe that this was caused by sages?:" Kannon asks using the not so creative codeword for geass.

"Is there any doubt? The look in that soldier's eyes said everything," Schniezel remarks, "Although I think this is just warning. It appears that the plan was doomed to failure from the beginning."

Kannon consider what happened and agrees with Schniezel. The traitors attack starts too far from Schniezel to be a serious attempt on his life.

...

Lelouch is lying in his bed with Shirley. Euphie is taking care of all the kids tonight so it allows Shirley some free time which Lelouch quickly fills. Lelouch wonders if Anya can handle the situation with Naoto and the other intruders. He does wonder what his brother-in-law's objective is. Just to be sure he decides to go to Cornelia's room to help out. As he gets dressed, his emergency phone rings. Lelouch looks down at the phone in shock because he can only think of a few people that would have enough sense to call that phone in an emergency. Lelouch quickly answers the phone.

"What is it Evelyn?"

"Amadeus Doedilus killed Edward."

"I see. Don't worry I will take care of it."

Lelouch hangs up the phone and heads for his office.

"Lilicia, CC let's go There is someone I have to kill."

...

Author's note: The only characters getting ninth generation knightmares (Lancelot Albion, Guren SEITEN) are the three that always get new knightmares first (Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly) and maybe two or three more people who are a secret.

Layla Malkal and Akito Hyuga are from the new Code Geass anime that is about Japanese kids in the EU military.

If you are a fan of Rakshata, I am not making any promises. She is useful to Lelouch at the moment.

The people responsible for the attacks at the end of the chapter will be specified next chapter.

Over the past few chapters I have had Lelouch use his code in a unique way. I have been thinking of how to describe it. I got a message from Alastor Pariah that describes what I was thinking. I copied and pasted the following paragraph so they are not my words. Just want to give credit to where it is due.

In my opinion, the way the code works is like so: All code-bearers still require all the basic needs to function such as food, water, oxygen, sleep (yes, you can die from lack of sleep), etc. Anyway, the code is a genetic code, in my opinion, that allows the cells of one's body to reproduce or regenerate at a high rate, hence the word code. However, this process would still require energy and since the cells would have to be living in the first place all the code-bearer's body functions would be at normal levels since they're the same as any other person's cells except for the genetic code allowing that regenerative property. Also, if the code-bearer's body is completely destroyed, I thought it might regenerate somewhere not in the normal, human world but say in the World of C. From there, the code-bearer could travel back to the normal world through a Thought Elevator, completely healed. Also, in regard to how you described Lelouch as manipulating the code to make him stronger, faster, and more agile, I think that he is manipulating his own genetic code using the code that is within his genes, by possibly modifying his genes to be stronger, etc. Still, his body requires the basic necessities so he is technically normal according to life signs. Just my thoughts about the Code, I hope it was helpful!


	87. Days of Reckoning pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

In case anyone is wondering Lelouch eats a shit load of high calorie, carbohydrate, and fat meals to keep with the demands of using his code in the manner that he does. It helps that CC knows the number to pizza delivery places from around the world.

* * *

No passion transports the sincerity of judgment as does anger. Beware the fury of a patient man. Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

* * *

Do not let us speak of darker days; let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

* * *

**Tuesday, January 13, 2020  
****In the air west of Manila Settlement, Area 11**

Amadeus is on his way to complete the next part of his mission. It takes him a few hours to travel from Bali to Area 11.

"Lord Doedilus, we have spotted the Titan Mirage heading in this direction."

Amadeus smiles, "Very well. Let's prepare for battle."

**Amadeus inner mind flashback theatre  
****February 16, 2010 ATB, Britannia Palace, Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Being selected a Knight of the Round is not some ordinary honor at least that is what Amadeus's father says. It is also quite an honor to be nominated by the second prince himself. Today Amadeus is getting his first big assignment. The current active Knights of the Round are meeting in Bismarck's office to receive their assignments.

"Tomorrow you will all be acting as guardians to a member of the Royal Family."

There are murmurs through out the Knights of the Round as Bismarck's secretary begins to hand out assignments. There are several sighs of relief and grins as she after does this. Amadeus looks down at his assignment.

"Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia."

The other Knights snicker. Nonette looks particularly amused.

"Good luck, Amadeus."

Amadeus looks at his assignment once more. They are the children of Marianne the Flash and the emperor so they cannot be that bad.

The next day Amadeus arrives at Aries Villa. After a few minutes of haggling, he is let into the palace. Once inside he realizes that there is no one there to greet him. His royal charges must either be asleep or most likely at their lessons. Amadeus hears commotion from down the hall and goes to investigate it. In what appears to be a sitting room, a raven haired boy and a pink haired girl are sitting quietly while a light brown haired girl is bouncing off the walls quite literally.

Amadeus tries to get their attention by clearing his throats. It does not work. He tries to make a louder sound but to no avail. Amadeus tries a few more times, but it only earns a coughing fit. This gets the children's attention.

"Clara, the babysitter needs some water."

Amadeus is insulted at the implication that he is a babysitter. A maid, Amadeus assumes that she is Clara, brings him a glass of water. Amadeus takes it and politely thanks the maid.

"Your highnesses, why are you not at your lessons?"

"We didn't feel like going," the boy responds. Amadeus assumes that he is Lelouch.

"What do you mean?"

Lelouch sighs and begins to speak slowly, "Do you understand English? I said we did not feel like going to our lessons so Clara let us stay here since the old man was sending a baby sitter."

"I am not a babysitter. I am a Knight of the Round."

"Like Nonie and Werlin," the little brown haired girl states.

"Like those jerks Conrad and Thorin," the pink haired girl says.

"Yes like those guys. He is a new Knight of the Round," Lelouch remarks, "We should go out to the garden."

"Good idea, Lulu. Let's go Nunna," the pink haired girl comments.

Amadeus knows that if the children go outside, he will be looking for them all morning. He also realizes why the other Knights snicker at his assignment. He reaches over to grab Lelouch but grabs the pink haired girl instead. She begins to flail around.

"Unhand my sister, you scoundrel."

Amadeus turns around to face Cornelia li Britannia and Nonette who is shaking her head.

"Lelouch, why aren't you at your lessons?" asks Cornelia.

"We didn't feel like going."

"What did you say?"

"Is everyone hard of hearing today?"

Cornelia and Nonette grunt in response.

"Sister, don't be mean to Lulu," the pink haired says.

"Euphemia li Britannia, we are leaving. What would mother think of you skipping your lessons?"

Amadeus thinks about it. The little pink haired girl looks a little like Cornelia, and they did call each other sister.

"You had better get the children to their lessons," Nonette says with a grin as she looks at Lelouch and Nunnally.

Cornelia begins to drag Euphemia away.

"I will play you for it," Lelouch comments as Nunnally brings out a portable chess set, "Good work, Nunnally," Lelouch looks at Amadeus, "So how about it. I'll play for Euphie too."

"Lelouch, I would never bargain with Euphie's education like that," Cornelia responds, "Just go to your lesson."

"It is not up to you, Amadeus is our baby sitter today," Lelouch says with a smirk, "So how about it. If I lose, I will do as I am told. If I win, well we can discuss that after I win."

Amadeus considers the matter for a moment. He has to make up his mind quickly because Cornelia and Nonette are staring at him.

"Very well, your highness, but you will keep your promise."

"Of course, what do you take me for? I am not some imperial lackey," Lelouch says nodding his head as he sets up the board," I'm black so you make the first move."

Amadeus calmly grabs the pawn in front of the king and moves it. One look over at Lelouch tells him that this game is a mistake. Amadeus has been playing chess ever since he is eight years old. His father sees it as a good method of instruction. Amadeus likes to believe that he is decent. He has also played Prince Schniezel a few times. He never wins any of those, but they are a good lesson.

Within five minutes, Lelouch completely trounces Amadeus. It is not even close.

"Well you lost. Let's go play in the garden, Nunnally."

Clara the maid enters the room.

"Oh Princess Cornelia, I did not know that you were going to visit. I shall prepare some tea."

"Clara, why aren't Lelouch and Nunnally with their tutor?"

"Oh my, didn't the empress inform you that the children's tutor is attending to some family business. Also young Miss Ashford is coming to visit. She has also given permission for Princess Euphemia to miss a day of lessons which she will make up at a later time, of course."

Cornelia looks angrily at Lelouch.

"Lelouch, why didn't you say that?"

"Where's the fun in that," Lelouch pats Amadeus on the head, "Better luck next time, Ludwig."

Amadeus ignores everyone and stares at the board. Nonette walks over and pats him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry at least you didn't get to see their victory dance. It always pisses Nellie off especially when Euphie starts doing it."

Nonette looks out through the glass door and sees Lelouch, Nunnally, and Euphemia doing their victory dance.

"Never mind," Nonette says with a sigh as she leaves with Cornelia.

Amadeus stares at the board wondering how he is defeated so easily.

**Tuesday, January 13, 2020  
****Viceroy's palace, Manila Settlement, Area 11**

Naoto lifts the nearest intruder.

"Who sent you?" he asks while shaking the man.

"Fuck you," the trespasser spits out.

Naoto grunts and grabs hold of the man's hand.

"I was going to leave you in one piece for the Brit bastard, but it seems like you won't cooperate."

Naoto breaks the man's pinkie causing him to scream.

"Now then. Who do you work for?"

"Screw you!"

Anya walks over, "Allow me to handle this." Anya says pulling out a little knife. Anya grabs hold of the man's head and slices a tiny piece of his ear off. He screams even louder than he did for the broken finger.

"You little bitch! What are you doing?"

"I am going to cut small pieces of you until he decide to talk," Anya says as she makes a small slice across the man's cheek.

Naoto has heard of the Chinese torture named the death by a thousand cuts. He never imagined he would be seeing a little Britannian girl doing it. All the commotion draws a lot of attention so Naoto decides that it is time to make his exit.

"Well time to make my exit," Naoto says as he jumps out the window.

Anya simply nods and gets back to work. She cuts the man a few more times. Cornelia is stunned at Anya's calm demeanor. When one of the other trespassers begins to move, Anya simply shoots him in the leg. Ignoring the screams from others and the arrival of Euphie and her royal guard, Anya returns to her victim.

"Take this man to the torture room. I will finish interrogating him there," Anya says pointing at her victim, "Take the rest of them down there as well."

"Wait!" the trespasser screams, "It was Princess Karine. Princess Karine hired us."

Anya begins to walk away.

"Take them down to the room anyway. We may still be able to find out some more information."

"Anya, is everything okay here?" Euphemia asks.

"Everything has been taken care of, your highness. Where is Prince Lelouch?"

Euphemia points up.

"He said he had to take care of something up there."

"I see. I shall interrogate these prisoners. Lady Cummins is already securing the palace."

"Good work Anya. I shall take care of things up here."

Cornelia watches in awe as Euphie takes care of business. She does wonder about the disk that Naoto gives to Anya for her boss. She will have to ask Euphie about it later. Cornelia notices that there are lots of lights in the sky.

"Are those knightmares up there?"

"Yes, Amadeus Doedilus has arrived with his portion of the imperial guard," Anya responds, "Prince Lelouch is dealing with them."

"Shouldn't you send him some help?" Cornelia asks out of concern for Lelouch.

"His highness is dealing with them," Anya says forcefully

Cornelia sighs and follows Euphie to her room. Cornelia wonders if Lelouch doesn't want or if he doesn't need help. Either way she would not be of much help.

* * *

"Amadeus!" Lelouch screams

The Titan Mirage is flying straight for Amadeus's airship.

"Nice of you to make an appearance, your highness," Amadeus appears on Lelouch's monitor. He is sitting with a chess board in front of him, "Would you indulge me in a game of chess? I shall be waiting."

Lelouch is not subtle about his intentions. The Titan Mirage blasts a hole on the side of Amadeus's airship and flies through it.

"Wait a few minutes, and then do it," Amadeus says with a grin, "Looks like I am going to win this round."

An explosion rocks the airship trapping the Titan Mirage inside.

"Let's go that will only keep him occupied for a few minutes."

Amadeus is well informed about the Titan Mirage's defense capabilities. He knows that he only has a few minutes to accomplish his mission. His men on the ground should have cut the power to the palace already.

* * *

As Cornelia follows Euphie through the viceroy's palace, she notices that the power begins to go off in various parts of the settlement.

"Euphie, maybe we should stop. Look the power is going out."

Euphie does not stop walking.

"Don't worry about it," she responds cheerfully, "The palace has several back-up generators. The power will not go out here. Let's go up to the roof. Lulu says the show will look great from up there."

* * *

Amadeus boards his knightmare and prepares to disembark the airship.

"Remember, we are to capture Princes Cornelia unharmed. We must also be careful not to do anything to Princess Euphemia or any children that might be in the palace."

Amadeus notices that the electricity has gone out in parts of the settlement but quickly comes back.

"What the hell is going on down there?"

"Lord Doedilus, we have lost contact with the ground team."

Amadeus quickly cycles through his communication channels trying to contact the ground team but to no avail.

"Something is coming at us!" one of Amadeus's men screams before the communication is cut off.

"Johnson, Stockton, Malone, somebody, what is going on over there?"

Amadeus looks over to where the majority of his force is at. Despite it being dark, he can see a black dot flying through his force. Suddenly there are a series of explosions in the air, and a black knightmare is front of them. Amadeus is about to order his men to move when the Titan Mirage blasts its way out of the fiery airship.

"Damn, send everything we have after Lelouch," Amadeus commands pointing at the Titan Mirage.

"There is one problem with that, Ludwig," Lelouch remarks, "I am over here."

The explosions get bigger. The black knightmare is clearly visible now. It has three sets of black energy wings on its back. To complete its look, its MVS is also black.

"What the hell is that thing?" one of Amadeus's men asks.

"It the Devil himself," Amadeus responds.

The Titan Mirage floats over the burning wreckage of Amadeus's airship. Rather than Lelouch, Lilicia is piloting it. Lloyd and Cecile modify it slightly so that she can pilot it. It also helps that she has another slight advantage. Lilicia deactivates her geass.

"Your highness, I will return to the palace."

"Ah Lili, you aren't going to stay and watch the show. I promise to make it quick," Lelouch states.

"Very well I will remain to watch you destroy these insects."

* * *

The only thing that turns Cecile on more than being with Lelouch is watching the raven haired prince pilot one of her knightmares. Cecile watches Lelouch destroy the Knight of Eleven's force with minimal effort. Once more she creates the most powerful weapon in the world of the man that she loves. Never mind the fact that she made Lelouch's previous two knightmares with help from Lloyd, and the fact that the eccentric scientist made Lelouch's first knightmare. Now Lelouch wants her to create an even more powerful knightmare for someone else. The issue is not the pilot, but who the pilot protects.

Euphie, Cornelia, Anya, and Sora go up to the roof of the palace to see the action. They arrive just as Lelouch destroys Amadeus's force. Lelouch's knightmare is clearly visible.

"Your highnesses, is it safe for you to be on the roof?" Cecile asks.

"Don't worry. Anya is with us," Euphie responds.

"What is that thing?" Cornelia asks point at the knightmare.

"Knightmare frame Arthur Excalibur," Cecile answers, "A knightmare frame that far surpasses anything in existence. It contains three sets of energy wings that can act as both a shield and as a weapon. A maser vibration sword that doubles as a laser lance. Its power output matches that of a small airship. In addition it has the Zero Druid system which allows the devicer to predict the enemy's movements."

"And it looks so cool," Euphie adds while doing the victory dance.

Cornelia tries to ignore her, but Anya and Sora join Euphie.

* * *

"Destroy that cocky bastard!" Amadeus screams out.

What is left of Amadeus's force rushes at Lelouch.

"Well these guys seem confident," Lelouch says while attaching his MVS to laser chain that replaces one his slash harkens, "I guess I will have to teach them a lesson."

Lelouch swing his chain destroying the enemy knightmares.

"Lord Doedilus, you must flee. That knightmare is a monster," Amadeus's second in command states.

"Major Davis, we must make a stand here."

Lelouch effortlessly slices through the knightmares in front of Amadeus.

"Fools," Lelouch remarks, "Did they actually believe that they stood a chance?"

Amadeus swings his MVS at Lelouch. Lelouch uses his chain to block it and wraps it around Amadeus's arm. Lelouch swings his MVS cutting off Amadeus's legs. Lelouch jumps out of his knightmare. He slams down onto the cockpit door of Amadeus's knightmare with Scooter. Lelouch slices the door open. Amadeus is sitting there in shock and is unable to say anything.

"Now, what should I do with you?" Lelouch asks.

….

"What was that Scooter? You want to pretend that I am Komuro Takashi, and that Ludwig is one of them. Yes, but who would be my Rei, Saya, and Saeko. Euphie has the hair to be Saya, but Kalli has the attitude. Well never mind, Milly will figure it out later. Too bad I killed Rivalz because he would be a perfect Kohta. Of course I can do my victory dance afterwards?"

…

"Scooter, I am not having this discussion with you again. The victory dance rocks. Euphie is probably doing it right now."

…

"Silly Scooter, of course you get to participate in the victory dance."

"Schniezel sent me!" Amadeus screams drawing Lelouch's attention, "He sent me to kill Edward and capture Cornelia. Don't kill me. I can help you."

Lelouch glares down at Amadeus and sneers.

"Oh I'm not going to kill you because you work for Schniezel or because you killed Edward," Lelouch leans in, "I'm going to kill you because I don't like your hair. Oh and because I'm crazy."

Amadeus begins to cackle, "I didn't think I would have to resort to this," he says as he presses a red button.

Lelouch surmises that it is the self destruct button. He quickly leaps back up into his knightmare.

"Stupid Amadeus. Not only am I wearing the newest power suit, but I cannot be killed. Didn't Schniezel tell you about geass," Lelouch says as he detaches his knightmare and activates the defenses shield. The explosion is still strong enough to push him back, "At least he went out with a bang."

* * *

Cornelia stares in amazement at the ease in which Lelouch defeats his opponents. However her wonderment dissipates when she looks clearly at Lelouch's knightmare. Cornelia's face begins to twitch.

"Is that knightmare doing the victory dance?" Cornelia asks while gritting her teeth.

"Oh ya," Euphie responds while doing the victory dance herself.

Cornelia shakes her head.

"When Lelouch comes back, I think we should have a talk."

"I will tell Lulu."

* * *

Thirty minutes later they are sitting in Euphie's private office. Lelouch is sitting in Euphie's chair. Euphie is on Lelouch's lap snuggling against his chest. Cornelia is sitting across Euphie's desk from them. Anya and Sora are standing by the door. Cecile is already looking over the battle data.

"Anya, Sora, can you please exit the room? This is a private family conversation," Lelouch commands.

"Yes your highness," both girls respond and exit the room.

Cornelia nods, "That was wise. I would like to discuss what happened tonight."

"Oh I didn't send them about because I want to talk about them. They accomplished the goals that I set out for them tonight. They do not have anything to be ashamed about."

"What do you mean?" Cornelia asks confused, "Intruders made it into the palace."

"Yes, because they were allowed to. It was easier to pick off the intruders in small groups. There was over twenty of them. If we stop them before they enter the palace, they can escape the settlement and go to one of the other islands. We do not have the manpower for such a search. However capturing them all and interrogating them will lead us to their base."

Cornelia sighs, "One of them said that Karine sent them."

Lelouch scowls, "Damn, Anya should have waited. Don't worry about it. You are safe here. I guarantee that you are safer than the emperor in Pendragon."

"I trust you, my Lulu," Euphie says as she snuggles into Lelouch's chest.

"That's good, Euphie. There is something else that I wanted to talk about."

"What was this business about the Knight of Eleven being outside with his portion of the imperial guard?" Cornelia asks.

"Earlier today Amadeus Doedilus killed Edward."

Both li Britannia sisters gasp. Euphie considers getting up and going to see Shirley.

"Don't worry, Shirley doesn't know about it yet. At the moment Nunnally is controlling the situation, but she will only be able to keep word from getting out for a few days."

Cornelia is a little stunned at Lelouch's demeanor.

"We have to get word to Pendragon."

"No," Lelouch responds, "No one must know what occurred. I am already working on a cover story."

Cornelia stands and moves briskly towards the door.

"Cornelia, stop," Lelouch states.

"I will not. I will not allow you to cover-up the murder of a prince. If you will not do it, then I will find someone who will help me."

"You do not have any authority here. Besides there are some things that you do not want to know about."

"Euphemia li Britannia, are you going to allow this?"

Euphie continues to snuggle against Lelouch.

"Lulu, when are you going to finish?" Euphie asks leaning her face up towards Lelouch's ear. She whispers, "Watching you fight always gets me so excited."

Lelouch sighs and stands with Euphie still in his arms, "Perhaps you should spend some time with your son. In the morning we can converse about this some more about the matter."

Cornelia just glares at Lelouch and Euphie. Anya, Sora, and Lilicia are waiting outside of the office.

"You girls should get some sleep. We have lots to do tomorrow," Lelouch comments.

The three girls nod.

As Lelouch carries to their bedroom (she refuses to call it hers), Euphie remembers something.

"Oh I forgot to give you the disk that Naoto gave Anya."

"Where did you leave it?"

Euphie begins to think.

"Back in my office."

Lelouch smirks, "Don't worry about. I can take a look at it in the morning."

"Okay," Euphie says with a nod, "Let's get to bed."

"As you wish, my princess."

Cornelia is left alone in Euphie's office. She realizes that attempting to call the homeland would be useless. Lelouch would cut off all communication and declare martial law. By the time the emperor sends someone to investigate, Lelouch will convince everyone that he is right. Cornelia wonders if she can send a message through the computer. Cornelia knows how to use a computer, but normally someone else sends her messages for her. Cornelia sits at Euphie's desk and turns on the computer. She notices a disk on the desk. She wonders if it is the one from Lelouch's brother-in-law.

Figuring out Euphie's password is not difficult because she has a one track mind. Cornelia inserts the disk. As she begins to go through the files, her eyes open wide.

"What is this?" Cornelia asks her self, "This is insane."

Lelouch lies there admiring Euphie's perfect skin. Out of his wives and lovers only Lihua has such soft and flawless skin. The others are much too active. Euphie hasn't lived a sheltered life, but she certainly isn't as outgoing as Kallen. Not only that, but Euphie is perfect to cuddle with. However this is a night that Lelouch knows he should stay awake and take care of things.

"If you are worried about sister, go over there and see what she is doing."

"I'm just worried about how she will react to what she finds on the disk," Lelouch comments.

"That's what I meant," Euphie remarks.

"Well we can check up on Nellie after another round," Lelouch says with a grin."

"Lulu," Euphie sighs, "Fine but after that we go see what sister is doing."

An hour later Lelouch and Euphie walk over to her office where Cornelia is still looking over Naoto's disk.

"Are you confused about what you are reading?" Lelouch asks as he enters the office. Euphie stays outside for the moment.

"Not quite. This is extremely intriguing. This electromagnetic pulse is an interesting weapon."

Lelouch smirks, "Yes it is, however it has its problems," he state while placing a flash drive on the computer, "Open the file named FLEIA and then the one named pictures."

Cornelia opens the files that Lelouch indicates. The files contain pictures of a massive explosion.

"What is this?" she asks, "Where did this occur?'

"At Omsk within the Russian Federation. They believed it to be a result of sakuradite. The second set is form a test site in Area 4. That's Greenland in case you didn't know."

"What is FLEIA?"

"It stands for field limitary effective implosion armament. It is based on a theory created by Dr. Einstein. It was brought to my attention by his granddaughter, Nina, who happens to be one of Milly's friends. Schniezel discovered it after Nina published several papers. At the moment Miss Einstein is in Pendragon in the employ of Odysseus," Cornelia gasps at the fact that Lelouch would let such a person out of his grasp. Lelouch notices her concern, "But don't worry, they do not have the resources to make the weapon. However they are working on a way to counter the weapon."

Cornelia continues to look at the pictures.

"These are labeled India. I do not remember hearing about the use of any heavy strategic bombing."

"Of course you didn't hear about it," Lelouch says as he pours some tea, "I control the media. I do not mean that I control the media here, but everywhere."

"The disk that your brother-in-law brought has plans for some sort of flying fortress called Damocles."

"Ah that, Schniezel has been secretly building several large airships in Greenland and Iceland. He has coerced the Chancellor of the Exchequer to disguise the budget, but the emperor and others know that something is going on. The emperor is simply biding his time or perhaps he wants one of his other children to take care of the issue."

"I see," Cornelia closes Euphie's laptop and asks, "Do you still plan on covering up what happened here?"

"Yes," Lelouch answers, "Amadeus arrived here a little after 9 pm. That means that in Pendragon it was 5 am. I informed my media people in the homeland that something big happened here. It is a little before 1 am here while in Pendragon it is about 9 am. At noon, Pendragon time that means 4 am here," Cornelia is confused trying to follow Lelouch, "Euphie will have a hold a press conference stating that Edward and Amadeus died as the result of a rebel Purist attack. Obviously Isabelle and Shirley will be too distraught to do it themselves. I will be occupied with the military."

Cornelia thinks about it. It makes perfect sense. Euphie is Britannia's perfect princess: beautiful, engaging, outgoing with a strict upbringing but not snobby or conceited. Anyone in the media that has ever spoken with her knows that she prefer simply Euphie to your highness or Princess Euphemia. Euphie is not just princess, she is a brand name for goody two shoes and goody goodies around the world.

Lelouch continues, "I would like you to be there with her."

This comment draws Cornelia's attention, but Euphie's entrance to the office distracts her.

"Lulu, the room is ready," Euphie states nervously.

Cornelia wonders what could have upset her so much.

"Very well then. Cornelia, would you kindly follow us?"

Lelouch and Euphie lead Cornelia to the viceroy's throne room. Cornelia nearly runs into them as they stop several feet in front of the thrones. Naturally Euphie has a throne for Lelouch just in case he drops by.

Lelouch sighs heavily making Cornelia wonder what it is that they are about to show her.

"Before we go any further. I must ask you to be prepared for what you are about to see. If you want to wait until tomorrow, I will understand."

Now Cornelia really wonders what it is. Her excitement gets the better of her.

"If Euphemia knows about it, I would like to know about it as well."

Euphie nods so Lelouch presses a button along the throne's arms. A door off the side but behind the thrones opens up.

"Don't worry. It looks scary but we are not in any danger," Lelouch comments.

They slowly descend the stairs. Cornelia can tell that it is Euphie's idea to bring her here. At the bottom of the stairs is a lab of sorts. There are a few people working.

"What is this place? Did you build this place, Lelouch?" Cornelia asks knowing that Euphie would never build something like this.

"Actually sister, brother Clovis built this place," Euphie responds.

"Clovis," Cornelia murmurs as they continue walking towards another room with several monitors.

Lelouch turns the monitors on. Cornelia prepares for what she is about to see. The first scene shows several scientists performing experiments in little girls. Cornelia recognizes four of them as Lelouch's subordinates. There are several minutes of this showing several groups of children. Cornelia recognizes one of the men in charge of the experiments.

"Bartley," Cornelia scowls, "Who is that other man, the cybernetic one?"

"That is Colonel Madd," Lelouch answers as he puts on another video. This one has Colonel Madd and General Bartley discussing several matters with Schniezel. There are several more clips with Colonel Madd, Schniezel, Naoto, and several more cyborg.

Cornelia is quite distraught at the fact that Schniezel is dealing with these people.

"Before I put on the next video, there is something we have to discuss because you are the only person that matters that does not know about it," Lelouch remarks.

"What is it?" Cornelia asks.

"Well it is a little difficult to explain so we will just show you."

The next few minutes shatter Cornelia's world. Euphie points a gun at Lelouch and shoots him in the chest. The bullet rips through Lelouch's chest and exits out the back. Lelouch gasps and takes a seat. Cornelia can only stare as Lelouch stands as if nothing happened.

"What, what are you?"

"That is difficult to explain. Let me tell you everything that we do know, and what we have been able to figure out," Lelouch says slowly as his body appears to heal itself.

Lelouch tells Cornelia everything that he knows about geass and the code. He does not leave out the effects of his first geass although he does not mention who he has used it on. Cornelia grabs Lelouch by the collar.

"Tell me, Lelouch," Cornelia says with tears running down her face, "Have you ever used this fiendish power on me?"

Lelouch blinks when she asks this.

"Um well apparently you didn't listen correctly. Geass is absolute unless you have some way to cancel it. If I command you to obey me or something like that, then you would never question me."

Lelouch hits play. Suddenly the scene that led to Clovis's death appears. Cornelia gasps as Clovis tells Euphie that she is going to die. She collapses when Euphie screams. Suddenly the soldiers begin to shoot each other, and Clovis runs away with Euphie chasing after him.

"What happened?" Cornelia asks.

"I discovered brother Clovis's lab, and he decided to kill me. He would have blamed it on the rebels. But I used my geass on the soldiers to make them believe that the others were monsters. Then I made Clovis believe that I was a pink dragon chasing after him," Euphie solemnly responds.

"If you don't feel like doing the press conference with Euphie, then you don't have to, but you should get some rest. A lot has happened in the last few hours," Lelouch comments.

Lelouch begins to walk out. He will leave the rest to Euphie. Cornelia reaches out and grabs his leg.

"Lelouch, wait. Who sent Amadeus to kill Edward? One of the intruders said that Karine sent them to kill me. Did she send Amadeus to kill Edward?" Cornelia can barely contain her tears.

"Edward was working with Odysseus and Guinevere's group. Karine is a part of that group. It wouldn't make any sense for them to kill Edward. It would make more sense for Edward to return to Britannia and expose my affair with Shirley," Lelouch pauses and hands Cornelia a manila envelope, "I think that you know the answer. I really hate to give these documents to you now, but there is no better time."

Inside the manila envelope, Cornelia discovers her worst fear. The thing that she holds most dear to her heart suddenly becomes tainted.

"Sister, if you want to rest. I can do the press conference alone," Euphie comments.

"Euphie," Cornelia cannot stop the tears, "is this true?" Cornelia hands her sister the contents of the manila envelope.

Euphie tries to look away but finds it difficult since Cornelia is on the ground.

"Yes, it is true. Schniezel is the father of your son. Schniezel has geass, one that affects the vision or senses of others. He probably has a second one similar to Lelouch's. One that he can control or persuade people with. Lulu's spies in the EU say that the EU is about to surrender to Schniezel."

"Why did Amadeus come here after killing Edward?" Cornelia asks, "He must have known that Nunnally would tell you and Lelouch what happened."

"Lulu believes that he came here for you," Euphie responds, "To take you to Schniezel. He probably had orders to leave me unharmed since that would piss Lelouch off. Lulu suspects that Schniezel knows about him being a code bearer. That is what we immortals are called."

Cornelia nods taking in stride that Euphie says we immortals. Cornelia stands and adjusts her clothes.

"I will rest for a bit before the press conference. I want to look my best when we tell the world the news," Cornelia states, "Honestly I believe that Lelouch is as much a monster as Schniezel and the emperor."

Euphie nods, "Lelouch probably agrees with you on that fact. He knows what he has become, but he also knows what he is up against. If I did not believe that Lelouch was doing this for the peace of the world, I would not follow him regardless of how much I love him," Euphie comments, "Sister, will you help us? Will you help us bring peace to this world for future generations?"

There it is. At some point Cornelia expects Euphie to ask for her help. For her to help Lelouch in his quest for the throne. However Euphie's aspirations are much greater than simply taking over Britannia. Cornelia's little sister wants to take over the world. Cornelia cannot help notice that Euphie calls Lelouch, Lelouch instead of Lulu.

"I will at least promise you this, Euphie. I will not openly oppose you. As Lelouch would probably point out, I do not have an army under my command. There is no faction backing me. I am simply Cornelia li Britannia, second princess to the throne."

"That is enough for me," Euphie remarks giving her sister a hug, "Now let's go rest for a little bit. Lulu wants the press conference to be live so that reporters from Britannia can ask us questions."

* * *

Lelouch is pressing Lilicia against the wall.

"I though I told you to go to sleep and to stop using your geass."

Lilicia turns her head as Lelouch begins to nuzzle her neck.

"I'm sorry. Are you going to punish me?"

"Probably, what are you doing out here anyways?"

"Making sure that you are alright. Did you leave Princess Euphemia with Princess Cornelia because she could convince her to join you?"

Lelouch shakes his head as he lifts Lilicia's legs so that they wrap around his torso, "Don't be silly. I left them alone because Euphie cannot lie. Well it isn't that she can't lie. It's just that she does it very badly so she usually does not bother to do it."

"I see. That's an interesting way of going about things."

"Naturally that's why I'm a boy genius."

Lilicia chuckles, "Of course that's why all the girls love you."

"Now let's go do some things that would make our ancestors roll over in their graves."

Over in western Siberia, Jeremiah is having problems sleeping. He does not know why.

* * *

**4 a.m, Wednesday, January 14, 2020, viceroy's palace, Manila Settlement**

A few reporters from Areas 11 and 17 are gathered in the press room of the viceroy's palace. Despite being more important locally, the press conference is more for the benefit of the Pendragon and New York press. In spite of the ungodly local hour, the press conference begins on time. The reporters chalk it up to the li Britannia princess's punctuality.

Anya will never admit it, but she is quite tired this morning. She knows that Lelouch is around somewhere. She is still unsure about what happened last night. Even though Lelouch reassures her that everything goes according to plan, Anya cannot help but wonder about it. Although she does not come right out and say it, Cornelia is firmly with Lelouch mostly because he is the sanest out inmates in the asylum and because Euphie supports him.

**Noon (January 13)**

In Pendragon Karine is getting ready for a lunch meeting. Gino is not with her. Although he cannot tell her why the emperor sends him on a mission, she has her suspicions. She suspects that her operation is quite successful. Despite having scheduled this meeting several weeks ago, they are not completely ready for her. This really upsets Karine. She decides that she will make them pay for it later.

"Your highness, we did not expect you to keep your appointment."

"Why is that?" Karine asks gracefully, "Did something happen?" She tries to act as if she does not know what is going on.

"Does your highness not know what happened in Area 17?"

Karine does not remember the number to each Area. She barely remembers the Area that she ruled last year (Area 20, North Africa, by the way). She does know that Euphie is viceroy of Area 11 and that Cornelia is with her.

"Area 17?" Karine is quite confused.

"Yes with Prince Edward and the Knight of Eleven. It is quite sad. The prince had two daughters and another child on the way."

Karine is really confused now and that is saying a lot.

"I see. Then perhaps we should reschedule. I will have my assistant call you later," Karine states as she walks back towards her limousine. Once inside she turns on her television to look for a news channel. She does not have to look very hard since Euphie and Cornelia's press conference is on every channel and that is not an exaggeration. Karine throws her remote at the television and lets out a scream

"WHY ARE YOU TWO STILL ALIVE?"

Karine sits in her car as the press conference continues. She knows that she better snap out of it soon. The emperor has his own press conference scheduled in the evening. Karine will have to act like nothing is wrong. She has been practicing for the press conference that would have dealt with Cornelia's death. She will have to do the same for this one.

Karine has her driver to take her over to Guinevere's house to discuss their course of action. Karine notices that Guinevere is preparing to leave the house. Suddenly there are several small explosions as Karine exits her car. Karine looks up and notices that Guinevere is not hurt; however she is covered in blood.

"What happened?" Karine demands from Guinevere's guards.

"Lord Churchill exploded."

"What did you say?" Karine asks in disbelief.

The captain of Guinevere's royal guard points at the mess that is in front of Guinevere.

"Lord Churchill exploded."

"Move out of the way. I will take the princess back to her room," the cybernetic former Knight of Three states.

Karine sits back in her car not knowing what to do next.

"Your highness," her driver calls out to her, "There is a call from Prince Faramond."

Karine takes the phone almost afraid of what her nephew is going to say.

"We have problems," Faramond states.

"Do you mean because of the Area 11 situation?"

"No, I mean because Lord Rhodes just exploded and drenched us with his blood."

"I see. Are you going to the emperor's speech?"

"As soon as I clean myself up. I don't think dad is going. Lord Rhodes was an old friend. We still have Guinevere."

"No something happened here. Guinevere won't be attending. I will see you at the palace tonight," Karine says with a sigh as she hangs up the phone, "Take me home. Have them prepare my dress for tonight. The emperor is going to give a speech."

**7:05 pm (January 13)**

Schniezel is having dinner alone. He wants a few hours to clear his mind. Amadeus should be well on his way here from Area 11 although there has not been any word yet. He assumes that the Knight of Eleven wants to maintain radio silence. Still it has been about six hours, and he should be near the point when he can make contact. He doesn't worry much about and pours himself a glass of wine. Schniezel's dinner is interrupted by Kannon running into room.

"Your highness, turn on the television. Something has happened." Kannon says gasping for air.

"Very well. What channel?"

"It doesn't matter."

In his frustration Schniezel changes it to one of those shopping channels that Kannon likes so much. Much to Schniezel's surprise the beautiful image of Euphemia li Britannia appears on his screen.

"Well played, Lelouch."

Euphie appears to be in the middle of a statement.

"Last night rebels from the Purist and Pureblood factions murdered my brother, Edward vu Britannia," Euphie can barely contain her tears. Lelouch really played this one really well, "Edward is the father of two beautiful girls, and his wife is expecting another child. She is also," Euphie pauses to regain her composure, "Also killed in the cowardly attack was Amadeus Doedilus, the Knight of Eleven," A profile of Amadeus's military record is shown. "Now to answer questions about the state of martial law that has been declared in Areas 17 and 11, here is Cornelia li Britannia."

Schniezel drops his wine as his phone rings. He slowly answers the call.

"By now I'm sure you have heard the news," Schniezel cringes at the sound of Lelouch's voice, "I am sorry about Amadeus. I know that he was one of your favorites. Don't worry I will avenge his death. I will find the person responsible for his death," Lelouch puts an emphasis on responsible.

Lelouch hangs up the call and looks at the monitors he set up in his office.

"Now what should I do first."

He is mostly speaking to himself since the only other person in his office is CC. Euphie and Cornelia are still conducting their press conference. Lilicia, Shirley, and Cecile are sound asleep somewhere on the airship. Not that Lelouch has anything to do with the latter two being tired. After their press conference Euphie and Cornelia will board Euphie's airship and head over to Bali. At some point before they arrive, they will have to tell Shirley about Edward's death.

CC wanders over to Lelouch.

"What are you doing," the green haired immortal asks.

"Playing with my new toys," Lelouch responds, "You see that silly man standing next to Odysseus," Lelouch points at someone on one of his screens.

CC grunts, "It's that fool Rhodes."

"Yes, I am about to make him disappear."

CC points at another monitor.

"Can you make that fat bastard Churchill disappear too?"

"Of course," Lelouch says with a smile as he leans up and kisses CC, "Anything for my pizza loving goddess."

Lelouch presses a button and within seconds both men explode. CC blinks when both men seem to disappear from the screens.

"What happened?"

"Oh Cecile developed a nice little sakuradite bomb that explodes within a one foot diameter."

"That isn't very much."

"Of course, but it is enough to kill one person and freak out everyone around them. Look at those jerks," Lelouch says pointing at his monitors, "They are running around like chickens with their heads cut off."

CC sighs, "Wouldn't it just be easier to kill them."

"Probably, but where is the fun in that."

For the first time in a very long time, CC has a feeling of trepidation not for herself but for the world. She wonders if Charles and Marianne realize the monster they have unleashed on mankind.

"Well isn't at interesting," Lelouch comments.

CC goes back to her couch.

"What's interesting?" she asks.

"Guinevere turned Conrad into some sort of cyborg. Of course I didn't even know that that bastard was still alive."

"Are you going to point one of your satellites at her window to see if you can catch them doing it?"

"CC," Lelouch groans, "that's gross. They're old."

"They are only in their thirties."

"Like I said they're old. They might as well be my parents. Besides I don't think you understand how satellites work. They are thousands of miles in space. You can't just point it wherever you want to. The angles don't always work," Lelouch smiles, "However there are other systems that I can use to check things out but enough of that."

Lelouch stands up and walks over to his game board and moves a few pieces. CC has been meaning to ask him what he is playing. The board is a severely modified chess board. It has chess pieces, shogi pieces, Monopoly pieces, and several small actions figures.

"Now let us see how everyone reacts."

* * *

Author's note: In case anyone is wondering the day that Amadeus baby-sits Lelouch and Nunnally is the day that she gets hurt, and he meets Kallen in chapter one.

Lilicia's geass is like Mao's so Lelouch knows what can happen when it gets out of control.

Since time of day matters in this chapter more than any other, Southeast Asia is all on the same time, 9 hours ahead Paris mean time, same as Japan. Lelouch changes Area 25 (India) to 7 hours ahead while Area 24 (China) remains at 8 hours ahead. Southeast Asia means Area 11 (Philippines), Area 12 (Cambodia), Area 16 (Thailand/Malay peninsula), and Area 17 (Indonesia, Borneo, PNG). Area 24 includes China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Korea. Area 25 includes India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Due to its size and isolation Area 23 (Siberia) remains the same.

Also for this story instead of Greenwich (London), Paris is zero. This means that France and Spain are also at zero. The rest of the world should be the same with a few exceptions depending on what Britannia has conquered.

Now to explain what happened. The last section of the previous and most of this chapter all take place over the course of two days. Schniezel sends Amadeus to kill Edward and make it seem like Lelouch did it. Then Amadeus is to capture Cornelia. He is not to hurt Euphie because that would really piss Lelouch off. While everyone is dealing with the confusion of that, Schniezel is meeting with the EU leaders and using his geass to take over. Karine sends some loyal men to kill Cornelia and if possible Euphie. She doesn't know that Lelouch is in Area 11. She hopes that in the confusion they can overthrow the emperor. Both are disappointed.

In chapter 39 (I had to back and look for the exact chapter) Lelouch geasses several members of the Purists and Purebloods into being his slaves. At the time I didn't specify the command, but that is what he did. After casting his geass, he orders them to go about their normal lives. Occasionally he calls them up and gives them orders. He did during the African invasion when he orders them to attack Guinevere. He uses them to do certain things for him. This time he uses them to attack Schniezel, however he commands them to not actually kill Schniezel. It is a huge coincidence that all three things and Naoto arriving in Area 11 happen on the same day. It is one of the advantages of writing your own story.

At some point Lelouch implants Cecile's sakuradite bombs into the bodies of Purists and Purebloods. Also Lelouch did not want Edward to die.

In case anyone is confused about it. Shirley has two daughters and is about two months pregnant at the moment. Her first daughter, Elizabeth, is Suzaku's. Her second, Liliana, is Edward's. Lelouch is the father of the child in her womb. This makes Shirley seem like a bit of a whore, but she is really just a victim of circumstances. Since Kallen and Milly get serious about Lelouch early on, Shirley doesn't fall for him. Instead she and Suzaku look to each other for comfort. Then Suzaku becomes Nunnally's boy toy. A pregnant Shirley marries Edward who after a few years realizes that there is no way to get out of Lelouch's shadow. Edward sulks in his ineptitude caused by the pressure his mother puts on him to become a viable heir to the emperor. Edward finds comfort in local mistresses because he doesn't have much else to do. Shirley becomes depressed because her marriage falls apart because of Edward's infidelity. She finds comfort in her friendship with Euphie and Milly and then in Lelouch. This is an important point given what happened at the end of the previous chapter.

The main problem electromagnetic pulse (EMP) at this point in the story is that technology is not advanced enough to have a weapon that produces one on its own. At this point the EMP would be in connection with the FLEIA which would of course destroy anything that needed electricity anyways. I learned that from watching a movie.

**Known Areas and their viceroys**

1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013- Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16-  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Edward vu Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-Regina ha Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016- Victoria ka Britannia  
20 Northern Africa 2017-Luther ti Britannia  
21 Middle East Federation 2017- Selene ge Britannia  
22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia sub Kaguya yama Britannia  
23 Siberia 2018-Evelyn vi Britannia sub Carolina sfo Britannia  
24 China 2019-Lelouch vi Britannia

25 India 2019-Milly ash Britannia

Updated character ages

Charles and VV are in the mid 60's.  
Lelouch vi Britannia 20, Gino Weinberg 19, Schniezel el Britannia 29, Jeremiah Gottwald 31, Suzaku Kururugi 19, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia 7, Lloyd Asplund 33, Naoto Kouzuki 29, Edward vu Britannia 20, Luciano Bradley 25, Jinta Futaba 11, Bismarck Waldstein 43, Merlin Suzerain 39, Gilbert GP Guilford 30, Kannon Maldini 31, Li Xingke 26, Kyoshiro Tohdoh 41, Kosetsu Urabe 34, Asahina Shogo 33, Ryoga Senba 45, Thorin Odinus 31, Amadeus Doedilus 29, Salzaar Gluten 22, Deithard Reid 35, Kewell Soresi 29, Ichiro Futaba 24, Odysseus eu Britannia 35, Maximus va Britannia 28, Cassius ru Britannia 27, Octavius ka Britannia 24, Theseus ju Britannia 23, Luther ti Britannia 20, James Trevor Goodley 23, Anthony Michael Sanderson 23, Charles Cunningham 44, John Hellerman 39

Marianne vi Britannia 40, Kallen kou Britannia 19, Milly Ash Britannia 20, Nunnally vi Britannia 16, Evelyn vi Britannia 9, Euphemia li Britannia 19, Kaguya yama Britannia 16, Tianzi (Jiang Lihua) 15, Carolina sfo Britannia 19, Lucretia 19, Sancia 20, Alice 16, Dalque 18, Cornelia li Britannia 28, Sayoko Shinozaki 26, Anya Alstriem 17,Villetta Nu 29, Cecile Croomy 26, Ayame Futaba 19, Rakshata Chawla 32, Zhou Xianglin 22, Lilicia Gottwald 16, Guinevere su Britannia 33, Karine le Britannia 17, Nonette Enngream 30, Sora Cummins 17, Isabelle vu Britannia 17, Shirley Fennette 19, Nagisa Chiba 31, Marika Soresi 19, Liliana Vergamon 18, Dorothea Ernst 34, Salacia Ravenguard 22, Monica Kruszewski 24, Aphrodite Venitus 25, Hannah Gottwald 17, Chelsea Nu 17, Mariel Labie 21, Annabel pe Britannia 19, Victoria ka Britannia 17, Gwendolyn ti Britannia 16, Regina ha Britannia 16, Selene ge Britannia 16, Nina Einstein 19, Midori Futaba 20, Nicole Hillis 38


	88. Opening up

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Mohandas Gandhi

The great questions of the day are not decided by speeches and majority votes, but by blood and iron.

Otto von Bismarck

**Wednesday, January 14, 2020**

**Bali Settlement, Area 17**

Lelouch arrives in Bali early in the morning. He leaves Manila before Euphie's press conference is over. He is not surprised to find Isabelle and Nunnally awake. As a precaution the kids are all sleeping in the same room with Suzaku keeping watch. Alice and Dalque are taking turns watching over the two older princesses while Sancia and Lucretia are keeping watch over the palace. Despite not being trained for it, Lelouch requests that Chelsea and Hannah come to Bali. He will assign them to Isabelle. He knows that Edward and Isabelle's royal guards will be upset over the changes, but Lelouch cares very little for their feelings. They allowed Amadeus and his men to infiltrate the palace. Lelouch's subordinates would never allow anyone to get so close to his loved ones at least not now.

Lelouch immediately enters the palace and goes to the room where Empress vu Britannia is being held. There is still some hope that she can recover. Alice and Dalque are both waiting by the door. Both girls look extremely tired. Inside Isabelle is sitting by her mother, and Nunnally is standing near the door.

"Nunnally, I would like to speak with Isabelle alone," Lelouch states. Nunnally nods and begins to exit the room, "Nunnally, if Lilicia is outside, tell her to get some sleep. I can handle things here. Take Alice and Dalque with you."

"Yes, brother," Nunnally says solemnly.

Lelouch sighs and looks towards Isabelle as he tries to think of something to say. Even though he has several hours to think of something, it is a difficult subject.

"Did you kill him?" Isabelle asks gritting her teeth,

"Yes," Lelouch responds. He is not exactly lying since he is responsible for Amadeus's death, "Isabelle, I."

Isabelle hugs Lelouch causing him to stop talking. She snuggles against his chest. Lelouch puts his arms around her and kisses her forehead.

"Just tell me what you want me to say. I will make sure that my people concur."

Lelouch lets out a sigh of relief.

"Belle, you are squeezing me a little too tightly."

Isabelle quickly releases Lelouch.

"I'm sorry, Lelouch I didn't mean to do that."

Lelouch chuckles, "It's okay. Euphie should be telling Shirley about what happened. You should probably talk with her when she arrives," Lelouch walks towards the door, "I am assigning you a personal knight for the moment. She will bring in her own team. Your people will have to deal with it," Isabelle nods, "Oh and the emperor sent Gino and Nonette to investigate the situation. Don't worry about them. They are coming to question me and Cornelia."

"Shouldn't that be Cornelia and I?"

"I already told you that they only want to question me and Cornelia not you."

Isabelle shakes her head.

"No, what I'm saying it that," she stops when she notices the grin on Lelouch's face, "You're an idiot."

"Not according to the latest online poll. People think that I am a cute boy genius," Lelouch opens the door, "Get some rest. Shirley shouldn't be here for an hour or so. Gino and Nonette will arrive at four so you have several hours before they arrive."

Isabelle stands up and bows towards Lelouch.

"Lelouch."

"Yes."

"Thank you."

Lelouch smiles, "Anytime. Now get some rest."

Lelouch exits the room and decides to take his own advice.

"You look like shit."

Lelouch smirks at the two men now guarding the door.

"Must be like looking at a mirror."

The two majors salute Lelouch who waves them off.

"Haven't they promoted you two yet?"

"They tried but Sanderson wanted to keep his knightmare."

Lelouch shakes his head.

"You two are idiots. Well I am promoting both of you to colonel."

"Sounds good to me. Anything else?"

"Yes, assign someone to watch Isabelle until Hannah and Chelsea arrive. Station your men around the palace. I am getting rid of the current royal guard."

"They won't like it."

"I do not care what they like. They fucked up, and now they are playing the price."

"As you wish your highness."

Lelouch looks at his former West Point classmates.

"Michael, James, I am trusting you with this. Do not let me down."

"Don't worry, Lelouch. We can handle it."

Lelouch walks away. He has to decide what course of action to take next. His wives are coming for the funeral which still has to be planned. Lelouch notices a slender Japanese woman hiding in the shadows.

"Good day, Sayoko. Are your people spread throughout the palace?"

"Yes, your highness. They are awaiting your signal to take over."

"Good. I want the palace under my control before Euphie and Shirley arrive. Sanderson and Goodley are protecting Isabelle and her mother so they are safe. I will have the kids and Nunnally transferred to the Excalibur."

"As you wish your highness."

Sayoko quickly disappears. Lelouch looks back at the two guards that Sanderson and Goodley leave to guard Isabelle. Lelouch knows them well and would not like to meet them in a dark alley. Actually he would not want to fight them in a well light alley either. The two soldiers salute Lelouch who simply waves them off. Lelouch continues his journey towards the kids' room and arrives just in time to see Suzaku doze off.

"What would your honorable and prideful Kururugi samurai ancestors say about you being derelict of your duty?"

Suzaku, still with his eyes closed, smirks, "First of all my ancestors were bandits. Secondly they would be wondering about when I am going to rob these rich folk."

Castor and Pollux exit their room rubbing their eyes.

"What rich folk?"

Suzaku sighs, "I was joking. But you little guys do realize that you are rich, don't you?"

Castor nods, "Okay. Do you need a loan or something? I can get you in contact with a good brokestocker."

"Ya, Stephanie is the best. She invested our money in llama and ostrich farming, and it is really taking off. She also put our money in some sort of citrus company," the twins shrug their shoulders.

"Boys, Suzaku doesn't need stock tips," Lelouch comments, but Suzaku is already getting Stephanie's business card from Castor.

Evelyn and Jinta walk out holding hands, but quickly separate after seeing Lelouch. The key is to remember that no boy, no matter how cool, is ever good enough for a man's baby sister.

"Let's go. You are all going up to the Excalibur. You can come back down after lunch."

"Big brother," Castor says, "Emily and Miranda are sad. They are sleeping."

"Fine, I will carry them."

Lelouch enters the room and gently tosses the two girls on his shoulders. Castor and Pollux do not look very happy about Lelouch carrying their girls. Lelouch quickly finds a way to resolve this.

"These girls are heavy. I'm going to have to get Lloyd to build a teleporter."

Emily and Miranda mumble something about cousin Lelouch being a jerk because everybody knows that you do not mention a lady's weight. The twins quickly try to alleviate their girlfriends' concerns about their weight.

**Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean**

Gino and Nonette are traveling to Area 17 to investigate the situation. It isn't everyday that a prince and a Knight of the Round are killed. Nonette also wants to check on Cornelia's condition while Gino is to look into Lelouch's involvement in the situation. They spend the very long trip trying to adjust to the time change. It isn't their first trip to Asia, but it is the first one of such grave importance.

"What time will it be there when we arrive?" Nonette asks.

Gino looks over at his charts.

"Let me see. Some time in the late afternoon probably around four."

"So by then everyone will be in on it."

Gino sighs, "I suppose so. What do you think really happened?"

Nonette grins, "Don't worry. Once I get Nellie alone, she will spill the beans."

"Whatever you say," Gino says lying down, "Just let me get a few more hours of sleep."

"That's a good idea."

Gino lies there thinking about what could have happened. Most of all he thinks about Isabelle. She must be pretty distressed over what happened to her brother and mother. After spending several months with Karine, it will be nice to be with a full figured girl.

**Paris, France, EU, 6 am local time (11 pm Pendragon time)**

Schniezel and Kannon are arriving in Paris to speak with the EU leaders. By now it is obvious that Amadeus is dead.

"Kannon, is everything prepared?"

"Yes your highness, the final preparations have been made. All the EU leaders will be present today."

"Very well," Schniezel says with a sigh, "We should rest a little before the meeting."

Kannon nods in agreement. Schniezel lies down. In spite of his public appearance and demeanor, Schniezel is very much human with all the advantages and disadvantages.

**Bali Settlement, Area 17, 3 pm local time (11 pm Pendragon time)**

Before leaving Area 11 for Bali Euphie tells Shirley about Edward's death. Needless to say she is quite distraught at hearing the news. Upon arriving Shirley spends most of the morning with Isabelle. Euphie takes care of Shirley's girls.

"Euphie told me that Gino and Nonette are coming," Shirley states hoping to cheer Isabelle up.

"Is he?" Isabelle asks half-heartedly even though Lelouch already tells her about this.

"Yes, in fact they should be arriving soon."

Isabelle sighs, "Shirley, do you trust Lelouch?" Isabelle pauses for a moment, "I mean do you trust him with your life, with you daughters' lives?"

"It's a hard question to answer."

"Did you love my brother?"

"Yes, with all my heart."

Isabelle bites her lower lip.

"Do you think Gino wants to see me? I hear he is pretty friendly with Karine."

"If he doesn't, we can have Nunna kick his butt." Shirley says with a chuckle. This comment causes Isabelle to smile for the first time in days.

"Your highnesses, Princess Euphie is requesting your presence," Hannah states. (Princess Euphie is a compromise between Euphie's informality and everyone else's built in formality)

Isabelle nods at her new personal bodyguard. Chelsea and Sora are standing at the door.

"Let's go, Belle."

They both know why Euphie wants to see them. Despite reassurances from Lelouch that Gino and Nonette are here to question him and Cornelia, everyone is on edge.

Around four Gino and Nonette arrive. Luckily for them Gino knows the guards that Lelouch has posted around the palace.

"Bastards!" Nonette scowls, "Don't these guys know who we are."

"Of course they know who you are," Lelouch states smugly, "That's probably the problem."

"Ah Nonie, did the big bad men treat you badly," Cornelia says sarcastically.

Nonette looks at Lelouch and Cornelia and grins.

"Are you two a couple now?"

"Why do you want to fight us?" Lelouch asks.

"Perish the thought," Nonette says holding her right hand against her chest, "I wouldn't think of fighting Nellie in her condition. She gave birth merely ten days ago."

Lelouch smirks arrogantly, "Oh she doesn't have to fight. She can just stand and watch me kick your asses. We can do it in a knightmare or right now."

Nonette looks like she wants to take Lelouch's bait, but Gino puts his hand on her shoulder and shakes his head. Gino clears his throat.

"Your highness, can we talk about what has occurred," Gino states, "Perhaps her highness Princess Cornelia would like to speak with Lady Enngream."

"That would be agreeable, Lord Weinberg. After our discussion perhaps you would like to pay respects to Princess Isabelle. The last 24 hours have been quite difficult for her."

Nonette and Cornelia watch Gino and Lelouch walk off. Nonette lets out a grunt.

"Those two are so gay for each other," Nonette glances a Cornelia before putting her in a headlock, "Now let's go see the little man that finally tamed little Nellie."

Cornelia grumbles as she tries to push Nonette off.

* * *

Around noon Kallen, Milly, Carolina, Kaguya, and Lihua arrive so the kids come back to the palace. Lelouch spends some time with them before Gino and Nonette arrive. Nonette decides to interrogate Cornelia later so all the girls are sitting around. Shirley and Isabelle are back in Empress vu Britannia's room. The twins are upset that Lelouch is keeping Gino. They want to show him their new line of toys. They also want to see if he wants to invest some money with Stephanie. Aunt Evelyn is holding court over the babies and little kids. Kallen and Milly look pissed that Lelouch has been talking with Gino for almost an hour.

Nonette snorts after Kallen and Milly sigh for the hundredth time in the last five minutes.

"Are you girls mad because Lulu is spending time with his boyfriend?"

Kallen's glare lets Nonette know that the emperor may lose another Knight of the Round if she keeps it up. Nonette wisely sips her ginger ale and keeps her mouth shut.

Kaguya cannot help but notice that Lelouch's other wives and lovers are well endowed with the exception of Lihua. Kaguya already knows this, but it is a little different seeing them all sitting together. It doesn't help at all when Shirley and Isabelle enter the room. Isabelle having a figure similar to Euphie's. It also doesn't help that Nunnally, now sixteen, has been developing herself over the past year while Kaguya remains the same. Even Lihua, just a few days away from her fifteenth birthday, is starting to develop. All Kaguya is developing is her stomach because of her pregnancy. A now drunk Nonette keeps glancing at Kaguya and gesturing towards her chest. Needless to say the Japanese girl is quite embarrassed. Nagisa leans over to see if anything is wrong with Kaguya who shakes her head. It does not help Kaguya's demeanor that Nagisa's breasts are pressing against shoulder.

"I wonder what they are doing," Lihua comments.

"Making out they are," Nonette says with a hiccup.

This causes the twins to laugh.

"Hey, Nonie is talking like Yoder," Castor comments.

"Show us the way of the force, Master Nonie," Pollux says.

Nonette stands up, "Show you the foot of my force, will I," Nonette falls flat on her face.

"Sister, what did you put in her drink?" Euphie asks Cornelia.

"Oh that, Nonette can't handle too much alcohol so I have been spiking her ginger ale with this hard alcohol that Lelouch gave me."

Lelouch's women all sigh at the mention of his name.

"It's almost dinner time that's why Shirley and I came out here," Isabelle comments.

"Knowing those two idiots," Kallen remarks, "They are probably taking about the girls they have slept with."

Obviously all the girls blush at this comment.

"Wait, I know that Lelouch obviously has a lot of girls," Milly comments, "but who has Gino slept with?"

Nonette raises her hand. Lilicia cannot help but notice that her sister and Chelsea blush at Milly's question. Before any more questions can be asked Lelouch's voice is heard from down the hall.

"And then Scooter said it stinks, huh."

Both Gino and Lelouch laugh. Everyone else is confused, and Kallen groans.

"Scooter is the one that stinks," Kallen states.

"How dare you speak about our son Scooter Lamperouge like that?" Lelouch asks indignantly.

"When did he become our son?" Kallen asks, "Cecile is the one that made him so he should be her son."

"That's it. I challenge Gino to a duel to the death."

"Wait, why me?" Gino asks.

"Hey look cookies," Lelouch states quickly forgetting about what happened before, "Hey, why is Nonette on the ground?

"Because sister put some hard liquor that she got from you," Euphie puts an emphasis on the last three words, "in her ginger ale."

"I didn't give Cornelia any hard liquor," Lelouch think about it, "Oh she must have taken the special sleeping drink that Lloyd made for me. It helps me sleep at night. I hide it in a whiskey flask," Lelouch looks at Cornelia and asks, "How much did you put in there?"

"Half the bottle," Cornelia states nervously.

"Oh well maybe it won't kill her, but someone should probably take her to see a doctor," Lelouch takes a bite of his cookie, "These cookies are really good."

"You're an idiot," Kallen says.

"That's it. Right now me and Gino outside," Lelouch begins to sniff, "Um, must be dinner time. It smells like chicken that's Scooter's favorite."

"I am not sitting by that idiot," Kallen comments, "Someone else can have him for dinner."

"Well Scooter didn't want to sit by you anyways," Lelouch quickly finds someone else to sit with, "Hey Kagy's here. Come on, Kagy. Me and Scooter will make sure that you get enough to eat. You're eating for two now."

Kaguya tries to protest, but Lelouch carries her to the dinning room.

* * *

Later that night Lelouch and Kallen are alone in bed aboard the Excalibur. The others stay below at the palace. With the addition of Lelouch's wives' royal guards, the situation is quite safe.

"What did you and Gino talk about?"

"Important business."

"I see so when is the funeral?"

"Tomorrow night, the body should be ready by them. They spent today trying to fix up Edward. The doctors are sure that Isabelle's mom is going to make it, but they still don't know when she will get out of the coma. They are not going to bury him here. Isabelle will wait for the empress to wake up before making a decision."

"What are you going to do about Shirley?"

"Well I was going to keep her anyways so now I will probably have to marry her."

"When?"

"Eh, maybe in a week or so."

"Don't you think that is little to soon?"

"Perhaps, but I have a plan."

"Oh, what's up with the crazy game board in your office?"

"That, I got the idea from a friend," Lelouch yawns, "Let's get some rest."

* * *

Karine is quite frustrated. All the action is taking place in other parts of the world. For her, for all of Britannia, the sun is rising on Tuesday morning while in eastern Asia the day is ending. Because of Gino and Nonette's investigation, Edward's funeral will take place Wednesday night (actually very early Wednesday morning in Pendragon). There is no word yet on exactly where he will be buried since his mother is in a delicate position. It is really too bad about Edward because his mother's family has a great influence in the north. At various times in the last century they have controlled most of Area 2 (Canada). They will have to find another way to influence certain nobles. Perhaps Edward's widow can be used.

To make up for Gino being sent to Asia, Guinevere sends Thorin to take up the spot in Karine's bed. This new arrangement is not very satisfying. Not that Karine needs sex every night. She isn't like Guinevere. Still Thorin is not as skilled as Gino in bed.

Faramond is visiting Karine for breakfast to discuss the events of the last few days. He does not appear happy so Guinevere must have told him about their plan to kill Cornelia and Euphie.

"Do you have any idea what would have happened if your stupid plan had succeeded?"

Karine yawns, "Yes they would be dead."

"Don't be stupid," Faramond scowls, "Lelouch would have come halfway across the world just to kill us."

"I would never allow anyone to get near her highness," Thorin booms from the entrance.

"Is that so?" Faramond asks with a wry smile, "How do you explain Rhodes and Churchill exploding in our faces?" Thorin begins to grumble, "Face it. Lelouch can kill us when and where he wants to. If you do not believe me, watch this."

Faramond signals for his assistant to play a video.

"What is this?" Karine asks.

"The first video was stolen from a facility Schniezel has in Greenland. It demonstrates the power of Nina's super bomb. This next video is from a city in the Russian Federation called Omsk. It is believed that this bomb is Lelouch's."

Karine grunts, "Lelouch wouldn't dare use one of those bombs on Pendragon."

"No, but Schniezel might. Besides Lelouch doesn't need it."

"Is that Amadeus's personal knightmare?" Thorin asks.

"Yes, watch what happens to it."

They watch as a black knightmare destroys Amadeus's force and finally attack Amadeus himself. When the pilot of the black knightmare jumps out, Karine stands and smiles.

"Is that Lelouch?"

Faramond responds with a nod.

"Did that commoner bastard kill Edward too?" Karine asks.

Faramond sighs, "You're an idiot. This video is from your only surviving person in Area 11. Luckily he is able to send us the video before he is killed."

"So, what does that mean?"

"I have been thinking about," Faramond responds, "I think it may be possible that Amadeus kills Edward. Then for some reason he goes to Area 11 where Lelouch kills him."

"Why would he do something like that?" Karine asks a little confused.

"I don't know. Who benefits from Edward dying?"

"I get it," Karine answers. Leaving Faramond and Thorin to wonder what she gets, "It isn't just about who benefits from Edward dying, but who would use Amadeus. More than that what if the idea is to make it seem like Lelouch planned Edward's death."

"Then it has to be Prince Schniezel," Thorin responds, "Amadeus has long been in Schniezel's camp."

"That may be so, but it still doesn't answer the question, Why kill Edward now?" Faramond asks.

"Perhaps we should begin moving," Karine comments.

"Yes, maybe we should," Faramond stands and glares at Karine, "From now on, do not do anything stupid."

"Yes I understand."

"Perhaps I should get some of my friends in the OSI to investigate some of Lelouch's activities," Thorin comments.

"It won't work," Faramond responds

"Why not?"

"For one Lelouch has access to the OSI database so he would recognize the agents. Secondly he isn't afraid of the OSI just like he isn't afraid of the Knights of the Round. If he did that to Amadeus, what do you think he would do to some OSI agents?"

Faramond and his people leave Karine's home. He doesn't bother warning them that he already sent some OSI agents after Lelouch, and they have been missing since the reached Area 24.

"Never mind what Faramond thinks," Karine states, "Send your OSI friends to investigate Lelouch. We should see if Nina can hurry with her super weapon counter device."

Thorin nods and leaves to do as Karine instructs. Karine figures that she has the rest of the day to convince Guinevere and Odysseus to speed up their plan. With Schniezel and Lelouch in Europe and Asia, things could not be more perfect.

* * *

Schniezel finishes the day firmly in control of the EU government. It will take some time for him to extend his influence throughout the continent. With the support and resources of the EU, he will begin to exert control over the rest of the world. However he must be patient. If he moves too quickly, his enemies will discover his plans.

* * *

Gino isn't sure about taking Lelouch's advice about seeing Isabelle. If Gino waits any longer, it will be morning. As it is, it is already past midnight. Gino walks towards Isabelle's room. At the entrance he sees some former West Point classmates. They salute Gino.

"Are you here to see the princess, Lord Weinberg?" one of the two guards asks.

Gino nods, "Carter, Wiggins, take a little break. I will watch over the princess for a bit."

"Come on Wiggins, maybe there's some chicken left from dinner."

"Man, you're always eating."

Gino doesn't hear the rest of the conversation because he enters Isabelle's room. He leans up against the door and hears light sobbing in the bed.

"Gino, is that you?"

Gino walks into the room.

"I just wanted to check on you."

Isabelle pants the bed.

"Come over here to the bed."

As soon as Gino sits down, Isabelle leans her head on his lap. Gino sighs and begins to stroke her hair. After a few minutes Gino notices that Isabelle is asleep. He gently sets her in the middle of the bed and goes back outside. The guards are not there so Gino sits down to keep watch over the room. After a few minutes of waiting Gino falls asleep in the chair.

**Thursday, January 15, 2020**

Gino opens his eyes and sees pink hair. He tries to stand up but Euphie's face is inches from his. Her expression is not a very happy one.

"Shouldn't you be inside with Isabelle?"

Gino stammers, "She fell asleep."

"So after you were done with her, you left."

Gino begins to shake his shake.

"No, we talked for a little bit. Then she fell asleep."

"Let me get this straight. You had sex with her, and then you talked for a bit after that you left."

"Look Euphie, you don't understand," Gino tries to get up, Euphie holds him down. She is a lot stronger than she appears, "Anya, tell Euphie she has it all wrong."

"Euphemia li Britannia, I thought I told you to check up on Isabelle not to harass Gino," Lelouch says as he approaches Isabelle's room.

"I am just making sure that Gino is not taking any undue liberties with young Isabelle."

"Just get in there and make sure that Isabelle is awake."

After Euphie and Anya go into Isabelle's room, Gino looks up at Lelouch.

"Lelouch, I, we didn't do anything."

"I know, Gino, and I am very disappointed in you. Go get dressed. Edward's body is already in the palace chapel. The emperor is giving another speech at ten. We will have our own funeral service this evening."

Gino nods and heads over to his room to get some clothes.

At exactly 10 am (6 pm) Pendragon time, the emperor gives a speech in honor of Edward and Amadeus. As always the emperor is at the top of his game, expounding on his ideas of the current world. After the speech, the video feed from Pendragon is cut, and Lelouch steps up to the podium.

"We would like to thank everyone for coming. We will begin our local service this evening at six. For now Edward's body is available for viewing for all family members. There are refreshments in the lobby. Once more we would like to thank everyone for coming."

Lelouch steps down from the podium and walks over to Isabelle. A wall of former West Point cadets led by Gino blocks anyone from coming forward as Isabelle and Shirley view Edward's body. They are joined a few moments later by Euphie and Nunnally. Lelouch signals for them to leave after a few minutes.

"Gino, why don't you take Isabelle for a walk in the garden? I think it will be good to get her away from all this attention."

"What about the reporters?" Gino asks with concern, "What if someone decides to follow us?"

"Don't worry about them," Lelouch says with a smile, "Just go I will handle everything here."

Gino nods and walks away. Lelouch walks over to Sanderson and Goodley.

"Did you physically inspect everyone that entered the building?"

"Yes and we took all cameras, recorders, and phones as you instructed."

"Did anyone give you problems?"

"A few said something about their freedom of the press. Some decided to stay outside."

"Remind the press that Areas 11 and 17 are under martial law. All those that refused to give up their equipment are to be sent off the island."

"As you wish, your highness."

Lilicia comes over to Lelouch.

"Your highness, your family is done looking at the body. Others will soon be allowed to view it."

"Thank you Lilicia."

Lilicia's warning means that Lelouch will soon be surrounded by reporters. Lelouch signals for a tall, lanky, blond reporter to come over.

"You understand the reason for the media blackout, Mr. Reid."

"Yes your highness. It comes as a request from the prince's family."

"Perhaps tomorrow, we will have an interview or a press conference. I will have Lieutenant Gottwald inform you."

Lelouch leaves the chapel to join the others. Gino and Isabelle are walking to the garden.

"Why doesn't everybody go rest? I will have the servants move lunch out to the garden We can have a picnic."

The kids begin to buzz at the idea.

"Lelouch, is it safe to be outside?" Suzaku asks, "Wouldn't it be safer to stay inside?"

"The garden is as well defended as the rest of the palace. With the garden being on the opposite of the palace from the chapel, it seems like a good place to eat lunch."

After lunch the kids are sent inside for a nap.

"I feel like taking a nap too," Nunnally comments, "Suzu, carry me to the room."

Nunnally leans into Suzaku, but a slap from Alice to her butt quickly straightens her up.

"A nap does sound good, your highness," Alice says as she begins to pull Nunnally, "Lord Kururugi."

Despite Alice's interference, Nunnally gets her way, and Suzaku joins her in bed for a nap. Kallen takes Kaguya and Lihua inside to rest. Milly decides to accompany Carolina back to the chapel. Gino takes Isabelle for a walk through the garden.

Lelouch takes Shirley to a secluded corner and begins to kiss her.

"Lelouch, we shouldn't do this here. Someone may see us."

Lelouch continues kissing her and reaches under her dress.

"Then let's go somewhere private."

Before Lelouch can take Shirley inside, they hear voices around the corner. Shirley sinks into the corner and begins to cry. Lelouch nods at her quick thinking.

"Their highness are most likely inside," Lilicia states.

"They may be, but I heard voices out here."

Lelouch recognizes the voice and steps out of the corner.

"Ah my dear Duke of Oregon, it is nice to see you here. Isabelle is out in the garden."

"I see, but is there someone back there with you?"

"Yes, Shirley wanted to find a nice quiet spot in the garden. I decided to watch over her in case anyone comes to bother her."

"Is that it?"

Lelouch smirks, "Did you expect us to be having sex out here?" Lelouch gestures to the open nature of the garden, "You should have some respect for you nephew's widow."

"No, but well, I." the Duke of Oregon is quite flustered.

"William Thurgood Sforza, stop harassing the boy."

Shirley quickly stands when she hears the voice.

"Empress, when did you wake up," Shirley remarks.

"Catherine, they told me that you were dead."

"As you can see little brother, I am very much alive although walking is difficult at the moment. Where is my little girl?"

"She is out in the garden walking with Gino," Lelouch responds, "Lilicia, inform Isabelle that her mother is waiting for her here."

Moments later Isabelle comes running towards her mother.

"Mother!" Isabelle screams as she hugs her mother, "Sorry am I squeezing you too hard?"

"No dear. It's fine. I miss these hugs."

Isabelle notices that something is different about her mother.

"How long have you been awake? Is it alright for you to be standing?"

"Yes dear I'm fine. I have been up since this morning. I just wasn't in the mood to hear that man speak about my son's death in a glorious and bombastic manner."

"Mother, what happened to you? You seem different."

"A near death experience will do that to you."

"Perhaps we should inside and discuss a few matters, Empress," Lelouch comments.

"Of course, but you do not have to call me Empress any more. Catherine will suffice or perhaps Lady Catherine if you want to be formal. I doubt if I will ever return to the homeland. Perhaps we should go inside and discuss a few things."

"Yes sister there is much to discuss," the Duke or Oregon states looking towards Lelouch.

"Actually William, you should go see your girls. I believe they are inside taking a nap."

"Um well."

"Ayame, please take the duke to the room where his daughters are. They should be with Castor and Pollux," Lelouch states, "Lilicia, take Shirley to her room," Lelouch gestures towards a door that is hidden by some bushes, "Lady Catherine, Isabelle, this room should be quiet."

Isabelle looks at the room in amazement.

"I didn't know that this room was even here."

"It was Edward's private room," Shirley responds, "He used to come here when he wanted to be alone."

"Wow, it even has a keypad. How did you figure out the code?" Isabelle asks.

"It was pretty easy once he think about it," Lelouch responds," 06302000."

"That's a lot of numbers. I wonder how Edward remembered them all."

Lelouch leans and whispers into Isabelle's ear, "It is the date of Shirley's birthday so I am sure he would never forget it," Lelouch enters the room, "Gino, keep guard. I don't want any reporters back here now that the garden is empty."

Shirley, Isabelle, and her mother follow Lelouch into the room. Carolina bursts into the room just as they are sitting down.

"My Uncle William told me that my Aunt Catherine was in here."

"I am right here, my dear Carolina. Please have a seat. Your husband was to tell us what is going on."

Lelouch tells them about Schniezel sending Amadeus to kill Edward and capture Cornelia. He also tells them about the Karine's plot to kill Cornelia and Euphie.

"I see," Empress vu Britannia says with a sigh, "so have all of Charles's children gone mad."

Lelouch smirks, "No, some of us were mad from the beginning," Lelouch's tone becomes somber, "I am sorry that we could not save Edward. We knew that Amadeus was here, but we didn't know what he was up to. I thought that he was trying to gage the loyalty of Edward's staff."

"There is nothing that could have been done. Amadeus was after all a Knight of the Round. Now there is something else that I would like to discuss," the empress states glancing at Shirley, "While as a whole this nation is not religious in the traditional sense, our family, meaning the Sforzas, has always followed certain moral code. That is why despite being of low birth I allowed for Shirley to marry Edward because her family also has a moral code," She sighs, "I understand that it is not her fault or even Edward's. I was the person putting pressure on him to be something he is not," she lowers her head.

"Mother, it isn't your fault," Isabelle responds, "You were just acting according to how you were raised."

"Yes and I tried raising you the same way so why didn't you turn out like this? Caring only about status and nothing else."

"I'm sorry. I loved Edward," Shirley states, "but things just became too much for me to handle."

"Don't blame Shirley," Lelouch remarks, "I forced her into the affair."

"Lulu, don't."

"If you want to blame someone, blame me. Like I told Edward during our last meeting, Shirley is mine no matter what happens."

"Lelouch," Isabelle murmurs as the door opens. Two large men drop one of the palace servants on the floor. Isabelle recognizes them as the people that kept guard over her door at night.

"Good job, Captain Carter, Major Wiggin. Leave the rest to me."

"Are you sure, your highness? This guy is pretty," Captain Carter pauses and taps his head, "Look who I'm talking to. You're Lelouch fu-freaking vi Britannia."

"Perhaps you ladies should leave. This could get messy," Lelouch comments.

Isabelle glares at the man on the floor.

"He's the one that told Amadeus about your argument with Edward and that Edward was alone in the balcony."

"Yes, and now I want to find out who he is working for."

Empress vu Britannia stands up.

"Perhaps Lelouch is correct. We should leave and prepare for tonight's funeral service. I expect to receive any information that this man gives you."

After the three women leave, Lelouch lifts the man by his collar.

"Now then what should I do to you first?"

The man spits on Lelouch as the door opens. Evelyn steps into the room and signals for Lelouch to lower the man. He notices that Lilicia is standing outside. Lelouch drops the man to the floor and holds him while Evelyn activates her geass.

* * *

Later that night Empress vu Britannia makes an appearance at Edward's funeral service. After the service the Duke of Oregon approaches Lelouch.

"Your highness, could I have a word with you?"

"Of course, let's go for a walk in the garden."

"Very well. Can my bodyguards follow me? The girls seem to be safe in here."

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter to me."

As they walk outside, the Duke of Oregon notices that Lelouch is walking alone.

"Don't you have bodyguards, your highness?"

"I don't have the need for any. I do have Lilicia as my assistant, but most of the time I end up having to protect her from reporters and assassins so it doesn't do me any good for her to follow me out here," Lelouch stops once they have walked a good distance, "I think this is far enough. There is plenty of protection. I may not have two fine gentlemen with me like you, but there are about half a dozen soldiers watching over me at all times."

"Very well. My sister and nieces believe that I should trust you. Although I have my doubts, I will trust them. Who is responsible for Edward's death?"

"He was killed by the Knight of Eleven, Amadeus Doedilus, at the request of the second prince, Schniezel el Britannia."

While the Duke of Oregon remains passive, his two bodyguards gasp.

"Why did Amadeus travel to Area 11?"

"To capture Cornelia li Britannia."

"I see, and how do the Purist figure into all of this? They are the people that you are public accusing of Edward and Amadeus's deaths."

"Members of the Purist and Pureblood factions were sent by Karine le Britannia under the direction of Guinevere su Britannia to assassinate Cornelia and Euphemia li Britannia."

"Does the emperor know about this? Does the emperor know that his children have gone mad?"

"Perhaps you bodyguards should back away so they do not hear what I am about to say," Lelouch comments, "It isn't that I don't trust them."

"Very well. Why don't you two get something to drink? I will be fine out here with the prince."

Lelouch waits until the bodyguards are back in the building before continuing.

"The emperor understands perfectly how his children are acting. It is his way."

"Survival of the fittest," the Duke of Oregon says with disgust.

"Partly, the truth is much more complex than that. Perhaps it would be for the best if I did not explain everything to you. It will probably be safer this way. I will tell you that things in the homeland are about to get difficult for many people."

"Will you protect Catherine and Isabelle?"

"Yes and if you ask I will continue to watch your daughters. Castor and Pollux are quite fond of them. Now if you don't mind I have six wives and four siblings to attend to."

**Friday, January 16, 2020**

Early in the morning Lelouch, Gino, Nonette, Cornelia, and Euphie are meeting to discuss the situation in Area 17.

"Even though I am not satisfied with the official report," Nonette states, "I do not have a reason to question it."

Nonette does not mention the fact that Gino technically outranks her and can force her to change her report, although she may still state her concerns to Bismarck. Of course something like that would be an affront to Gino's position, and the two might be forced to duel. A fight that Nonette knows that she will lose unless the duel involves something sexual.

"We understand that Area 17 is currently under martial law," Gino comments, "During this current time of confusion, it may be effective, but it is the emperor's wish that the Area once more become a productive part of the Empire."

"Area 17 was a very productive part of the Empire under Edward. Would it not make sense for the new Viceroy to act in a similar manner?"

"The emperor feels that perhaps a stronger will is needed," Nonette responds, "This is why we are recommending that Cornelia li Britannia be installed as Viceroy of Area 17 at least temporary."

"We understand that her highness is still recovering from giving birth," Gino comments, "but as you said Area 17 is a productive Area. Her highness's presence will deter any further rebel action as well as keep the neighbors to the south discouraged from taking an action."

Australia never concerns Lelouch since his naval forces are quite active in the south mostly because of Area 9 contains some of Lelouch's most secretive factories and research centers.

"I do not see a reason to contest that recommendation. She is more than qualified for the task. I shall leave the details to you because I have work of my own to do,"

Lelouch exits the room.

"That's strange. I thought little Lulu would put up more of a fight," Nonette comments.

"In case you haven't realized, Lelouch is really mature now," Euphie responds, "I should be leaving as well."

Cornelia notices that Euphie uses Lelouch instead of Lulu.

"Well this is no fun at all. Here I was hoping to spend my morning arguing," Nonette states.

"Let's go," Cornelia says, "You can come with me when I fire all of Edward's staff. That might be interesting for you."

Euphie quickly chases after Lelouch.

"Lulu, was it really necessary to tell Isabelle's mother and uncle about what is going on?"

"Yes, I didn't tell them everything. Only enough to scare them into seeing things my way."

"What if they didn't see things your way?"

"I suppose we should be glad that things didn't come to that. Let's go. We still have lots of work to do."

The rest of day is spent clearing out Edward, Isabelle, and Shirley's things from the palace. Cornelia tells them that they are welcome to leave their things, but they decide to take them as a sign that they are moving forward. To honor Edward, at his mother's insistence, that night they have a joyful celebration of his life.

* * *

Lelouch sits up. On his bed next to him is an exhausted Shirley. Besides her is a grumpy CC eating pizza. To Lelouch's other side are Lilicia and Cecile.

"You seem to have quite an appetite tonight, your highness," CC states with a smirk.

"Be quiet and eat your pizza, witch."

"I would if you brought me enough. Why don't I get to play with the little girl and scientist woman?"

"Because they are mine," Lelouch responds.

"Isn't this one yours too?" CC asks patting Shirley.

"Yes, but Lilicia and Cecile have only been mine. If you want someone new, I think Hannah and Chelsea are down the hall."

"That's no good because the little blond boy is with them," CC chuckles, "He has a funny way of showing he likes that little princess."

"You mean because he is sleeping with her new bodyguards. You can always have Marika or Liliana. Maybe I can even find you a nice man."

"Don't be silly after being with you, who would want another man?"

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Of course not," CC says with a sly grin.

"Maybe you want to go back to my mom. She seems to be pretty lonely now that the emperor is concentrating on their plan."

"Have you been spying on your mom?" CC asks with s grin, "What a dirty little boy. So it is true that you have a mother and sister complex."

"Shut up, you annoying witch!"

Lelouch's raised voice wakes Shirley who begins to mumble.

CC sighs, "Who am I kidding? This girl is a perfect ten, isn't she?"

"You sound just like Milly. She is always raving about Shirley's perfect and delicious body."

"Milly, is that the blonde one?" Lelouch nods, "She sounds like my kind of girl."

"She is. I shudder to think of what the two of you would do to Liliana," Lelouch begins to stroke Shirley's hair causing her to fall back asleep, "You feel it as well don't you. This uneasiness."

CC nods, "Yes. I have been feeling it for two weeks."

"I wonder what it is," Lelouch states.

"Whatever it is, you are not going to figure it out tonight. I think I have some pizza in my room. I will leave you to explain this situation to the little red head."

CC leaves Lelouch alone to think. But it seems that he will have to think at another time because the three women begin to wake up.

**Author's note: **Nothing much is going on. Just clearing certain conditions for what is about to happen. The next chapter will be more of the same.

Does anyone else remember hearing that ostrich was going to be the next big thing? The nineties were a crazy decade. My internet was down for a whole week so the next chapter will probably be up soon.

Oh I guess this is the Code Geass fanfic with the most words. I'm not sure if that is a good thing, yet.


	89. Lelouch's guise

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics_. This chapter has quite a few sexually suggestive sections including one from an unexpected person.

The government's first duty is to protect the people not run their lives

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

There is no life without truth. Truth is probably life itself.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

**Saturday, January 17-Saturday, January 31, 2020**

Saturday, 17- Odysseus eu Britannia is contemplating his next move. Up until now he has allowed others to make decisions, but now he will take charge. The loss of Edward is a major setback since they were planning on using Lelouch's affair with Edward's wife to damage his reputation. Edward's death could have been used for the same purpose if not for one little detail, Karine sending her Purist lackeys to kill Cornelia and Euphie. Up until now only pawns have been lost, but it seems like Karine wants to speed up the game. Needless to say against experienced players like Schniezel and Lelouch, this is a mistake. Odysseus agrees with Faramond that killing Euphie would result in all their deaths.

Odysseus strokes the cheek of his young mistress. He cannot explain why he is attracted to young girls. The girl in his bed is only fifteen; this makes her young enough to be his daughter. Perhaps he prefers them because they are naïve and eager. Even though they do not always satisfy, they do not have the experience to realize that Odysseus is not very good. Of course the girl is not the only one in the room. There are about half a dozen others ranging from ages fifteen to eighteen. Several of the girls eye Odysseus hungrily so he reaches for his pills and tosses a few into his mouth. Being a member of the royal family gives him access to the latest in male enhancement. Not that he needs it, but it gives him the extra boost to pleasure all his women. One of the girls mounts him.

"Gross," Karine says with a scowl, "Can you at least tell your whores to stop while we speak?"

The girl riding Odysseus begins to move slower causing him to smile. Guinevere glares at her older brother.

"I asked the two of you to wait for me downstairs in the study," Odysseus comments.

"We have been waiting for an hour," Karine says gritting her teeth. Unlike her older siblings, Karine is not a sex addict. She has not desire to match the Emperor when it comes to lovers, "It wouldn't be so bad if they were a little older. Some of these girls are younger than me. Why do you have to have them so young?"

Odysseus considers Karine's question. Perhaps the issue has something to do with a past event. Odysseus remembers growing up as the unofficial heir to his father. He is the first son, and his mother comes from a family distantly related to the royal family. It is only natural that he be thought of as the heir presumptive. By the time Odysseus is fifteen and looking at possible marriage candidates, he is no longer an only child. He now has seven brothers and two sisters. His mother is no longer the favorite.

It is also around this time that his father becomes emperor. This puts much more pressure on Odysseus to secure a compatible mate. However his father shows very little concern for Odysseus's future instead the emperor focuses on his new favorites. Despite all of this Odysseus presses forward. As the crown prince and the only one old enough, he attracts the attention of a lot of eligible ladies, however he is attracted to one in particular. Her name is Abigail Pearson, and she belongs to a minor noble family. Naturally he cannot marry her, but she can be his second wife or perhaps his mistress.

However that man gets in the way. By now it is obvious that Odysseus is longer the top contender to succeed his father as emperor. Odysseus's mother has very little access to the emperor, and Schniezel and Cornelia are showing a lot of promise. Then that man takes Abigail because who wants to be with a prince when they can be with the Emperor especially when that prince is no longer the favorite to inherit the throne.

Soon after this Odysseus marries his mother's chosen girl, one from a major noble family. A few years later Odysseus has a son, Faramond, who also happens to be the emperor's first grandchild. Faramond is the emperor's only grandchild of consequence for several years. Despite this Odysseus's marriage is a loveless one because his wife is only after influence and power. As Odysseus loses influence to Schniezel, Cornelia, and, worst of all, Lelouch, his wife begins to push for Faramond to be the Emperor's heir. Before Odysseus and his wife can become estranged, she dies in an avalanche while vacationing in Aspen.

After this Odysseus begin to sleep with young girls. He even manages to get Abigail back. But now in their twenties, the feeling is not the same. Still now several years later, Abigail is still with Odysseus helping him find young girls to sleep with. Of course there plenty of women hoping that Odysseus remarries, but he does not. Instead he waits for the inevitable, when Schniezel and Cornelia fight for the throne. However something happens because Lelouch and Karine amongst others begin to gather followers. This opens the door for Odysseus to get back into the game.

After Odysseus ejaculates, he slides the girl to the side. Guinevere and Karine try to look away as the other girls begin to stroke his still erect penis.

"Perhaps it is time to eliminate some more pawns. I have a mission for Conrad. I assume that you have given the emperor our candidate to replace Amadeus."

Karine clears her throat and nods, "Can you at least repress your urges for a moment?"

"Just send us the mission you have for Conrad," Guinevere says as she exits the room. Karine quickly follows.

A few moments later the door opens and two girls walk into the room.

"Master Odysseus, we have prepared the girl for you."

The girls bring in a slender girl with curly hair and glasses.

"Come here, Nina."

Nina nods and slowly walks over to the bed.

"Please, go easy on me, master," Nina whimpers.

Odysseus chuckles as he pulls Nina towards him.

* * *

The next two weeks are quite busy for Lelouch. Everybody prepares for their return trips home. Kallen and Marika are escorting Lihua and Xianglin back to Beijing. Nunnally's group is returning to Tokyo with Kaguya. Euphie is staying with Cornelia for now. Milly, Liliana, and Ayame are heading straight to Delhi. From now on all the kids are staying with Lelouch aboard the Excalibur III. What they cannot learn from Cecile, Lloyd, and Rakshata, they will learn from Milly's newest line of home school products. Lelouch is escorting Carolina, Shirley, Isabelle, and Empress vu Britannia to Area 10.

"Are you certain that we will be safe here?" Empress vu Britannia asks.

"You will be safer than the emperor here," Lelouch responds, "Area 10 has been the most productive Britannian Area per capita."

"Yes, I remember that you were Viceroy of Area 10 previously."

"It wasn't that long ago."

"So everyone here is loyal to you not the emperor."

"That is true. Carolina and Isabelle should know how to activate the security system although security is quite tight throughout the entire Area so it will not be easy for anyone or anything to come in unseen."

"That is good to hear."

"Very well. I have to return to Beijing. I will come back through here in about a week."

Lelouch leaves Saigon and heads for Beijing. He arrives during the night and immediately heads for Xianglin's room. He will spend the next few days with Lihua so he spends the night with his mistress.

"Your majesty, I do not deserve to the honors that you bestow upon me."

Lelouch strokes Xianglin's hair.

"Are you pregnant again?"

"I am sorry, your majesty."

"It isn't your fault that I am so obsessed with you."

"Your majesty, what about the empress? People will soon spread rumors that your marriage is a charade."

Lelouch puts his arms around Xianglin.

"Don't worry about that. Lihua is still young. There will be plenty of time for her to get pregnant later," Lelouch begins to nibble at Xianglin's neck causing her to moan, "For the moment just worry about yourself," Lelouch says as he enters her once more.

* * *

Sunday, 18- After taking Lihua and Xianglin to Beijing, Kallen heads north to Siberia to check up on Jeremiah and the war effort. There is another reason for her to leave. January 18 happens to be Lihua's fifteenth birthday, and Lelouch wants her to be the center of attention. That is also the reason why Lelouch spends the entire night with Xianglin so that she will be too tired to attend the day's festivities. Lelouch knows that Lihua will not wake up until nine or maybe later so he wakes up early to take care of certain things. Lelouch calls Kallen.

"I see you got rid of all the unnecessary baggage around here."

"Most of it, you are sleeping with what I could not get rid of."

"Yes, but the empress is important an s a symbol. If those fools, the High Eunuchs could use her, why shouldn't we be able to as well? Besides the people are much more prosperous than before," Lelouch waves his right hand, "Let them attribute it to her having more control. If they think they can oust me, they will learn their lesson."

"You do not have to be so dramatic about it. It took several months but all the native ministers have been replaced with your personally selected West Point cronies just like in Areas 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, and 25."

"How long do you think it will take for people to make the connection?" Lelouch asks.

"I am sure that the emperor has planned for this," Kallen responds.

"I'm sure he has. He will probably allow me to visit all of my wives before giving me some new orders."

"What will those orders be?"

"Invade Europe."

"Why does he suspect that Schniezel is up to something?" Kallen asks.

"No, because he wants to get me away from China. He believes that I am holding the other code bearers prisoner in the Himalayas."

"What will he do once you are away?"

"Probably send Bismarck and a few OSI agents to capture them. They will probably use a thought elevator to reach the one in the Gobi Desert. That facility has been dismantled and is under surveillance so it will not of any help for him."

"So you are going to set a trap for him."

"Naturally."

"Oh by the way, did Xianglin finally tell you that she is pregnant? I do not understand why you cannot keep it in our pants."

"I see so she has been pregnant for that long."

"Perhaps a month or so."

The door to Lelouch's office opens and Lihua steps in still in her sleepwear. Lelouch's office is surrounded by rooms for Lihua, Xianglin, Evelyn, and the twins. He has a public office where he meets with officials.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lelouch," Lihua states shaking a bit, "I didn't know that you were in here. I thought that you would still be with Xianglin."

"I'm just giving Kallen some final instructions on the war effort," Lelouch turns to face Kallen, "I will have Lilicia send you anything else that may come up," Kallen nods, and Lelouch cuts the connection, "So what did the birthday girl want so early in the morning."

Lihua blushes, "It isn't that early. I was thinking that I should get up earlier to help with things. Xianglin and Kaguya still get up early even when they are pregnant."

"Well if it is what you want. I will have someone wake you up a little earlier just so you can get used to it. There is no need to rush things."

Lihua nods, "Kallen isn't coming to my party."

"I'm afraid not. She is quite busy. If you want Kaguya can come."

"Euphie too?" Lihua asks.

"I suppose so. Let me call her."

"I can do it. Euphie, Kaguya, and Kallen are my friends. Aren't your friends supposed to be at your birthday party?" Lihua asks.

"Yes, I suppose they are. Kallen and Euphie left their birthday presents with me. But since you are inviting them to come, you will have to wait to receive them."

Lihua visibly pouts.

"Very well. I will get your presents from Evelyn's room.

Lihua smiles, "Bring them to breakfast. I will get dressed and receive them there when I call Euphie and Kallen."

Lihua also invites Milly to her party since she is a party planner extraordinaire. Xianglin actually thinks ahead and has Milly plan Lihua's party. The party is a rousing triumphant success.

* * *

Monday, 19- Lelouch spends the night with Lihua. In the morning, he takes her to his personal doctor that will ensure that she gets pregnant. Lihua is told that it is a simple physical exam since she just turned fifteen.

"Your highness, everything has been done according to your plan. Now you just have to select a name for your son."

"Thank you, Dr. Watson. I think after this child, Lihua should have twins."

"Perhaps one of your other wives can have twins."

"That is not necessary. Lihua is the only one I have been having problems with."

"Well I shall see you later, your highness."

Lelouch spends the rest of the day and night with Lihua.

* * *

Tuesday, 20- Lelouch's third day in Beijing is dedicated to Xianglin. They do not leave the bedroom.

Milly is back in Delhi after going to Beijing for Lihua's birthday celebration. For the most part things are settling down in Area 25. There is still some resistance to Milly's rule, but for the most part it is nonviolent. For the most part, Milly has been able to get around this by providing the lower classes with food and board. Over the past year, the shantytowns that surround Area 25's major cities are replaced with Britannian settlements. Obviously the people from the settlements have to come from somewhere.

In preparation for the conquest of India, Milly prepares educational material in the various native languages. While English is the language of business and government, several local languages are used in schools. Still there has been some opposition to Milly's attempt to break the caste system. Of course Milly is already beginning to think of ways to get around the caste system. It will not be easy, but she must not fail.

* * *

Wednesday, 21 and Thursday 22 - Lelouch wakes up and prepares for his trip to Tokyo. Kaguya gets him for two days. He doesn't do much else but spend time with her. During the afternoon of the second day, they are sitting in Kaguya's living room while the kids play some educational video games.

"_Is this too boring for you?" _Kaguya asks nervously.

Lelouch smiles, _"Of course not. Sometimes it is nice to just sit here with someone that you love," _Lelouch says as he strokes Kaguya's hair.

"_Um okay."_

"_Are you going to take your nap today?"_

Since Kaguya is about six months pregnant, she has been taking it easier. Not that she and Nunnally ever do much because Lelouch basically controls and runs Japan like a large corporation. Japan is less Area 22 and more a branch of Lelouch Enterprises Inc.

"_Yes, it's been a long day. Do you mind lying down with me for a little bit?"_

Lelouch kisses Kaguya on the forehead.

"_I don't mind. I enjoy a good afternoon nap," _Lelouch stands up, _"Kids, it's nap time."_

"_Okay, nii-san."_

"_Nap time."_

"_Nap time."_

Evelyn shakes her head as the twins begin to sing their nap time song. A good afternoon nap usually means that the kids are not cranky in the morning. It does not always work, but Lelouch does not want to risk it. It only takes Kaguya a few moments to fall asleep. After Lelouch ensures that Kaguya is asleep, he stands and heads back to the living room where Lilicia, Sancia, and Lucretia are waiting. Lilicia is setting up a video conference with Milly and Kallen. Lelouch nods giving Sancia the signal to begin.

"As your highnesses probably know, we have been working on several projects over the past few years. The projects began back in Area 10 and have expanded to other Areas as our influence expanded. Lucretia has the details."

"Apart from those projects relating to geass, we have several projects to see if we can find anyone capable of handling the remote knightmare systems," Lucretia pauses and signals for Lilicia to begin the video, "The first project is the continuation of Prince Lelouch's video game projects. The second project is several video game adaptations of the twins' Converters franchise."

The video shows the games, and children playing them. The first game is called LELO. It is about characters with slight resemblances to Lelouch, Gino, and Suzaku. The main playable character modeled after Lelouch is called Master Chief. In the Converter games, the various robots are playable. There is also a battle mode in which the Converters fight each other.

"Now the third game is more straight forward," Lucretia continues, "It is simply called Knightmare Battle. It is quite realistic."

"The game features a create your own knightmare feature," Sancia states, "Drs. Chawla and Croomy have mentioned that the ideas from the game players are interesting."

"How are the armor suit projects coming?" Lelouch asks.

"Lloyd says that they are on schedule," Lilicia responds, "He also mentions that the personal automated suits are also nearing completion."

"That's good to hear," Lelouch remarks, "I will be here one more day before leaving for Area 11. If there is nothing else, I will get back to Kaguya."

Lelouch goes back to Kaguya. The rest of the day is uneventful.

* * *

Friday, 23- Lelouch's third day in Tokyo is spent with Nagisa who is about four months pregnant. Much like his day with Xianglin, they don't leave the bedroom.

Cornelia realizes something after a few days at her new job. There is not anything for her to do. She can understand some of Edward's frustration since Lelouch through his various businesses and military influence basically controls Area 17. Not only that, but Cornelia has very few people she can trust. All her trusted subordinates are still fighting in Greece. At least they are when she leaves. Now with Schniezel have peace talks with the EU, who knows what is going on over there. Perhaps even the Emperor has no idea what is going on in Europe. Cornelia may have to find a way to discover if Schniezel as any secrets.

* * *

Saturday 24 Lelouch spends the morning meeting with Nunnally and Suzaku. Before leaving for Area 11 and Euphie, Lelouch receives some shocking news. Both Kaguya and Nagisa are having twins. Lelouch spends the trip to Area 11 making sure the Excalibur III and his other airships are equipped for multiple babies. The best part about going to Area 11, apart from being with Euphie, is that Lelouch does not have to fake it. With Cornelia in Bali, it is the first time in several weeks that Lelouch can act like himself. Euphie does not waste any time getting Lelouch into bed. Lelouch knows that Euphie will be happy with a few hours of lovemaking. After that he will have twenty-four hours to handle any business.

* * *

Sunday, 25- Lelouch spends the night looking over the situation in the Homeland. It is obvious to tell which television stations are owned by Lelouch and which are owned by other people. Those owned by Lelouch are pretty balanced. Those owned by the government continue to spew the emperor's rhetoric. Those owned by Schniezel praise his efforts in Europe. Those owned by Odysseus's group question the situation in Central Asia and Europe. These are the stations that Lelouch pays attention to because they report that a vast majority of the Britannian people are against the waste of government funds towards the war effort. According to these stations, Britannians would rather have the money spent on social programs and business loans for the Homeland. Lelouch makes a few phone calls to take of this issue. Sunday night after devoting the entire day to work, Lelouch spends the night with Euphie.

Schniezel is quite confident that he will have control of the situation before the Emperor does something drastic like send Lelouch to Europe. While Schniezel has many spies throughout the Homeland, he has very little in the territories controlled by Lelouch.

"Your highness."

"Yes, Kannon."

"We have received word that Princess Cornelia has contacted her former subordinates."

"For what purpose?"

"From the intercepted transmissions, I believe that her highness plans on coming back to Europe."

Schniezel grins, "Is that so. Then perhaps we should prepare to greet her."

* * *

Monday, 26- Lelouch continues his trip by leaving for Area 10 early in the morning. However on the way there, he makes a stop at a facility that he has on the island of Pulau Natuna Besar. Lelouch has another reason for coming to this facility. Shirley is on her way back to Area 11 to stay with Euphie. Instead of heading directly to Manila, Shirley meets Lelouch over what is now called the South Lelouch Sea (formerly the South China Sea). Lilicia and Cecile head towards the latter's former research facility at Vinh in Area 10.

Lelouch spends the afternoon with Shirley. They make a similar arrangement to the one that Lelouch has with Euphie. Lelouch continues to observe the situation in Britannia. Things are setting up just like he wants them to. Lelouch does not just come to this particular facility because he wants to sleep with Shirley away from prying eyes. Lelouch also comes because he wants to see how some of his various secret projects are coming along. Things are coming along nicely.

* * *

Tuesday, 27- Lelouch finishes his inspection early so he has more time to dedicate to Shirley.

Kallen arrives back in Beijing after a few days in Siberia. In few days she will travel south to spend a few days with Lelouch. Today she is traveling to see how Rakshata is doing with the creation of her new knightmare. Everything is on schedule; however Kallen feels that something is very wrong.

"Your highness, is there something wrong?" Marika asks

"No, Marika, I am just thinking about some things," Kallen says shaking her head.

"Dr. Chawla is ready to begin testing."

"I shall be there in a moment."

Kallen sighs looking down at her left hand where her wedding band resides. Since her wedding band is simple, she does not need to take it off while using her knightmare. Kallen begins to make her way to the testing site. Rakshata may not be as strict as Lloyd when it comes to time, but she is not as nice as Cecile either.

* * *

Wednesday, 28 and Thursday, 29

Lelouch spends the next two days with his only normal wife, well normal for him. Sure Carolina is a bit of a bratty noble, but she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty when she has to. Since Saigon Palace is enlarged to accommodate Lelouch's large family, Lelouch and Carolina do not have to see Isabelle and her mother much. A part of Lelouch wants to stay here a few more days, but he has work to do.

* * *

Friday, 30 and Saturday, 31

Lelouch is preparing to leave for Rangoon where Kallen is waiting for him. As he sits in his office, Cecile comes to give him some reports.

"It seems like the Arthur Excalibur performs as expected," Lelouch states.

"Yes, it does, your highness, "Cecile remarks, "Although some of its success may be attributed to your skill."

"I suppose so, but let's just say that it is a perfect combination of pilot and knightmare,'" Lelouch says with a smile as he pulls Cecile towards him.

Cecile moans as Lelouch kisses and moves his hands along her body.

"Your highness, I.," Cecile moans as Lelouch continues his groping.

"Don't worry. We have a few hours, and Kalli won't mind if I have a little fun before we get there."

"There's something I have to tell you."

"Are you pregnant?" Lelouch asks secretly hoping that the answer is no.

Cecile nods, "Yes, is that a bad thing?"

Lelouch smiles, "Of course not. I was thinking that it might be nice to have a little scientist in the family."

"Your highness, I,"

Lelouch puts his fingers over Cecile's mouth.

"Let's just focus on having a little fun for the next few hours. Make sure that you see Dr. Watson so he can put you on his schedule."

Cecile allows Lelouch to undress her. A few hours later he is spent for the moment. He covers her with a blanket and goes out to meet Kallen.

One would think that Lelouch would spend some his time with Kallen working on his various projects, but they decide to work on something different.

"Are you sure you can keep up, Kalli?"

Kallen smiles smugly, "Bring it, Lulu," Kallen says as her right hand signals for Lelouch to come at her.

"We are talking about having sex, right?"

"Of course."

"Just making certain. Remember the important thing is to eat some high calorie and protein food. When it comes to this, empty calories are the best. So-called healthy diets are useless."

"How do we start?"

"Well I like to get right into it with something greasy like pizza. Of course hamburgers and fries are a Britannian classic, and you cannot forget about dessert."

Kallen glares at Lelouch, "You idiot, I mean the sex."

"Oh that. Well I thought about tossing you onto the bed and just doing whatever comes to mind."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kallen says leaping into Lelouch's arms.

Aphrodite Venitus is sitting aboard her flagship overlooking the Caucasus Mountains. In spite of Schniezel's peace talks, her force remains on alert. Although she serves the Emperor as the Knight of Ten, lately she has been rethinking where her loyalties lie.

"Lady Venitus, there is some movement along our western flank."

"Do you have any idea who it is?"

"No my lady, but we are looking into it."

"Update me if you find anything out. Put all our troops on alert. I do not trust Prince Schniezel."

"Yes, my lady."

Aphrodite begins to look over her maps of the region. In the east Jeremiah is not paying any attention to Schniezel's peace talks. He keeps pressing forward. Aphrodite wonders if Lelouch will head north soon to continue with that attack or if he will come west to attack Europe directly. She wonders what the Emperor will do about all of this.

* * *

**Sunday, February 1, 2020**

Before Lelouch makes his way from Rangoon to Delhi, there is a bit of business that Kallen discusses with him.

"There was a little problem at one of those warehouses that we were storing the Gun-rus," Kallen comments.

"The Gun-rus, I thought that they were going to be used for scrap metal."

"They were supposed to be, but for some reason they weren't."

"I suppose this factory is old and is located somewhere near Tibet."

"They were moved west to help with the police force. Perhaps some of the old regime moved them there hoping to use them later."

Lelouch thinks about it.

"Those warehouses don't have any cameras or security system."

"No, they don't. In fact we only found out about it because a military patrol encountered one of the transport trucks."

"But it is such a weak outdated knightmare, what can they hope to do with it?" Lelouch asks with a sigh.

"We are already investigating the region and other warehouses closer to Beijing."

"Very well. I will have Jeremiah stop the attack into Russia and have him concentrate on Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian states. Luciano is almost done with Iran so he will turn north. Perhaps he can convince Aphrodite to come east."

"I will keep an eye on the situation in Beijing," Kallen comments, "I will head west to provide assistance there."

"Good, then I will see you in a week," Lelouch states.

Rather than staying in Delhi, Milly joins him aboard the Excalibur III, and they head to visit several cities in the southern part of Area 25. Lelouch wants to personally oversee the efforts to bring food and medical supplies to the various villages. He uses Lilicia's geass to figure out what they are thinking. Lelouch notices that something is wrong with Ayame.

"Is something wrong?"

Ayame shakes her head, "No, your highness."

"Are you upset because Lilicia is more useful to me at the moment?"

"It isn't that. It's just. Things are different than I imagined they would be."

Lelouch sighs, "Things are about to get harder so get ready."

Ayame nods, "I understand, your highness."

Conrad Keyshavrin is going for a hike in Eastern Europe. He is traveling with the members of Guinevere's cyborg team. They are on a special mission that hopefully will eliminate a minor player in this game.

"Well isn't this interesting," Conrad comments, "Looks like an old friend is in the area. Perhaps she will be interested in helping us out."

* * *

**Friday, February 6, 2020**

Lelouch already knows that he is one of the luckiest people in the world. Spending the last few days with Milly reinforces that sentiment. Now all Lelouch has to do is wait for the others to make their moves. However there is something that has been bothering him, it is a feeling that does not go away.

Aphrodite has been thinking about what to do next. Her primary instinct is to leave the Caucasus and head to Iran to help Lucinao's war effort.

"Lady Venitus, we are being attacked from all directions."

"Prepare my knightmare. I will meet the enemy head on."

"As you wish."

Aphrodite boards her knightmare and prepares to meet her enemy. As soon as she heads out, she notices something unusual about the knightmares attacking her force.

"Those knightmares are not from the EU."

Aphrodite looks at the knightmares closer.

"Those are Vincents."

"What are Vincents, my lady?"

Aphrodite sighs, "I will have to explain it to you later because they are coming in fast."

Conrad and his team are slowly approaching one Aphrodite's ground installations. They plan on raiding it and using its transport to head up to an airship. From there the possibilities are endless.

"Lord Keyshavrin, we are ready to go."

"Good, it seems like Salacia is providing a good distraction."

Luciano is sitting on his bridge as his airship bombs several suspected rebel hideouts. Earlier today the Emperor declares Iran and the future conquests to the northeast, Area 26.

"Lord Bradley, we have received an urgent call from Lady Ventius's assistant."

"Put it on," Luciano's face turns white as he says this, "Contact Lelouch, now!"

Luciano's assistant nods and hurries to call Lelouch. Aphrodite's assistant appears on Luciano' screen.

"Lord Bradley, my lady is badly hurt. We were attacked by some unknown force using Vincent knightmares."

Luciano's assistant brings up Lelouch on the communicator. Luciano nods, but keep his attention on Aphrodite's assistant.

"Who was it?" Luciano asks.

"We do not know my lord. They also managed to get some men aboard the airship and attacked my lady directly. We managed to fight off the intruders, but," Aphrodite's assistant begins to cry, "We are heading in your direction."

"Take Lady Venitus to Baghdad. They will be better prepared to take care of her there," Lelouch comments.

Luciano grits his teeth but knows that Lelouch is right.

"His highness is right. We don't have an extensive medical team here with us. Baghdad will be the best place."

"I am sending Selene a message to expect Aphrodite. I will also see if we can send someone north to investigate."

Aphrodite's assistant nods and signs off. Luciano glares at Lelouch.

"I know that you are looking at your satellites and cameras so what did you find."

"Just give me a second," Lelouch says with a sigh. "Let me see. Colonel Hillis, where are you at this moment."

There are a few moments of silence before a response comes; however this seems like an eternity for Luciano.

"Your highness, we are over the Caspian Sea heading east to assist with the attack there."

"Return to west. I need you to provide protection for the airship of Lady Venitus. Something as happened. If you can spare a drone, send it to the Caucasus. I will provide you with detailed coordinates in a few moments."

"As you wish, your highness."

Luciano appears like he is ready to burst.

"Have you found anything, your highness?" Luciano asks grinding his teeth.

"Yes, I have maneuvered several satellites into the region. A few days ago, Aphrodite sent me a message that indicated that something may be happening," Lelouch says with a sigh, "I think I can access the security cameras on her airship and ground basses, but that might take a few minutes. Lilicia is working on it now."

"Just give me the satellite feed!" Luciano yells outs. He wonders why Aphrodite did not come to him with her concerns.

"I'm working on it," Lelouch scowls, "Holy shit! What are those things?"

"They are called Vincents. They are knightmares based on the Lancelot and Gawain,' Milly responds, "According to my sources, the Ashford Foundation helped build them."

Lelouch forwards the video feed looking for Aphrodite's knightmare to an appearance.

"I thought that your father was working on making a knightmare for my mother," Lelouch comments.

"Yes that is true, but grandfather is still in control of the Foundation. Perhaps my mother or one of my uncles helped make these."

"For who?"

Milly shrugs and points to the screen.

"What is that?"

Lelouch and Luciano instantly recognize the knightmare attacking Aphrodite.

"The Andraste," Lelouch remarks.

"It's that bitch, Salacia," Luciano spits out.

Milly sighs, "So the Vincents are for Schniezel. Then it must be my mother. Her family is distantly related to Schniezel's mother."

Aphrodite and Salacia battle for a few minutes before Salacia retreats.

"What the hell was that?" Luciano asks confused. Having faced the Knight of Five before he knows that there is no way that Aphrodite could have beaten her.

"Your highness, I have the video feed from the ground base and the airship," Lilicia comments, "I will send it to you now."

Conrad appears on the video feed. First attacking the ground base and stealing a transport. Then attacking Aphrodite aboard the airship before several of Aphrodite's men chase him away.

"What the fuck!" Luciano yells confused at what is going on, "I thought Weinberg killed that guy."

"Why would they send Conrad to attack Aphrodite?" Lelouch asks, "It doesn't make sense."

"You knew that this bastard was alive," Luciano says shocked that Lelouch would withhold such information. Milly is a little upset about the fact as well. She will have to contact Kallen to see if she knows about this.

Lelouch nods, "Yes, but he never leaves Guinevere's house for obvious reasons. I don't see how it makes sense for them to take out someone that can be turned to their side."

"I'll kill those bastards!" Luciano screams out.

"Calm down, Luciano."

"What did you say?" Luciano glares at Lelouch, "How can you expect me to calm down?"

"There is no way that Salacia or Conrad are still there. Schniezel is in talks with the EU. I suspect that they will blame this on Aphrodite being trigger happy. The best thing to do is to stay calm. It won't do any good if you go get yourself killed.

Luciano scowls and looks down at his hand. He notices that his assistant is shaking.

"What is it?"

"Lord Bradley, we have been attacked from the mountains."

"Crush those bastards."

"Well, the attacks are suicide attacks. There are also hundreds perhaps thousands of people coming down through the mountains heading towards us."

Lelouch is about to order Lilicia to prepare the Excalibur for a trip west, however she interrupts him.

"Your highness, look at this."

A brown skinned, bald man wearing a white robe appears on the screen. He is speaking heavily accented English.

"This message is for Lelouch vi Britannia. I challenge this so called Black Prince, the Phantom Flash, the Vanguard Lancer of the Empire, the Black Death, the oppressor and tyrant of this world. I challenge him to a duel in the ruins of the abomination known as the Britannian Settlement of Baghdad. Come if you are unafraid."

The message continues for a bit before repeating itself.

"We have traced the message to somewhere in the mountains east of Tehran," Cecile comments, "Satellite footage shows that several thousand people on foot and dozens of smaller older knightmares are also active in the area."

Lelouch looks over and sees that Luciano is gone and his assistant is in his place.

"Have Luciano handle it. I will contact Colonel Cunningham. I believe that his stealth team is heading in that direction. We will take control of his drones. Ayame, tell the kids, Sancia, and Lucretia to go the drone control center. Lilicia, get Kallen, Euphie, Anya, Sora, Nunnally, everyone here now," Lelouch emphasizes the now, "Cecile, get someone to stop this message from getting out. I do not care if you have to shut off internet access for the entire world. Just do it."

Lelouch looks over at the screen as the message finishes.

"I am Mikhail Jibril, and I am the Messenger of God."

Lelouch smirks, "I guess it is a good thing that I do not believe in any god," Lelouch says turning off the computer.

* * *

Author's note: Once again events that have nothing to do with each other converge. This time Lelouch cannot solve things by kicking some ass and snapping his fingers. Or can he? The story is certainly not going to take any potshots at any religion. Given the region where things are taking place, one has to consider how you get thousands of religiously devout people to believe that you are a messenger from God. The answer is pretty simple. It makes me wonder why others did not do the same thing before.

The Odysseus flashback part has been planned for a while. The part about him being with various girls came from watching Guren Lagann. Whenever they show Lordgenome, he is always surrounded by girls who seem only interested in him.

Um ya so Lelouch is going to double his children in the year 2020. Don't worry about it, I'm sure he can handle it.

The nap time song goes like this.  
Nap time, Nap time, Time to take a nap.  
Everybody's happy, when they take a nap.  
I just made that up.

Character ages as of January 18, 2020

Lelouch vi Britannia 20, Gino Weinberg 19, Schniezel el Britannia 29, Jeremiah Gottwald 31, Suzaku Kururugi 19, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia 7, Lloyd Asplund 33, Naoto Kouzuki 29, Luciano Bradley 25, Jinta Futaba 11, Bismarck Waldstein 43, Merlin Suzerain 39, Kannon Maldini 31, Li Xingke 26, Kyoshiro Tohdoh 41, Kosetsu Urabe 34, Asahina Shogo 33, Thorin Odinus 31, Salzaar Gluten 22, Deithard Reid 35, Kewell Soresi 29, Ichiro Futaba 24, Odysseus eu Britannia 35, Maximus va Britannia 28, Cassius ru Britannia 27, Octavius ka Britannia 24, Theseus ju Britannia 23, Luther ti Britannia 20, Ryoga Senba 45, James Trevor Goodley 23, Anthony Michael Sanderson 23, Charles Cunningham 44, John Hellerman 39

Marianne vi Britannia 40, Kallen kou Britannia 19, Milly Ash Britannia 20, Nunnally vi Britannia 16, Evelyn vi Britannia 9, Euphemia li Britannia 19, Kaguya yama Britannia 16, Tianzi (Lihua Jiang) 15, Carolina sfo Britannia 19, Lucretia 19, Sancia 20, Alice 16, Dalque 19, Cornelia li Britannia 28, Sayoko Shinozaki 26, Anya Alstriem 17,Villetta Nu 29, Cecile Croomy 26, Ayame Futaba 19, Rakshata Chawla 32, Zhou Xianglin 22, Guinevere su Britannia 33, Karine le Britannia 17, Nonette Enngream 30, Sora Cummins 17, Isabelle vu Britannia 17, Shirley Fennette 19, Nagisa Chiba 31, Marika Soresi 19, Liliana Vergamon 18, Dorothea Ernst 34, Salacia Ravenguard 22, Monica Kruszewski 24, Aphrodite Venitus 25, Hannah Gottwald 17, Chelsea Nu 17, Mariel Labie 21, Annabel pe Britannia 18, Victoria ka Britannia 17, Gwendolyn ti Britannia 16, Regina ha Britannia 16, Selene ge Britannia 16, Nina Einstein 19, Midori Futaba 20, Hannah Gottwald 17, Chelsea Nu 17, Lilicia Gottwald 16, Nicole Hillis 38,

**Known Areas and their viceroys**

1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013- Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16-  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Cornelia li Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-Regina ha Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016- Victoria ka Britannia  
20 Northern Africa 2017-Luther ti Britannia  
21 Middle East Federation 2017- Selene ge Britannia  
22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia sub Kaguya yama Britannia  
23 Siberia 2018-Evelyn vi Britannia sub Carolina sfo Britannia  
24 China 2019-Lelouch vi Britannia  
25 India 2019-Milly ash Britannia  
26 Iran and Central Asian state 2020- military governor Luciano Bradley


	90. The Messenger

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

All wars are popular for the first 30 days.

Arthur Schlesinger

...

Morality is contraband in war.

Mohandas Gandhi

...

25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.  
26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.  
27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.  
28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Daniel 5: 25-28

* * *

They are brothers once so close that people believed that they are twins. The eldest is named Mohammed while the younger Abdul. Mohammed is always the voice of reason and compassion while Abdul the wilder of the two always advocating action. They spend their early years in school. Both do well and make their father proud. Their father is a liberal man who advocates a closer union with the EU. They live in Tripoli which is considered to be the North African equivalent of Rome or even Paris. Their father is a politician with connections to the top.

Naturally with they take of advantage of their good fortune. Both decide that careers in the military will be useful in the future. Mohammed's demeanor and wisdom makes him a favorite of the politicians while Abdul's aggressive nature makes him a favorite of the military hierarchy. Still the brothers do not argue. Their goal is simple. They will dominate. It is that uncomplicated. They will control the politics and military of their country and show the world what they are capable of. They do not want this simply for the purpose of their own self indulgence. They have a higher purpose.

However their dreams crumble when Britannia begins its invasion of Africa. Their country holds out for a while but ultimately Britannia is too strong. Their commander, General Gaddafi, instructs them to survive at any cost. They flee east first to Damascus and then to Baghdad. However Britannia follows them east so the brothers flee east into Iran. By now they have several dozen followers. However they quickly realize that Iran is not safe either because sooner or later Britannia will invade.

They continue eastward finally reaching the Himalayas. There they find someone that comforts and guides them. Despite being the leader of a different religion, Choekyi Gyaltsen does not look down upon them. Instead he encourages them to follow their beliefs. After a few months he even grants them power to change the world. A power that they use sporadically to improve things for their followers. However everything is not to their liking. Their struggles over the years have changed them. Now Mohammed is the one that wants to be aggressive while Abdul is calm. Still against the might of Britannia what can they do?

**January 1, 2020**

"Are you not going to celebrate, Mohammed?" Choekyi Gyaltsen asks.

"I will not celebrate until I am once more in my country, and it is free from tyranny," Mohammed responds.

"I see, but your brother and the others are celebrating."

"It is because Abdul has grown soft, but I am the oldest, and I must remain strong. I will not let my people down."

"That is a good goal but have patience. Things will turn out for the best soon enough."

"Unfortunately I do not have time to wait."

"Time is what we make of it. Maybe in time even those in Britannia can realize their mistakes. There are some that may already realize them."

"I do not want to rely on the mercy of some Britannian prince," Mohammed scowls because he knows that Choekyi has an agreement with Lelouch vi Britannia, "They will never learn unless someone teaches them."

"Do you plan on teaching them that lesson?" Choekyi asks while shaking his head, "Better men than you have tried and failed. I have seen it throughout the course of time. Humans trying to fight against forces greater than they are. It is better to stay home, and let things play themselves out."

"I have no place to call home."

"Home is where there are people who care about you."

"I do not know if there is such a place."

"Then perhaps you should look for one. Remember that unless you find a way to resolve your issues, you anger will simply consume you."

Mohammed nods, "Yes that is true. That is why I must put on end to this now. Today I will take the first step in restoring the world."

"Perhaps you should speak with the prince. He will find you interesting."

Mohammed sighs, "Yes perhaps I should."

**Friday, February 6, 2020**

It has been over a month since that day, the day the Mohammed, no Mikhail Jibril begins his revolution. From that day forward the followers of Choekyi Gyaltsen are quickly separated from those that follow the new leader. All of those that follow Choekyi Gyaltsen lose their power. Mikhail Jibril cannot explain why. He does not know enough about the power. He only knows that now he cannot be killed. At least not by normal means. It is really too bad that he does not absorb Choekyi Gyaltsen's memories along with his immortality because things would be much easier.

Some of Mikhail Jibril's followers include people who once have influence in the former Chinese Federation. They are able to secure some knightmares for his force. In addition he gathers many refugees from Iran and southern and eastern Asia. Once he proves that he is indeed the Messenger of God, things begin to go his way. Unlike his predecessor, he only gives power to those that can truly be trusted.

Soon he receives word that Lelouch vi Britannia is in India so he begins his plan to take back his homeland. First they will drive west and push the Vampire of Britannia out of Iran. From there they will move into the Middle East. If Lelouch accepts his challenge, then he will defeat him. From the Middle East, he will push through Egypt and finally to Tripoli. After that who knows where fate and destiny will take him.

"Moha, I mean Mikhail Jibril we are experiencing some problems with the attack on Tehran."

"Keep pushing forward!" Mikhail Jibril growls, "Nothing can stop us for we have fate and destiny on our side."

* * *

After making sure that everyone (that matters) is informed of the situation, Lelouch goes over to the drone control room where the kids are waiting. Ayame and Lilicia are helping the kids get organized. Sancia and Lucretia are already taking control of the Colonel Cunningham's drones.

"Did you send in more drones?" Lelouch asks no one in particular.

"Yes, I contacted the commander in Baghdad, and he is sending what they have," Milly responds, "I have also sent what we have here. They should arrive in a few hours. From what the satellite shows, Lord Bradley should be able to hold out until they arrive."

Lelouch nods, "Yes, he should."

Cecile enters the room to help with the operation.

"Your highness, I have managed to contain the message, although who knows how far it spread before we stopped it. I have some of my people looking into it."

"Good work Cecile. Lilicia, have you routed communications to this room."

"I am working on it, your highness," Lilicia answers with a sigh, "Perhaps you could assist us."

Lelouch grumbles but goes to help get the kids ready to take control of the drones.

"Milly, did you send Liliana to take control of the situation?"

"Yes she is going ahead with the drones I sent. Kallen is sending Marika as well."

"There, the kids are ready to go," Ayame remarks.

Lelouch does not like the idea of having Jinta, Emily, and Miranda helping out because he does not expect this operation to be for those with light stomachs. Lelouch is about to ask Lucretia to leave but is already too late.

"Your highness, the drones have arrived," Sancia states, "We have control, and I am bringing up the cameras."

"Sancia, wait!" Lelouch yells out.

Several extremely disturbing images show up on the screen. Bodies or rather pieces of bodies are strewn everywhere. Neither sex nor age seems to be an issue since there are children and women amongst the dead as well. Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux yawn and flip on their controls. Jinta, Emily, and Miranda stare for a few seconds before doing the same.

"We have the enemy locations, but I am having trouble with the terrain," Evelyn comments looking over at Lucretia.

"What is this?" Lucretia asks shaking, "Those people are," she stops as a blood red knightmare swoops in and cuts down several people on foot. Lucretia can not contain herself. She begins to vomit at the sight of the carnage. Lucretia stands up and exits the room. Her exit and the carnage leaves the others stunned.

"Sancia, go after her," Lelouch comments, "I do not believe that we will need your geass."

"Your highness, perhaps you should go," Sancia replies.

"Just do it," Lelouch says gritting his teeth, "We do not have time for this."

Sancia nods and goes after her friend. Lelouch sits down in Lucretia's seat. The others avoid looking towards Lelouch with the exception of Castor who is glaring at Lelouch because Lucretia is his knight.

"Cecile, can you hack into Luciano's knightmare and disable it."

"Yes your highness."

"Lilicia contact Marika and Liliana. Inform them that they are to take command of the situation."

Lelouch looks up at the screen as the kids begin to take command of the situation. It only takes Cecile a few minutes to stop Luciano's knightmare.

Lelouch turns on his communicator. "This is Lelouch vi Britannia. I am taking command of this battle."

"Fuck that!" Luciano remarks, "This is my battle. If you want to do something about it, call your old man."

Lelouch growls causing the kids to stare at him in fear. They have never heard their big brother make that sound.

"Listen up asshole! I will be there in two hours. I do not have a problem taking you out before I deal with these rebels."

Luciano looks pensive. He does not expect Lelouch to be heading in this direction.

"Fine, have it your way," Luciano mumbles, "I'm going to see my woman," Luciano says signing off.

Lelouch rubs the back of his head before giving orders to the people on site. The kids begin to route the rebels. Unlike Luciano's wild attacks, their attack is coordinated and seeks to capture rather than kill.

"Milly, tell me when Liliana arrives," Lelouch says standing up, "Lilicia, keep on eye out on the other drones heading for Tehran. Ayame, prepare a statement for Milly to read about the situation in Iran. We should arrive in about two hours. I expect things to be wrapped up by then. I will personally handle the final issue. Sancia will be back here to direct the attack."

Lelouch leaves the room and heads for his office. Lucretia is sitting alone at his desk.

"Where is Sancia?" Lelouch asks.

"I sent her back. I just wanted to be alone."

Lelouch nods, "I understand," Lelouch walks over and sits across the desk from Lucretia, "I am sorry about what you saw."

Lelouch can see the tears running down her eyes.

"There were kids and," Lucretia cannot continue. After a few minutes of silence from Lelouch and crying from Lucretia, she seems to have gathered herself, "I am sorry, your highness. I will return to the control room," Lucretia says standing up.

"Don't worry about it," Lelouch comments, "There doesn't seem to be much resistance."

Lelouch walks over and puts his arms around Lucretia. He sits down pulling her onto his lap. She snuggles against him as he strokes her cheek. They sit there for a few minutes in silence when the door opens. Several young girls enter the room.

"Shouldn't you girls be doing your lessons?" Lucretia asks.

"Yes, big sister, but we hear that you were sad so we came to see if we can help."

Lucretia smiles, "Well I was sad but big brother Lulu is taking care of me now, okay."

The girls nod and smile. They give Lucretia the thumbs up and exit Lelouch's office. Lelouch continues to caress Lucretia.

"Do you want to stay here until we arrive?" Lelouch asks.

Lucretia shakes her head.

"Let's go to your room. This place smells too much like pizza."

Lelouch shrugs because he figures that Lucretia would just want to cuddle, however the blonde girl has other ideas.

* * *

Two hours later they arrive at Tehran. Kallen and Marika are set to arrive in less than an hour. Nunnally and her team are due to arrive some time during the night. Kaguya and Lihua are staying home to keep an eye on things. Euphie, Anya, Shirley, and Sora will also arrive during the night. Carolina is staying in Area 10 and will probably make trips to Areas 11 and 16. Lelouch isn't sure what Cornelia is planning. She may also be on her way to Tehran.

Lelouch looks down at the city. Despite being surrounded by a war zone for several weeks, the city continues to move forward. This may be perhaps the most difficult area to bring under Britannian control. Putting down this rebellion will go a long way towards showing that Lelouch is master of the region.

"Have you been able to contact the rebel leader?" Lelouch asks.

"No, your highness," Lilicia answers, "There has not been any attempt from them to contact us either."

"I see," Lelouch remarks, "Get some sleep. Ayame, take the kids to bed. I will watch over the drones tonight."

"Yes, your highness."

Everyone exits the room leaving Lelouch and Milly alone.

"I know that you took care of the issue, but don't you think that you were a little hard on everyone tonight especially Lucretia?" Milly asks.

"No, this is not the time to get soft," Lelouch responds, "It is time that everyone understands that. "

"Fine have it your way," Milly states while heading towards the door, "I suppose that Kallen will arrive soon to keep you company so I can go rest."

Lelouch doesn't say anything as Milly leaves. He sits there watching the drones' cameras. He does not actually have to control them because there are others working in shifts doing that. Lelouch sits there quietly looking over certain files.

"Your highness, am I bothering you?"

Lelouch looks up and sees Villetta standing at the door.

"No, Villetta, come in," Lelouch answers, "Perhaps you should get some rest. I think that tomorrow will be a long day."

Villetta sighs, "Maybe you should take your own advice. You look very tired."

"I suppose I could use some rest," Lelouch says with a yawn, "Kallen and Marika will be arriving soon."

"Yes, her highness informed me of her imminent arrival. I shall take command of what is here until her highness arrives."

Lelouch nods, "Very well. I shall return in a few hours."

Lelouch heads for his room and takes a shower. He selects some clothes to wear after he takes a nap. He does not bother putting any clothes on for his nap.

**Saturday, February 7, 2020**

Lelouch wakes up a few hours later quite refreshed. He sits up smiling because he has a particularly nice sensual dream involving Scooter and Kallen fighting to the death. In Lelouch's head Scooter is combination of Ichiro Kurosaki, Naruto Uzumaki, Kamina, and Hulk Hogan so not only can he fight and talk, but he knows the ins and outs of backstage politics, and he supports his friends until the end even if it costs him everything.

"That was a good dream. Next time Scooter will win."

Lelouch notices that Villetta is standing there staring at him. It must be because of his massive erection.

"I guess that dream got me more excited than I thought. It must be because Scooter was so close to winning."

"Her highness Princess Kallen sent me to keep you company," Villetta says trembling.

Lelouch shrugs as he pulls Villetta into the bed.

"I knew there was a reason why Kalli is my favorite. She knows what I like."

Lelouch gets to work on Villetta. About an hour later Lelouch stands up leaving Villetta exhausted on the bed. She keeps moaning his name.

"I have decided that you will remain with me from this point forward," Lelouch leans in and kisses Villetta on the lips, "For now you can rest. It may be some time until we have something to do."

* * *

Schniezel and GG are wrapping up a lovemaking session. The blonde prince is much better at this than GG expects. However even all of Schniezel's ministrations cannot keep the feeling of dread from manifesting itself in her mind. Something is not right and has been amiss for some time.

VV is sitting in his new Geass Order headquarters below the city of Pendragon. He receives and encoded message from Lelouch about the situation in eastern Iran. It coincides with the suspicion that VV has been feeling for over a month. Choekyi Gyaltsen is no more, and someone else has taken his place. VV wonders how this newcomer will affect the world.

* * *

Lelouch is sitting in the drone control room looking over the situation. There still has been no contact from the self-proclaimed Messenger of God.

"Your highness, Colonels Sanderson and Goodley have someone interesting," Lilicia states.

"Thank you, Lilicia," Lelouch says as he flips his communicator on, "What is it?"

"We have someone claiming to be the brother of the Messenger."

"Do you? Did Ayame send you the file on who we believe the Messenger is?"

"Yes, we compared it, and this guy seems to match."

Lelouch nods, "Fine, take him over to the Sparkle. It is the airship most prepared for interrogations."

"As you wish, your highness."

Lelouch leans back in his chair.

"Lilicia, get Evelyn. Both of you are coming with me to the Sparkle."

"Yes your highness."

Thirty minutes later Lelouch, Lilicia, Evelyn, and Dalque are on their way to Evelyn's airship. As they fly, they can see several dozen airships patrolling the region. They enter into the interrogation area. In the main room Sanderson and Goodley are sitting across from a finely dressed brown skinned man.

"You girls wait out here. Sanderson said that they were bringing up three guys. I only see one in the room. Check if the others are in separate rooms. If they are not, put them in separate rooms and have Evie interrogate them. Lili, you sit here and read this guy's mind. Do not, I repeat, do not look into the minds of Sanderson and Goodley. Those guys are crazy."

Lelouch walks into the room and signals for Sanderson and Goodley to exit. Lelouch takes a seat across from the man.

"Are you thirsty? Would you like something to eat?" Lelouch asks.

The man shakes his head.

"No, I am fine, your highness," the man answers in accented English.

"Your English is not as good as your brother's. I suppose that has to do with his planned future career in politics," Lelouch remarks tossing a folder in the man's direction.

"I see that you are well informed. Then allow me to introduce myself. I am Abdul Shennib. I must warn you about my brother. I do not believe that you know what you are getting yourself in to."

Lelouch remains passive.

"Has it occurred to you, Mr. Shennib, that others may have power similar to your brother?"

"I suppose it is possible. The Panchen Llama was not too forthcoming. However my brother is a skilled fighter."

Lelouch cracks a smile, "Personally I would be more afraid of fighting you if what is in that file is correct. Your brother seems to be more of a politician. Perhaps he thinks that he is invincible. Is it possible for you to contact him and arrange a meeting?"

"If that is what you truly want, I can contact him. Depending on his mood, he may or may not agree."

"Perhaps our bombing run toady at noon will convince him."

Lelouch stands and exits the room. He goes over to Lilicia first.

"He does not appear to know anything else. Unless someone used geass to cloud his mind, but I got in there pretty deep. I quickly scanned the others, and they know even less."

Lilicia is interrupted by Evelyn and Dalque entering the room.

"We found out where that messenger guy is hiding," Evelyn comments, "Those guys appear to be watching the back of the other guy."

"Do they have geass?" Lelouch asks.

"No, I asked that right away," Evelyn responds, "It took some playing with words to get them to understand what I meant."

"Very well. Let's go back to the Excalibur."

Aboard the Excalibur there is a flurry of activity.

"We think we have the location of their hideout, your highness," Ayame states.

"Good," Lelouch remarks, "Evelyn, see if it matches what you discovered. If we do not receive word soon, Kallen will go in with Sayoko's team to take them out. Lilicia and I will back them up."

"What do we do until then?" Kallen asks.

"I know that it is still early, but everyone should rest up. Things may get difficult soon."

They are contacted within the hour. They agree that Lelouch will duel Mikhail Jibril (as he insists on being called) at 7 pm. Lelouch takes Kallen, Milly, Euphie, Anya, and the Irregulars with him. Lilicia and the kids will remain aboard the Sparkle. Sayoko and her team will scout the area out. Nunnally, Suzaku, Marika, and Liliana will continue organizing the troops for the attack north into the Central Asian Republics.

As Lelouch travels to the meeting site, he thinks about his first sword lesson at West Point.

**September 5, 2011**

Lelouch is preparing for his first private sword lesson. He has been taking fencing lessons for years, but this is more survival type lessons. As the lesson begins, Lelouch begins to attack aggressively. After about two minutes of this, his instructor stops him.

"What are you doing?" the instructor asks.

"Trying to win the fight," Lelouch responds, "I thought this was about real fighting."

"Yes I am here to teach you to survive a real sword fight, but you must remember that this is still a training session, and it is the first lesson."

"Okay, but make it fast."

The instructor sighs, "Very well. Here is the first lesson. When fighting a battle that you cannot win, it is not shameful to retreat."

"What do you mean? I thought that men were supposed to stay and fight."

"Well you see. If we were to fight for real, could you win?"

Lelouch thinks about it for a bit, "Probably not."

"Good, I am glad that you realize that. When confronted by someone whose skills far surpass your own, do not fight instead retreat. Now if you are confronting that person for a purpose and you know that help is coming soon, then engage but do not be reckless."

"I get it. What if you are fighting someone that is as strong as you?"

"That is difficult. If someone is weaker and less skilled, then you can toy with them like I am doing here with you," this comment causes Lelouch to grumble, "If your opponent is nearly as skilled as you, you should end the fight as quickly as possible. It stops any chance of them gaining momentum. The same goes for those of the same or slightly more skill. Sword fights are rarely as dramatic as the movies make them out to be."

Lelouch manages to get a hit.

"Good attack. It seems that you are not lying about her fencing training. Remember that there is a reason for a sword fight. This part may be like the movies. There are usually more opponents after the one you defeat."

"Okay, that makes sense."

The lesson continues for an hour.

"Remember, Lelouch, a sword fight is not always about skill and power sometimes it is about the mind. The fighter who can best combine all elements will come out the winner."

Lelouch nods, "I get it. It's kind of like a puzzle. You need all the pieces for it to look good."

...

Lelouch approaches the location of his duel.

"Sancia, Lucretia, scout the area. Find the rebels hiding out. Dalque and Alice use the power suit's cloaking feature to get behind the rebels. The rest will go with me. Everyone prepare your geasses."

Mikhail Jibril is flanked four men while Lelouch is flanked by Kallen, Milly, Euphie and Anya. Abdul is walking behind his brother.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mohammed Shennib."

"My name is."

"Mohammed Shennib," Lelouch remarks, "It says so on your birth certificate," Lelouch pulls out a copy of said birth certificate, "Your old baby-sitter said that she used to call you Mo-mo when you were little. At least that's what she said when some of my men interrogated her."

Mikhail Jibril realizing what Lelouch is doing responds with a smirk, "You seem confident, your highness."

"Coming from the person who calls himself the Messenger of God, I take that as a compliment," Lelouch grins, "Shall we begin?"

"That eager to die, your highness."

"As I told your brother earlier, I would cautious if fighting him, but a politician such as yourself, I do not fear."

Mikhail Jibril looks behind Lelouch.

"I see you brought your whores with you."

Lelouch sneers, "I do not think that you understand the meaning of the word, whore. These women have only been with one man. If anyone is the whore, it is me. But I just can't keep it in my pants, right Kalli."

"You are an idiot," Kallen responds.

"Are you going to let your whore speak to you like that?" Mikhail Jibril asks.

"Yes, because she can probably kick my ass. Why do you want to fight her instead? It would save me the trouble of having to kill someone so inferior, and it would make her happy" Lelouch looks at Mikhail Jibril's sword, "You do not expect to fight me with that piece of shit you have in your hands. It's just a piece of metal."

Mikhail Jibril raises his sword.

"This is a symbol of our revolution."

His men let out a cheer.

"Do you mean the revolution that didn't even make it to Tehran much less to Baghdad?"

Abdul just happens to look in Milly's direction. Castor is using his geass from aboard the Sparkle to make Lelouch's wives look extremely attractive to Mikhail Jibril's men. Abdul happens to like blondes and is caught in her second geass (absolute despair).

"Brother, let's get out of here. These people are killers. There is no stopping them!" Abdul yells loudly.

Mikhail Jibril's men get caught in Anya's first geass (absolute boredom).

"This is boring. We should go to the mall."

"What is wrong you?" Mikhail Jibril asks, "Have you forgotten why we are here? Fight back using your powers."

"I have not forgotten why we are here," Lelouch remarks removing his sword from his scabbard, "Allow me to introduce Muramasa. They say that it is a cursed blade."

"Such matters are of no importance to me. Shall we begin?"

Lelouch grins like a child on Christmas morning.

"I have been waiting for you to say that. You really should have listened to your brother because he is right, we are killers."

Lelouch charges Mikhail Jibril destroying his sword with one swing.

"I told you that thing was a piece of shit."

"Master, take this."

One of Mikhail Jibril's men tosses him a sword. He turns to face Lelouch, but the raven prince is too quick. Lelouch is suddenly behind his opponent slamming his sword down. Mikhail Jibril barely recovers and blocks Lelouch's blow, however his new sword is not so lucky because it begins to crack.

"It seems like you are cheating, your highness. No man can be that fast and strong," Mikhail Jibril states, "You must be wearing one of those power suits."

"Oh, is that so. I am insulted at the comment," Lelouch responds raising his hands above his head. Kallen, Milly, Euphie, and Anya each draw their own swords and drive them into different parts of Lelouch's body.

The rebels' eyes open wide when Lelouch does not immediately fall. The women withdraw the swords and wipe the blood off. Lelouch just stands there smiling.

"Do you understand now, Mohammed Shennib? You are fighting against someone that you cannot defeat."

"Is that so, your highness? Then how about we change things up," Mikhail Jibril says while snapping his fingers.

Nothing happens, and Lelouch is still smiling.

"Are you expecting the men that you hid in the mountains to attack?" Lelouch asks smugly, "Do not worry, I am sure that Sayoko, Alice, and Dalque did not hurt them too much."

"I see so we are going to have to take matter into our own hands," Abdul says pulling out a machine gun.

Lelouch yawns, "Is that it?"

Abdul pulls out more machine guns for the others. As they begin to fire, the Titan Mirage drops down in front of Lelouch. Whoever is controlling it seems to be inexperienced.

"Jinta, keep this thing steady!" Evelyn yells out.

"Sorry Evie, but these controls are complicated."

Evelyn nods, "I know what you mean. These shield controls are pretty complex too. Just keep it steady so that big brother can retreat."

Lelouch has not intention of retreating. Instead he taps the leg of the Titan Mirage and pulls out a power suit and Scooter.

"Kill them all," Lelouch commands, "I think you know the prize for whoever brings me the body of Mikhail Jibril."

Kallen looks at Milly.

"The winner is the person who kills the most."

"Sounds like a plan."

Euphie nods, "Come on, Anya. I get a night with Lulu if I catch that guy."

"I am sorry, your highness, but the prize is mine," Anya says leaping past Lelouch and the Titan Mirage.

"Wait, Anya," Euphie says skipping after her.

"I guess big brother is staying to fight," Evelyn remarks, "Take us out of here, Jinta."

"Okay, but can you stop wiggling up there. You are making me feel funny."

"Jinta, if you are going to be my boyfriend, then you have to get used to me sitting on your lap. Now let's go."

"Keep firing!" Abdul yells.

However their bullets have no effect because Lloyd's latest power suits come with blaze luminous. Kallen is the first one to reach the rebels. She draws their attention as Milly and Anya take them out. The two brothers quickly make their exit.

"Oh no, you don't," Euphie comments chasing after them.

"Brother, look out!" Mikhail Jibril screams pushing his brother out of the way.

Abdul falls into a small crevice leading into a cave. Mikhail Jibril follows after him quickly. Euphie jumps off the cliff after them. She raises her MVS over her head powering it up. Mikhail Jibril's jaw drops when he realizes that Euphie is going to destroy the side of the mountain causing an avalanche to incapacitate him. Abdul comes back blazing away with a machine gun.

"Brother, let's go. The transport is ready!" Abdul yells out.

"I will make a memory out of you," Anya says causing Abdul to run back into the cave firing.

Euphie has to redirect her attack to avoid getting hit. This causes her to land away from her target. Mikhail Jibril takes the opportunity to run into the cave, but he stops when he sees Abdul on the floor bleeding. Anya is standing over him holding a bloody sword.

"This is boring," Anya comments holding out her hand.

Mikhail Jibril lets out a yell and charges Anya who simply dodges his attacks. Euphie guards the exit to the cave. Mikhail Jibril continues his futile attack on Anya. As he does, he begins to feel faint. In the past month with his newfound immortality, he has tested its limits, and he is sure that he is prepared to go all day. He notices that Anya keeps putting out her hand as if drawing something out if him This is when he realizes that if he continues attacking Anya that she will take away his immortality somehow.

"Mohammed," Abdul says as he crawls towards the wall, "Get out of here. You are the only hope for our people."

Abdul pushes a button which opens the hangar door that the transport can escape from. However waiting at the door are Dalque, Alice, and the Titan Mirage. Abdul scowls and presses several more buttons on the wall causing the transport to crash into the Titan Mirage. Lilicia is not in control of the knightmare, and she knows what Abdul is planning so she destroys the transport. Mikhail Jibril quickly moves past the wrecked transport and heads out the door.

"Anya, get the other one," Euphie commands, "I will go back up and see if I can follow him from there."

Anya quickly moves to disable Abdul.

"Which of these buttons starts the self-destruct sequence?"

Abdul spits at Anya and begins to curse in every language that he knows.

"Knock him out, Anya so you can go after Euphie," Lelouch states entering the room.

"Yes your highness."

Lelouch enters an office as two of his men come in to pick up Abdul. Lelouch connects his power suit to the computer.

"Cecile, I am connected."

"This should only take a few minutes your highness. Are there other computers in the room?"

"Yes, I think I can connect to that one as well. It looks like there are other offices nearby," Lelouch comments, "And you girls that I was crazy for accepting their challenge here."

"There doesn't seem to be much on these computers. I am sending someone down to collect the others."

"Good work Cecile. Have Lilicia and Evelyn prepare for interrogations. It seems that there is some sort of self destruct sequence in this cave. We need to find the controls."

"As you wish, your highness."

Lelouch sighs and begins to search the cave. Kallen and Milly join him in the cave to give their reports on the situation.

"We have captured or killed almost everyone according to what Lilicia and Evelyn were able to get out of those guys' heads," Kallen comments.

"Is that so," Lelouch responds, "It seems we have discovered the location of the missing Gun-Rus. Have someone look over their computers before they are scrapped."

Euphie and Anya come back to the cave.

"That guy got away," Euphie remarks.

"Sayoko and her team are already beginning a thorough search of the area. If he is still here they will get him. Go back to the airship and rest. I will stay down here until we can get more men on the ground," Lelouch states, "I guess since Anya captured Abdul, she is the closest thing we have to a winner."

Euphie begins to grumble but concedes Anya's victory.

"So what are you two going to do, play some games?"

"I will be waiting in your bedroom, your highness," Anya states, "Princess Milly bought me some interesting clothes items that you may want to have a look at."

Lelouch pets Anya's head.

"Good work, little Anya. I'll make sure that you get a good reward."

Lelouch murmurs something about seeing little Anya in some lingerie. Anya smiles and leaves.

"Hey, why does she get mad when I pet her head and call her little Anya?" Euphie asks.

Lelouch shrugs, "Maybe she wants you to be professional with her. Let's go back up. As soon as they are done cleaning this place out, they are going to destroy it."

* * *

For the first time in his life Mohammed Shennib feels completely alone. There have been plenty of times when he has felt lonely, but this is the first time that he is really completely and utterly alone. Suddenly he hears a voice.

"I found you."

Mohammed quickly stands up and grabs his gun. "Who is it?"

"A friend."

"Where are you? Who are you?"

"I am not nearby so do not look around for me. Like I said I am a friend. I am someone who shares your curse."

"How is this a curse?" Mohammed asks.

"I can feel the frustration inside your heart. You met the Britannian bastard today, didn't you? You met him and his whores."

"Yes, but you still have not answered my questions."

"My name is Gloria, but my friends call me GG. I am in Europe helping them push back the Britannian threat."

Mohammed smirks, "You aren't doing a very good job at that."

"Yes, but Britannia has all the advantages. Did a little red head, a blonde, and a pink haired girl accompany the Brit bastard?"

Mohammed nods and realizes that GG cannot see him.

"Yes, in fact he had two pink haired girls. He also had two other blonde girls that destroyed my men."

"You see, and those are just his most trusted subordinates. The three girls I mentioned are his wives and are also immortal. Not only that but he is hiding the oldest two immortals. One is aboard his airship, and the other is back in Britannia."

"How do I know that you are telling the truth?"

"I do not have a reason to lie. You are not the first person to challenge him like this. You may have heard the name Khalid Fayez. In the past he also shared this curse. In fact he had been alive for centuries."

"What do you mean had been alive?"

"The Britannian bastard had one of his whores take Khalid's immortality. Two of his other whores took the immortality from other men as well. You may have felt a slight tug when one of the non-immortals was near you."

Mohammed does remember the sensation he feels when the little pink girl is near him.

"Perhaps, but what can you do for me?"

"If you head northwest towards Tabriz, I can have a friend pick you up."

"Tabriz has a Britannian garrison," Mohammed comments.

"Yes, you will soon learn that they are not all bastards. I have a few friends amongst them that want to topple the emperor and his demon son."

Mohammed sighs, "I guess I do not have much of a choice. Either I go with you or I get captured."

"Be careful. Unfortunately I cannot contact you too much after today because the others may be able to sense it."

GG cuts her communication with Mohammed and strikes a seductive pose. Schniezel drinks her in with his eyes.

"Is it done?" he asks.

"Yes, I believe that he is on his way. He will at least come near Tabriz to investigate."

"Good," Schniezel says with a smile, "I believe we have a few days before we need to do anything."

GG smirks, "Your highness is such a workaholic," she remarks as Schniezel comes towards her.

* * *

**Wednesday, February 11, 2020, Baghdad Settlement**

Lelouch has Sayoko's team such in all directions from the location of the base, but they are concentrating on the north and east. Lelouch does not expect him to head west. Today the others are returning home. Kallen and Marika are heading back to Beijing and will tour Siberia. Nunnally and Suzaku are returning to Tokyo. Euphie and Anya are returning to Manila. Milly and Liliana are returning to Delhi. The Irregulars are assisting Sayoko's search. Shirley is returning to her room aboard the Excalibur III. Villetta is taking over as military governor of Area 26 (Iran and Central Asia). On the return trip home Euphie and Nunnally are flying over Delhi and Beijing respectively. They feel that a show of force will show the locals their power. Lelouch also instructs his airship and naval fleets to increase patrols.

As for Lelouch, he is heading towards, Baghdad to check on Aphrodite and to hopefully speak with Luciano. However Lelouch discovers that Luciano is gone. Also gone are Luciano and Aphrodite's men. Aphrodite is sitting in a wheelchair looking out at one of the gardens in the viceroy's palace.

"Even injured you look so damn sexy," Lelouch comments.

Aphrodite smiles, "You West Point boys must all think the same way because Luciano said the same thing."

Lelouch takes a seat.

"I am pretty sure that Luciano would have said that you were so damn fuckable, and you are."

Aphrodite blushes, "Are you here just to hit on me or is there another reason for your visit?"

"I came to see how you were doing. Selene has been quiet about your condition."

Aphrodite sighs, "Have you spoken with Luciano yet?"

"I do not think that he is here. The captain of the palace guard says that he left last night with all of his men and what is left of yours as well as some local troops."

Aphrodite nods, "So you didn't send him on a mission."

"No," Lelouch is hesitant about what he is about to say, "I believe that Luciano is about to go rogue."

"What do you mean?" Aphrodite asks now extremely concerned for Luciano

"Selene tells me that several of the African viceroys are meeting to discuss matters. I believe that they have grown tired of this Cold War that is developing between us contenders to the throne."

"So what are they going to do?"

"Try to set up their own little empire in Africa."

"Shouldn't we tell the emperor about this?" Aphrodite asks.

"I do not think that he cares about such things."

"What do you mean?"

"There is so much going on that very few people know about even those that are close to the emperor or at the high levels in the government."

"I suppose if I am unable to recover, the emperor will have little use for me," Aphrodite says in a melancholy tone, "I wonder what my mother will think about all of this especially since Luciano is going rogue."

"Aren't you a little too old to be worrying about what your mother thinks?"

Aphrodite sighs, "You can never be too old to worry about what your mother thinks. Besides if not for my appointment to the Knights of the Round, I would have had to marry some silly noble."

"Why?"

"You do realize, your highness, that the world is not easy for everyone."

"I know that," Lelouch responds, "Have you ever considered living a life without all of this?"

"That's easy for you to say since you have protected yourself," Aphrodite comments, "Some of use have to work for a living."

"Are you trying to say that I do not work?" Lelouch asks angrily, "In seven years I have advanced Britannian technology to a level no one could have imagined. I have conquered half the world in the name of the Empire."

Lelouch stands up to leave.

"Lelouch, wait," Aphrodite reaches out for Lelouch, "You will try to save Luciano, wont' you?"

"I will see what I can do," Lelouch responds, "For your safety; I am having you moved to the Excalibur III. Selene's reports on the situation should be enough to get you discharged. As you said the emperor will no longer have any use for you. You can search for Luciano, yourself. If I take care of you myself, your mother should not be a problem."

"Are you sure that you want to sponsor someone like me?" Aphrodite asks.

Lelouch kisses Aphrodite on the cheek and pats her stomach.

"I take it by your general mood that little Luciano here is still doing well."

Aphrodite looks up at Lelouch.

"How did you know?"

Lelouch begins to walk away.

"I have five children with a lot more on the way. I think I know a pregnant woman when I see one. Did you tell him?"

"I couldn't especially when I figured out what he was going to do."

Lelouch sighs, "Looks like some more pawns are about to come off the board. Everything is about to get more fucked up."

Cornelia is beginning her trip to Europe to confront Schniezel. She hopes that she is making the right choice by not telling Euphie about it. Although she suspects that Lelouch may be able to track. Cornelia hopes that bringing her son is a good idea. Not that she has anywhere safe to drop him off. She could leave him with Isabelle, but then Euphie would find out about her trip. Cornelia is hoping to put a stop to all of this madness soon.

**Thursday, February 12, 2020, Nairobi Settlement**

Octavius and Victoria ka Britannia and Luther and Gwendolyn ti Britannia are meeting to discuss the situation around the world. Edward and Amadeus's deaths along with the attack on Aphrodite has left them wondering about their position in the new world.

"Are Regina and Selene coming?" Octavius asks, "This concerns them as well."

"I invited them. Regina says that she will arrive in a few days. Selene was non-committal. Who can blame her with Lelouch at her doorstep?"

"What about Theseus? He isn't that far away?" Victoria asks.

"There has been word that he may soon become viceroy of Area Six," Luther responds.

"Let us get down to the plan," Gwendolyn comments, "When or if the others choose to join us, we can make changes, but for now we will continue as we have planned."

An alarm rings throughout the palace.

"What is that?" Gwendolyn scowls, "I told those idiots to shut that thing off. These people are so jumpy."

Gwendolyn stands up and heads for the door when something catches her attention. She quickly runs to the window.

"Gwen, what is happening out there?" Luther asks, "Do you want me to tell them to tell them to shut it off."

Gwendolyn points out the window. The three other royal children quickly run to the window. In the air is a massive fleet of airships, knightmares, and planes. Dropping out of the airships are tanks and other ground vehicles.

"Are those our troops?" Victoria asks.

"Your highness, there is a message for your," one of the palace servants is holding a communicator.

"All those who stand who stand in my way shall die. This is Luciano Bradley. I am a Messenger from Hell."

Lelouch is sitting in his office with his eyes closed. Satellite footage shows a massive force attacking Nairobi Settlement. He does not doubt that it is Luciano. Selene and Regina's information says that a meeting is taking place there. Satellites also show that Mohammed Shennib is probably on his way to Europe although he cannot be sure. Lelouch feels the airship moving. He does not worry about Luciano since he holds someone that the bloodthirsty knight wishes to protect. Still Lelouch does not want to fight his old friend. He can probably avoid it for now, but as soon as he is ordered to bring Luciano down, he will have to make a choice. Lelouch walks over and removes a few pieces from his game board.

"Messenger from Hell, eh. I guess it is a good thing that I do not believe in hell either. It seems like this game is starting to get interesting."

* * *

Author's note: I tried to make Mohammed have a bit of a canon Lelouch feel. He gains a power and does not worry about others having similar power or even others knowing about it. I remember that CC even warns Lelouch not to underestimate his enemy or to overestimate his power. Mohammed is confronted with someone who knows his abilities and limitations. As expected the results are not good.

If you think that the little vi Britannias under reacted to seeing all the dead bodies, the quote at the beginning of chapter 50 from Miranda should have let you know their mindset.

Lelouch rescues several children from the Geass Order/Colonel Madd. Those children are experimental subjects. They view the Irregulars as the older sisters since they experienced a similar process. They are major Lelouch/Lucretia shippers. The Irregulars and the Geass Order children gain their initial geass abilities when they are injected by CC's cells. Now they are injected by a combination of Lelouch, Kallen, Milly, and Euphie's cells.

CC is now the oldest code bearer in the world. All other code bearers are still in their natural lifespan. This is the order of the Code Bearers by age (when they received their code) _current code bearers in italics_: XX, Choekyi Gyaltsen, MM's contractor, CC's contractor, _CC, _Khalid Fayez, MM, Nikolai Sevastopol_, GG, VV, Lelouch vi Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia, Kallen Kouzuki Stadtfeld, Milly Ashford, Mikhail Jibril, _

Someone asked for it and here it is. This is a list of Lelouch's kids by the end of the year, 2020. Some of them have not been born as of this chapter. The children of Lelouch's wives receive their surname (Kallen, Milly, Carolina, Kaguya, Lihua, Euphie). The children of his mistresses have the surname Lamperouge (Xianglin, Nagisa, Cecile). Shirley is a unique case. She keeps Edward's name even after she marries Lelouch. This will probably happen by the end of 2020. Besides these, Lelouch will eventually have kids with Sancia, Lucretia, Ayame, Anya, and Lilicia. There may be another surprise or two yet to come. Below the list of Lelouch's kids are Shirley's daughters and Cornelia's son.

I have already discussed the reasoning for the names of Lelouch's first five kids. Kaguya's kids are named after other characters that her voice actress has played. Nagisa's kids are named after characters from Scooter's favorite manga, Highschool of the Dead. Shirley's son is obviously named after Edward. According to a name book that I have, Eleanor and Meredith give the impression of intelligence so they are the names of Cecile's daughters. If you pay attention below, you will notice that they are born on different days. One a little before midnight, and the other a little bit after. Xianglin's son has Welsh names. They mean bold and alert. Her daughter's name, Meiying, means beautiful flower. The name of Lihua's son, Chih Cheng, means one who controls the government. Villetta's son gets his name because Kallen thinks that the names Genghis Khan Lamperouge and Melkor Sauron Lamperouge are stupid.

James kou Britannia August 16, 2017-Kallen  
Gabriel li Britannia March 13, 2018- Euphie  
Charlotte ash Britannia March 29, 2018- Milly  
Charles Lelouch sfo Britannia May 11, 2019- Carolina  
Henry William Michael Lamperouge November 15, 2019- Xianglin  
Orihime yama Britannia May 17, 2020- Kaguya  
Mikuru yama Britannia May 17, 2020- Kaguya  
Takashi Lamperouge July 4, 2020- Nagisa  
Rei Lamperouge July 4, 2020- Nagisa  
Edward Philip vu Britannia August 11, 2020- Shirley  
Eleanor Lamperouge August 28, 2020- Cecile  
Meredith Lamperouge August 29, 2000-Cecile  
Tristan Bryce Lamperouge September 20, 2020- Xianglin  
Meiying Zhou Lamperouge September 20, 2020- Xianglin  
Chih Cheng Jiang October 30, 2020- Lihua  
Caesar Alexander Lamperouge November 21, 2020- Villetta

Elizabeth vu Britannia December 8, 2017- Suzaku  
Liliana Euphemia Vu Britannia May 6, 2019-Edward

Ethan Dylan li Britannia January 4, 2020-Schniezel

**Known Areas and their viceroys  
**1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands- Theseus ju Britannia  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-Octavius ka Britannia  
15 East Africa 2014/16- Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Cornelia li Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-Regina ha Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016- Victoria ka Britannia  
20 Northern Africa 2017-Luther ti Britannia  
21 Middle East Federation 2017- Selene ge Britannia  
22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia sub Kaguya yama Britannia  
23 Siberia 2018-Evelyn vi Britannia sub Carolina sfo Britannia  
24 China 2019-Lelouch vi Britannia  
25 India 2019-Milly ash Britannia  
26 Iran 2020 Villetta Nu

Odysseus eu Britannia 1st 1984  
Schniezel el Britannia 2nd 1990  
Clovis la Britannia 3rd 1992-2016  
Maximus va Britannia. 4th 1992  
Cassius ru Britannia 5th 1993  
Lucius pe Britannia 6th 1995- 2014  
Octavius ka Britannia 7th 1996  
Theseus ju Britannia 8th 1997  
Luther ti Britannia 9th 1999  
Edward vu Britannia 10th 1999-2020  
Lelouch vi Britannia 11th 1999

Guinevere su Britannia 1st 1986  
Cornelia li Britannia 2nd 1991  
Euphemia li Britannia 3rd 2000  
Annabel pe Britannia 4th 2001  
Karine le Britannia 5th 2002  
Isabelle vu Britannia 6th 2002  
Victoria ka Britannia 7th 2002  
Gwendolyn ti Britannia 8th 2003  
Regina ha Britannia 9th 2003  
Selene ge Britannia 10th 2003  
Nunnally vi Britannia 11th 2003


	91. The Collapsing Stage

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

This chapter is really long, but it brings us to the beginning of the main event.

...

But one must know where one stands, and where the others wish to go.  
Goethe

Courage is the ladder on which all other virtues mount.  
Clare Boothe Luce

The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment, but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must- in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures-and that is the basis of all morality.  
John F. Kennedy

**Friday, February 13, 2020, 2020, Pendragon**

Charles makes his way down to the Pendragon Thought Elevator. He has been spending a lot of time down here; however time is not a luxury that Charles zi Britannia has. It has nothing to do with his age or even with the fact that several of his children are about to go to war. No it is the fact that the plan is still not completed. Of course it is closer than it has been before especially with Lelouch gathering the necessary elements. Charles no longer has to rely on VV and the Geass Order. He only needs the help of two people, Marianne VI Britannia and Bismarck Waldstein. Once Bismarck secures the other code bearers, they will wait for Lelouch to attack. That is where Marianne comes into play because it will be up to her to stop and capture Lelouch. If there are two people that Charles can rely on to support him through everything, it is Marianne and Bismarck.

Marianne is beginning to doubt that Charles can follow through with their plan. She has her doubts about VV's loyalty. Marianne is studying the buildup of troops by Lelouch, Schniezel, and Odysseus. Much to her chagrin, Cornelia is not a player in this although she may influence the others. Marianne looks at the roster of Knights of the Round. Out of the eight remaining, she does not really count the new Knight of Twelve as a true member; the only completely loyal one is Bismarck although Nonette is a bit of a mystery. The remaining Knights are split between Odysseus's faction and Schniezel.

Marianne finds it interesting that Lelouch has no Knights of the Round on his side. At least not anymore with Luciano having gone out on his own. Of course Lelouch has several KOR capable pilots in his force. The secretive nature in which he conducts his operations makes it difficult to know the exact skill of his subordinates. Despite this Marianne is able to make list ranking them: Kallen, Suzaku, Lelouch, Nunnally, Anya, Jeremiah, Alice, Dalque, Milly, Marika, Liliana, Villetta, Kewell, Sancia, Lucretia, Euphemia, Hannah, Chelsea, and Lilicia. The first five are KOR quality. The next seven are just below that level. The final seven are really unknown qualities, but with the right knightmare, they can cause damage

Marianne knows that there may be several elements missing from her list. There may be other pilots that Lelouch has discovered or turned to his side. Luciano is most definitely missing. If Aphrodite is really injured, it will only be a matter of time before she recovers. Then there is the matter of the remote controlled knightmare drones. Anyone can control any number of knightmares. In addition even after a knightmare has been mostly disabled if the control antennae are still operational, it is possible to control what is left of the knightmare. Drones have to be completely destroyed. If VV has been with Lelouch, then it may even be possible that he develops methods of transferring geass to and through the drones.

There is so much to consider, but Charles is ignoring most of it. He is too confident in his plan, in his understanding of his children. He does not doubt that he can beat them. Looking at the numbers, Marianne is not convinced. Neither is she convinced that Lelouch is simply holding onto the other code bearers. Certainly Lelouch is already a code bearer. It is quite possible that several of his wives are also code bearers. Kallen, Milly, and Euphie are the most likely candidates. Knowing CC's wish and her lack of communication these past few years, at least one of those girls is now a code bearer. If Charles refuses to see the obvious, Marianne is going to have to make her own arrangements. In that regards Marianne invites someone to her room.

"Your highness, you wanted to meet with me."

"Yes Bismarck, come in and close the door. We have much to talk about," Marianne says with a coy smile as she pours some wine. After her talk with Bismarck, Marianne is meeting with Nonette. She needs to ascertain where the Knight of Six's loyalties lie. If Nonette is not trustworthy, she will have to join the ranks of the fallen. She wonders of she can convince Nonette, using the same method as Bismarck.

* * *

Luciano is sitting in the throne room of the viceroy's palace in Nairobi Settlement. In chains beside him are Victoria and Gwendolyn. Two of his men are dragging Octavius and Luther into the room.

"Now you get to suffer like Aphrodite suffered," Luciano states with a sneer.

"We didn't have anything to do with that!" Octavius yells out, "We aren't with Schniezel anymore."

"Who cares about that," Luciano comments, "Schniezel, Odysseus, who cares about all that shit? The way I see it, all of you are involved in treason against the state. As a Knight of the Round, I have the power to act based on what I know. I have testimony that says that you were trying to set up your own little empire here in Africa."

"What about Lelouch?" Luther asks indignantly.

Luciano smiles, "If you have some proof against him, I would be more than happy to look at it. Trust me that guy is clean. There aren't even skid marks in his underwear."

"What are you going to do to us?" Octavius asks.

"Torture you for a bit until the little monsters get here. They will interrogate you," Luciano pulls the two princesses up, "As for these two girls, we are going to have some fun."

The princesses moan as Luciano gropes them. They have been heavily drugged since their capture the night before. Luciano is already applying the brainwashing method that one of their West Point classmates invented (Evelyn previously uses this method on Xingke because its effects take longer to be cancelled than geass).

"Take these bastards away," Luciano states.

The two princes are taken away quite roughly.

"Lord Bradley, Princess Regina is here."

"Send her in."

Victoria and Gwendolyn seem to recognize their sister's name and have a little hope in their eyes.

"It seems like you are settling in nicely, Lord Bradley," Regina ha Britannia comments, "I even like your stated purpose for being here. My assistant will give you the information you need."

Luciano looks Regina up and down. Although not as well endowed as the two princesses at his feet, she is still quite delicious.

"Aren't you afraid of what you are seeing here, your highness?"

"I may not be Nunnally or Euphie, but Lelouch," Regina shakes her head, "no make that Milly will be quite upset if you disrupt her gold and diamond supply which I am responsible for," she does not mention the uranium that Lelouch gets from southern Africa.

"I suppose you are right. The last thing I want is for Nunnally's team of assassins or the little monsters to be after me," Luciano looks pensive, "That reminds me of something. Have them take the prisoners up the airship. I do not those little monsters to set foot in the palace."

"That is too bad because I sort of like you, Luciano," Evelyn remarks.

Luciano cringes as he turns to face Evelyn flanked by the twins, Sancia, and Lucretia. He does not doubt that someone is looking in on them and is waiting for the signal to send some drones in to kill Luciano and his men. The look on Lucretia's face says that she wouldn't mind if that happened right now.

"Can someone take their highnesses to where the prisoners are? They wish to interrogate them."

One of Luciano's men waves towards the kids and their knights. They follow the man out of the room. Before she exits the room, Lucretia glares at the princesses at Luciano's feet.

"I do not think that those two girls like you at all," Regina comments, "That blonde one looked like she wanted to run across the room and kill you."

Luciano waves Regina off.

"Shouldn't you be returning home or would you rather join your sisters?"

Regina shakes her head.

"Your story will not stand for very long. Someone will make an inquiry on the situation."

"I know," Luciano responds, "Then they won't send the little monsters, but the demon after me."

"I suppose so. You should know what he is capable of."

"Of course I do," Luciano scowls, "I recruited the little bugger after all."

Luciano turns his attention back to his prisoners.

"Now let's get back to work on the two of you."

The two princesses quiver under Luciano's glare.

* * *

**Saturday, February 14, 2020**

Mohammed has been traveling for a week; nevertheless he finally reaches his destination. A few hours later he is traveling from Tabriz to Rome, GG's location. He is still unsure about the situation, but what choice does he have. There is no one else that he can trust except that he is not all too sure that he can trust GG. He looks out the window as his VTOL lands. There is a lone figure waiting for him. He suspects that it must be GG.

As Mohammed approaches her, he looks around and sees that they are not alone. There are guards stationed around the platform. Mohammed looks at GG. She is a dark skinned woman standing a little more than a meter and a half. He has to admit that from a certain point of view, she is quite gorgeous. Her hair flows freely. Mohammed surmises that she must be from south or southeast Asia.

Mohammed goes to greet her when he is quickly attacked by four large men. Mohammed begins to thrash around trying to escape. However the four men manage to hold him down. He quickly notices that they are wearing power suits so their strength is greatly magnified. A blond man comes from behind GG putting his arms around her. After a light peck on the cheek, the man bends down and jabs a syringe into Mohammed's arm. Mohammed begins to feel sleepy.

"I guess horse tranquilizer works," the blond man comments.

"Just reach out and take his code," GG says kicking Mohammed.

"Calm down. You shouldn't show so much anger," the blond man says with a chuckle, "He is out guest after all."

"The bastard took Choekyi Gyaltsen's code. He deserves to suffer if only for that."

GG kicks Mohammed again. The blond man sighs.

"It is a shame that I never got to meet this Choekyi Gyaltsen."

"I hear that he liked Lelouch," GG says with a smirk.

"Why wouldn't he? Lelouch is an nice and studious boy."

"I do not think that you are supposed to like your enemy."

"Where is the chivalry in that?"

"Just take this fool's code."

"As you wish my queen."

Mohammed feels the same sensation he feels while fighting the little pink haired girl. Seconds later he feels the sensation of mortality come over him. The four men release Mohammed who quickly begins to look for a way out. He notices that the VTOL is still on, but the pilot is outside talking with the ground crew.

"Dispose of this man," Schniezel states, "we have not more use for him,"

Mohammed quickly makes a run for the VTOL. He hopes that the general controls are easy to handle. Of course he does not really have anywhere to go. Once in the air he sees that GG is angry that he is allowed to escape. Suddenly the same four men that captured Mohammed tackle GG.

"You idiots, how could you let that fool escape?" GG screams out.

Schniezel nods signaling for his men to seize GG.

"What are these fools doing?" GG yells out.

"You and that man are no longer needed."

GG's face is one of utter bewilderment.

"If you wanted a code, why didn't you just take mine?"

Schniezel smirks, "Because I need one for my true queen."

GG does not get to answer because she dozes off.

* * *

Cornelia is flying over the Persian Gulf. She hopes that flying this far south will attract less attention. However she does not get her wish because standing in her path is a lone black knightmare.

"Your highness, we are being hailed by the knightmare," the captain of Cornelia's airship calls out.

Cornelia looks out at the knightmare.

"Tell the pilot that I will meet him out there."

"But your highness," the captain protests, but Cornelia is already on her way out.

Lelouch waits for Cornelia patiently. Lelouch smirks when he sees what knightmare she is piloting.

"If you really did not want to get caught, you should have come in and older airship and knightmare."

"Are you going to try to stop me?" Cornelia asks.

Lelouch responds with a smile, "Are you saying that you can get past me? I seriously doubt you have enough firepower to defeat me, but you can try."

Cornelia nods, "Why are you here?"

"I was thinking about something. Why is an experienced commander like you over in Area 17? So I have decided that Selene will move east while you can take command of Area 21. After all this may become a war zone again."

"Have you cleared this with the emperor?" Cornelia questions.

"Not yet, but I doubt that he will have issue with it."

"Who am I going to work with?"

"The majority of your Greece force and the some of forces that Jeremiah, Villetta, Luciano, and Aphrodite have been using in the Caucasus and Iran. Now that Iran is in the fold, communication between us should be no problem."

"I see," Cornelia remarks, "Are they expecting me in Baghdad."

"Yes, they are. Do you like your new knightmare and airship?" Lelouch asks coyly, "I had Cecile and Lloyd make them specifically for you."

"They are quite spectacular machines. I have not yet tested out the knightmare."

"Would you like to do that now?"

Cornelia shakes her head.

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders.

"Too bad," he comments, "But their names are cool, right. The knightmare is the Persephone, and it comes out of the airship, Demeter."

"As I recall, Persephone was the wife of Hades."

"Yes something like that," Lelouch states, "Well if you are not going to fight me, I guess I have better things to do."

With that Lelouch makes his exit. He moves so quickly that Cornelia can barely see the knightmare's movement. Cornelia returns to her airship and has them set course for Baghdad.

* * *

**Monday, February 23, 2020**

Cornelia waits a few days before she contacts Schniezel for a meeting. She wants to make sure that things in Area 21 are secure in case things do not go as she wants in Europe. As a precaution she decides to leave her son with Euphie who is not sure about Cornelia making the trip but does not attempt to stop her. Cornelia decides to leave her new knightmare and airship in Baghdad in case things go badly.

Cornelia travels to Rome where Schniezel is currently staying. She has reservations about entering a city that Britannia has not conquered. She does wonder how Schniezel is able to do it. She wonders if he is using this geass power that Lelouch and others have. She still cannot believe that the use of such a power is so widespread. A part of her wants to get to the bottom of it all, but she does not have the time.

Schniezel is out to meet Cornelia alone.

"Are you here alone, Cornelia?" Schniezel asks.

"Yes, I just needed to make sure that everything is satisfactory here," Cornelia responds.

"I explained the situation here during our conversion via video conference. Do you not trust me?"

"I do not trust the EU," Cornelia answers, "We are at war with these people."

"Yes, but that is changing. They seem to be coming around to our point of view."

"I should hope so."

Schniezel smiles, "Let's go inside. We have important matters to discuss."

**Tokyo Settlement, Area 22**

Nunnally and Suzaku are lying in bed. They still have not done IT, but they pretty much do everything else.

"What should we do now, Suzu?"

"Well, I have always wanted to try that flying seahorse that Lelouch talks about."

Nunnally sighs in frustration.

"I mean what is our next move," Nunnally says gesturing towards the outside world.

"Oh, shouldn't we just wait for Lelouch?"

"That makes sense, but I can't stand just waiting around doing nothing."

Suzaku moves towards the side of the bed.

"I'll go get Alice and Dalque because I know that you won't sleep without some late night knightmare sparing."

Nunnally squeals, "You're the best, Suzu," Nunnally says as she kisses him on the cheek, "I'll get ready."

**Tehran, Area 26**

Aphrodite has been in Lelouch's care for over a week, and it has been over two weeks since the initial attack. Most people would find the next piece of information normal but given their relationship, Aphrodite finds it odd that her mother would rush to her side rather than wait for her in Pendragon. Then again there is a prince involved in the issue. A prince that has been extremely nice to Aphrodite. Then one has to consider that it is because of Aphrodite that one of said prince's best friends is well on his way to being a criminal. In addition Aphrodite has not always said good things about the prince in the press or in social circles. These last two facts can make someone wonder about Lelouch's intentions.

Aphrodite has noticed that his mother and Lelouch are a little too close. It must be because they are both scheming connivers. She wonders just how close they are. Her mother is not ancient. She is beautiful woman in her early forties. Since Aphrodite's father died over twenty years ago, her mother has remarried several times to several rich noble men. All of them being closer to the end than the beginning. Most just want a last bit of excitement and pleasure. Of course it all comes with a price because Aphrodite's mother is not cheap. The only problem is that most of the money is tied in various trusts, investments, and more importantly lawsuits. Her mother only has access to a small portion of the money for living expenses.

More importantly Aphrodite notices that all of Lelouch's wives are elsewhere. Not that something like that stops him from getting laid. Aphrodite quickly notices that Cecile Croomy and Villetta Nu are also Lelouch's lovers. That little Gottwald girl that is his assistant is quite attached to him as well. Aphrodite also wonders if there are perhaps other girls in the parts of the ship that she does not visit. The Excalibur III is a massive airship. Aphrodite is certain that she has not even been through an eighth of it.

Aphrodite decides to speak with Lelouch and heads for his office. She finds Lelouch sitting with her mother's head on his lap.

"Oh, your highness is just too funny," Aphrodite's mother giggles.

"I see that you are already working, mother," Aphrodite grits her teeth, "and you have only been here two weeks."

"Your mother and I have come to an understanding," Lelouch says as her strokes Lady Venitus's hair, "You see she owns a large amount of stock in several companies that she cannot sell. She also has monies tied up in lawsuits and trust funds. I have decided to help her get them."

"I see." Aphrodite remarks, "and what is she giving you?"

"First she will not make a formal complaint when Bismarck releases you from your duties as Knight of Ten. Given the medical information concerning your condition, he really has no choice. Secondly your mother will not complain about who you choose to marry."

"You mean if I choose to marry Luciano," Aphrodite says with tears running down her face, "I don't think that will happen now."

"That may be true, but she will not say anything regardless of who you choose."

"How long have you two been planning this? How long have you two been sleeping with each other?"

"The answer to your first question is two years. She decided to come to me when it becomes obvious that you and Luciano are an item. It was simply a matter of making a few deals to secure the money. The answer to your second question is a little more complicated. We began a little affair after making our deal. Since this is more of a business deal, there has not been much of that sort of interaction. However we completed our transaction with a nice little romp when I arrived in Baghdad."

"So you are my mother's latest sponsor," Aphrodite says with a sneer, "You must know that all her husbands and lovers die. What do you think about that?"

"So do the people that piss me off," Lelouch replies, "or have you forgotten about Amadeus. Don't worry Salacia and Conrad are next."

Lady Venitus sits up.

"Lelouch, can I speak with my daughter alone? There is so much for us to converse about."

"Of course. I have to prepare for the trip back to Beijing."

As Lelouch exits the room, Aphrodite begins to wobble. He quickly moves to catch her.

"Eleanor, get the door. I will carry her to the medical center, It is not very far."

Lady Venitus is in shock, but Lilicia happens to enter the room.

"Your highness, is something wrong with Lady Venitus?"

"Lilicia, run ahead and tell Dr. Watson that Aphrodite fainted."

Lilicia quickly does as she is told. Lelouch arrives at the medical center moments after.

"Lilicia, go back for Eleanor."

Lelouch sets Aphrodite down and allows the doctors to work. He quickly goes back to his office. He quickly calls Luciano.

"What is it?" Luciano asks, "I am quite busy corrupting these young princesses."

"Aphrodite is not doing well. You need to come here now."

"You're supposed to be taking care of her."

Lelouch sighs, "I am taking care of her. I even brought her mother here," Luciano grunts at that comment, "Look just get here."

Luciano exhales deeply.

"I can't. Things have gotten complicated here. Your old man is under a lot of pressure to declare me a rogue Knight. It won't be too long until that happens. Then they will probably send you or someone after me."

"Don't worry about that. She really needs you."

"It's too late. You know why she didn't tell me about her pregnancy," Luciano notices Lelouch's surprised face, "I know about it. I also know that she hid it because she thought that we might not see each other again. She wanted something to remember me by," Luciano chuckles, "I'm not good enough for her. Look just take care of her."

Luciano cuts the connection. Lelouch rubs his head.

"That idiot. Why is he so blind?"

"He isn't coming?" Lady Venitus asks.

Lelouch looks towards the door and sighs.

"No, he thinks that he is too far gone to deserve her."

"It has always been that way," Lady Venitus enters the office and sits across from Lelouch, "That man is not good enough for my daughter. The only people that do not realize it are you and Aphrodite."

"I suppose so. I guess we are just hopeless romantics."

"I will admit that since the death of my husband, I have not lived a wholesome life, but I did it for my daughter. She gained her position as a Knight of the Round because of her skill. She also gained something that I could not. She was above most people. I simply want her to be happy."

There is a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," Lelouch responds. Lilicia steps into the room.

"Your highness, Dr. Watson wishes to speak with you and Lady Venitus. It is about Aphrodite's condition."

Once in the medical center, Dr. Watson begins to elaborate on Aphrodite's condition.

"I am afraid that the child is lost. There is no other way around it. I have been informed by the doctors in Baghdad that they informed Lady Venitus of this after their examination. There is simply no other way. Lady Venitus's condition will not improve unless she has major surgery. I am surprised that she lasted over two weeks like this."

"That's my little girl."

"Dr. Watson, have everybody leaves the medical center. I want to have a word with Aphrodite," Lelouch states.

"As you wish, your highness, but we must begin preliminary procedures to stabilize her."

"I understand. Eleanor, I want to speak with your daughter alone."

Lelouch enters Aphrodite's room and finds her rubbing her stomach. Aphrodite reaches for a folder beside her bed. Lelouch does recall feeling something as he carries her to the medical center.

"It has taken me years to uncover this information. Even so, I doubt that it is even the tip of the iceberg," Aphrodite states, "Now your highness, you will explain what this nonsense about geass, codes, and gods means."

Lelouch smirks, "Very well, but you may regret it when I am done."

* * *

Luciano scowls after Lelouch's call.

"He thinks it's that easy. I just go back and everything will work itself out."

Luciano leaves Nairobi immediately after the little monsters are done interrogating his prisoners. He executes Octavius and Luther before leaving for Central Africa where some of his men are located. Schniezel is creeping in north from Europe. Lelouch controls the south. Cornelia is now in the Middle East and might move stealthily west. This leaves the central around the Congo River free for the taking so he carves out a little kingdom. The area is basically independent already. Luciano just slides in as another warlord, only one with a lot of power.

Luciano hears commotion over by the entrance to his makeshift palace so he goes to investigate it.

"This is a nice little setup you have, Luciano," Nonette states casually walking past Luciano's guards, "You know, it was a pain in the ass to find you. Even knowing your general location, it took intercepting the communication from little Lulu. Too bad, I didn't get to listen to that conversation."

Luciano grunts, "Let me paraphrase it for you. He said come back here or I will go over there and drag your sorry ass here."

Nonette is disappointed.

"That does not sound interesting. So how long do you plan on keeping this up?"

"Until Lelouch comes here and drags my sorry ass somewhere else. You do realize that part of my excuse was true."

"Yes, I understand that these little viceroys were trying to collude in order to survive. But there are other ways to go about it."

"I suppose so," Luciano responds, "but we simply don't have time. I don't know if you realize this, Nonette, but these bastards are getting ready to go at it."

Nonette doesn't answer. She remembers her conversation with Marianne a few days ago.

"Don't worry about it," Luciano comments, "My guy is going to win."

"Do you really have that much confidence in Lelouch? How is different from all the other power hungry ingrates?"

Luciano smiles, "There is one huge difference between him and the others"

"What is that?"

"He wants to destroy it all. He hates them all, the emperor, his mother, Odysseus, Guinevere, Schniezel," Luciano glares at Nonette, "You if you decide to side with any of those bastards. He hates this world with a passion you would not believe."

Nonette looks at Luciano in astonishment.

"Then why hasn't he rebelled."

"What makes he think he hasn't already? What do you really know about his methods? How is he ruling in China? What about Japan or India?"

Nonette does not agree with the emperor's extreme social Darwinist views, but she does not necessarily believe that the conquered subjects deserve the same rights as Britannians.

"Don't bother telling the emperor about it," Luciano comments, "It isn't like he cares about any of this."

"What do you mean he doesn't care?"

"Don't you think that he would have done something about this? Look Nonette. There is some next level shit here that you can't eve imagine."

Nonette sighs, "Fine, I will leave you alone for now. I have other pressing matters to attend to."

Nonette leaves Luciano. She has to find a way to get in contact with Cornelia.

* * *

Aphrodite is completely stunned by Lelouch's explanation. He does not want to startle anyone by firing a gun at himself so he simply makes a small cut across his hand. A wound that heals almost instantly.

"Is there anything else that you want to know about, Lady Venitus?"

Aphrodite shakes her head.

"Does Luciano know about all of this stuff?"

"No, he does not to know it. He knows that something is going on, but does not care exactly what it is."

"What is your plan from here, your highness?"

"I plan to continue with the course I have set. Soon the others will get impatient, and I will make my move."

Aphrodite stares at Lelouch.

"Meaning, you want the others to commit treason so you can come in and save the day."

"Something like that. Along the way I will destroy this world and all those who support it. I will also stop those that wish to hinder humanity from continuing along its natural course. I do not want the past or the present but the future."

Aphrodite nods and rubs her stomach.

"Then I shall assist, your highness."

Lelouch smiles, "Very well. I will speak with Dr. Watson. I believe that they have some interesting ideas for you that will make you stronger but preserve your lady parts."

"I see you have it all thought out."

"Most of it," Lelouch responds, "There is one thing that I cannot account for."

"What is that?" Aphrodite asks surprised that Lelouch doesn't have everything figured out.

"I am not exactly sure when they are striking. It could be today or it could be a year from now. Until then, I am under the emperor's command unless I decide to act on my own."

"How do Luciano's actions factor into this?"

"Well it takes away valuable allies as far as influence goes, but the emperor's heartless and callous nature is being shown. If he does not care about his own children, then why will he care about various nobles and business people."

"I see so if he does not send someone after Luciano soon, people will begin to talk," Aphrodite comments, "Most of those people will seek out Odysseus or Guinevere."

"Precisely, that is also why Faramond and Karine did not object to Schniezel removing them from their command positions. What they do not know is that Schniezel is working to take over Europe from the inside. That is why I am having Jeremiah and Kewell suspend the attack on Russia and concentrate on Central Asia."

"Does this mean that Princess Cornelia is in danger?"

"No, I do not believe that Schniezel will hurt her. I think that he has other plans for her," Lelouch begins to exit the room, " I will have the doctors go over your options. The final decision is up to you."

* * *

Luciano is still furious over Nonette's visit. Lelouch is not normally so careless in his communications. That means that he did it on purpose because he knew that Nonette was on her way. Luciano is thinking about moving his base of operations further into the jungle. However he realizes that such a move will make him look weak in the eyes of the locals and other warlords.

Luciano hears a loud commotion outside of his throne room. He goes to investigate and finds Conrad crushing his men.

"Well it looks like I missed Nonette. She will get what is coming to her," Conrad says.

Luciano quickly runs back into the throne room for his weapons, but Conrad is too quick for him. Conrad tackles Luciano. Luciano quickly slides over and stands back up. He grabs his gun from the throne. But as he turns around, Conrad slaps the gun away. Conrad kicks Luciano through the throne.

"Damn cyborg bastard," Luciano says as he slides along the floor towards another weapon stash.

"Well you have your friend Weinberg to thank for this body. Now to finish you off."

Conrad leaps onto Luciano who avoids the hit, but he has to move away from his weapon stash. Conrad quickly turns and kicks him in the face after landing. Luckily for him, Luciano moves back and mostly avoids the blow. Conrad moves forward and steps on Luciano's left hand breaking his bones. Luciano begins to crawl back to the throne where he has a sword. However Conrad sees the sword and quickly gets it.

"You know, Luciano, I was thinking about it. Why should I kill off that bitch of yours? Perhaps I should make her mine."

Luciano begins to chuckle, "Like she would go for a loser like you. Being Lelouch's hundredth wife is better than being your only wife."

Conrad screams and slams the sword into the ground. Conrad lifts Luciano up by the shirt and headbutts him. Luciano begins to lose consciousness. Conrad punches him in the gut and drops him to the floor.

"Well it doesn't matter, because soon you will be dead. Don't worry about your little friend Lelouch. I will get to him eventually."

"Too bad you can't kill him," Luciano remarks, "I don't mean that you can't get to him. I'm sure that he is cocky enough to let you get there," Luciano coughs up some blood, "I mean no one can kill him. He can't die. There is some next level stuff going on here that you people have no idea about. Look at what all the things he has done. Do those look like the actions of a sane mortal man?"

Conrad raises his hand to finish off Luciano, but is hit hard by someone. Conrad looks at his attacker, but does not recognize him.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I was born James Naoto Stadtfeld, but I like to roll with the name Naoto Kouzuki. So call me whatever you want."

Luciano looks up at his savior.

"Who says Lelouch doesn't have a sense of humor? Who else would send the biggest pain in his ass to save the newest biggest pain in the ass?"

Naoto smirks, "You are right about one thing. Lelouch is not a sane mortal man."

Luciano chuckles as he looks Naoto up and down.

"Looks like you're shit out of luck Cuntrod. You're a cyborg created by Guinevere's shit scientists. This guy was put together by the very definition of mad scientist. Not just one but two."

"Well something like that." Naoto remarks.

"Aren't you some Japanese general?" Conrad asks, "I thought that you hated Lelouch.

"Something like that," Naoto states raising his hands in a pompous manner, "This is what is called a heel-face turn. Where the virtuous good guy twisted by hatred and deceit suddenly realizes that error of his ways and turns back. So are we going to fight or did I make this trip for nothing?" Naoto motions for Conrad to bring it.

Conrad grins, "Perhaps it is better if we settle this at another time. There appear to be some insects heading in this direction."

Conrad quickly makes his exit. Naoto wants to go after him, but Luciano begins to cough up some more blood. Naoto goes over to check up on him.

"Help me up you Jap bastard," Luciano scowls.

Naoto sighs, "As you command, you Brit shit."

Several of Luciano's men come running into the room.

"Go after Conrad, you idiots."

Naoto helps Luciano up.

"You should probably see a doctor."

"That can wait. Did HE send you?"

"He was afraid that they would target you next. I guess he was right. He thinks their original plan was to have you go after them when they attacked your woman."

Naoto notices that Luciano's face changes at that last comment.

"Did you see her? Is she all right?"

"She is up in that giant airship. In her condition, I doubt she will leave it any time soon. I did see her mother there as well."

"How did you recognize Lady Venitus?" Luciano asks surprised.

"My father is a Britannian noble after all," Naoto responds, "I have known Aphrodite since she was a kid. She was a cute kid by the way," Naoto says with a grin causing Luciano to scowl, "I also know that Lady Venitus has been married to various low ranking nobles. No one too important but nobles nevertheless. It is also rumored that most of those relationships were not physical. To cut a really long story short, I think that the Brit bastard helped Lady Venitus get her widow money. As you may know most of her money is tied up in lawsuits and trusts funds."

Luciano smiles, "So his royal Luluness got rid of those that are tying up the money because who would even notice if a few small fry got eliminated."

"Something like that. You have to admit she does look good for a woman with a twenty five year old daughter. Well enough of this sappy shit, I have things to do."

Naoto makes his exit.

"For being only half-Britannian that guy is a pompous asshole," Luciano comments, "I better get my ass to a doctor."

* * *

Gino is on his way to investigate the situation in Europe and the Middle East. The emperor does not exactly send him and Nonette to investigate, but he does not stops them either. Gino is not heading straight for Europe instead he is making a stop in Area 10 to visit Isabelle. Much to his surprise Carolina is also in Area 10 as are Hannah and Chelsea who are acting as Isabelle's temporary knights.

"Hey Gino," Hannah and Chelsea call out waving towards the blond knight.

Gino nervously waves back because Isabelle is standing behind the other two girls, and she does not look happy.

"Don't I look cute in my knight outfit?" Hannah asks.

"No way. I look much cuter, right Gino?" Chelsea asks as both girls snuggle up to Gino.

"Yes Gino, which girl is cuter in her uniform?" Isabelle questions while gritting her teeth.

"Hey Gino, did you do something to make Princess Isabelle mad?" Hannah asks.

"Yeah I have never seen her make that face," Chelsea comments, "Wait, is she mad because she's your girlfriend?"

"Gino, you never told us you were dating Princess Isabelle," Hannah remarks.

"I am not dating this idiot!" Isabelle yells.

"My, aren't we touchy today," Carolina states, "Isabelle, that is no way to treat a guest especially one as friendly as Gino," Carolina makes her way past her cousin and casually glances towards Hannah and Chelsea making both girls back away, "Come now, Lord Weinberg. We have much to talk about," Carolina says holding her hand out for Gino. Carolina leads Gino towards her private garden, "We should left alone out here. Don't worry about Belle. She will be fine."

"Wow, Princess Carolina is scary," Hannah comments.

"You're right. Her glare scares the crap out of me," Chelsea responds.

"If anyone needs me, I will be in my room," Isabelle states.

"Yes, your highness."

Carolina asks for her servants to bring some tea. Gino sits there quietly sipping his tea.

"What us your mission this time, Gino?"

"I really don't have one. The emperor really didn't assign us any task nor did he try to stop us. Nonette wants to see Cornelia so she is out west trying to locate her."

"Lelouch says that Cornelia is in Europe trying to find out what Schniezel is up to."

"Is that so," Gino comments, "I guess I do not have anything else to do. It is not like anyone is going to miss me back home. "

"Don't you have a little thing going on with Karine?"

Gino shrugs his shoulders.

"She is probably trying to control me, but she doesn't really trust me. She has to know that if it comes between my loyalty to her against my loyalty for the emperor. The emperor will win."

"What about your loyalty to your friends?" Carolina asks.

"Let's just hope that it never comes to that," Gino responds, "I should go see how Isabelle is doing."

**Monday, March 23 2020**

Cornelia returns to Baghdad after a month in Rome. Despite her best efforts she is unable to find out what he is up to. All she is able to ascertain is that he is meeting with EU officials in an effort to avoid war. Still she knows that there is more, but she does not want to be away from her son any longer.

She is not surprised that the emperor is still silent about Luciano's actions, but the pressure is mounting in him to send someone to investigate. Lelouch, Gino, and Nonette are the obvious choices. There is also no word on any possible replacements for Amadeus and Aphrodite who has been removed from the active roster. Of course there is also no word on Lucinao's official status. Not even whether the emperor finds Lucian's reasoning plausible. But it cannot be long before the emperor is forced to act despite his indifference.

Cornelia is still not sure what to do next. It seems like neither Lelouch nor Schniezel have a timetable for making their moves. They appear satisfied simply gathering forces and influence in their sphere. For now Cornelia sides with Lelouch because of Euphie, but soon she will have to make an actual choice. She wonders if she will be able to make it. Perhaps it is time for her to begin to think about her own future

There is one thing that Cornelia forgets to account for. As she arrives at the Baghdad viceroy's palace, Nonette is waiting at the airship docking port holding Cornelia's son. Cornelia will have to explain her actions to her old friend.

* * *

VV decides that today will be the day that lets Lelouch know why he turns his back on Charles and Ragnarok. Lelouch approaches the former Geass Order base located in the Chinese Federation. It is located in an underground city that also contains a Thought Elevator. VV motions for Lelouch to enter the Thought Elevator with him. Once inside Lelouch sees a platform. VV leads him away from the platform to a sphere like object. VV motions for Lelouch to touch the object. Lelouch carefully touches the sphere. He quickly pulls his hands back because his brain feels like it is going to explode.

Lelouch slowly places his hands back and the sphere. Once again information begins to rush into his head. He realizes that only a few people can maintain this position because the rush of information would drive most people insane. It only takes a few seconds for things to come together. Lelouch sees the creation of the universe, no the creation of several universes. Each one is unique and is created in a different manner by different means. Through each one of these life evolves in different manners. Lelouch focuses on his universe. By this time in its evolution, it has itself taken several different paths.

Lelouch sees these paths separate and unite. He sees civilizations rise and fall. Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, they all have their turns. Each world has a different outcome to different battles. Different people rise in each world. Every twenty or fifty years Lelouch has to adjust his path. After a while he passes through the middle ages. In some worlds he is able to locate CC, but in others he is not. Either she doesn't become a code bearer or she does not exist. Code bearers are the easiest people to find since they have a connection to the system.

Lelouch discovers that Britannian history is not all that glorious. The supposed first super king is nothing more than a tribal lord. For several hundred years the first Britannian homeland is divided between Romans and local tribes. After that several Germanic tribes take over the islands. Lelouch finds very few worlds where this does not take place. After that Britannia is confined to several islands for a few centuries although it is not yet called Britannia in any world. In fact it is only in the last three hundred years that Britannia expands outside of its homeland.

Lelouch once more has to adjust his bearings. He finds worlds in which Britannia exists and follows them. For some reason the course of Britannian history is the same in all world's until around the time of Lelouch's birth. A little after he finds that there are many paths once more. In most of them Britannia invades Japan on August 10, 2010. Lelouch notes that the date of the invasion is always the same. He remembers arriving in Japan around that date.

The other event that occurs in most of these worlds is that his mother is assassinated. This event is caused by different people and has different results. In almost all worlds Lelouch and Nunnally are exiled to Japan. Lelouch also notices that in many worlds Nunnally is blind and crippled. During their exile, they meet Suzaku, Kaguya, and others. In a few worlds they return to Britannia. Once more there are infinite worlds. In all worlds Lelouch takes on the alter ego of Zero. although in his own world Zero is a mere footnote. In other worlds, Zero is the only thing that stands between Britannia taking over the world.

Then he sees it. No matter what happens with Zero, Lelouch, or the Black Knights, a combination of Lelouch, Nunnally, Suzaku, Kallen, CC, and Shirley always stop his parents. There is no way to get around that fact. No matter the year that it happens, his parents' plan always fails. Lelouch reasons that from their point of view the situation only gets worse. If his mother and father have seen this, then it must seem hopeless from their point of view. Of course along the way in attempting to stop his parents, Lelouch has to do many devious, evil, and destructive things. Some of those Lelouchs are not ones that he cares to identify with.

Then he finds it. The one world where everything is different. Everyone actually seems happy. His father, his mother, his uncle, his brothers and sisters, everyone is happy. But it is only one world. Out of the infinite cosmos and alternate universes, there is only one where such happiness occurs. Suddenly Lelouch realizes why his parents' plan is always stopped. If one world is falls to their plan, all worlds do. Then it must be for the sake of this one world. For one world where everyone is truly happy, that is why Lelouch must continue on his path.

Lelouch lets go of the sphere and looks towards VV.

"Did you see it?" VV asks.

"Yes, I saw it," Lelouch responds, "I will be going now. I have work to do."

**Saturday November 29, 2020**

It has been over eight months since VV shows Lelouch the sphere containing images of the multiverse. Seeing it only strengthens Lelouch's resolve. During that time nothing much has happened except that Lelouch has nine more kids. He makes sure to set up paternity tests because things are getting ridiculous. On May 17, Orihime and Mikuru yama Britannia are born. The event is celebrated in Tokyo for a week. Almost two months later Takashi and Rei Lamperouge are born on July 4. There is not much fanfare for this event since Nagisa Chiba is only Lelouch's mistress. Edward Philip vu Britannia is born on August 11. Technically he is recognized as Edward's son. Lelouch does not bother contesting this since he wants to preserve Shirley's honor. Around midnight August 29, Cecile gives birth to Eleanor and Meredith. On September 20, Xianglin gives birth to Tristan Bryce and Meiying. There is a large celebration in Beijing on October 30 because Lihua gives birth to Chih Cheng Jiang. Finally on November 21 Villetta gives birth to Caesar Alexander Lamperouge. Lelouch wants to give him a more menacing name like Genghis Khan or Melkor Sauron, but Kallen finds those names stupid. He still does not understand why Kallen's opinion matters when the child is his and Villetta's.

Besides having kids, Lelouch continues preparing for the upcoming war. He tightens the grip on his territories. Not that anyone in the homeland really notices since Lelouch's companies are the only ones that do business in his territories. In fact there is very little communication of any kind from the homeland. Luciano is still running around freely so the families of the slain princes sending mercenaries after him because the emperor refuses to do anything about it. Of course no mercenary is a match for Luciano.

The other thing that happens is that Aphrodite has experimental surgery performed on her. Several of her bones are replaced with a new flexible metal that Rakshata discovers. Aphrodite is also the first "victim" of Rakshata, Lloyd, and Cecile's nanobot project. According to them these nanites will make Aphrodite's recovery abilities almost code-like although they do not know for sure.

However today something else is being celebrated, Lelouch is marrying Shirley and legally adopting her children. Empress vu Britannia gives her full blessing to the union. Since Lelouch is a prince, neither Shirley nor her daughters will lose any status. The wedding is a small affair with only close relatives being invited.

* * *

The emperor allows Lelouch to spend a few days with his new wife before contacting him. It is a call that Lelouch has been expecting.

"How may I serve you, your majesty?" Lelouch asks while kneeling.

"Schniezel has been given enough time to take care of the EU. It has been over a year since we received any reports from him," the Emperor responds.

"I suspected that you would contact me soon, your majesty," Lelouch comments, "It may be worse than we think. Cornelia has been out of contact for several weeks as well," Lelouch lies because Cornelia attends his wedding a few days before, "There is also the matter of Nonette and Gino meeting with Luciano. While I do not believe that they are helping Schniezel, they may still be trouble."

"Your mission is to take the EU and bring back Schniezel," the Emperor remarks, "You may do what you wish with the others. I leave the matter in your hands."

"As you wish, your majesty. It may take some time to organize my forces. We have been dealing with minor rebellions, but it should take no more than a week or two. I will contact Bismarck when we are ready to go."

The Emperor signals his approval and signs off.

Lelouch stands and heads for his office. Kallen and Milly are waiting for him there.

"You seem rather pleased with yourself," Milly comments, "I take it that the emperor has given you the order to invade Europe."

"Yes."

"We do not have enough manpower to follow through with the order."

"I believe that that is the emperor's purpose," Kallen comments, "What are you planning on doing?"

"I have some ideas. Rest for now. I will have a more detailed plan in the morning. There is something I want to test out first."

**Saturday December 13, 2020**

Odysseus senses that something is about to happen. This day he is meeting with five young men who have nowhere else to go. It helps that Odysseus has evidence that shows that Schniezel and perhaps Lelouch are responsible for the deaths of Guilford and Darlton. The five Glaston Knights are kneeling before Odysseus.

"Your highness, we are pleased that you are considering us to serve under you."

"I believe it is a shame that neither the emperor nor Cornelia looked into the matter of your father's death further," Odysseus responds, "However Cornelia's actions during this past year show the nature of her character. If the emperor has done nothing about the situation in Africa, I doubt he would bother looking into the deplorable loss of Guilford and your father."

"Your highness, we are simply looking for justice that we believe men of our father's and Sir Guilford's merits deserve."

"I believe in such a form of justice as well," Odysseus comments, "It would be wise if you spoke with our research team about getting some new model knightmares."

"Yes your highness."

After the Glaston Knights leave, Odysseus looks down at his reports. It appears that things are not prepared for what he wants to do, but he cannot wait any longer because his supporters are getting restless.

* * *

Euphie stands and wipes the blood off her dress.

"Those jerks ruined a perfectly good dress."

"Your highness, are you okay?" Sora asks, "Anya went ahead to see if she could cut them off. Your power suit and knightmare are ready."

"Let's go," Euphie responds with a growl, "If Schniezel thinks that he is taking my sister away, he needs to be taught a lesson."

* * *

Cornelia is placed in a cell as Schniezel holds her, no their son. Despite knowing what she knows about Euphie's condition, she cannot help but be worried about her little sister. Euphie has become like Lelouch. She will come after Cornelia regardless of the danger. Shooting Euphie is not the worse offense that Schniezel has committed. Turning Guilford and Darlton into mindless cyborg is much, much worse.

"I am sorry about what happened to Euphie," Schniezel comments, "I was certain that she was wearing a power suit. Still your doctors should be able to take care of her."

Cornelia laughs, "I am not worried about Euphie at all. She is a strong girl, much stronger than you know," Cornelia smirks, "Lelouch is the one you should be worried about. All Euphie has to do is ask, and he will destroy Europe and all its people to retrieve me."

"Is that so?" Schniezel comments with a sigh, "I thought that perhaps you would accept my offer and be my eternal queen, but it seems like you are refusing."

"Do you really expect me to accept that vile power?"

"Yes, I expect you to receive a geass from me, and then take GG's code. Together we will rule the world for eternity."

Cornelia laughs once more.

"I believe that Euphie plans on doing the same thing with Lelouch," Cornelia notices the look of surprise on Schniezel's face, "You are outclassed and outnumbered this time, dear Schniezel. Out of the eight code bearers, Lelouch controls six. The emperor believes that he controls one, but he does not. By your tone and words, I suspect that you are a code bearer and have the final one imprisoned."

"I see so they have told you everything. It does not matter. With the amount of soldiers I have with me, no one can stop us from returning to Rome."

"Your highness, the captain of the airship is calling for us," Kannon states.

"Very well," Schniezel hands Cornelia their son, "If I do not get a favorable response by the time we reach Rome, do not expect me to be so gracious."

Cornelia sits in her cell. She notices that a dark skinned woman is in the cell nearby.

"So you're the chosen one, are you?"

Cornelia looks at her.

"You must be GG. Lelouch mentioned that you are from southeast Asia."

"The only way for you to get out of here is to accept geass. Either from him or me,"

Cornelia smiles, "I have already accepted geass from the person I love the most in the world, well she is now number two. Now I just have to wait for a weak minded fool to come," Cornelia pulls something out of her coat, "I also have another plan."

Suddenly there is a large explosion outside.

"What is that?" GG asks.

"Oh it's probably Euphie coming to get me," Cornelia answers.

"What a fool, even with a code there is no way that she can stand up to the force that is accompanying Schniezel."

"Oh Euphie isn't dumb or fast enough to have caught up to us. That is probably Anya. You do not want to mess with Anya. Even Lelouch knows better than to mess with Anya."

* * *

The moment that Mohammed Shennib has been waiting for all these months has arrived. Schniezel finally leaves the safety of Rome. Mohammed knows that he cannot kill Schniezel, but he can put a crimp in his plan. He steals a large civilian airship and plans on crashing it into Schniezel's airship. After all Schniezel is the one that originally invades northern Africa. With this action Mohammed will avenge his people.

Schniezel and Kannon arrive at airship's bridge just as a loud explosion occurs.

"There is no way that Euphemia could have caught up to us," Schniezel comments.

"Your highness, there is an enormous force coming up behind us. We believe that it is coming from India," the airship's captain states.

"Lelouch, but how does that explain the explosions?" Schniezel asks.

"Sir, we have lost all forward units."

Schniezel looks at the screen.

"Is it Lelouch's new knightmare?"

A white and pink knightmare appears on the screen. Behind it dozens of knightmares are destroyed. A pink haired girl with an emotionless face appears on all of Schniezel's screens.

"I shall make a memory of you."

* * *

Author's note: Unlike canon Lelouch, this Lelouch feels that the truth is the best way to get people on his side. In the Nightmare of Nunnally manga, Nunnally sees different worlds. The knowledge that those worlds would also end influences her to reject her parents' plan.

The time skip near the end was to get rid of the pregnant women, and to give the various parties some more time to stock up. With nowhere else to go the Glaston Knights pledge their allegiance to Odysseus. Unluckily Schniezel comes to kidnap Cornelia, the same day that Lelouch is moving his "invasion force" west. He also unfortunately encounters the second ninth generation knightmare (Anya) and a code bearing Euphie. You will see why "invasion force" is in parenthesis next chapter.

A reviewer gave me the idea for the nanobot/nanite thing. It won't affect the story beyond Aphrodite recovering faster than she would with normal therapy. I wanted to expand on the other worlds Lelouch sees, but it would make this chapter really, really long. He basically sees every possible alternate world including every Code Geass anime and manga, and alternate universe fan fiction.

**Known Areas and their viceroys  
**1 United States aka mainland  
2 Canada and Queen Elizabeth Islands  
3 Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean Islands  
4 Greenland  
5 Iceland  
6 South America-Theseus ju Britannia  
7 Hawaii and Midway Atoll  
8 Falkland Islands-  
9 New Zealand - Maximus va Britannia  
10 Vietnam/Laos 2009- Isabelle vu Britannia  
11 Philippines 2010 Euphemia li Britannia  
12 Cambodia 2011-Annabel pe Britannia  
13 Southern Pacific Islands 2013-  
14 Morocco/Western Sahara 2014-  
15 East Africa 2014/16- Gwendolyn ti Britannia  
16 Thailand/Malay peninsula 2015-Selene ge Britannia  
17 Indonesia/Borneo/PNG 2015-Cassius ru Britannia  
18 Southern Africa 2016-Regina ha Britannia  
19 Central Africa 2016- Victoria ka Britannia  
20 Northern Africa 2017-  
21 Middle East Federation 2017- Cornelia li Britannia  
22 Japan 2018-Nunnally vi Britannia sub Kaguya yama Britannia  
23 Siberia 2018-Evelyn vi Britannia sub Carolina sfo Britannia  
24 China 2019-Lelouch vi Britannia  
25 India 2019-Milly ash Britannia  
26 Iran 2020 Villetta Nu

Odysseus eu Britannia 1st 1984 O  
Schniezel el Britannia 2nd 1990 S  
Clovis la Britannia 3rd 1992-2016  
Maximus va Britannia. 4th 1992 L  
Cassius ru Britannia 5th 1993 L  
Lucius pe Britannia 6th 1995- 2014  
Octavius ka Britannia 7th 1996-2020  
Theseus ju Britannia 8th 1997 L  
Luther ti Britannia 9th 1999-2020  
Edward vu Britannia 10th 1999-2020  
Lelouch vi Britannia 11th 1999 L

Guinevere su Britannia 1st 1986 O  
Cornelia li Britannia 2nd 1991 L  
Euphemia li Britannia 3rd 2000 L  
Annabel pe Britannia 4th 2001 L  
Karine le Britannia 5th 2002 O  
Isabelle vu Britannia 6th 2002 L  
Victoria ka Britannia 7th 2002  
Gwendolyn ti Britannia 8th 2003  
Regina ha Britannia 9th 2003 L  
Selene ge Britannia 10th 2003 L  
Nunnally vi Britannia 11th 2003


	92. Opening Engagement

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

There will be lots of low ranking people talking in this chapter. I do not feel like giving them all a name or title so during battles I will always specify when someone important is talking. Everything else will just be low level mooks. There is some sexual content near the end.

...

It is not just enough to have a fancy looking knightmare. The pilot is the key to the entire operation. A skilled pilot always finds a way to come out victorious.

James kou Britannia  
Age of Knightmares  
Neo Pendragon Press 2057 ATB

Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)

Julius Caesar

* * *

**Saturday December 13, 2020, Damascus Settlement, Area 21**

Anya cuts through several knightmares. She notices that the wind is picking up. She will have to make some adjusts in her attacks.

"This is boring," Anya declares with a yawn.

Instead of having the big VARIS rifle that the Lancelot type knightmares, Anya's knightmare has VARIS type weapons on its arm. Also on the knightmare's arms are hadron cannons. The knightmare's hands have radiant wave pulse weapons. This gives Anya's knightmare more firepower than any other knightmare. In addition Anya also has two MVS, several slash harkens, and energy wings. In other words Anya is piloting the ultimate knightmare. Lloyd creams himself every night thinking about the data possibilities.

Several dozen knightmares exit the airship and head towards Anya. She uses her multiple cannons to destroy them.

"That was not memorable," Anya remarks.

The next wave of knightmares attack Anya in a spread out formation. Their distance, however, makes them easy targets for Anya. A third attack comes at Anya in spread out waves. She uses her cannons to fire at the nearest ones. She pulls out the MVS to take out the rest. For the fourth attack knightmares from other airships attack Anya causing her to smile.

"Now this should be interesting," Anya says putting her MVS away and preparing her cannons.

Schniezel watches as Anya destroys knightmare after knightmare with ease.

"How can one knightmare cause so much damage?"

Schniezel ignores the question and continues to think of a strategy.

"My lord, we cannot stay here any longer," Kannon observes, "If we wait any longer that large force will catch up to us."

"Send more knightmares while we make our escape," Schniezel responds. A strategic withdraw is part of Schniezel's plan because he wants to see what else Lelouch has and he has reinforcements coming.

"My lord something is heading straight for our location. It is coming at us at an unimaginable speed. There are several smaller objects traveling behind it, but they are not moving as fast."

"Are they missiles?" Kannon asks.

"No, they appear to be making small adjustments to their course."

"Something is showing up on our on monitors."

A completely black knightmare with three sets of black energy wings appears.

"That is Lelouch's new knightmare," Schniezel notes, "It matches the image from the video feed from Amadeus's knightmare.

"Impossible no human can handle such speeds."

"Prince Lelouch is no human," Kannon retorts, "He is a demon."

"Stop them no matter what the cost is," Schniezel commands, "Once we are over the Mediterranean, they will stop their pursuit. Then we will be joined by our reinforcements."

"My lord, a large civilian airship is heading straight for us. The pilot is speaking in a language I do not understand."

Kannon takes a headset to listen.

"It's Arabic, your highness," Kannon states, "It is Mohammed Shennib."

"Shoot it down," Schniezel orders, "Do not let that airship near us. It is most likely loaded with fuel and explosives."

"Yes my lord."

Cecile is watching as Lelouch pushes his knightmare to speeds unimaginable. The kids are controlling their drones and are trying to keep up, but Lelouch is moving too fast.

"Try not to strain yourselves. His highness will be quite upset if you push too hard," Cecile remarks, "You need to clean up the mess he is about to make."

Mohammed watches as a pink and white blur clears a path for him. Coming straight at him is something black and fast. It does not appear to be slowly down so Mohammed braces for impact.

"Schniezel!" Lelouch screams as he cuts through Mohammed's airship causing it to explode.

The explosion causes Schniezel's airship damage despite the blaze luminous.

"He is insane. There is no way anyone could have survived."

"Keep this airship on course." Schniezel orders.

"Your highness, the explosion has reached the airship's hull. Systems are failing everywhere."

"Is the detention level intact?" Kannon asks.

"Yes, they run on a different power system so they shouldn't be in any danger."

"That is good," Schniezel remarks, "Keep this airship on course. Our blaze luminous should hold out."

Euphie and Sora see a large explosion underneath Schniezel's airship. They continue to push forward, however they have been dealing with knightmares since they take to the air. Unlike Anya, they do not have awesome pawsome super duper powered up knightmares (Euphie's words). Although it is not like they are fighting on equal ground with their enemies because both girls have eighth generation knightmares. Euphie's Freyja Vanir has the absolute strongest defense capabilities in the world, and her firepower is nothing to sneeze at. Sora's Chrysalis Fantasica is strong and fast enough to compete with the Arthur Excalibur, Lelouch's knightmare. Both are skilled pilots. Of course it is not like they are fighting alone because Euphie's royal guard is out here as well. Obviously Lelouch assigns Euphie his most trusted subordinates.

Lelouch looks up at that damage caused by Mohammed's exploding airship. It manages to cause some damage to the actual airship before the blaze luminous recovers. Lelouch is hoping for such a reaction. If he had allowed Mohammed to simply ram the airship, then the damage would not have been as great because the blaze luminous would have deflected the airship. While blaze luminous is strong, it is not invincible.

"Anya, keep this jerks busy until the others arrive," Lelouch states.

"What about the airship?" Anya asks.

"Don't worry about them," Lelouch replies with a smile, "I have something special planned."

Lelouch takes his knightmare down towards the ground and pulls out his VARIS rifle.

"Now to test out this chaos bomb that VV made," Lelouch states.

* * *

"My lord, there appears to be some commotion in the detention level."

"I see the white knightmare, but where is Lelouch?" Schniezel asks.

"Nobody could have survived that explosion, my lord."

"He appears to be on the ground, your highness," Kannon answers

"Kannon, we should be going," Schniezel remarks, "We have work to do. Captain, keep this airship on course."

"Yes, your highness."

Schniezel and Kannon leave the bridge and head for the detention level.

"Kannon, secure a transport for us," Schniezel instructs, "Things may get dangerous in the detention level."

"As you wish your highness," Kannon responds.

Cornelia is getting ready to set her explosives when the airship moves violently causing her to drop them. The explosives fly towards the door killing the guards standing outside. Noticing that her bombs are quite powerful, she decides against trying to use another one to blow her cell open. Cornelia decides to wait until Lelouch or Euphie come for her.

"Still confident that you will be rescued, you highness," GG smirks as Cornelia sits there.

Cornelia ignores her and begins to comfort her son.

Schniezel continues to make is way towards the detention level. He does not know how Lelouch will do it, but he figures the Lelouch will find a way to get past the blaze luminous. Schniezel begins to hurry when he realizes that all airships (even EU ones) are built along Lelouch's original designs.

Lelouch aims the chaos bomb so that it hits the blaze luminous near where the detention level should be. Lelouch quickly follows the bomb because that particular one only weakens the blaze luminous for a few seconds. Lelouch withdraws his MVS and slashes through the airship. He uses his wrist hadron cannons to blast the blaze luminous power source. He tries to make sure that he avoids the cells. He pushes through the airships and notices that Cornelia is not in a cell, but GG is. Lelouch blasts GG's cell. This releases her but also sends her plummeting to the ground below. Lelouch's actions cause the airship to split apart. Not coincidently each section of the airship has rockets that make crashes not as deadly.

Lelouch turns towards the entrance of the detention level where Schniezel is holding Cornelia and their son. Lelouch pushes the airship apart. Lelouch opens his cockpit hatch and steps out of his knightmare.

"Lelouch, you cannot win this time," Schniezel yells out, "Cornelia is mine. Unless you want her harmed, you will return to your knightmare and allow us to leave."

Lelouch smirks, "Don't you need GG for your plan to work," Lelouch says point down, "I think you will have to scrape her off the ground."

Lelouch moves away from his cockpit.

Schniezel glares at Lelouch and yells, "I told you to stay put!"

"No, you told me to return to my knightmare," Lelouch counters with a grin that would make a certain straw hat pirate captain jealous, "but I think that I am going to go over there and rescue Cornelia," Lelouch declares point towards Cornelia.

Cornelia mutters something under her breath about Lelouch and Schniezel being pompous asses.

"I did not want to do this, but I guess I have no choice," Schniezel says as he fires at Lelouch. He knows that Lelouch will not be killed, but perhaps it can slow him down. He fires a few more times because in these conditions aiming is difficult.

Lelouch simply raises his hand and his blaze luminous stops the bullets. He could have done the smart thing and put the knightmare's shield up, but the personal blaze luminous is cooler.

Schniezel's eyes open wide in amazement. His people have been telling him that a personal blaze luminous system is impossible because of the strain that the battery pack and the heat cause the user. However such matters would not affect a code bearer especially one that has been working to control the powers and capabilities of their code. It could also work in short spurts if the user has control.

Someone observing from a distance would think that both Lelouch and Schniezel are a little insane. No woman or man could be worth the danger from standing hundreds of feet in the air while there is a battle all around. For Schniezel having Cornelia at his side, apart from the physical pleasure, would be a sign of prestige. Cornelia's reputation as a commander is known throughout the world. Very few people would be confident going against her on the battle. For Lelouch rescuing Cornelia will make Euphie happy. That is all he needs to do something insane. Well he probably would do it anyways just to piss Schniezel off. Of course Cornelia is a bit of a secondary mother figure so there is that as well.

Meanwhile Anya continues to kick ass.

"Commander, we are losing more knightmares to that white one."

"How can one knightmare be causing so much damage?"

"Sir, the damage to the airship is severe. This airship will not be airborne for much longer."

"Give the evacuation order. His highness probably senses it as well and is already aboard his personal transport."

Anya fires at several charging knightmares. She withdraws her MVS and prepares to finish off the rest of her attackers. Suddenly two knightmares, one pink and the other blue, destroy the other knightmares for Anya.

"Hey Anya, where's Lulu?" Euphie inquires

"His highness is up in the airship attempting to rescue Princess Cornelia," Anya answers.

Euphie looks up at Schniezel's airship which Lelouch has cut in several pieces.

"Wait, what the heck is Lulu going to do?" Euphie asks.

What Lelouch does next can only be described as something a person would see in a big budget action movie or some anime that ignores the physical laws of the world. Lelouch positions himself as far forward as he can. Schniezel and Cornelia stare in awe as Lelouch jumps off his knightmare towards them. Both can see why all these women find him exciting. Cornelia assumes by Lelouch's posture that he is aiming to punch Schniezel. Cornelia performs the seemingly cliché action of stepping on Schniezel's foot and elbowing him in the stomach. All while maintaining her balance and holding onto her son. Lelouch powers his blaze luminous much to Schniezel's surprise.

"Schniezel!" Lelouch screams as he pulls his arm back.

Lelouch's power suit and blaze luminous enhanced punch sends Schniezel flying back into the remains of the airship. Lelouch adjusts himself and smiles.

"Hey little Ethan," Lelouch says to his nephew, "ready to fly," Lelouch quickly picks up Cornelia in his arms, "Hold on tight, Nellie."

"Lelouch, what are you going to do?" Cornelia questions.

Lelouch does not answer instead he leaps towards his knightmare.

"Lelouch!" Cornelia screams as they fly through the air. In the distance, as her life flashes before her eyes, she can see Euphie, Anya, and Sora fighting Schniezel's knightmares. Coming up behind Lelouch's knightmare, she can see a dozen knightmares coming in their direction. The airship that they just left is on its way down. Cornelia screams once more because it appears that they are not going to make it safely onto Lelouch's knightmare, however Lelouch manages to safely grab onto something. It is his personal MVS that for some reason is stuck in the chest of his knightmare.

"Scooter, what are you doing out here?" Lelouch asks his personal MVS. He is silent for a few seconds waiting for Scooter's reply, "Really I put you out here. That's funny. It did stink over there. I wish that lazy bastard Blinky was as hard working as you," Lelouch swings Cornelia and Ethan up, "Here Scooter, hold onto to Nellie and Ethan for me, and don't get any perverted thoughts."

Cornelia and her son are sitting on Lelouch's MVS. She wonders what he means by perverted thoughts, but then realizes that she is straddling the sword. Lelouch swings up over Cornelia and pulls her up. He pushes her towards the cockpit.

"Here you two go in there," Lelouch states, "I have to go back for Scooter."

Lelouch slides back down for his MVS. He notices that Schniezel's airship is slowly making its way down. All airships have emergency rockets in case something like this happens. He sees that a VTOL is coming for Schniezel. The VTOL faces Lelouch and points its forward cannons at him. Lelouch responds by pointing his MVS at the VTOL. However Cornelia is not simply waiting inside the knightmare. She raises its arm and fires at the VTOL. The blaze luminous holds, but appears to be weakening. Lelouch's hadron cannons are the strongest in the world. According to Cecile, it is plausible that they may have enough power to rip through Lelouch's absolute defense shield if fired enough times. The VTOL wisely makes a run for it so Lelouch quickly heads towards his cockpit before Cornelia chases after it.

"Ah Nellie, me and Scooter were going to go over there and beat those guys up," Lelouch says with a pout.

"The correct way to say that is Scooter and I," Cornelia remarks.

"Silly Nellie that doesn't make any sense. Why would Scooter take you with him? I'm his partner," Lelouch pauses for a moment, "Scooter, I will not hear any more of this insubordination. You cannot date Cornelia. Let's put you back in you spot."

Cornelia notices that Lelouch's cockpit is quite spacious compared to standard cockpits because she and Ethan are able to sit comfortably. Lelouch slams his MVS into a slot beside his seat.

"Hey little Ethan, are you hungry?" Lelouch asks, "Let's see what snacks Cecile packed for me while this thing powers up."

Cornelia notices that Lelouch's power suit and MVS are glowing. She assumes that they are recharging using the knightmare's power systems. Lelouch is eating some cookies and hands one to Ethan.

"Lelouch, what are you waiting for?" Cornelia asks.

"Well I was going to power up the Scooter System, but Cecile told me not to because Schniezel is withdrawing his force," Lelouch states, "I wonder where GG landed. The fall will probably knock her out for a while."

"What's the Scooter System?" Cornelia inquires.

"That's a secret," Lelouch answers, "Looks like Anya left some bad guys for me to play with."

"Leave them to us, big brother," Evelyn calls out as the kids' knightmare drones hit the battlefield.

Lelouch pouts, "No fair. I wanted to fight."

Due to the fact that Lelouch destroys Schniezel's airship, the air is full of knightmares, planes, and VTOLs. There other airships for those units to fly to, but they have to get there. Anya, Euphie, and Sora are not making it easy for them. Now the kids' drones are joining in on the action. It should only take a few minutes for Marika and Liliana to arrive as well.

Two knightmares foolishly attack Lelouch. He raises his arms and fires his slash harkens. While not strong enough to do any real damage, the slash harkens do keep the enemy hooked long enough for Lelouch to fire his wrist hadron cannons. The two knightmares are destroyed.

"I guess I better take you guys up to the airship," Lelouch states, "It is kind of getting dangerous here," Lelouch pulls Cornelia and Ethan onto is lap, "Here it will be a smoother ride for you two here."

Cornelia tries to protest, but Lelouch is already moving the knightmare. This causes her to stay put. She admits to herself that the ride on Lelouch's lap is quite smooth. Ethan is already falling asleep. Once they are in the knightmare hangar of the Excalibur III, Lelouch disembarks the knightmare and helps Cornelia and Ethan down. Several technicians come over to help Lelouch remove his power suit.

"Your highness, your power levels were unusually high today."

"I used the blaze a few times," Lelouch comments.

"Don't you think that it is a little foolish to push yourself so hard?" Cecile asks.

"Maybe a little, but I least I rescued Cornelia and Ethan," Lelouch responds, "and that is what counts."

"Dr. Croomy, there does not appear to be any damage to the knightmare frame."

"Very well," Cecile comments, "Change the energy filler and check the missiles and slash harkens."

"Yes ma'am."

Lelouch waits as they refurbish his knightmare. James, Gabriel, Charlotte, and Elizabeth come over to play with Ethan.

"One days I is going to have a knightmare like oto-san," James proclaims.

"I'm going to be a princess like mommy," Charlotte declares

"Let's go Cousin Ethan," Gabriel states, "I have some new toys."

"You're so nice, Gaby," Elizabeth says.

Ethan crawls away with his cousins.

Lelouch looks out at the developing battle from the entrance of the knightmare hangar. After some early confusion, Schniezel's force appears to be recovering.

"I don't see Merlin or Salacia out there," Lelouch observes, "Perhaps Schniezel is saving them for something else."

Some unusual looking knightmares enter the battlefield.

"What are those things?" Lelouch asks.

Cornelia looks at where Lelouch is pointing.

"Those must be Guilford and Darlton," Cornelia comment.

"I see so he took their bodies and made them cyborgs," Lelouch remarks, "Your airship and knightmare are below us in case you want to go out."

Cornelia nods and goes to get a power suit. Lelouch decides that it is time for him to return to the battle as well. Lilicia approaches Lelouch as he gets ready.

"Your highness, Lady Venitus is here," Lilicia states.

"Very well. I have arranged for her to use the Titan Mirage," Lelouch reveals. The noise outside gets louder, "I guess Kallen and Milly are here. Lilicia, go help the kids with the drones. Tell them not to worry about specifics. They are to destroy as many enemy knightmares as possible."

"Yes your highness," Lilicia replies.

The Arthur Excalibur and Titan Mirage are being prepared for battle. Lelouch boards his knightmare. Aphrodite is doing the same.

"Now it's time to show those bastards the meaning of true power," Lelouch states, "Aphrodite, keep the Titan Mirage back. Coordinate our attacks. I will have Euphie, Anya, and Sora pull back to protect the airships. Kallen, Milly, Marika, and Liliana should be enough for these insects. Let's go."

* * *

Schniezel looks down at the developing battle. After the initial shock caused by the power of Lelouch and Anya's knightmares, his own troops are recovering. Still Schniezel does not understand why Lelouch is moving in this direction with so many soldiers, knightmares, and airships. Could it be that the emperor is sending Lelouch after Schniezel? Why would Lelouch bother following the order? Why would Lelouch risk all that he has simply to capture Schniezel?

"My lord, there are other airships joining the battle."

Schniezel looks at the airships joining the battle. By their appearance he can tell that they belong to Kallen and Milly. If Lelouch is planning on attacking Europe, he is missing over half of his force. Jeremiah Gottwald amongst others is not here. Neither are Suzaku and Nunnally. Whatever Lelouch is planning, Schniezel must defeat him here.

"Your highness, the reinforcements have arrived," Kannon states.

"Prepare to deploy them along the predetermined lines," Schniezel commands, "I did not plan on fighting anyone here, but it appears that Lelouch only has about half his force. We should take advantage. If we manage to drive them out of the city, it will provide us with a great victory."

Lelouch is flying out in his knightmare observing the battle. Schniezel's reinforcements are arriving onto the battlefield. It seems as if Schniezel notices that Lelouch's force is not complete.

"Colonel Cunningham, Colonel Hillis, it would be great if you join this battle," Lelouch comments.

"As you wish, your highness."

From high above missiles begin to rain down upon Schniezel's force.

"Commander, we are being attacked from an unknown source."

"Impossible, we have accounted for all the enemy's knightmares."

"Planes, there a twenty planes coming from high above."

"But they aren't showing up on the radar."

"A report from our frontline troops confirms it. We will soon have a visual image."

"Now we are being attacked from the ground. There are dozens, no, make that well over a hundred tanks."

"Fools, blast those tanks away."

"They aren't showing up on the radar either. We need visual confirmation of their location."

"Just blast everywhere."

Lelouch watches as his tanks take to the air and engage Schniezel's airships.

"Well looks like I am out of tricks," Lelouch comments, "I guess I am going to have to finish this battle on my own."

"Lulu, our knightmares are ready to go back," Euphie states.

"You and Sora stay here with Aphrodite and protect the airship," Lelouch orders, "Little Anya and I will finish them off."

"I shall make a memory of them," Anya responds.

Lelouch smiles, "Let's go. Remember, we do not have any pilots out there just drones so destroy everything in the air. Also remember to leave Schniezel for Scooter."

"Understood," Anya replies.

* * *

Kallen and Milly arrive and fly towards the north.

"Lelouch wants us to block the north," Kallen comments, "Just keep the enemy from escaping in this direction. He is having others guard the south and east. Their only escape is towards the sea."

"Liliana, take a scout force and check the area to the north," Milly commands, "Make sure that there are no enemy units that can cause us trouble."

"Yes your highness," Liliana replies.

"I guess we just have to wait here and wait for Lelouch to finish," Kallen comments.

"I suppose we have no choice," Milly remarks, "It looks like Lelouch is going back into the battle."

Cornelia wants to participate in the battle, but Lelouch orders her to guard the south. She is to stop any enemy forces attempting to escape in this direction. It is not the way she likes fighting, but she is under Lelouch's command. She sees a white and a black blur slicing through the enemy forces.

Lelouch and Anya slices effortlessly through the battlefield. No matter the amount of knightmares thrown at them, they defeat them.

Schniezel does not like the way the battle is going. Lelouch appears to be ready for this battle despite not knowing about it. Schniezel is hoping that taking Damascus and Cornelia would result in the fall of Area 21. Then Lelouch would have no direct access to Africa. Perhaps Schniezel waited to long to come for Cornelia. Even a few days sooner and he would have avoided all of this. Now he is involved in a battle that he cannot win. He may be able to earn a draw, but at this stage of the game, only wins count.

"I am ordering a withdraw. Send the elite force to cover our retreat," Schniezel commands.

"But your highness, we still outnumber them," Kannon notes, "Even with their stealth forces, we hold an advantage."

"Yes, but Lelouch is not even using half his force, and he is hurting us rather critically," Schniezel states, "As we speak they are surrounding us. Therefore a retreat is the wise strategy. We have plenty of data on his new knightmares. For now that will be enough. Order a retreat back to Cyprus. That should keep the war hawks at bay."

Cornelia notices that Schniezel's force is withdrawing to the west. Either Lelouch has not sent troops in that direction or he leaves it open. No matter which of these it is Cornelia will not allow Schniezel to get away so easily.

"Schniezel!" Cornelia screams as she moves her knightmare in to attack.

Lelouch stops her by flying in front of her.

"I ordered you to stay in the south," Lelouch states, "If you want to get to Schniezel, you will have to get past me."

"Get out of the way, Lelouch!" Cornelia demands.

"I do not accept insubordination from my subordinates," Lelouch replies, "If you do not like it, you can return to Baghdad, viceroy. I am commanding general of this operation."

Cornelia sighs and pulls her knightmare back.

To facilitate the retreat Merlin and Salacia have come out and engage Lelouch's forces. Aphrodite sees this and begins to move forward.

"Wait Lelouch ordered us to stay here," Euphie calls out, "If we leave, they might attack the airships."

Aphrodite scowls because she knows that Euphie is right.

"Send drones down to the ground take care of any damage. The other units are to close in and make sure that Schniezel retreats. Do not engage unless if you have to," Lelouch commands, "I will personally punish anyone who disobeys this order. Our first priority is to help the citizens on the ground."

After Schniezel completely retreats, Lelouch sets up patrols around the city. Once the other airships are in place, more drones are sent down to assist on the ground. Lelouch returns to the Excalibur III.

"This trip turned out to be more exciting than I imagined," Lelouch comments.

Lelouch heads towards the drone control center and finds the twins and their knights looking over battle data. They give him a thumbs up.

"Why don't you guys get some rest," Lelouch instructs, "We can look over everything in the morning."

Sancia and Lucretia nod and drag the twins out of the room. Lelouch notices that Evelyn and Jinta are not in the room.

"If you are looking for Evelyn and Jinta, they are in the dining room," Ayame reveals, "That is where you should be heading as well."

Lelouch nods, "Have them," Lelouch pauses and shakes his head, "I will go to the dining room."

Lelouch makes his way to the dining room thinking of the other dozen or so things he can be doing while eating his dinner. Tonight he will spend dinner with his children. Gabriel and James are helping Ethan eat his food. Charlotte is attempting to eat her dinner like a proper princess.

"Daddy Lelouch over here, I save you seat," Elizabeth calls out.

"Oto-sam, I saafe yous a sewat, toos," James says with a mouth full of pizza.

"James, no talking with your mouth full," Lelouch responds, "I will sit here with my girls."

Elizabeth smiles and continues eating. Lelouch strokes the hair of Suzaku and Shirley's daughter.

"Father, is mother coming to eat with us?" Charlotte asks.

Lelouch chuckles because Charlotte does not act like Milly at all. At least not the Milly that Lelouch knows.

"Perhaps."

"Look sweetheart, you daddy Lelouch is here," Shirley remarks entering the room with her two other children. Shirley gives her daughter, Liliana Euphemia, a push towards Lelouch.

"Auntie Shirley, bring little Edwards," Gabriel states.

Shirley takes her son and sets him down with his half-brothers.

"Be careful," Shirley says, "Edward is still little, and he's a little sensitive."

"Okays," the two princes shout.

James sits down with Edward while Gabriel gets Ethan.

"Listen up, little guys. This is pizza," James holding the food of the gods in his hand, "Auntie CC says that pizza is the greatest thing ever invented by man."

Cecile bristles a little at that comment. James and Gabriel continue their presentation on pizza. Lelouch shrugs his shoulders and sets Liliana on his lap. The little princess snuggles up to her stepfather. They begin to eat dinner.

A few minutes later the twins come into the room putting the boys in a frenzy. They are followed by Emily and Miranda which makes Lelouch raise his eyebrow. Behind them are Isabelle, Carolina, and little Charles Lelouch. Further behind are Hannah and Chelsea. Lilicia takes her sister and her friend to where the knights eat.

"Auntie Belle Belle, over here," Elizabeth says waving her aunt over. Even Liliana gets excited and bounces around on Lelouch's lap.

"You picked an interesting day to come," Lelouch comments.

"Well young Gino left yesterday so we decided to visit you," Carolina replies as she pulls her collar up.

Lelouch smiles and kisses the top of Liliana's head.

"Here little munchkin, go with your Aunt Isabelle," Lelouch grins, "I think she is going to need the practice."

As Lelouch exits the room, a light clicks in Shirley's head, and she realizes what Lelouch is saying.

"That was smooth," Carolina states.

"Was it?" Lelouch retorts, "I figured that everybody was going to find out sooner or later."

"So Gino has been bragging about sleeping with Isabelle, Hannah, and Chelsea."

"Of course not. He didn't have to. When I went by a few weeks ago, Isabelle informed me of what was going on."

"You know we do not have to actually go up the roof."

"I know," Lelouch replies, "It is probably cold up there. We are going to my office. Kalli, Milly, and Euphie are waiting for me there."

"How do you know?" Carolina asks, "Ayame said that everybody was eating dinner."

"That a silly question to ask," Lelouch leans in and whispers, "It's because I'm psycho."

Carolina raises her eyebrow.

"Do you mean psychic?"

"Yes that too. Oh and CC told me they were in there making noise."

Lelouch opens the door to his office. Milly and Euphie are attempting to stop Kallen from beating up CC. It doesn't appear that they are doing a good job because CC's clothes are torn. Lelouch clears his throat.

"Are you going to behave or do I have to go over there and separate you?"

Kallen glares at Lelouch. CC sniffs and smiles.

"I smell pizza," CC says as she skips towards the door.

Lelouch grabs her arm.

"You will change before you go down to the dining room."

CC scowls and nods, "Yes your highness. As you wish."

"I could tell Milly and Euphie to let go of Kallen."

CC shrugs her shoulders and heads for her room.

Lelouch takes a seat at his desk. It is quiet for the next few minutes.

"Are you waiting for something?" Carolina asks.

Lelouch points to the door as Lilicia and Ayame step into the room. Kaguya, Lihua, and Shirley come in behind them. Nagisa, Xianglin and Villetta follow them.

"How does he do it?" Euphie asks in amazement.

Lelouch gestures for them to take a seat. On a couch to Lelouch's right sit Milly, Carolina, and Kaguya. To Lelouch's left sit Lihua, Euphie, and Shirley. Kallen sits alone in the center facing Lelouch. Nagisa and Xianglin sit behind Kallen. Villetta, Ayame, and Lilicia take their positions behind Lelouch.

"First we will go over the political situation so that those who arrived tonight can rest. After that Cecile, Lloyd, and Rakshata will go over the technological situation," Lelouch gestures towards Ayame, "Ayame, you may begin."

Ayame nods and begins.

* * *

Cornelia is sitting in the dinning full of Lelouch's kids and their nannies. She notices that all of Lelouch's children are here. That must mean that all his wives are here as well. She assumes that they must be in his office.

"James, that is enough running around," Cornelia declares, "Sit down and finish your dinner."

James stops.

"Yes, Auntie Cornelia."

"Thank you, your highness. These boys can be quite a handful especially when they are together. I hope his highness does not plan on keeping everyone here for too long."

Cornelia wonders exactly what Lelouch is planning. From what she understands, the Emperor has ordered Lelouch to invade Europe and bring back Schniezel. She assumes that there must be some ulterior motive that Lelouch will tell her about later. For now she will enjoy dinner with her son and her nephews and nieces.

The meeting ends, and Lelouch's wives begin to exit the room. He is not surprised that they all stay for the technological portion. Even Lihua seems interested in knightmares and new technology.

"I should go see if Isabelle is asleep yet," Carolina states.

"I am going to check on my sister," Euphie says skipping out of the room.

This leaves Lelouch alone with Kallen and Milly.

"I am going to work all night," Lelouch comments.

"I have knightmare testing to finish," Milly remarks, "Lloyd says that it is almost complete."

"I think that Euphie wants you to have a talk with Cornelia," Kallen states.

"I know," Lelouch replies, "I will try to find some time to do that."

"Good, there is one other thing that I wanted to say," Kallen says as she slaps Lelouch and then kisses him, "Do not ever do something crazy like that again."

Lelouch is not sure how to react and simply nods. He will admit, at least to himself, that what he does today is insane and should not be tried by amateurs. Lelouch sits alone for a few minutes before deciding to take care of the Cornelia situation first before looking over his reports and assessing the situation. At least for tonight, everyone is staying aboard the Excalibur III so Lelouch makes his way to Cornelia's room and knocks on the door.

"Come in," Cornelia calls out.

Lelouch slowly enters the room. He wonders if Cornelia thinks that it is Euphie coming back for something. As Lelouch enters the room, he wonders if Cornelia plans on staying because some of her things are in the room.

"Oh Lelouch, it's you. Euphie said you might by tonight."

Lelouch nods. From this point of view, he has to admit that Cornelia is rather beautiful. When you strip away the layers, well perhaps strip is not the right word to use. Cornelia is sitting on her bed wearing a robe that matches her hair which is flowing freely. Cornelia lightly taps the bed so Lelouch takes a seat.

"Where's Ethan? I brought him this stuffed bear," Lelouch lifts the stuffed animal, "It's Huffington Bear. Euphie says that that is his favorite show. Although I do not know how an eleven month old has a favorite show."

Cornelia takes the bear.

"I am sure that he will love it. He is with the twins and his cousins. Miss Futaba said it would be alright if he spent tonight there."

"Eh probably, but I think I need to hire some more nannies."

"I suppose that is true," Cornelia bites her lip, "Lelouch, about what happened with Schniezel. I am sorry, but I thought that I could convince him to stop," Cornelia exhales deeply, "I suppose at this point there is no stopping anyone."

"You are probably right. I cannot fault you for trying. I know it must have been hard to have Euphie and Ethan's lives threatened."

"I suppose that Euphie owes you a reward for asking you to save me."

Lelouch chuckles, "Don't be silly I would have saved you even if Euphie hadn't asked me," Lelouch thinks about it for a second, "Actually she did not ask me. Anya is the one the told me what was happening. Besides you are my big sister. You taught me how to ride a horse and use sword. You would always make sure that I got a snack when mother sent to my room after I fought with Euphie and Nunnally," Lelouch hugs Cornelia, "You do not owe me anything."

Lelouch gets a familiar urge as he holds the purple haired princess. He can also sense her excitement at the touch of a man.

"Well look at the time I should probably get going," Lelouch notes, "I have to make sure that those kids are in bed."

Cornelia understands, but she wants to be held for a little longer. As Lelouch gets up she reaches out for his leg, but she touches a different part of his anatomy. Lelouch is still wearing his knightmare flight suit which leaves very little to the imagination. Cornelia immediately gets a lust filled look. She stands with her hand still stroking Lelouch. She leans forward and kisses him. Lelouch instinctively moves his hands towards her breasts. He tugs at Cornelia's robe.

Lelouch quickly recovers and begins to pull back. This is after all Cornelia. She is one step away from being Lelouch's mother. Cornelia keeps moving towards Lelouch until his back is against the wall. Having nowhere to go, Lelouch keeps thinking of ways to get out of this. He could tell her that Euphie has a cold. No, that will not work because Cornelia knows that Euphie cannot really get sick. Perhaps he could tell her that Kallen has diarrhea and that he needs to take care of her. Lelouch can already feel the punch in the stomach from Kallen. He could say that Milly wants to put on a play and needs his help. Of course it is close to midnight so that might not work. He needs to check on Isabelle. No, that can probably wait until the morning. Maybe that he needs to call the emperor. Of course that might lead to Cornelia doing it for him and telling the emperor to go fuck himself. James is potty training and needs help. That won't work because of all the nannies. He can tell her that Lihua wants him to read her a story before she goes to sleep. Lihua is small so maybe Cornelia will forget that she is almost sixteen. Perhaps Shirley needs some help. Thinking about Shirley does not help because spending time with Shirley always leads to sex. Thinking of Shirley reminds him of her serving him breakfast in a maid outfit every morning, and naturally he think about what comes after breakfast

He wonders what Cornelia would look like in a maid outfit. He also begins to think of times that he accidentally saw Cornelia nude or semi-nude as a child. Those images are not helping the situation. Neither does Cornelia's attitude then. Sure most of the time she is angry at him and Euphie for barging into her room, but sometimes she simply asks them to leave and does not do anything. While Lelouch's brain is thinking of a hundred or so different scenarios to get out of this, his body is reacting. His body does not care that the woman caressing and kissing him is his older sister. It only cares about its needs, and Cornelia definitely fills those.

Lelouch tries to think of some more excuses, but Cornelia's moaning is not helping things out. Lelouch suddenly realizes that Cornelia's robe is on the floor, and their positions have been switched. He is pushing her against the wall grinding against her completely naked body. Why do these damn flight suits have to be so tight? He wonders if Cecile and Rakshata make them like this so they can get a good look at the young men who are knightmare pilots. His mouth is alternating between her mouth and left breast. His left hand is playing with her right breast while his right hand is in her vagina.

Lelouch wonders how long it has been since Cornelia was with a man. Could it have been since Ethan was conceived or a little bit after that? That would make it almost twenty months. Obviously Lelouch got some this morning from Shirley after breakfast, and then Lilicia during the morning reports. As Lelouch mindlessly works her body, Cornelia begins to remove the flight suit. The top is a bit tricky since Lelouch needs to move his hands, but Cornelia manages somehow. She uses her legs to push the lower half of the flight suit down. This action puts Lelouch's hardened member close to Cornelia's opening.

Noticing that Cornelia is already wet, Lelouch enters her. It only takes a few thrusts for her to orgasm. He wonders if she is masturbating before he arrives. Lelouch moves Cornelia to the bed. Once there he begins to slowing work over her body. He enters her once more. Due to his stamina Lelouch can probably go all night, however Cornelia collapses after her second orgasm.

Cornelia snuggles into Lelouch and begins to sob lightly. Lelouch realizes that today must have been hard on her. The kidnapping attempt in its totality must have rocked Cornelia pretty bad. Seeing Guilford and Darlton as mindless cyborgs, then Euphie getting shot, and having her son used as a hostage, all of these things are enough to scare most people for life. Not only does Cornelia survive it, she regains her composure enough to fire at Schniezel's VTOL using a knightmare she has never piloted. Then she also gets in her own knightmare and directs a portion of Lelouch's force.

Lelouch squeezes her tight and rubs her back. He raises her mouth to his and kisses her. Lelouch begins to stroke her hair.

"I will always protect you and Ethan."

Cornelia nods and snuggles her head into Lelouch's chest. She notices that he is still quite erect.

"What's going on down there?" Cornelia asks pointing down between Lelouch's legs.

"Well you see," Lelouch blushing and scratching his head, "I was expecting to spend the night with Kalli, Milly, or working so I stocked up," Lelouch sighs, "I will probably be like this all night."

Cornelia exhales excitedly, "Can you really go all night?"

Lelouch sits up and puffs his chest out.

"I can go all week."

Cornelia chuckles a little.

"Maybe just a few more times. I cannot go all night like you other girls."

Lelouch nods and positions himself. After making love a few more times, Lelouch decides to stop because Cornelia is obviously worn out. Cornelia falls soundly asleep against Lelouch's chest. Lelouch decides that it would be good if he got some rest as well.

**Wednesday December 17, 2020**

Nina Einstein is unsure about her choice of master. Sure she gets to freely work on research that will help Britannia, but it comes at a price. If she had been good before, she would be with Milly right now. Instead she is in Pendragon bouncing around between the beds of Odysseus, Guinevere, Karine, and Faramond. The only who treats her as a person rather than a tool or a toy is the latter. If Nina could find some time to work alone, then perhaps she could do something to better her situation, but they are able to gather up several scientists who work with her grandfather and father. At this point Nina is only needed to supervise. She is at least grateful that these people do not have the resources to create a FLEIA. For now all they can do is create a FLEIA counter measure. When this project begins, it seems almost an impossible dream. They would need people of immeasurable intelligence and superhuman speed, however now it is much simpler.

"Hey Nina," Karine says as she put her arms and gropes the bespectacled girl.

Nina is used to it by now. She completely understands the tendencies of her masters. Odysseus, despite his womanizing ways, is quite a kind and caring person. Nina assumes that his womanizing ways are a way to let the Emperor know that he can play that game as well. Guinevere is the perfect example of a spoiled princess. She always gets whatever she wants. Some days she wants Nina. Other days she wants Conrad or Thorin or a horde of young men and women.

Karine is similar but much more vicious. If Karine is not born a princess, she would be a perfect killing machine. The thing that makes Karine different is that she is not sexually active. In a manner of speaking Nina can consider herself privileged to be the only person other than Gino to see Karine in a vulnerable state. Karine is also quite jealous of the attention that her younger sisters get. She hates them all, Regina, Gwendolyn, Victoria, Isabelle, and especially Nunnally. Karine hates Nunnally with a passion one usually reserves for a hated rival. It does not help the situation that Nunnally although a year younger than Karine is a fantastic knightmare pilot and is viceroy of the most productive Britannian Area by any measure. In addition, Nina notices during recent events in Tokyo that Nunnally is beginning to look more like her mother. In other words Nunnally is developing a body similar to Euphie and may soon grow beyond that.

On the other hand Faramond seems like a combination of the Emperor and Lelouch. This seems a little odd; unless you consider that they are actually Faramond's role models.

Karine continues her assault on Nina's body. She stops when the door opens. Karine prepares to glare at whoever is unfortunate enough to interrupt her fun. However since it is Faramond, her glare does not work.

"Hey Nina, are you ready to go out?" Faramond asks.

Nina nods, "Yes, I am finished here."

Karine grumbles as Nina walks away with Faramond.

"As soon as we are finished with this project, that little bitch needs to be put down," Karine says with a sneer.

* * *

Lelouch is in Cape Town assessing the situation in Area 18. There is not much to do since Regina is doing a good job. It is a dangerous time for Lelouch to leave Damascus where his forces are gathering for the invasion of Europe, but this trip is important. Making it even more dangerous is the fact that Lihua, Kaguya, and Isabelle are also being taken home by Kallen and Milly. It is not that their presence is needed because Lilicia and Ayame can organize the army on their own. Still Schniezel is probably making his own plans or at least his EU allies are making plans because there is a buildup of troops in Russia.

Lelouch is here to gather supplies and resources. There is another reason why Lelouch is here. He is here to see Regina. Lelouch wonders what it is about his half sisters that makes them come to him. In Regina's case, he supposes that it is her desire to survive. If she is with Lelouch, he will protect her. Lelouch thinks about this as he traces his fingers over Regina's naked body. Although not as well endowed as the other princesses, Regina is quite beautiful. Her mother is still considered to be one of the most beautiful women in all of Britannia. Elizabeth ha Britannia nee Chapman is once courted by almost every powerful noble, but of course the Emperor comes calling settling the matter.

Regina moves a little. This causes Lelouch to think of the first time that he sleeps with her.

**...**

**August 1, 2019, Cape Town Settlement**

Lelouch is visiting Area 18 to inspect the new construction of the settlement. In three years, the Cape Town Settlement has grown into the largest city in Africa. Lelouch is on a balcony atop the viceroy's palace looking down at the city. Regina comes out to the balcony.

"Hey Lelouch, what are you doing?"

"Just admiring the city. It is quite lovely," Lelouch comments, "Even though it is winter here, the settlement is protected against the weather."

"Yes, I suppose. It is a system that is first in Pendragon to combat the heat."

Regina wraps herself around Lelouch's left arm. Regina swings her body up towards the balcony and sits on it. As she does this, she pulls Lelouch towards her. She positions her legs behind his. Lelouch puts his arms behind her. If she actually had any breasts, Lelouch's face would be buried in them.

"Don't you think that I'm cute?"

Lelouch smirks and raises his mouth to hers. He kisses her lightly on the mouth and neck. The height of balcony and Regina's petite body keep her from seeing Lelouch's erection. He decides that it is for the best. Lelouch continues kissing her. He can tell by her reaction that she does not have any experience so he decides to take it slow.

"Perhaps we should go to your room," Lelouch comments.

Regina nods, and Lelouch carries her. Lelouch proceeds slowly not only for Regina's safety but also for his own pleasure.

…

Lelouch focuses his thoughts back on the present. He sits up early in the morning just as the sun is coming up. Since it is summer here, the sun rises a little earlier than it does where Lelouch has lived these past few years. Although such things really matter to Lelouch or inside Britannian settlements where temperature is controlled. Lelouch walks around the palace.

"Oh Lelouch dear, how are you this morning?"

Standing behind Lelouch is Empress ha Britannia.

"Good morning, empress."

"How is my little girl?"

"Regina is still asleep."

"My little girl tends to sleep late."

"Well it is early," Lelouch remarks.

"Are you taking Regina with you when you leave?"

"No, that would be suspicious since I am not actually here. Regina will leave in a few days and head towards Area 10 to visit Isabelle."

"I suppose that that will acceptable. I should have some servants wake up Regina. It is not correct for her to be sleeping in when the world is in such a state."

"I suppose so," Lelouch sighs, "If you will excuse me, empress, I have to make some phone calls."

**Thursday, December 25, 2020, 30 miles north of Damascus Settlement**

Lelouch has been up working on all night. In fact since his return from Cape Town, he has been working constantly. Cornelia has been trying to keep up, however she does not have the energy. She falls asleep watching Lelouch move millions of men, thousands of knightmares, tanks, planes, ships, and other equipment, and billions of pounds in currency. Not to mention the amount of resources being moved around to the right location. Obviously he has help doing all of this, but the plan comes from him.

Cornelia wakes up and discovers that someone puts a blanket over her. Cornelia stands and folds the blanket neatly. Euphie walks into the room and winks at Cornelia. This lets her know who put the blanket over her. It seems odd to have Euphie taking care of her. Euphie sets a uniform down and signals for Cornelia to take it. Cornelia notices that Euphie is wearing one as well. Cornelia quickly showers and puts on the uniform. On her way back to the drone control center, she notices that the hallway is empty. Inside the control center everyone is sitting calling or messaging someone. Cornelia's attention is immediately drawn to Lelouch since his calls are probably the most important.

"Yes, we are running a test on the system today. Have Rakshata select a few of her best candidates," there is a slight pause and Lelouch whispers, "I miss you too, Kalli. Scooter says hi," Lelouch switches phones, "Yes Lord Stadtfeld, all indications lead to the conclusion that it is about to begin. I will send out the necessary messages," Lelouch switches phones again, "Keep an eye on things there because things may get dangerous," He does it one more time, "Operation code omega is about to begin."

Lelouch sets down his phones and gestures for Villetta to enter the room. She has been standing by the door holding something in a black cloth. Villetta kneels and raises the object to Lelouch.

"Cooter," Ethan calls out.

Cornelia notices that the kids are also in the room. She also notices that her son is right about what Lelouch is holding. It is his personal MVS. She cringes a little at the thought that Scooter is one of her son's first words. She does wonder why the MVS is being treated in such a delicate manner when Lelouch normally treats it like a gardening tool. Lelouch claims that Scooter has a mind of its own and wonders off. Kallen claims that Scooter is an inanimate object and that Lelouch is an idiot. Cornelia is inclined to agree with her red haired sister in law.

Lelouch walks over to the innermost part of the room and presses a button. A panel opens up. Lelouch removes his gloves and places his hands on the panel.

"Lelouch vi Britannia, Omega operating code one."

Nunnally enters the room and places her hand on the same panel.

"Nunnally vi Britannia, Omega operating code two."

The younger vi Britannias do the same.

"Evelyn vi Britannia, Omega operating code three."

"Castor vi Britannia, Omega operating code four."

"Pollux vi Britannia, Omega operating code five."

After this nothing happens. Lelouch raises his MVS which is glowing brightly. Lelouch thrusts it into a slot and turns it. A door opens revealing a room similar to the drone control center, but much bigger. Lelouch smiles and steps into the room.

"There is no turning back for anyone that steps into this room."

* * *

Author's note: I may have mentioned this before, but when a code bearers loses their code all their geass contracts are cancelled.

Cornelia is the one canon female that I have been on the fence on for most of this story. Early on I was not sure what to do with her exactly. As the story progressed, I decided to put her with Lelouch, but it would happen at the end perhaps in an epilogue. I have been planning on making Cornelia be Schniezel's prisoner. However I was not sure about the exact timeline of it. I was going to have her rescued by Sayoko and friends during the big event that takes place next chapter. Then I thought of the rescue scene from this chapter. I thought it would make the whole Lelouch-Schniezel rivalry more real. Now there is a reason for them to fight other than who gets to rule the world. It may not be Schniezel's last attempt to kidnap Cornelia and their son.

I thought that it would be interesting to finally see a conflicted Lelouch when it comes to sex. In his mind, Cornelia is a secondary mother figure.

Somebody asked about Nina so I through in a little piece about her. Nina is working with Odysseus and Guinevere's group. She is helping them make anti-FLEIA weapons with the hope of making FLEIA on the future. Nina is correct in her assessment of her masters. Odysseus is trying to compete with the emperor to show that he is worthy. Guinevere assumes that her high birth guarantees her place. Karine is similar, but does not mind taking a few people out to get her way. Karine is the person that sends assassins after Cornelia and Conrad to attack Aphrodite.

Readers may not remember this fact, but I do. Until Lelouch's conquest of the Middle East Federation in 2017, Regina was part of Guinevere's group. However Guinevere being constantly embarrassed by Lelouch and Nunnally makes Regina change her loyalty. Lelouch rewards her by making her viceroy of Area 18 (South Africa). Lelouch would protect her whether she has sex with him or not. Of course she does not know this.

Lelouch's personal MVS are the key to the secret room. What the secret room does is revealed in the next. A hint is that it was designed by VV.


	93. The day the Earth stood still

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

For the purposes of this story Pendragon is located where Phoenix, Arizona is located. For those that do not know where this is, it is located in the southwest part of the United States about four hundred miles east of Los Angeles. It is roughly the location shown on a map during season two after the city is destroyed. A small note to mention is that the time difference is different than it is in our world because Lelouch changes the time zones of areas that he conquers to be more uniform since they are all part of Britannia. This includes parts of Europe conquered by Cornelia and Schniezel since Lelouch is now the highest ranking military officer in Britannia.

* * *

Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while… you do them right all the time.

If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?

It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up.

Vince Lombardi, head coach of War Games Team, Britannian Military Academy at West Point

* * *

**8 a.m., Friday, December 24, 2020, somewhere in central Africa along the Congo River, (12 am Pendragon time)**

"Hey boss, there is an airship landing. There is some annoying sounding guy sending us a message."

Luciano grunts, "Damn that jerk. What is he thinking sending us this guy?"

"Boss, I guess I should have told you that the airship didn't show up on the radar."

Luciano grunts again and goes out to meet with Lloyd. The bespectacled scientist is already on the ground bugging the shit out of Luciano's people.

"Ah Luci, there you are."

Luciano's face twitches a bit as Lloyd saunters over.

"I suppose you want to get down to business," Lloyd comments. Luciano grunts in responses so Lloyd continues, "We finished the additions to the Vlad Taranis. It looks quite scary. Not as frightening as that beast that Cecile made for little Lulu but still frightening."

Luciano sneers because it is Lelouch that makes the knightmare scary. Lelouch in a Ganymede is more frightening than a dozen eighth generation knightmares. Hell Lelouch with a wooden stick and some rocks would scare the shit out Luciano even if he had this knightmare.

"What are those behind it?" Luciano asks.

"His highness sends some Legacy Command Models. They are not as deadly as your monster, but they should be more than sufficient against anything you will be facing. Unless Charlie is able to get his hands on some of them," Lloyd smiles the biggest smile Luciano has ever seen, "There is surprise in the lower level of the airship. I am not allowed to say anything more about that. I am also not allowed to tell you the password to access it until you are well on your way."

Luciano notices the looks that his subordinates are giving Lloyd.

"I suppose this means that you are taking our old knightmares," Luciano comment.

"Yes, they are needed somewhere else."

Lloyd waves and walks away. Luciano looks back at his new knightmare and airship, Tepes.

"What are you bastards standing around gawking at? Get this ready to go. We have a long trip!" Luciano barks out.

"Yes sir."

Less than an hour later Luciano and company are in the air and heading for battle. Lloyd is taking Luciano's knightmares to Area 6. An hour into the trip, Luciano gets a message giving him the password to the secret room. He goes down alone because his men are looking over the new knightmare manuals.

Luciano almost faints when the door opens. Standing in front of some crazy looking knightmares is a nearly nude Aphrodite.

"Hey honey, did you miss me?"

Luciano looks for Aphrodite's birthmarks to make sure that it is really her.

"Little Lulu said that they were going to keep all my lady parts but they put something inside of me that makes me stronger."

Luciano is trying not to stare at Aphrodite, but behind her are those knightmares. Obviously he has to act like they are not more important than her. Aphrodite does not give him much time to think because she quickly hugs him.

"I missed you so much," Aphrodite says with tears running down her face, "You crazy homicidal maniac."

Luciano stands there stunned. Never in his life did he imagine that someone could love a beast like him. His only goal is to put Lelouch on the throne. Naturally there is plenty of havoc to be caused along the way. Lelouch does want to destroy this world and create a new one.

"You idiot, you are supposed to cry too."

Luciano puts his arms around her.

"I am crying, stupid."

Aphrodite grumbles, "You are not supposed to call girls stupid," she kisses him, "So do you want to play for a little bit."

Luciano grins, "What do you think?"

**7 pm, Pendragon**

"Your highness, the Purist attacks on the palace have begun."

Odysseus smiles and looks out the window as his grand scheme begins. The plan is quite simple. They are using the already tainted Purists to revolt against the emperor. They are attacking the palace and financial centers in New York, Britannia City (Mexico City), and Chicago. After this Odysseus's faction will renounce the group and begin a counterattack. Regretfully in the ensuing battle the Emperor will be killed. Guinevere is already preparing the funeral service. Odysseus is finishing his eulogy.

Faramond and Monica are going south to Britannia City. From there they will head south to Area 6. Karine and Thorin are heading towards New York. Guinevere is in conference with leading nobles. Odysseus prepares for his march towards the palace. He will be accompanied by Gino and Dorothea. The former is back in Odysseus's good graces by informing them of Bismarck's absences from the Emperor's side. That means that this is the best time to strike. It also seems that Lelouch and Schniezel are engaged in a bit of a scuffle. The situation could not be any more perfect.

"Issue a statement," Odysseus, "I will appear to denounce the Purists within thirty minutes."

"Yes your highness."

Odysseus gets back to his writing. He already has his speech denouncing the Purist rebellion, but he needs to work on the emperor's eulogy.

**3:30 am. December 25, Rome (7:30 pm, Dec. 24 Pendragon time)**

It has been twelve days since Schniezel attempts to take Cornelia. The attack is viewed as an attempt to gauge Lelouch's defenses. The vast majority of Schniezel's people know nothing about his attempt to kidnap Cornelia. Even if they did, he could play it off as an attempt to take one of Britannia's best generals out. This does not mean that Schniezel is clear of any opposition. There are a few in the EU that want him to take advantage of Luciano's actions in Africa.

"Your highness."

"Yes Kannon."

"It seems that Prince Lelouch has been to Cape Town within the past week."

"I see," Schniezel says with concern, "I take it that his wives have returned home."

"Yes, but his force in Damascus keeps growing."

"Have you found Jeremiah Gottwald?" Schniezel asks looking over Kannon's reports.

"No, but it appears that Princess Nunnally is in Damascus as well."

"What about Suzaku Kururugi?"

"It is assumed that he is still in Japan. There are still other matters to consider, my lord."

Schniezel looks at Kannon in surprise and asks, "What are those?"

"It seems that someone has tampered with the records of West Point and other Britannian military academies. We have no information on cadets that attended alongside Prince Lelouch or any of his subordinates. The records have been manipulated going back several decades."

"We will have to be careful about that," Schniezel comments, "I believe that things in Pendragon are beginning. We should make our own preparations. "

"I believe that the Russian forces are ready."

"Good, they may attack when ready."

Kannon leaves Schniezel to attend to matters elsewhere. Schniezel has to admit that it is amazing that Kannon can keep up with him. Because of his code, Schniezel is able to go long periods without rest. Schniezel is also glad to be in Italy where there is quality food that helps him keep going. He hopes that his attacks leave Lelouch disorientated. Naturally someone in Schniezel's position would be better off staying on the defensive. However Schniezel's EU allies do not want to wait. They see the upheaval in Africa and Lelouch gathering troops in Damascus as the perfect chance to attack through Russia. Schniezel concedes to their logic, but he wonders if Lelouch has something planned.

**10 pm, December 24, New York City (8 pm Pendragon time)**

Karine grunts as Thorin crosses the Hudson River to direct the attack on the Purist rebels. It appears that somehow the rebels have been warned about the double-cross. Still they do not have enough men or weaponry to fight back. Yet in a city as large as New York, they may be able to gather followers. Karine does not like the situation here at all. It should have been easy for her. Her troops should have quickly crushed the rebels. Then she would have marched triumphantly into the city. Naturally her main concern is to secure the financial district.

"You," Karine calls out to the nearest soldier, "what is the situation?"

"We have driven them out of Manhattan. They are not able to get any support there. Our force coming from the north has pushed the rebels out of the Bronx. We have pinned the rebel forces along the Harlem River. Luckily we have been able to secure Rikers Island. They were not able to release the prisoners."

"Anything else."

"The rebel movement has not gained any supporters on Long Island; however they have garrisoned Staten Island. There are still skirmishes in Queens and Brooklyn. They are also holding onto Ricardo von Britannia Airport."

"Prepare to move my headquarters to Central Park. I will direct the operation from there," Karine orders.

"But your highness, the situation is still not clear."

"Nevertheless, we will move to Central Park. Have General Brenner prepare to bomb Staten Island. We cannot allow this rebellion to go any further."

"Yes, your highness."

Karine stays silent as everyone prepares for the move into New York. She must finish this before morning because who knows what Odysseus and Guinevere are planning back in Pendragon. If Karine has to, she will begin her own rebellion here in New York. There are plenty of nobles and wealthy people who will back Karine's attempt to take the throne.

Karine continues to observe the situation. The Purists attack New York with only about thirty thousand soldiers, but they double their numbers once in the city. Still their total number is less than half of what Karine has. Karine brings forty thousand of hers and Thorin's forces. This is augmented by one hundred forty thousand from nearby forts. There are another twenty thousand in Connecticut and about fifty thousand near Philadelphia. So obviously Karine is not afraid of the numbers game, however, she knows she must makes this quick and return to Pendragon. As Karine flies towards Central Park, the ground below is rocked by several explosions.

"What the hell?" Karine questions looking down. From this point of view she can see the entire city including Staten Island.

"The rebels, the rebels are committing suicide."

"What did you say?" Karine asks.

"The rebels are arming themselves with bombs and charging at our lines."

"Have those bastards lost all self respect? If they surrender peacefully, we would have allowed them to surrender," Karine remarks, "Inform all the ground commanders of this turn of events. We will remain in the air until things are settled on the ground. Have we retaken the airport yet?"

"The few remaining rebels are using the control tower as a garrison. We have taken the hangars and the fueling stations so there is no danger there."

"Very well. Take care of the situation."

Karine sighs in relief that the airport is being retaken. At least she does not have to worry about the rebels taking to the air. It is rather foolish of the Purist to believe that they could take a city as large as New York with only a few thousand ground forces and very few naval and air forces.

"Idiots, they deserve to be double-crossed."

**9 pm December 24, Britannia City (8 pm Pendragon time)**

Faramond arrives in Britannia city with two hundred thousand soldiers. He stations ten thousand in Monterrey, Durango, Guadalajara, and Veracruz. He assumes that Purists think that he is coming to their aid.

"Your highness, our other forces have not encountered much resistance, but the Purist in Britannia City are starting to fight back."

"I see so somebody has informed them of our intentions," Faramond surmises, "Our first order of business is to secure the airport and the armory."

"I will see to it, your highness."

Faramond's force outnumbers the rebels two to one. His knightmare advantage is seven to one. The rebels do not have any tanks, airplanes, or airships. Meanwhile Faramond has a thousand of the former two and a hundred fifty of the latter. He plans on using this force to take over Area 6 as well. However with the rebels putting up such a fight here, so Faramond will have to make sure that the rebel threat is put down before moving on.

Faramond wonders who warns the Purists about the double-cross. It is not his intention to be so heavy-handed, but he will if he must. He wonders how things are going in Pendragon. The Purists certainly will have more troops attacking that capital. Even with Gino and Dorothea, he is not sure that his father can handle the situation. The Emperor does not have his position by coincidence. The old man will have something up his sleeve. Even if Bismarck is not there, Marianne vi Britannia is. It is also possible that Lelouch may provide aid if his mother asks although that is not certain.

Faramond notices that there is a lot of commotion around him.

"Captain, what is it?"

The captain of Faramond's airship looks at him nervously.

"Your highness, we have received some trouble news from the ground,"

"What is it?"

"It appears that the rebels have suicide bombers amongst their numbers."

"Suicide bombers?" Faramond states confused. He understands that the Purists must be feeling anger, but to actually kill themselves over this issue. That is not possible. The Purists are full of proud people who think that they know what is best for Britannia. They would never do something like this. Faramond looks over at his subordinates, "Make sure that our forces do not gather in large groups especially the knightmares. Send out the Ios and Gloucesters. Save the Bors and Vincents for later."

"Yes, your highness."

Faramond does not understand what is going on. If the Purists have become suicidal, then things are going to get more dangerous.

**8 pm, December 24, Pendragon **

Edward Langley cannot believe the situation that Purists are in. They put too much trust in Princess Guinevere, and now they are basically traitors. However the joke is on the royal bastards because the Purist forces heading towards Chicago and Los Angeles are coming to Pendragon instead. More importantly the forces in New York and Britannia City are prepared for the betrayal. While in those other two cities the Purists are gravely outnumbered, here in Pendragon the only advantage the royal bastards have is better knightmares.

"Lord Langley, there is a call for you."

He takes the phone.

"Langley here."

"Omega."

Edward Langley's eyes are still for a moment.

"Understood."

"Lord Langley, is something wrong? What was that call about?"

"We are putting an end to this battle. Hand me a communicator," it only takes a few seconds for a communicator to arrive, "This is Edward Langley, commander of the Pure Britannia Army, Operation Omega is underway."

After Edward Langley hands the communicator back, there is a slight pause.

"Lord Langley, what is Operation Omega?"

Edward Langley is still silent but recovers.

"What did you ask?"

"What is Operation Omega?"

Edward Langley scowls, "How should I know? Get the men ready for battle. We still have to deal with the remaining imperial guards. Our reinforcement will take about an hour to get here. I want that bastard Odysseus to feel it when they hit him."

"Yes sir."

The other Purists look a little confused at what is going on but know that they have no other option if they are to survive.

**12 pm, December 25, 2020, Area 10, (8 pm, December 24, Pendragon time)**

As Isabelle and Carolina prepare for lunch, they receive news that Regina is arriving within hour so they have more food prepared. Much to their surprise, Regina does not arrive with an airship fleet. Instead she arrives on a small jet. Her arrival is quite discreet. Isabelle and Carolina go to the private airport to greet her. Regina steps out of the jet. She is accompanied by two very pregnant girls.

Isabelle gasps, "Gwendolyn, Victoria," Isabelle quickly runs up to her sisters who cower behind Regina.

"It's okay," Regina remarks, "It's our older sister, Belle. You two remember Belle, don't you?"

"Belle," both girls says quietly.

Isabelle stares at her half-sisters.

"What happened to them?" Isabelle asks as she hugs her sisters.

"There is a war going on, Belle. They were on the wrong side," Carolina responds wistfully, "Let's get them inside. The doctors can have a look at them."

Isabelle nods and helps her sisters into the car. During the ride to the palace, Carolina begins to think about the situation in the Homeland. As Duchess of Alberta, she has responsibility for most of central Area 2. She will have to trust that her uncle, the Duke or Oregon, and her husband. Isabelle is trying to comfort her sisters

**5 am, December 25, Rome (9 pm, Dec. 24 Pendragon time)**

Schniezel is dozing off looking over information coming in from Pendragon when he hears several alarms going off. Schniezel runs out to the window but does not see anything. He wonders what sets the alarm off. Kannon comes running into Schniezel's room.

"Your highness, the invasion has begun."

Schniezel sees a few knightmares dropping.

"I see three or four drones dropping. I do not believe that that constitutes an invasion unless Lelouch has found a way to make knightmares invisible."

Kannon looks at Schniezel in astonishment.

"Your highness, what are talking about? Here let me turn on your screen," Kannon turns on Schniezel's television on, "Do you see now? There must be thousands of knightmares falling over Europe."

Schniezel does not see anything on the screen, but he realizes what is going on.

"Geass."

Kannon is still confused.

"Geass?"

"Yes Kannon, those knightmares that landed must contain geass conductors. Lelouch must also have geass enhancers aboard his airship. We must find the geass conducting knightmares and destroy them."

"That will be difficult since our own geass cancellers have proven ineffective, and you are the only person not affected by geass."

Schniezel grimaces a little at that last comment. If GG is still with them, then she could help with this. Obviously a code bearing Cornelia would be of even more help.

"I must do what must be done. Prepare a cannon, knightmare, or some missiles. Something that can destroy a knightmare."

Schniezel notices that reports are starting to come in. They speak of unimaginable carnage and horror.

**9 am, December 25, Damascus (9 pm, Dec 24, Pendragon time)**

Cornelia has been watching Lelouch and company for over two hours. According to Cecile the machines that they are using are geass enhancers. Sitting together are Castor, Lelouch, Kallen, Sancia, and Lucretia. They have geass abilities that can affect the senses of others. Pollux, Alice, and Dalque are sitting nearby since they can use the geass enhancer to control knightmares. Anya, Euphie, Milly and Nagisa Chiba have geass abilities that can affect the feelings of others and are waiting for their chance to strike.

Evelyn and Lilicia are directing using the latter's geass. While the others are using various knightmares to transmit their geass, Evelyn and Lilicia can only use one knightmare at a time. Evelyn's absolute obedience geass is limited by the system. A strong will can resist her command given through the knightmare although the entire knightmare acts as Evelyn's eyes. Lilicia's geass is easier to use, but hard to take advantage of since it takes some time to process the information.

Obviously the first five are the most important since they are causing the EU to panic. Schniezel's geass may be able to counter it. The biggest concern is the mental strain that it causes on them. It is simply a matter of coordinating their actions.

"Remember guys," Lelouch states, "It is like old man Lombardi used to say 'If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?'"

"You idiot, who's keeping score in this game?" Kallen asks.

"I am," Lelouch answers, "He also used to say, 'Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time.'"

"I agree with that statement," Cornelia remarks, "So you had the old man for a class."

"Yes," Lelouch comments, "Here is one he used to say to Gino all the time. It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up. Ah those were good time."

"Concentrate on your images, big brother," Evelyn states, "Things are getting a little fuzzy on your end."

Lelouch smiles, "I know. I am doing it on purpose to freak them out. Not that it matters in a few hours Schniezel will find and destroy the geass transmitting knightmares so until them let's have some fun."

**11 pm, December 24, New York City (9 pm Pendragon time)**

Thorin is flying above New York in his aptly named Loki Carnage. Not even the worst case scenario calls for destruction on this scale. Something has caused the Purists to go insane in particular the older members. Thorin believes that Manhattan is free of rebels, but several explosions dissuade him of that notion. The unusual thing is that the explosions are not followed by any attacks. They appear to be isolated events. Even though the suicide attacks are taking out large numbers of rebels, they are also hurting Thorin's troops. Not to mention the civilian casualties. The New York media is going to have a field day.

"Liberal bastards," Thorin mutters under his breath.

Martial law will have to be declared to stop the rebellion from spreading to the people. The Purists cause will not garner many followers in a city like New York. Perhaps further south and west where there are fewer immigrants, the Purist revolt would work. However once the rebellion gets going, a mob mentality may take over in the poorer sections of the city.

"Lord Odinus, we have sealed up the poorer sections. We have begun to pass out medical supplies and food."

"Very well. Have the rebels' air and sea forces been taken out?"

"Yes sir, our large advantage there was helpful. It does appear that the situation on the ground is settling."

"At least for now," Thorin adds. He does not add, at least here. He wonders how things are going elsewhere."

**10 pm, December 24, Britannia City (9 pm Pendragon time)**

The madness of the situation is getting to Faramond. It appears that the Purists are nearly defeated when the suicide attacks begin. The situation is tenuous for almost an hour but given his numbers advantage, Faramond takes control of the situation. However the numbers are nothing to sneeze at. The rebels are almost all dead because the suicide attacks do as much damage to the rebels as they do to Faramond. Those that are not dead are gravely injured. Every rebel knightmares is destroyed. A few may be salvaged for parts. The worst part is that half of Faramond's force is dead or wounded. There is no way that he will be able to continue south. The only good news is that Faramond's knightmare and air forces are barely damaged. For the moment Faramond will have to use his mechanical forces to take control of the city.

**9:30 pm, December 24, Pendragon **

Odysseus curses the situation. It is not supposed to be this difficult. The operation is simple. The Purists rebel and kill the Emperor. Then Odysseus rides in with a large forces and crushes the rebellion. In fact everything is going according to the script until additional rebel forces arrive. These additional troops, apart from evening the odds, surrounded Odysseus own force. There are also several thousand Imperial guards led by Nonette in Saint Darwin Street to contend with. Guinevere is also hiding somewhere waiting for the moment to strike. Naturally she wants her contribution to the attack to mean something.

Gino and Dorothea are directing the battle from the former's airship.

"Damn these rebels," Dorothea scowls, "They planned this situation well."

Despite the fact that all five KOR or former KOR on their side attend West Point, Odysseus and Guinevere plan the strategy. Gino can easily poke holes in the plan. For one is requires that the Purists be idiots. Racists yes, but they are not idiots. Secondly it requires the Imperial guards to see their faction as allies. Nonette is not likely to do that. Neither is Lelouch's mother who is probably somewhere waiting to strike. Gino does not forget that she is a skilled knightmare pilot with connections to the Ashford Foundation. It would not take much prodding for someone to build a knightmare for her. At the moment the battle is three sided, but as it continues who knows who else will join in.

"We hold a slight numbers advantage now," Gino comments, "Perhaps we should press our advantage while we still can."

"Our numbers advantage goes away if Nonette decides to make a temporary truce with the Purists."

"I don't see why she would do that," Gino responds, "Although she only has half or third the knightmares that the other forces have, she probably has Legacy Command models. That means that our Gloucesters are practically worthless as frontline forces."

Dorothea grumbles, "I have been asking their highnesses to invest in knightmare research, but they would not listen."

Gino grimaces, "Don't worry I have invested my own money in such matters. We have a few of new knightmares and tanks."

"Tanks, what good can they do?" Dorothea asks incredulous.

"I will demonstrate it for you. These tanks are quite dangerous. They carry cannons that are more powerful than any knightmare can handle. Their compact shape makes their blaze luminous very effective. They also have flight capabilities that allow them to change direction quickly."

Dorothea does not believe Gino, but since he is Knight of Three and she is Knight of Four, she has no choice. The new knightmares and planes are what she really wants to see in action.

The rumors of suicide attacks by some of the rebels keep Gino and Dorothea from sending their own troops in. However those incidents have lessened. They wonder what is going on in the minds of the rebels.

Gino notes the entrance into the battle of Guinevere and Conrad's small force. Given the numbers already involved (about 500,000 soldiers); her two thousand are like a mosquito bite. Unless they are cyborgs which could give them an advantage.

Dorothea notices the entrance of a new force into the battle.

"What the hell are those?" she asks.

Gino looks at the new entrants on a monitor. The knightmares look like a cross of the Lancelot and Legacy Command Models.

"They must be a new type of Legacy Command Models," Gino responds and thinks for a few moments, "They must be with Empress vi Britannia."

Dorothea nods wondering how this event will affect the battle.

* * *

Odysseus makes it a point to get to Britannia Palace as quickly as possible. It is not an easy task since Gino and Dorothea hold back their personal troops. Still Odysseus orders them out to combat with the Imperial guard. Once inside Odysseus makes his way to the throne room. The situation inside the palace is complete chaos, but Odysseus knows that his presence here will turn the situation to his favor. His own forces are quickly moving into the palace as Nonette is sending all her force out to the battle. With the rebel reinforcements, it is hard to tell who is actually winning. To add to the confusion Guinevere and Marianne vi Britannia have entered the conflict with their own personal troops. The Emperor's body must be found quickly so that Odysseus can make the announcement. Odysseus sits on the throne waiting for things to settle down.

"The only way that you will get to sit on that throne is over my dead body!"

Odysseus's face turns pale as he turns to face the voice. The Emperor is standing there tossing aside Odysseus's bodyguards, their necks broken. Odysseus is too scared to move.

"I would rather have Euphemia and her misguided ideals on that throne than you, you spineless piece of shit. At least she has the strength and courage to meet me face to face for her ideals."

The Emperor picks a sword up from the floor and charges at Odysseus who is still too stunned to move.

However Odysseus is saved by a series of events that he cannot explain. Several explosions rock the palace as someone new joins the battle. In addition several Purists rebels make it to the throne room. Seeing the Emperor, they charge him immediately, but the same explosions that take out the Emperor, take them out. Odysseus moves quickly because the explosions begin to engulf the throne room.

* * *

Luciano and Aphrodite are aboard the Tepes as the airship nears Pendragon from the south. There are minor skirmishes in the area, but the majority of the fighting is taking place in the north or the city proper. They have a clear view of Saint Darwin Street. They can see smoke rising from the various palaces. The battle is a quagmire. Everywhere there are small skirmishes between Purists, Odysseus, and others. The former two have the largest forces, but Nonette and the Imperial guards are making things interesting. There also appear to be some smaller forces involved as well. Luciano notices quite a few Legacy Command models out there including some that are made along a different design.

Luciano looks back at the knightmare behind him.

"What do you think they will think of these bastards?" he asks.

"I think they will be quite afraid of them," Aphrodite answers, "Are you sure about your selections? These knightmares are the most high spec mass production models."

Luciano nods, "I know. These guys know what to expect out there."

Aphrodite looks at the Supremacy Command Models. Not quite ninth generation knightmares, they are true eighth generation knightmares based on the Titan Mk IV and the Titan Mirage. Aphrodite assumes that the Legacy knightmares are also improved upon their original design. She suspects that all two thousand knightmares are specifically tailored for Luciano's force. Having spent some time around Lloyd and Cecile, Aphrodite believes that they would accept the challenge of making even minor changes to knightmares for people they have never met.

She wonders what the rest of Luciano's men, the ones that are left behind, are going to do. She put those thoughts out of her hear because they are nearing the disembarking point. Despite her newer stronger body, Aphrodite will stay aboard the airship and command the force. She is a much better strategist than Luciano who is a better fighter. Aphrodite finds it amusing that the fact that Luciano selected Lelouch for his team at West Point will probably go on his gravestone as his greatest achievement. It will probably say something like: I selected the little bastard when everyone else thought he was a spoiled brat. Oh I picked that little prick Weinberg too.

Aphrodite looks down at the battle. Although having better knightmares, they are still outnumbered two to one. Their only advantage is that the others have been fighting for over two hours. Thus their knightmare and other vehicle numbers are lessened. Aphrodite will attempt to contact Nonette and Marianne to arrange a temporary alliance. The current battle proves that Luciano's actions of the past year have merit. If he does not invade Africa, then Odysseus has more allies and troops to call upon. The attack on Aphrodite by Conrad also helps the situation as does Lelouch gathering troops to invade Europe as the Emperor orders.

"Lady Venitus, Empress Marianne and Lady Enngream are on the line."

Aphrodite nods and turns on her communicator.

"As you can see, Aphrodite, I am quite busy," Nonette grumbles.

"Fine, I will make this short. I would like to suggest an alliance between our groups. As you can tell by our knightmares, we have been sent here by his highness Prince Lelouch to assist in taking down these rebel forces. I will only mention Luciano's efforts to stop rebelling royals in Africa."

"Very well," Marianne responds, "For the moment we will form an alliance," Marianne wonders if Lelouch is coming up behind this small force that Luciano brings. Marianne has her doubts about Charles's theory about Lelouch coming to attack as well. She decides that such thoughts are better saved for after the battle, "I believe that you are the best strategist amongst us, Lady Venitus. You can set a strategy for us, but do it quickly."

Aphrodite smiles and nods. Naturally she plans for something like this. She sends her strategy to the others.

"Our knightmares are superior so we should take advantage of that fact," Aphrodite comments, "We can pick off these smaller forces on the edge in particular this one that appears to be led by Guinevere."

"That sounds reasonable," Marianne states, "Let's go."

**12:30 pm, mountains near Lhasa, Tibet, Area 24 (9:30 pm Pendragon time)**

Bismarck is slowly making his way through the mountains to where it is believed that Lelouch is hiding the other code bearers. The only information they have is provided by VV so there is really nothing that Bismarck can do. Bismarck enters a cave that appears to be inhabited, however he does not see any code bearers, Bismarck begins to rummage through the room when he hears footsteps.

"You did come," Suzaku states, "I guess I owe Nunners some money."

"Suzaku Kururugi," Bismarck spits out, "So this is a trap."

"Basically," Suzaku responds, "Things are probably getting dangerous for the emperor at the moment, and there is nothing you can do for him."

Suzaku charges Bismarck punching at him furiously. Bismarck is able to deflect most of the blows, but several land. Bismarck is pushed back. He waits for Suzaku swing. Bismarck catches Suzaku along his forearm and attempts to injure his arm, but Suzaku manages to flip and land on his feet. Upon landing Suzaku immediately leaps into the air attacking Bismarck with kicks. Bismarck reaches for his sword, but Suzaku kicks it back in to its sheath. Suzaku begins to punch away at Bismarck's face.

Luckily for the Knight of One, one of those punches knocks the eye patch off Bismarck's eye. Immediately his geass begins to work, and he responds without thinking about it. Suddenly the battle changes because Bismarck is able to avoid Suzaku's blows and respond with his own attacks. Bismarck draws his sword forcing Suzaku to draw a weapon of his own.

Suzaku moves into to attack, but Bismarck is able dodge all his attacks. Suzaku gets an uneasy feeling about this battle. His instinct is to run away from this battle. There is really not reason for him to stay now other than pride.

Bismarck senses Suzaku's uneasiness and decides to attack. Nothing Suzaku does works against Bismarck. Suddenly Suzaku loses his balance, and he tumbles to the ground. Bismarck slashes Suzaku's sword away. Bismarck steps on Suzaku and raises his sword above his head.

"You should have stopped when you had the chance," Bismarck declares.

Suzaku cannot believe that this is it. His life quickly flashes through his eyes. He begins to think of all the things he will not get to do. Have kids with Nunnally. Be a father to his daughter. Grow old at Nunnally's side.

"I failed you, Nunners," Suzaku says closing his eyes as Bismarck begins to lower his sword.

"Get up and fight you idiot!"

Suzaku clearly hears Nunnally's voice in his mind. Suzaku lifts his legs pushing Bismarck over him. Suzaku turns to avoid Bismarck's sword. Suzaku wipes the blood from his mouth. Suzaku calmly retrieves his sword.

"Why don't we do this one more time?" Suzaku requests.

Bismarck grimaces as Suzaku prepares to charge once more. Bismarck sees Suzaku's movements through his geass when suddenly Suzaku stops changing directions and comes straight ahead.

"Charging straight ahead," Bismarck scoffs, "What an idiot."

Suzaku's swing pushes Bismarck back. Suzaku continues to swing. Since his attacks are coming straight at Bismarck, the Knight of One cannot avoid being hit. Bismarck is pushed against the wall. Suzaku is breathing hard as he prepares for the final blow. Bismarck takes advantage of the lull and hacks down at Suzaku. However Suzaku blocks the strike and pushes Bismarck back to the wall. Bismarck head butts Suzaku and rolls away from the wall. Suzaku quickly recovers, but Bismarck is moving stealthily towards the cave entrance.

"Perhaps we should finish this at a later time," Bismarck says as he walks out of the cave.

There is lots of commotion outside. Bismarck assumes that it is Jeremiah coming to capture him so he quickly makes his exit. Inside the cave Suzaku collapses from his injuries.

Several soldiers come into the cave to check up on Suzaku.

"General Soresi, he is alive but severely injured."

"Get some medical help in here," Kewell commands, "I doubt we will be able to find Lord Waldstein out there."

Suzaku dozes off as they take him aboard the medical airship.

**10 pm, December 24, Pendragon **

Nina is observing the battle from her research station west of Pendragon. Her team is finished with the FLEIA counter weapon. Once things settle down, they will begin working on the FLEIA itself. Nina begins to walk around the facility. Most everyone is working on weapon systems for the upcoming war. Since Nina's theory has been proven, there is just the matter of gathering the necessary materials.

Nina hears some hushed voices down the hall. Standing there are two completely out of place men. She slightly recognizes them. They appear to be arguing about something. They look and see Nina. After a few seconds, they begin to walk in her direction. Nina remembers where she has seen the two men.

"You're those two guys."

"See I told you she would recognize us."

"I guess you were right. She looks kind of cute."

"We should probably introduce ourselves."

"I think you're right."

Both men turn to face Nina.

"James Trevor Goodley."

"Anthony Michael Sanderson, at your service my lady."

"Did Lelouch you to get me?" Nina asks nervously.

"Actually we are here at the request of Princess Milly."

"Technically Lelouch doesn't even know that we are here."

Nina sighs in relief and joy at the fact that Milly remembers her.

"Are you two idiots done? The battle out there is getting crazy. Is this the target?"

Nina turns to face the person speaking. She instantly recognizes him as Kallen's brother. This makes Nina a bit nervous since Kallen's brother is supposed to be an enemy of Lelouch.

"I know that guy looks a little bit shady, but he's on our side now," Sanderson says to comfort Nina.

"Did Milly really send you guys?" Nina asks, "What do you mean that Lelouch technically does not know that you are here?

"Of course Milly sent us. I mean Lelouch didn't send us, but he probably figured it out. Now let's get moving."

"Shouldn't you guys set bombs here or something?"

"I think they have surprise for this place so we better get out of here," Naoto responds.

Naoto leads them out of the facility where a small airship is located. Nina is not surprised that no one bothers trying to stop them. Anyone that can fight will be out in the battle. By the look of her companions, Nina is not sure that anyone could stop them. She notices that the airship is one of Guinevere's airships.

"How did you steal an airship?" she asks.

"Oh we didn't steal it," Sanderson replies.

"We made it," Goodley states. He notices Nina's confusion and continues, "Where do you think these bastards got their knightmares plan from?"

It only takes Nina a moment to realize what he is saying.

"Are you saying that Lelouch let them steal his knightmare plans, and then traced the hack back to get into their database?"

"Something like that. Hopefully we will be able to make it out of here safely. If not, we have a few friends high above that will have to make an appearance."

An hour later they are well away from Pendragon. Sanderson and Goodley are upset that Naoto does not let them get off at Las Vegas.

Nina sighs in relief and asks, "Where are we going?"

"Boise, it is a city within the Duchy of Oregon," Naoto responds, "and my father owns property nearby."

Nina notes that Naoto's tone and words indicate that his father is alive.

Naoto continues, "There our airship will get a makeover. From there we will make our way north to Vancouver Island which has been converted to a military outpost. After that on to Tokyo and Beijing. By the time we arrive things will be settled."

Nina nods and goes to the room that is provided for her. After a bath, she realizes that she is very tired. As she lies down to sleep, she decides that if Milly is happy with Lelouch taking over the world, she will be too.

**7 am, December 25, Rome (11 pm, Dec. 24 Pendragon time)**

Schniezel el Britannia has never felt more useless in his life. Nothing that he tries works. He is able to use his geass to convince a few to help him destroy Lelouch's geass conducting drones. The problem is that a few of Lelouch's drones do attack certain strategic sites. Things would be over quickly if Schniezel is more proficient with a knightmare. Schniezel sits in a knightmare and watches his people continue to panic. In a very uncharacteristic action, he slams his fist against the knightmare's console. Schniezel keeps slamming the console.

Suddenly what can only be described as a miracle happens. Schniezel accidentally fires some missiles. Nobody is able to tell if the geass induced visions go away before Schniezel fires the missiles or after. Not that it matters since the event makes it obvious that Lelouch is the enemy of Europe. Schniezel will avenge the humiliation he receives today. Schniezel goes over to a still stunned Kannon.

"Kannon, have the Damocles moved here. We shall begin immediately."

**11 am, December 25, Damascus (11 pm, Pendragon time)**

Lelouch and company are sitting there a little dazed. Lelouch is about change the nature of the operation when everything goes away. Their geasses no longer work.

"What happened?" Evelyn asks, "Everything is gone."

"Everybody can take a break," Lelouch states, "I will stay here and look things over."

Lelouch presses the drones' self destruct button. It is one last act to cause panic in Europe. He has an idea of what could be going on. However it is not something that he wants to think about. Lelouch has to begin planning his next move. The situation is far from settled. There is still so much to do.

**11 pm, December 24, Pendragon **

Charles is not pleased with the situation. There is still no word from Bismarck, and Lelouch is not here. He does not care about the meaningless battle being fought by fools above. He has a plan that is more important. He will see that his plan is completed no matter the cost. Charles looks up and notices that he has fallen through the palace's floor into the secret rooms underneath.

"That coward Odysseus is probably gone from the throne room."

Not that there is much of a throne room left or even palace. Charles notes that the Purists who come into the throne room attack him rather than Odysseus who betrays them. It shows who they consider the more dangerous opponent. There are several explosions which continue to rock the palace. Charles tries to avoid failing debris, but a large piece hits him on the back. Charles is stuck under debris trying to get up.

"You are such a child, Charles," VV says walking towards his twin brother, "Are you satisfied with your situation?"

Charles glares at VV as he tries to get out from under the debris. VV walks away towards the Pendragon Thought Elevator. The debris from above keeps falling. A piece falls and hits VV. Although he cannot be killed, his small body is a disadvantage in the current situation. VV begins to doze off as Charles manages to get out from under the debris.

Charles looks at his hand as a red mark begins to take form. A part of Charles feels saddened that things have to go like this.

"Do not worry brother. Once this is over, we can be together forever."

Charles takes VV's body and heads for the lower levels of the palace where the Thought Elevator is located. He will have to contact Marianne and Bismarck to come up with a new strategy.

**12 pm, December 25, Damascus (12 am, Pendragon time)**

Lelouch sends everyone off to lunch. He sits in the secret room. Cornelia wonders if the only purpose of this room is to enhance geass abilities. That does not sound like something Lelouch would do. This room must have another purpose. Something that is secretive. Cornelia notices that the word Scooter is in big letters above Lelouch's console. However the letters are all capitalized.

"Lelouch, I have been meaning to ask about the Scooter system."

"You are saying it wrong," Lelouch remarks, "It is S.C.O.O.T.E.R."

Cornelia does not notice a difference between how she says it to how he says it. Villetta enters the room carrying something in a cloth. It is Lelouch's other MVS. He stands as he takes it.

"Strategic Coordinated Orbiting Objects Tumbling Earthbound Rapidly. That is what it means," Lelouch states as he holds the MVS in the air.

He slides it into a slot and turns it. The room begins a slight transformation that puts Lelouch in the center. Another section of the room opens up revealing several people working on something. Cecile is with them. Cornelia notes that she has not seen the blue haired scientist all morning. A map of the world is on a screen above Lelouch's console. Several locations are highlighted. The word FLEIA is shown over Pendragon, Greenland, and Omsk.

Lelouch grins, "Now then let's begin round two."

* * *

Author's note: Basically when VV lost his code, all those that gain a geass from him, lose it. The list includes Lelouch, Kallen, Evelyn, Castor, Pollux, Euphie, and Anya.

Lelouch is the person that calls the Purist's leader and says Omega. All of the old Purists are under the influence of Lelouch's absolute obedience geass. They are the ones that commit suicide.

Below is a listing of the population of the world at the time of this chapter. The figures are taken from the 1990's in our world. Code Geass takes place in the mid-1960's. At least in this story it is a world where neither World War I nor II take place. Smaller wars take their place. This means that millions of young men are not lost to war and are therefore available to procreate. While Britannia treats conquered peoples harshly (for the most part), displaced European immigrants are basically accepted into society at least during the early years of the nation. The reason for this is because Britannians are essentially displaced Europeans themselves. There is another reason for what would be a population boom. Over time more Areas is considered to be a part of Britannia as the people become assimilated with the culture. At this point all of North and South America can be considered Britannian. The other factor is that rather than being colonized Africa is helped by the EU to modernize. So rather than dozens of arbitrarily made up countries, there are several large unions/federations. Faster advanaces in technology improve the lives of people and make wars end quicker.

Someone asked for the listing of the participants in battles. Those are below the population figures. To figure out the number of soldiers, I figured that about one percent of the population are in the military. This includes all support, research, and reserve personnel. For a nation such as Britannia the figure is probably a little higher so I figure about two percent of the population in the military. This means that 14.8 million people from North and South America are in the Britannian military. For this particular situation Honorary Britannians do not matter. They will matter later on since Lelouch recruits heavily amongst them. The actual number of people fighting will change as civilians also get involved.

Population of the world (in millions)

5482.33, total world population  
435.9, North America Areas 1-5, 7  
304.5, South America Area 6, 8  
681.7, Africa, Areas 14, 15, 18, 19, 20  
390.5, West Asia, Area 21, 26  
1,450, North Asia, Areas 22, 23, 24  
1,500, South Asia, Areas 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 25,  
10, Oceania Areas 9, 13,

692.13 Europe  
17.6 Australia

**Battle of New York (city population 7.2 million)**

Purist Faction: 75,000 soldiers, 750 knightmares (250 Sutherlands, 250 Gloucesters, 250 Ios) 20 airplanes, 2 airships 3 warships (3 destroyers)  
casualties: 70,000 dead, 5000 wounded, 750 knightmares

Karine and Thorin: 180,000 soldiers, 1750 knightmares (1000 Gloucester, 750 Vincents), 300 airplanes, 20 airships, 8 warships (2 mega battleships, 5 battleships, 1 destroyer), Loki Carnage  
casualties: 45,000 dead, 25,000 wounded, 350 knightmares (330 Gloucesters, 20 Vincents), 2 airplanes, 1 airship

Civilian casualties: 5500 dead, 250,000 wounded

**Battle of Britannia City (city population 8.4 million)**

Purist Faction: 100,000 soldiers, 1000 knightmares (200 Sutherlands, 450 Gloucesters, 350 Ios)  
casualties 80,000 dead, 20,000 wounded, 1000 knightmares.

Faramond and Monica: 200,000 soldiers, 7000 knightmares (500 Ios, 750 Gloucesters, 1000 Vincents, 1250 Bors), 1000 tanks, 1000 airplanes, 150 airships, Percival, Andarta Fire  
casualties 30,000 dead, 75,000 wounded, 200 knightmares (150 Ios, 50 Gloucesters), 10 airplanes, 1 airship

Civilian casualties: 35,000 dead, 150,000 wounded

**Battle of Pendragon (city population 9.2 million)**

Purist faction 200,000 soldiers, 5000 knightmares (2000 Gloucester, 2000 Vincents, 1000 Bors), 800 airplanes, 150 airships  
Casualties: 50,000 dead, 135,000 wounded, 3000 knightmares (2000 Gloucester, 700 Vincents, 300 Bors), 750 airplanes, 130 airships

Odysseus, Gino, and Dorothea: 250,000 soldiers, 6,200 knightmares (1500 Gloucesters, 2500 Vincents, 2000 Bors, 200 Legacy command models), 500 tanks, 1000 airplanes, 200 airships, Tristan Divider, Pelleas Death  
Casualties: 35,00 dead, 55,000 wounded, 1000 knightmares (700 Gloucesters, 250 Vincents), 20 tanks, 300 airplanes, 20 airships

Imperial royal guard/Nonette: 30,000 soldiers, 2000 Legacy command model knightmares, Epona Carriage  
Casualties: 2,000 dead, 1000 wounded, 100 knightmares

Guinevere, Conrad: 2000 soldiers, 1000 Vincents, Odin  
Casualties: 700 dead, 300 wounded, 900 knightmares

Marianne vi Britannia: 1000 soldiers, 1000 Ashford style Legacy command Models  
Casualties: 50 dead, 100 wounded, 150 knightmares

Luciano, Aphrodite: 2000 soldiers, 1800 Legacy command model Knightmares, 200 Supremacy command models, Venus Amore, Vlad Taranis  
Casualties: 200 wounded, 200 Legacy

Civilians casualties: 15,000 dead, 150,000 wounded


	94. The Skies of SCOOTER

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Russian is in italics_

If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one.

Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

J. R. Oppenheimer, taken from the Bhagavad Gītā

...

Schnizeltron: Now we will activate the ultimate weapon. One that will wipe out Waldobot Prime and his foolish flesh collaborators.

Vampiro: What is this weapon you speak of?

Schnizeltron: The ultimate weapon that hangs above like a sword waiting to strike.

Nunners: Too bad we're here to stop you.

Vampiro: Foolish flesh creature, what can you do?

Nunners: You can't use your stupid weapon if my big brother shoots it down. And Sayo-chan is freeing Waldobot and Ginobot as we speak.

Converters ™  
Season 6 episode 26 (series finale, "Sword of Damocles")  
C & P Productions  
LL Entertainment Company  
2023 ATB

**12 am, December 25, Pendragon**

Marianne is observing the flow of the battle. Perhaps her entrance coupled with Luciano's does more harm than good. It adds a bit to the confusion since many of the soldiers that serve Odysseus are under the impression that they are trying to save the emperor. Marianne notices that Luciano and Nonette are both attacking the Purist almost exclusively. Marianne decides to attack Guinevere's small force. If not for Conrad, Marianne would have finished it off completely and perhaps captured Guinevere. As things stand, Guinevere's force is basically gone.

Marianne does not like how things look over at the palace. Despite Nonette's best efforts, both Odysseus and the Purists are able to get people into the palace. At the moment it is unknown who destroys the palace. There also is not word from Charles. This does not surprise Marianne. Charles expects Bismarck to capture the code bearers. He also expects Lelouch to come and attack Pendragon. Marianne is not sure about the former happening because she does not trust VV. The latter is even less likely to happen. It makes very little sense for Lelouch to attack Pendragon at the moment. Why would he risk everything he has to join the insane battle here?

Marianne believes the Ragnarok plan, but she understands that most people care about the current world. For most people the current world is the only possible world. They see nothing beyond it. For this reason Marianne knows that the world must be subjugated before Ragnarok can even be attempted. However Charles's attitude makes this impossible now. They will have to work in the shadows to accomplish their goals.

"Nonette, perhaps it is time to withdraw our troops to the palace."

"Your highness, wouldn't it make more sense to leave the city completely?"

Marianne considers Nonette's suggestion. It makes sense since California is basically imperial territory. With Lelouch being quite popular in the region, Marianne should have very few problems gathering aid to her cause.

"Very well, Nonette. Let's move west. Lord Ashford is waiting for us in the coastal mountains south of Monterey. If Charles is still alive, he will head in that direction."

Nonette begins to give the order to retreat. She knows that area well having used it as a knightmare base in the past. The Santa Lucia Mountains are the location where Lelouch builds the Gloucester. Nonette makes one last move to destabilize the situation.

"This is Nonette Enngream, Knight of Six, servant of the true emperor Charles zi Britannia. We gave all been deceived. The Purist attacks of the past few hours have all been a plot by Odysseus eu Britannia to fool the Britannian people into thinking that he is a hero. But he is in fact a charlatan that is not worthy of the royal blood that runs through his veins," Nonette pauses to let her words sink in, "I ask all those that serve the emperor, not that truly serve Britannia to rise up against the usurpers. We, the loyal Knights of the Round and imperial guard, will continue to do our part."

Luciano smirks at Nonette's speech. He does his part to make sure that Nonette's speech goes out not just to the combatants but to all of Britannia. Luciano decides that it would be a good idea to cover Nonette's retreat. He figures he owes her and Marianne that much. He still has to figure out where to head. He assumes that Marianne will head to the coastal ranges north of Los Angeles. The area is loyal to Lelouch and would by extension to loyal to his mother. The region is one where Lelouch's homeland operations are headquartered. However it is also very loyal to Britannia so Lelouch would not have them openly rebel.

There is news that Karine is putting down a similar rebellion in New York City, and that Faramond is doing the same in Britannia City. Karine's influence in the east will spread west to Chicago and south to Baltimore. She should have the east coast under control within a week. Karine is popular amongst the conservative media. Faramond is smart enough to station troops in the major cities throughout Area 3. This means that retreating south or east is not a good idea. Although the central portion of the homeland is still up for grabs, the so called bread basket of Britannia. Luciano knows that Lelouch will be upset if he messes with a bunch of farmers. This leaves Luciano with two options. The first one is to head west towards San Diego where he will be sandwiched between Marianne and Faramond. The second option is to head north. Because of his actions over the last year, Luciano will not be greeted with open arms, but at least the people will are pro-Lelouch.

"Let's head north," Luciano states.

Aphrodite is out in her knightmare.

"I though we should head west with Nonette."

Luciano shakes his head.

"That's not a good idea. Lelouch's mom will quickly take over that area. Up north Lelouch has some friends. His wife is Duchess of Alberta. Her uncle is Duke of Oregon. At least we will be able to re-supply there in case we have to go all the way to Alaska."

"That doesn't sound too appealing at this time of year," Aphrodite comments with shudder.

"Well at least they will be friendly up there. I think Carter and Wiggins are there. But who knows, he probably has the entire squad up there freezing their asses off."

Aphrodite nods and begins giving orders for their retreat.

**12 pm, December 25, Damascus (12 am, Pendragon time)**

"Loading targeting program."

"Give me primary and secondary targets."

"Targets are being set."

"Secondary filters are activated."

"Location finding analysis is complete. The homing systems are activated."

"Locating ground beacons."

Cornelia looks on as Lelouch's people continue working and saying things that she does not understand.

"Give me target one."

A large airship shows up against a completely white background.

"Good, now give me target two."

This time a mass of troops and machinery shows up against a white background.

"Finally, target three."

A large warehouse or factory shows up. In the background Cornelia can make out Pendragon.

"Lelouch, is that Pendragon?"

Lelouch nods, "If you want to see what is going on, have someone take you to the other drone control room and bring it up on a monitor. Although the fighting is probably dying down by now," Lelouch turns his attention back to the monitors, "Can we target Britannia City and New York harbor?"

"We are working on it, your highness. Secondary target system loading."

"Secondary targets are locked on."

Statues of the Spirit of Britannia in New York harbor and Britannia City show up. Cornelia gasps when she realizes that Lelouch is capable of hitting targets around the world.

"What about the statue of the old man?" Lelouch asks.

"It's already down. It seems like someone in Pendragon had the same idea."

"I guess I shouldn't have given Luciano awesome pawsome super duper powered up knightmares, as Euphie would say."

"All targets are locked on. We have taken into account weather conditions."

"All flights in Areas One through Five have been cancelled so there is no interference there."

"The weather appears to be clear."

"What is our next course of action?"

Lelouch answers with one word.

"Fire."

**4:30 am, December 25, Greenland (12:30 am, Pendragon time)**

Merlin Suzerain is glad that knightmares have weather combating equipment. He feels some sympathy for the crew on the ground. They have been above their weather controlled base for an hour helping prepare Schniezel's airship. They begin their work about four hours ago after the rebellion in Britannia begins. It is assumed that Greenland will be a target for Odysseus's faction. Merlin hopes that after this task is complete that he gets a few days off. He knows about the supposed attack of Rome that occurred a few hours ago. Despite it being contrary to his nature, Schniezel will order an attack against Lelouch. In fact such an attack may already be taking place in Russia.

"Lord Suzerain, things appear to be going well out here," Salzaar Gluten states, "Why don't you return to the airship? You must be tired."

Merlin has to agree with the Knight of Twelve.

"I am going back to my airship. The Damocles looks ready to go."

"As you wish, I shall board the Damocles to ensure that everything goes according to plan."

Merlin smiles at the young Knight's enthusiasm. Merlin wishes that Salacia would have come on this trip. Greenland is the perfect setting for the self proclaimed Ice Princess. Merlin has always wanted to crack through her defenses. Perhaps when this is all done, Merlin will get his wish. As Merlin flies towards his airship, he sees several objects flying through the air. From their trajectory and speed, he can tell that they are not friendly.

"Holy shit!" Merlin screams as he turns on his communicator, "Evacuate the Damocles. All personnel evacuate the Damocles."

The first of the projectiles slams into the ground killing everyone on the surface. It is quickly followed by several others. A few airships and knightmares are unlucky enough to be in the path of the missiles. The missiles tear through them as if they are paper. However the first wave of missiles is camouflage for the main attraction. An inconspicuous looking missile heads straight for the Damocles. Merlin immediately knows what it is. Within seconds, several years of hard work and trillions of pounds of investment are wiped out by the very same weapon.

Despite the fact that it is dark, Merlin can see the void caused by the FLEIA. Luckily Salzaar is out of the FLEIA's range, but his knightmare is flung to the ground.

"Lord Suzerain, there appears to be several blackouts. Several systems are failing throughout the airship fleet and in the base below."

"As long as we have life support systems, everything else is secondary. Get crews down on the ground to check for survivors."

Merlin flies over the former location of the Damocles. This is what war has become. With the simple push of a button several hundred lose their lives. In the end millions will have to die for sake of a peaceful world. Merlin finds Salzaar's knightmare. It appears that this FLEIA is equipped with EMP. From the little that Merlin knows about the technology, the FLEIA cannot produce an EMP because of the method used in the explosion. That means either Lelouch figures out a way to do it or one of the other missiles comes equipped with EMP. Either way Merlin will have to be the one to inform Schniezel about this. Not that Schniezel does not have informants amongst Merlin's troops.

**2:30 pm, December 25, Omsk (12:30 am, Pendragon time)**

Alexander Romanov is preparing to lead a Russian force east to retake Siberia. To him and his followers, this invasion will resurrect the Russian Empire. For almost half a century Russia has been submissive to the EU but no more. On this day they will make history.

"_My fellow countrymen, on this day we restore the motherland."_

The cheers begin to grow as Alexander continues his speech. As his name indicates he is the grandson of the last Russian emperor. If he does not rule over a restored Russian Empire, then perhaps his son, Michael, will.

Today is a day of celebration. Tomorrow they will head east to meet the Britannian invaders. It might be a little hard to believe, but Siberia has been under Britannian control for over two years. Many in the region may begin to think of Britannia as their master, but soon the Russian legions will convince them otherwise.

"_My lord Romanov, I did not know that you had a fireworks display planned."_

Alexander looks up from his maps and wonders what is going on outside. One of his other subordinates could have planned this. However whatever is flying in the sky appears to be too high for fireworks. Not to mention that they are coming from the wrong direction.

These are the last thoughts Alexander Romanov has before a FLEIA engulfs Omsk for the second time in its history. The region is completely obliterated by missiles from space.

**2:30 am, December 25, New York, (12:30 am, Pendragon time)**

As the night turns into morning, Thorin begins to tire. Karine seems reinvigorated by the victory although there are still some rebels on Staten Island. Of course the nap that she took a few hours ago may have something to do with it. When it appears that the Purists are going down, Karine makes a public appearance and then takes a nap. Still it is not like she sleeps for very long. She is already planning out her morning that includes trips to Boston and Toronto. From there she plans on heading west for Chicago while some of her people go south to Baltimore and Atlanta.

Thorin is not sure how he feels about Karine working to undermine Odysseus. The Emperor is not the toughest opponent out there. Lelouch and Schniezel are much more dangerous. As Thorin flies his knightmare back to his airship, he sees objects flying high above. They appear to be too high to be anything from this battle. Whatever the objects are, they appear to be following rapidly.

"Oh shit, those things are missiles."

The first of the missiles is heading for the harbor. It destroys the statue of the Spirit of Britannia. It is followed by a few more that ensure that the statue is completely destroyed. Dozens more appear to be heading towards different parts of the city. Thorin knows that there is very little that can be done at this point. The missiles explode above the city blanketing the city with a bright light. Then everything begins to go dark.

"What the fuck was that?" Thorin asks looking around as everything on the ground begins to go dark.

"Lord Odinus, systems are failing everywhere. Most of our airships managed to avoid that blast?"

Thorin can hear the chattering amongst his men as discuss what just happened.

"Everyone shut up!" Thorin yells, "Make sure that the princess is on a fully functioning airship. Send groups, I repeat send groups down to see what services are working."

Thorin's worst fear is that along with losing electricity, the city will also lose heating. However his fears are assuaged when light begin to come alive once more. He wonders if the missiles hit the electrical system forcing the backup system to activate. Thorin realizes that he is going to spend the night investigating what just happened.

**1:45 am, December 25, New York, (12:45 am, Pendragon time)**

Monica Kruszewski is on the ground coordinating the clean-up efforts. The carnage is like none ever seen. There are over one hundred thousand dead and over two hundred thousand wounded. The odd thing is the only dead are Britannians. Britannia City's medical facilities are completely overwhelmed. Those that are not in critical condition are sent to nearby cities.

For the moment Faramond's royal guard is surrounding the viceroy's palace where he is staying. Once the sun rises the situation will be easier to assess. It seems that Karine has control of New York, but Pendragon is still a mess. The situation there is hard to explain. The hope is that Nonette would lead the remaining members of the Imperial Guard against the Purists. However she does not. Nonette renounces both sides of the battle. She is joined by two surprise entrants to the battle, Marianne and Luciano.

Taking into account Lelouch's stance on Numbers, it would not make sense for Marianne and Luciano to side with the Purists as part of a larger plot by Lelouch. Although that is how Odysseus will probably spin it. Lelouch is known as a manipulator so anything is possible. There is still the matter of the Emperor's body. It has not been found. It will probably be several hours until a proper search of the palace can be made.

Despite all that is going on, Monica has more pressing concerns. There is still so much to do here. She suspects that it is part of Odysseus's plan. With Karine in New York and Faramond in Britannia City, there is no one to oppose Odysseus in Pendragon.

The plan may backfire because Karine is likely to find support on the east coast. That may only be the start because the situation in Britannia City effectively cuts off Area 6 from Pendragon.

As Monica begins to succumb to exhaustion, she hears several explosions.

"That sound is coming from nearby."

Several soldiers burst into Monica's temporary office

"Lady Kruszewski, there are missiles falling all around the palace. We must get his highness out of here."

Faramond walks out wearing his brand new Converters ™ pajamas. Just because there is a war going, that does not mean the Castor and Pollux cannot send their favorite nephew their latest line of sleepwear. Milly sends Monica some lingerie. In her mind that is a gift for Faramond as well.

"Are those missile attacks out there?" Faramond asks.

"Yes, the attacks seem to be aimed at the palace."

Several more soldiers burst into the room.

"Your highness, the Spirit of Britannia has been destroyed."

Faramond looks out a window and notices that the giant statue in the courtyard is no more.

"Are the other statues throughout the city gone as well?"

"It appears so your highness."

Suddenly all the power begins to goes out.

The soldiers begin to scurry around.

Faramond yawns, "Well since the power is out, I believe I will continue my nap. Monica, would you care to join me?"

"Your highness, if the power is out throughout the city, the people will be in a panic," Monica responds.

"You have a point. But if that was an EMP, then there is very little we can do. The only saving grace would be if the missile attacked the primary systems directly. Then the secondary systems could react. If the entire city was hit, then nothing will work. However given that our laptops and communicators are still on, I believe that we will be fine. If not remember that the enemy is also in the dark."

The electricity begins to closely come back to life.

"Just as I predicted. Perhaps it was just my uncle telling us to go to sleep because the next few weeks will be long and tiring."

With that, Faramond goes back to his room. Monica follows after assigning tasks for the night.

**12:45 am, December 25, Pendragon**

Guinevere's hope is that Odysseus, Nonette, and the Purists knock each other out so that her small force can make its way towards the palace. However Odysseus knows the incentive for taking the palace early in the conflict. The Purists somehow muster enough soldiers to fight evenly with Odysseus. Also Nonette is joined by Marianne vi Britannia and Luciano Bradley. Although they are not enough to win the battle, their aim seems to be to stop Guinevere from having an effect on the battle. Guinevere overhears her people thinking of ways to spin this to their advantage. Not that it will actually help their situation.

There is word that Marianne and Nonette are retreating towards California. There they will probably gather supports. Meanwhile the palace is destroyed and there is still fighting throughout the city. The Purists are better opponents than Guinevere ever imagined they could be. Their surprise counterattack almost crushed Odysseus's force. If not for Luciano targeting the Purists exclusively, then the battle would still be raging on. As it stands now, it is only a matter of time before the Purists are defeated. In the morning a search for the Emperor's body will have to be made. Without the Emperor's body, the plan cannot proceed smoothly. However with or without the Emperor's body, they will have to move forward. There are ways to get around the issue.

At the moment Guinevere is on her way to their facility on the outskirts of Pendragon. Now that war is beginning, the anti-FLEIA will be needed. In the air Guinevere can see several objects. This makes her wonder if they are running some sort of test on the system. Suddenly the entire facility is overtaken by a bright light. Minutes later the light dissipates leaving no trace of the enormous facility. Guinevere begins to fill faint and collapses.

Conrad watches the large explosion from the bridge of Guinevere's airship. After she faints, he has her taken to her room. Conrad did not think that pulling off this coup would be easy, but this is getting ridiculous. Before them is the result of a weapon that can destroy a city in minutes. It is only sheer luck that they are not within the weapons blast range.

Gino sees the missiles hit the outskirts of the city. Everyone sees the FLEIA blast. Gino quickly contacts people in the media to let them know that the blast is from a weapon that their faction has. It is not like anyone will contest the claim. The only people who know better are Lelouch and Schniezel, and they have other concerns at the moment.

**4 pm, December 25, Delhi (2 am, Pendragon time)**

Cornelia has been watching Lelouch and his people run tests for two hours. Thankfully someone brings her food. She knows that it is probably under Euphie's orders.

"Your highness, we have reached Delhi. We should be in Beijing in a few hours."

"That's good. I should probably take a nap," Lelouch says with a yawn.

It takes Cornelia a few seconds to realize that they are not in Damascus anymore. They must have moved after the attack on Europe ended.

Lelouch walks over to his room and flops onto his bed. He can sense someone stirring next to him. He sees CC sitting there looking pensive eating pizza.

"Did they figure out what happened?" Lelouch asks.

CC nods, "I think they have an idea. Who do you think did it?"

"My father obviously. No one else would have the opportunity or knowledge. Mot of the world's remaining geass users are here or in Europe. Most of them do not know about the code."

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"For now I will sleep. Then I will erect a short statue in honor of my uncle," Lelouch says with a chuckle, "Erect a short statue."

CC shakes her head as Lelouch falls asleep.

**8 pm, December 25, Beijing (5 am, Pendragon time)**

Rather than eating dinner aboard the Excalibur III, everyone waits until they reach Beijing where Lihua prepares a grand banquet for them. Once more Lelouch's wives and children are united. However Lelouch is not in the mood to eat, but Lilicia convinces him by saying that Scooter wants to eat with everyone.

"You should have seen it, Lihua," Lelouch says stuffing food into his mouth therefore breaking the rule about talking with his mouth full, "It was me and Scooter against a giant airship. I was a little scared, but Scooter said, 'It probably stinks over there.' Of course he was right. It did stink over there."

Xianglin wonders if her understanding of English is deficient because she does not understand Lelouch's Scooter stories. Kallen nudges the Chinese aide on the leg.

"Don't worry. Nobody knows what he is talking about. Just don't make fun of Scooter because he will kill Gino."

Xianglin still does not understand but nods. She has to help the young empress because Lelouch is trying to stuff food into her mouth so that she will grow up faster because that is how it worked with his cousin Wesley.

After dinner everyone gets ready for bed. Although a few of them are still accustomed to Damascus time where it is a little earlier in the day. However they are all used to traveling around so it is not a big problem.

Before going to sleep Nunnally, Cornelia, and Euphie want to have a discussion with Lelouch about Victoria and Gwendolyn. They sit him down and stand above him.

"Did you know about this, Lelouch?" Cornelia asks. To her even rebelling royalty is still royalty and should be treated as such.

"Regina mentioned something about it when I visited her during the summer. At the time I had other pressing concerns," Lelouch scowls a bit, "None of you said a word when Luciano announced that Octavius and Luther were dead. What did you think would happen to their sisters?"

"That may be, but the thought of that uncouth man laying his hands on two princesses is detestable."

"I suppose so. That uncouth man, as you called him, is probably waking up next to Aphrodite right now. With any luck he is probably leaving Boise and heading for Missoula. There are plenty of places to hide there."

"You're helping him," Cornelia states shocked at such an occurrence.

"Correction, he is helping me. Thanks to his efforts, I know that no one in Britannia except for mom has knightmares that can match up to ours. Also Thorin and Monica are not in Pendragon. My little Purist trick worked," Lelouch grins, "Luciano may be a blood thirsty homicidal maniac better suited for maximum security prison, but he has his uses. He also knows his limits," Lelouch stands over his sisters and glares down at them, "Fear, my dears, is the only thing to fear itself. A man who does not fear anything is already lost."

Lelouch walks away. As he walks towards the room where Regina and Gwendolyn are being held, he bumps into a giddy Milly.

"I take it that this means that they have Nina and are on their way."

Milly nods nervously.

"Good," Lelouch says with a smile, "Don't worry. They didn't tell me anything, but you didn't actually think you could take an airship without me knowing about it."

Lelouch lightly kisses Milly's forehead.

"You should get some rest. I believe that they will arrive in the morning."

Lelouch continues walking.

"Well isn't that mature of you," Kallen says from the shadows, "Have you told Nunnally yet that Suzaku is injured after his fight with Bismarck? Why did you let him get away?"

"Suzaku doesn't want Nunnally to worry," Lelouch smirks, "Taking Bismarck out now would be unsportsmanlike. Besides you want a rematch with you, don't you?"

"I suppose you are right. I wouldn't head in that direction if I was you. Carolina and Isabelle are pretty pissed. They won't back down like the others. Your charming words may not be enough."

"I was not planning on using charm to deal with this situation."

"What are you planning on using, Lelouch?" Isabelle asks, "Do you plan on glaring at us until you see it from your point of view? What would you do if Nunnally or Euphie opposed you?"

"All opposition will be dealt with," Evelyn states walking into the hallway with the twins, "No matter whom it is."

"Is that so?" Carolina asks, "Then you should probably eliminate us all because someone will oppose you at some point."

"That is a foolish thing to say," Nunnally comments, "I made a pact with big brother to protect Evelyn and the twins. No matter what the cost is, I will stand by his side."

"It has been a long day," Cornelia remarks, "Perhaps we should all get some sleep."

"Do you want to hit me?" Lelouch asks looking as Isabelle.

"What would that solve?"

Lelouch withdraws a sword and points the blade at his abdomen.

"How about this?"

Isabelle looks away as Lelouch begins push the sword into himself.

"Stop it!" Isabelle screams, "That won't solve anything."

Lelouch pulls the sword out. With his increased metabolism, the wound heals instantly.

"Neither will killing Luciano or anyone else. What's done is done. We can only move forward. If you want to worry about the past, that is your problem. I do not worry about the past. I only crave the future. The future is what mankind makes of it. It will not come easy or quick, but it will come."

Euphie sighs and whispers, "Those speeches really turn me on."

Cornelia shakes her head at Euphie's comment.

Lelouch continues to make his way to Victoria and Gwendolyn's room.

"Nunnally, you should know that that idiot of yours is in the medical wing. He suffered some minor injuries."

Nunnally groans, "That idiot. How many was he fighting?"

Lelouch grins, "Just one," This leaves Nunnally confused, "It was Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of One. You know the most kickass person in world with the exception of our mother."

"Wait, are you saying that Suzaku fought Bismarck and survived?" Kallen asks, "Bismarck has that geass that lets him see the future movements of others."

"Oh Suzaku didn't just survive. From the footage it looks like he might have actually won."

Lelouch reaches his destination. Once inside, he locks the door. Regina is stroking the hair of her sisters.

"You know this sister complex of your is really sickening."

Lelouch smiles coyly and walks towards the bed.

"I do believe that you enjoy what I do to you in bed."

Lelouch kisses Regina on the lips.

"We had some fun, didn't we?"

"I was thinking that maybe you shouldn't have had turned Vickie and Gwen into sex slaves."

"Oh come on. It isn't that bad," Lelouch says caressing Gwendolyn's cheek, "Besides, no one is escaping from this unscathed."

"What injuries have you suffered?"

"You mean besides discovering that my parents want to essentially kill mankind by forcing everyone to live in a dream world."

"Speaking of dream world," Victoria groans, "Can you continue your little love-fest somewhere else and let us sleep. It is bad enough that half of my child's genes belong to that man."

"Vickie, don't be mean to Lulu," Gwendolyn says as she reaches for Lelouch's always ready to go member, "He is so nice to us."

"He is, but it is getting late, and I am tired."

Lelouch sighs and stands.

"Just keep acting for a few more days. Belle will probably snap and head for Seattle where her uncle is. She will try to convince him to jump into this war."

"Anything you want Lulu," Gwendolyn replies, "My birthday is coming up. You do remember, don't you?"

Lelouch smiles, "Of course, January 3. Little Lilicia selects my thoughtful gifts. Milly selects my sexy gifts. So there is no need to worry about that."

Gwendolyn hugs Lelouch.

"The best gift is being alone with you."

Lelouch kisses Gwendolyn on the forehead.

"You should get some rest. I don't want little Scooter to get hurt," Lelouch says while patting Gwendolyn on the stomach.

Lelouch exits the room leaving the princesses wanting more.

"Are you really going to name your baby Scooter if it's a boy?" Regina asks.

"Of course," Gwendolyn cheerfully answers, "That's the name of Lelouch's best friend."

"That's the name of his sword," Victoria remarks, "I think that blond twit Weinberg is his best friend."

"Really but I though that they didn't get along," Gwendolyn comments, "Karine mentioned something about it one day. That is why Gino is on their side."

"That's weird. I always thought the Gino was a spy for Schniezel," Victoria counters.

"I wonder," Regina states, "I do not think that everything is as it seems."

**10 am, December 26, Beijing**, **(7 pm, December 25, Pendragon time)**

As night turns to morning in Beijing, in Pendragon it is day. A very busy day as a massive city wide cleanup begins. It is announced that the next night Odysseus will give a speech in regards to the current situation. Despite having other plans, Karine, Thorin, Faramond, and Monica return to Pendragon. Each leaves their respective force in New York and Britannia City. This action leaves them at the mercy of Odysseus since he now controls the soldiers around Pendragon. Along with those in the Britannian army, Odysseus has the loyalty of the Glaston Knights and Tohdoh's group of anti-Lelouch, anti-Schniezel Numbers. The majority of them are Japanese and Chinese although there are a few Europeans and Africans. Odysseus promises them varying degrees of independence. One of the main points of Odysseus's rebellion is having Britannia belong to Britannians. The rest of the world can have their land as long as they agree not to be anti-Britannian. After Odysseus takes complete control of the homeland, these displace Numbers will be unleashed on their former homelands.

Meanwhile in Beijing Milly waits at the airship docking port for Nina. Nunnally's group is nearby conducting training. Suzaku is basically recovered from his injuries. Not that he would allow something like that hold him back. The kids are going against them in drones.

Rolo is about to conduct what should be his last mission for Schniezel. If he survives, he will not return to Rome. He wonders how things are down in Australia. He only has to pick a nice target. He would rather make a run for it, but there are others with him. He sees Milly by the airship docking area. He quickly ignores her. He is pretty sure that she is a code bearer. Still killing her would really anger Lelouch. That is not what Rolo wants. He wants to find someone important that will not have Lelouch after him. Rolo sees his target exiting an airship. He slightly recognizes Nina from his time serving in Japan. Rolo prepares as he has done dozens of time in the past.

Suddenly several missiles fly through the air towards the airship that Nina just exited. The blaze luminous stops the missiles. The others that come with Rolo must be behind the attack. Knightmares quickly move in to look for attackers. Rolo takes advantage of distraction and moves in to attack.

Rolo's cybernetic body allows him to move quickly across the airship dock. Another group of missile attackers begins to fire. This time they wisely target other vehicles besides the airship. Milly quickly shields Nina as things begin to explode around them. Rolo believes that he can handle Milly. Suddenly a white knightmare flies in and knocks that burning debris away. Tumbling out of the knightmares is one of the people that Rolo does not want to fight. Mostly because her geass makes her a deadly opponent.

Alice stands up after basically falling out of her knightmare. It is a side effect of using her geass ability at full power. When she stops the knightmare, her body keeps moving forward. Exhausted she stands up and sees Rolo standing there holding a knife. She only has to hold out until Nunners and the others get here, but it may be a few minutes since they are taking care of the missile launchers.

Rolo moves quickly because even with her geass exhausted Alice is tough. If he waits any longer, his target will get away. Rolo slashes away at Alice. She steps back to avoid the attack. He can tell by her movements that she is stalling for time. That means that Nunnally and the others will be here soon. Alice stumbles on some debris, and Rolo quickly slashes at her cutting her in the abdomen.

"Some knight you are. It looks like your master will have to save you."

Alice gets a fierce look on her face, and she rushes at Rolo. However her body is still weak from the knightmare sparing and using her geass to its limit. Rolo moves in and slashes her throat.

"Alice!" Nunnally screams.

Rolo realizes that he has to make a quick escape because Nunnally and the others are on their way. Luckily for him, a VTOL arrives to pick up Milly and Nina. Rolo decides that killing Nina will only make his torture worse. He quickly kills the crew of the VTOL and flies it away from the airship dock. Four knightmares are chasing after him. He sees several drones coming from his right. There is no chance for him to escape.

Alice lies there holding her throat. She wishes that Nunnally were here instead of chasing after Rolo. Milly is already calling for medical help, but Alice knows that there is no hope. Her wound is too big, and her body is exhausted. Suddenly something hot and gooey falls on Alice's face. Some of it runs into her mouth.

"Pizza," she thinks, "Why would anyone be eating pizza at a time like this?"

Alice believes that she is already on her way to heaven because she sees something wearing only white standing above her. Surprisingly the figure is only wearing underwear.

"Are you an angel?" Alice asks very softly.

The figure smiles as her green hair blows in the wind.

"Well I like to believe so. Now let's make a deal," the figure says kneeling down and caressing Alice's head.

**7pm, December 26, Pendragon (December 27, 10 am Beijing, 3 am Rome) **

Odysseus is preparing to give his speech at the current state of affairs in Britannia. They still have not found the Emperor's body. There has also been no word from Lady Marianne or Nonette. Not to mention that Lelouch and Schniezel have both been silent on the subject. As the only remaining royals left in Pendragon, Guinevere, Karine, and Faramond sit behind Odysseus. Gino, Dorothea, Thorin, and Monica stand directly behind Odysseus. Conrad is in charge of security. Not one of mothers of the other royal children is still in Pendragon so there is no chance of holding them hostage. What remains of the Britannia Parliament will declare Odysseus 99th emperor. The nobles left in Pendragon are also supporting him. It is really a formality since he holds most of the power.

Odysseus clears his throat signaling that he is about to begin speaking. All day there have been programs honoring the previous emperor.

"My people, as many have experienced, our nation is one being torn apart at the seams. There are those that rather than talk things out would rather use weapons. Well I am here to tell those individuals that Britannia will no longer stand for this. We are a nation that desires peace. No make that a nation that craves peace. We are on the brink of destruction. As our own children suffer, we are wasting valuable resources on wars and weapons. Those resources can be put to better use here."

Odysseus pauses to allow for light applause. He knows that the next part of his speech will not go over with the nobles that exploit the Areas and Numbers.

Suddenly Odysseus is replaced on the screen with Schniezel.

"Odysseus, your claims of peace are haughty. Especially considering that you used the Purist Faction to rebel against the emperor so that you could become a hero."

"You cannot prove that!" Karine screams out.

Schniezel ignores her and continues, "Let it be known to everyone around the world that the weapon used outside of Pendragon was not manufactured by the man attempting to usurp the throne, but rather…"

Now Schniezel is cut off by the person that no royal child wants to see. (Well except for Lelouch's kids who love their Grampa Oats Guy Charlie.)

"Look at you ants scurrying about. If either of you is man enough to challenge me, come at me."

Now the emperor is cut off by the people no one wants to see.

The camera pans over millions of soldiers and thousands of knightmares all in identical black uniforms and helmets. Walking towards them on a raised platform are five people wearing the same uniform. The only thing separating these individuals from the masses is a flight of stairs. Behind the five vi Britannias are their knights. Behind the knights are the royal children that support Lelouch and their mothers (Maximus, Cassius, Theseus, Annabel, Isabelle, Victoria, Gwendolyn, Regina, and Selene). Behind them are Lelouch's eight consorts (Kallen, Milly, Carolina, Kaguya, Lihua, Euphie, Shirley, and Cornelia). The final one making Schniezel glower. Behind them are the four might as well be vi Britannia consorts (Suzaku, Jinta, Emily, and Miranda). Bringing up the rear the other various vi Britannia supporters (Anya, Jeremiah, Kewell, Sayoko, Cecile, Lloyd, Rakshata, Ayame, Marika, Liliana, Nagisa Chiba, Xianglin, Lilicia, Hannah, Chelsea, etc.). The only difference in their uniforms is the size. All the uniforms are equipped with power suits.

The crowd roars as Lelouch comes forward. He simply raises his hand to quiet them down.

"We are allies of those who hold no weapons no matter who they are. Those who seek to harm and use underhanded tactics will be dealt with. For years the rulers of this world have been like this. They massacre their own people rather than caring for them. We will not stand to see these kinds of cruel acts. We do not wish to fight. However, the act of the strong utterly killing the weak that is unforgivable. Only those who are prepared to be killed should kill."

The five vi Britannias unsheathe their swords and slam them into the ground. Daring anyone to make an attempt to take their lives. There are several cheers from the crowd.

"No matter whom the enemy is even if they are our own family. We shall confront them. Those with power fear us. Those without seek us. If you value justice, if you value life, if you seek truth, seek us.

A roar comes up from the crowd as the five vi Britannias retrieve their swords and re-sheathe them Lelouch raises his hands dramatically into the air. Then there are a few moments of silence before several large explosions occur behind him. The camera pans away from him showing a wider picture. The expanse of the explosions is now visible. As the view continues to pan out further, several more explosions are seen. Soon the entire world can be seen from outer space. Around the world several more explosions including those that occurred a few days before are shown.

When the view comes back, everyone on the platform is wearing a helmet. They begin to walk towards the soldiers on the ground.

"We are the Black Knights, and we shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this world."

The soldiers roar at these words.

* * *

Author's Note: I will save the comments from the other factions for next chapter.

This is the second appearance of the Black Knights speech. The first time is so that the core of Lelouch's army and Gino understand his purpose. The line after 'Only those who are prepared to be killed should kill,' has been removed. The line after that is modified. Originally Lelouch says that when those with power attack those without, we will appear. The next says that it does not matter if the enemy is Britannian or foreign. The slight changes are because this is not Zero leading a vigilante group, but rather Lelouch leading an army to topple the current world structure.

The speech is a declaration of war. The early emphasis is on non-combatants being injured in war. The late emphasis is that it is Lelouch's family causing this hurt. The final part is that Lelouch's army with no visible determination of rank will judge the world. Obviously Lelouch's soldiers have rank and have markings to indicate that rank. It is just these uniforms.

Here is a list of remaining geass users. It changes slightly after this chapter. The list kind of contains spoilers. They are not really spoilers, but the events have not been specified.

List of known geasses

Lelouch no longer has any geass.

Kallen- her first two geasses from CC and VV are gone. 3rd from GG, can see or feel other's feelings. As the power progresses, Kallen can also affect the feelings of others.

Milly- 1st from VV This geass is gone because VV is dead. 2nd from Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Despair, makes those affected feel like there is no hope. Needs eye contact to be completely effective. However once eye contact is made, Milly can activate and deactivate its effects at will. They do have to be nearby. She can't activate it from the other side of the world.

Euphemia no longer has any geass

Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux no longer have geass.

Anya-1st from VV, This geass is gone because VV is dead. 2nd from Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Frenzy, the opposite of her first geass. It causes those affected to go into a frenzy about even the most mundane things. Needs eye contact to be completely effective although if used correctly there is no need for it.

Nagisa Chiba- From Lelouch, Ward of Absolute Loyalty, those affected by it will give their lives for whoever or whatever they pledged their loyalty to, sort of a Jeremiah effect, Chiba uses it on herself to be more loyal to Lelouch, needs eye contact

Lilicia Gottwald- from Lelouch. Can read the thoughts of others exactly like Mao.

The Irregulars geass abilities are more or less a form of genetic manipulation. These are taken from the Code Geass Wikia page. They gain their abilities by having CC's cells injected into their bodies. The Irregulars now use Lelouch, Kallen, Milly, and Euphie's cells to power their geass abilities. This slightly changes the nature and power of their abilities. These means that only Alice loses her geass when CC uses her code.

Sancia-1st The order which accurately identifies the positions of targets within a given range and precisely calculates their probable movement trajectories based on all known variables. 2nd from Lelouch, Shinkiro (mirage), can affect the senses of others at the same time giving them hope

Lucretia-1st The land which accurately maps three-dimensional terrain within a given range 2nd from Lelouch, Shinkiro (mirage), can affect the senses of others at the same time giving them hope.

Dalque-The power which augments her physical strength by exaggerating the magnitude of macroscopic forces

Alice no longer has geass and is now a code bearer.

Charles no longer has any geass and is now a code bearer

Schniezel from GG, Ward of absolute persuasion. It is similar to Lelouch's absolute obedience only it takes a little longer to work. The biggest difference is that even when the geass canceller is used, the person has no idea that they were ever under the influence of geass. Schniezel is now a code bearer

Mao is dead

Rolo hopes that he will die soon.

Schniezel has given geass to Britannian and EU allies.

GG has given geass to some European soldiers

All of Lelouch's forces (Asia, Pacific Islands, Alaska,) have geass canceller to some degree.

CC is no longer a code bearer and has to exercise because an all pizza diet makes you fat.


	95. All the world is a stage

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

There are more battles this chapter as the war gets bigger. The Caesar and Alexander are EU attempts to make an eighth generation knightmare. Apart from using their own seventh generation knightmares (Napoleon, Leopard, Jaguar) as models, they used the Vincent and the Bors.

All the world's a stage,  
And all the men and women merely players:  
They have their exits and their entrances;  
And one man in his time plays many parts,

Jaques  
_As you like it  
_Act II Scene VII.

Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.

Leaders are not born they are made. And they are made just like anything else through hard work and that is the price we will have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal

Vince Lombardi, head coach of War Games Team, Britannian Military Academy at West Point

* * *

**4 am, December 27, Rome, Italy**

The only saving grace for Schniezel is that it is still early in the morning in Europe so very few people know about what happened during the broadcast. They will soon realize that something is going on because Lelouch is knocking out broadcast satellites. By morning the only available channels will be those that Lelouch wants people to see. At the moment they are showing animated programs. Schniezel is also aided by the fact that very few people know about the Russian invasion of Siberia. Even less people know that that force no longer exists. Still Schniezel will have move quickly if he is retain power here and use the few Britannian allies that he has. First Schniezel will have to take care of his previous embarrassment. A quick conquest of Area 21 will gain him prestige.

**9 pm, December 26, Pendragon **

Odysseus angrily hangs up his phone. He has been yelling at people for over an hour. Lelouch does not only interrupt the broadcast. He takes over all Britannian channels and replaces the programming with animated programs. Monica is going through every channel to make sure that Lelouch's take over is complete.

"Wait, go back to that one," Faramond states.

"Did you find a channel that we can use?" Karine asks.

Monica turns the channel back, but it is showing cartoons. The others groan as Faramond tells Monica not to change the channel.

Faramond grunts, "Never mind, I already saw this one. It's the one where the evil Kari-con tries to convince the virtuous Gino-bot to change sides."

Karine glares at Faramond.

- "I'm sorry Kari-con but I cannot join your side. I cannot betray my friends." -

"What the hell is that?" Karine asks.

"It's Converters ™," everybody looks at Faramond, "You know Castor and Pollux's cartoon. It's been on TV for three years."

Monica continues changing the channel.

"Bankai."

"Mikuru beam."

"I am the one who will become Pirate King."

"Stupid Kyon."

"Izaya!"

"I'm all fired up."

"Hey, Tsukasa, which end of a chocolate cornet do you eat first?"

"Simon, yours is the drill that will break through the vault of heaven!"

Muffled talking while eating ramen.

It's a reverse harem! This is a reverse harem!"

Every channel is like this. Faramond shrugs his shoulders.

"Call me when something happens. I'm going to my TV room."

**12 pm, December 27, Beijing**

Alice is looking at a mirror staring at the red mark on her forehead, the reason why she is still alive. She sighs and begins to brush her hair remembering the events of the day before when she is so close to death.

Rolo slashes her throat and makes a run for it. Alice lies there holding her throat. Suddenly a green haired figure wearing white and eating pizza stands over Alice.

"Are you an angel?" Alice asks very softly.

The figure smiles as her green hair blows in the wind.

"Well I like to believe so. Now let's make a deal," CC states kneeling down, She begins to caress Alice's hair, "I promise to live the rest of my to the fullest if you accept my curse. With it you can defend your princess with little regard for your life."

Alice nods as CC begins transferring her code. Alice begins to feel her wound closing up. She notices that CC is looking at her body. Alice wonders if the feeling of mortality has returned to CC.

After taking CC's code, Alice offers it to Lucretia, however the offer is rejected. This surprises Alice because she figures that Lucretia would want to spend eternity with Lelouch. Lucretia's reasoning is that CC has had centuries to pass her code along, but she chose Alice so it would be rude to go against that so soon.

"Lady Liddell, his highness is waiting for you in his office," Ayame states.

Alice nods, "I shall be there in a few minutes."

After Alice finishes adjusting her hair and uniform, she makes her way to Lelouch's office. She knocks softly.

"You may enter, Alice," Lelouch calls out from inside.

Alice slowly steps into the office because Lelouch appears to be talking with someone.

"Is that what they are planning next?" Lelouch asks with a sigh, "Then I will have to inform Carolina and Isabelle. Now that Edward is dead, Carolina is the oldest in that family. I have a guest so I will speak with you later," Lelouch looks up at Alice, "Take a seat. Are you getting accustomed to your new body?"

"Yes, it is a little different not getting tired as much. I also have to get used to not having my geass," Alice answers.

"You are about to get plenty of practice because I am sending you to the homeland with Nunnally. There is something I need you to take care of for me."

"As you wish, your highness. I live to serve Princess Nunnally."

"Very well, that is all."

After Alice leaves, Lelouch returns to his planning. Although he has an advantage in quantity of quality knightmares, he still suffers from having a low number of skilled pilots and soldiers. Those in the Areas that he conquers either choose to not fight or even worse fight against him by joining the EU or even Britannian supported forces. Lelouch does have the advantage of being able to choose where and when to fight. Lelouch has the broad expanse of the Pacific and Siberia to shield him from Odysseus and Schniezel. At the same time, he has soldiers ready to strike in the Middle East, North Africa, Alaska, and South America.

There is one last part of his plan that anyone has yet to see. The part that gives him an insurmountable edge. Lelouch finishes his work and walks towards the far corner of his office. Once there he inserts Scooter into a slot in the wall. The wall opens up to reveal a room where dozens of children are playing a game. Kallen looks up at him and smiles. This causes Lelouch to smirk.

"Who needs soldiers and years of training? In this room are some of the most brilliant minds in the world. Minds capable of reacting to any situation. Minds unsullied by years of fighting and struggling. The perfect army."

Cecile and Lucretia are walking around making sure that each child eats his food. Combining the drones that these children control with Sancia and Lucretia's geasses is enough to overcome any odds.

**10 am, December 27, Pendragon**

Odysseus has been in control for two days, and things are already beginning to pile up. It begins easy enough, but things are quickly getting out of control. There is still no solution to the television problem. Odysseus is not worried about the loss of money and programming. The issue concerns him because it is the quickest method of getting messages out. He quickly discovers that all of the old systems used to broadcast television before satellites are no longer active.

"Your majesty, I believe I have a solution to the problem," Gino comments.

Odysseus looks up at Gino with little hope in his face.

"Yes, Lord Weinberg."

"I believe we can use low powered radios to transmit messages. We can also use what few analog stations remain. I also have people looking into finding any older satellites that may still be in orbit."

"That is good news, Lord Weinberg. Keep me updated."

Gino nods and makes his exit. Odysseus's assistant approaches him. He appears ready to collapse from exhaustion.

"Your highness er majesty, we have a problem regarding the city services of Pendragon," Odysseus assistant states.

"What is it now?" Odysseus asks.

Faramond and Karine are off reorganizing the army. Guinevere is off sleeping waiting for a chance to strike. She still wants to gain power. Odysseus is going to have to find a way to quietly get rid of her, but it is dangerous with Conrad and his people protecting her. Perhaps it would be easier to marginalize her. However all of this means that Odysseus has to deal with every problem.

"Well your hi-majesty, the company that provides city services such as police, fire, hospitals, garbage pick-up, etc. is telling its employees not to return to work until a labor dispute is taken care of."

Odysseus sighs, "Contact the main office of this company and resolve the issue."

"Perhaps it would be easier if you spoke with the mayor because he refuses to deal with this people."

"Don't they know the situation?"

"It appears they understand, however, normally they would receive a raise from city around this time, but the mayor refuses to give it. He states that due to the current emergency the city cannot afford it. The company that provides the services thus refuses to provide them. There are a few police and fireman paid directly by the government, but they are not enough."

"Just pay them their money," Odysseus growls, "I understand that the city needs massive repairs, but we are taking care of that. Damn the mayor for getting involved in the situation."

Traditionally the mayor of Pendragon is a ceremonial position since the national government controls the city directly. However with the emperor's recent disinterest in actually running the government, others have taken advantage of the situation. Perhaps Odysseus would have been better served looking into these situations himself. Lelouch, Schniezel, and Cornelia have been gathering followers around the world. Odysseus is going to have to take a firmer stance if he is to come out the winner. There is one important situation that needs to be addressed immediately. There is the possibility that some unrest may happen in the northwest region of the homeland. He will have to send in a covert team to take care of it.

**December 28, Ankara, Area 21**

A few days after the fake invasion of Europe, Schniezel decides to stage his own attack. The latest reports indicate that Cornelia is back in the Middle East so Schniezel sends Salacia to Anatolia and Merlin to Egypt. He hopes to drive towards Baghdad from north and south. There is some hope that Russia will send soldiers south towards Baghdad through the Caucasus. At least Schniezel is in control of the Black Sea fleet. Hopefully the buildup of troops on Crete and Cyprus distracts Lelouch and Cornelia from Schniezel's real objective which is to take the northern half of Area 21 in as little time as possible. This will cut Lelouch's land route to Africa. It will also cut off the Arabian Peninsula. There is hope that an Arab revolt will take place

Salacia is currently between Istanbul and Ankara. She is traveling with one hundred fifty thousand soldiers, fifteen thousand knightmares, one hundred fifty planes, and three hundred airships. She hopes to move quickly through the Anatolian Plateau to the lowland between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

"Lady Ravenguard, we are being hailed by someone on the ground."

"Very well. Put them on the communicator."

The person on the other side of the communicator does not wait for Salacia to say anything.

"This is Cornelia li Britannia, viceroy of Area 21. You are illegally invading the territory of the Holy Empire of Britannia. You have an hour to leave this territory."

Salacia scowls, "Who does that bitch think she is? Prepare for battle."

Like all of Schniezel's loyal followers, Cornelia's refusal of his offer confuses Salacia. Cornelia rejects the offer to be Schniezel's queen, but she becomes Lelouch's eighth wife. At least that is how things appear. Previously Salacia admires Cornelia and views her as a role model. Now Salacia is going to have to teach Cornelia a lesson.

Cornelia watches Salacia deploy her troops in front of Ankara. The strategy makes very little sense since Cornelia has yet to reveal where her own troops are located. A part of her is angry that Lelouch is able to read Schniezel so easily. Lelouch predicts that Schniezel will move quickly sending Salacia to Anatolia and Merlin south towards Tunis or Egypt. While Cornelia and Jeremiah argue that the danger is the force gathering in Cyprus, Lelouch brushes aside those concerns stating that those troops are only reserves to be used once Salacia and Merlin break through.

"Contact General Soresi. Inform him that he may move once he is ready."

"Yes, your highness."

Cornelia licks her lips in anticipation of her first taste of combat in over two years. Cornelia leans forward and grins.

"Prepare for battle. Let's drive them back towards the sea."

Kewell Soresi is sitting aboard his knightmare waiting for orders to attack. He will lead a force of drones in combat. It is a bit unsettling to think that you are the only one in your force that can actually die. However Kewell and his wife have been working with the children controlling the drones for two years. His wife is one of the few Britannian nobles to be truly involved in social activism. In particular her organizations take in orphans that result from war.

There is another reason for Kewell to feel comfort. He is in a new knightmare, knightmare frame Oberon. The first knightmare ever constructed with him in mind. In the few tests that he performs, it almost feels like the knightmare can sense what he is thinking.

"General Soresi, we have orders to attack when ready."

Kewell smiles, "Then we should get ready. Are the tanks in position?"

"Yes general. They are just waiting for the order to attack."

"Then we shouldn't keep them waiting. Order an attack by all our forces. Inform Major Hellerman that we would appreciate some air cover in this battle," Kewell flips his communicator to the drone control room, "Carmina, it's time."

"We are just waiting for you to give the signal, my love."

"If we win, pizza and soda for everyone," Kewell states as his knightmare is ejected from the airship.

Salacia looks on as her left flank is being attacked. She wonders if there is any chance of getting some Russian reinforcements because it would be really great if they were to come at this moment.

"Lady Ravenguard, we are suffering heavy losses on the left flank. The enemy pilots appear to be quite fearless."

Salacia immediately understands that she is facing drones.

"Make sure that we keep our distance from those drones. Look for any jets dropping from higher above. We know that they have stealth capabilities."

Salacia is aware that the first hour will determine the outcome of this battle. She has to use this time to push Cornelia back. She cannot

**Ft. Worth, Texas**

Gino is flying towards Dallas. A Purist branch under the name Alliance for Britannia has been gathering soldiers with the intent of declaring Texas independent. Despite having been part of Britannia for over a hundred years, Texans always talk about doing things their own way. Gino knows that the Purists are simply using this as an excuse to rebel. The soldiers that Karine and Thorin leave in New York are beginning to spread along the east coast. The Purists must understand that their time is running out.

The move east is also part of Gino's plan to use airships as satellites to broadcast nationally. It is a better idea than anyone else has.

"Lord Weinberg, we have intelligence on the enemy."

Gino takes the information from his second in command. Gino really hates the snobby noble that Karine assigns to him. He is the type of noble that thinks that his high birth makes him better than others.

"Is this all the enemy has?" Gino asks.

"Yes."

Gino taps his chair and turns on his communicator.

"Colonel Riggins, send out the Legacy knightmares and tanks. Have a few planes scout from above and attack when necessary. Send in some Moons class airship to assist in the battle. I want this wrapped up quickly."

"Yes sir."

Gino's second in command stands there looking annoyed.

"Is there a problem, Lord Hollins? The idea is to defeat the enemy."

"I though that we would use the Vincents to overwhelm the enemy."

"Lord Hollins, they are using Ios and antiquated tanks. They stand very little chance of even getting a lucky shot against the Legacy knightmares and tanks," Gino says annoyed of having to explain himself to an untrained man, "But if you like, you can lead some squads of Vincents out to provide reserves."

Lord Hollins grins and salutes.

"Yes sir, that sounds reasonable."

Gino sneers as the pompous noble walks away.

"Are you sure that it is wise to send man out there?" one of Gino's soldiers asks.

Gino shrugs his shoulders.

"Eh, as long as no one else get killed. Keep the pressure on those rebel bastards."

"Yes sir."

Gino knows that he is only here because they want him out of Pendragon. There is a bigger mission that they do not want him to now about. Gino begins to plan his return to Pendragon. His mission is only to bring the troops to Dallas from here they will disperse to different locations in the southeast region of the Homeland.

**Boise, Duchy of Oregon**

Conrad is done with his special mission. Normally he does not mind doing a little something underhanded, but lately Guinevere and Karine have been getting desperate. He is glad that he is not part of the mission to assassinate Cornelia. He is not even certain that he should have attacked Aphrodite. By the looks of things, she is still alive and now has a cybernetic core that makes her stronger. Still Conrad does what he is ordered to do. This time, however, he feels that things may backfire tremendously.

Luciano is looking over at his allies for the upcoming battle. Despite knowing that the man is still alive, it is a bit of a shock to see James Stadtfeld sitting across the table from him. Luciano's other ally William Thurgood Sforza, Duke of Oregon, is currently recovering from Conrad's attack this morning. His followers are in a frenzy. At the moment they are gathering members of the civilian militia. The Duchies of Oregon and Alberta have been ruled by the Sforza family for over a hundred years. While the family no longer owns all the land, the denizens of the duchies lover their lords much more than the Emperor. Luciano wonders what it means now that the Duke of Oregon is incapacitated.

"Lord Bradley, the enemy has been spotted coming up from Salt Lake City."

"Are they? What are their numbers? Earlier reports said something about a large force heading east towards Dallas led by Weinberg."

Luciano sighs in relief that he does not have to face Gino in battle. He does not want to have to suffer the embarrassment of losing to the blond knight.

"They appear to have 50 airships. However there appears to be only about fifteen thousand soldiers. They have about three thousand knightmares mostly Vincents and about one hundred planes. It is believed that the airships are carrying mostly logistical supplies for further action to the north and west."

"Only fifteen thousand so that probably means that Thorin is in charge," Luciano comments.

"Yes, his personal knightmare was seen in Salt Lake."

"Get the tanks into position south of the city. Send the civilian militia with them."

"Are you sure about that? We do not know the skill or mettle of this militia."

Luciano smirks, "I don't think that we have to worry about their mettle. They seem pretty amped up to me. You have to remember that those bastards on the other side are responsible for injuring their lord."

"I see. I will have someone announce the current status of the Duke of Oregon before the enemy reaches our lines."

Luciano waves his assistant away. Luciano does not expect to be fighting so soon, but Odysseus seems to be at the mercy of others.

"I almost feel sorry for that royal bastard," Luciano says before heading down the knightmare hangar.

**December 29, Alexandria, Area 20**

Merlin is planning on landing at Tunis or Tripoli, and then moving east. By doing this he hopes to gather some local dissidents. However he receives reports that a large Britannian force is crossing into Egypt and heading towards Alexandria. Merlin surmises that this force is led by Cornelia. It matches her character as that of a straightforward attacker. She probably plans on moving towards Tunis and launching an attack on Rome itself. Merlin wonders what the numbers will be once they arrive. He supposes that Cornelia will have enough soldiers to mount an invasion of Italy. Perhaps she even has more soldiers in reserve in Damascus and Baghdad.

Merlin will have to move carefully. Perhaps he will have to move the reserves building up in Cyprus sooner than previously planned. He already informs Schniezel about the change of plans. He hopes that someone else will be sent to recruit locals to fight for their side.

"Lord Suzerain, we are being hailed."

Merlin nods and signals for the communication to be opened.

"This is Camilla Millicent ash Britannia, commander of Britannian North African Task Force. You are illegally entering the territory of the Holy Empire of Britannia. You have an hour to turn around."

Milly cuts the communication.

"Your highness, I will head out to lead the battle," Villetta states.

"Very well, but do not engage the Knight of Two if he makes an appearance. We are to let the drones handle him."

"Yes your highness," Villetta says bowing.

Milly looks at the situation. The numbers appear to be about the same. According to Lelouch, she will have the element of surprise because the enemy is expecting Cornelia to be here.

"Liliana, prepare to the drones for battle.

"Yes, your highness."

Milly sighs and continues to look at her monitors. The battle will begin soon. All she can do is wait and hope that Lelouch's plan works.

**December 30, Damascus, Area 21**

Kallen is sitting aboard her airship waiting for orders to leave. To the north Cornelia is pushing Salacia back. The latter does not want to engage in a large scale battle. Perhaps Salacia is waiting for reinforcements to come from the Eastern Europe or Russia. However Jeremiah is in eastern Anatolia near the source of the Euphrates River, he is waiting for any potential attacks from the north. Milly is in Egypt battling with Merlin. For some reason Merlin seems fixated on winning his battle against Milly. Both of Schniezel's subordinates must be feeling embarrassment at the fact that they are being pushed back. Cornelia and Milly have the advantage of being able to defend.

Kallen's communicator begins to buzz so she turns it on. Lelouch's face appears on her screen.

"Hello my Kalli. How are you on this glorious day?"

"Anxious."

Lelouch smirks, "Is that so? Well be anxious no more."

Kallen nods, "See you in Pendragon."

Lelouch chuckles, "I will wait for you there."

Kallen ends the communication and stands.

"Marika, it is time to go."

"Yes your highness."

Marika walks over to the communications officer and begins to relay orders.

Within minutes in the desert of east of Damascus, airships, airplanes, knightmares, and tanks are being uncovered. In less than an hour from all the Syrian Desert, Kallen's force begins to gather.

Kallen heads down the knightmares hangar where Rakshata is waiting with her new knightmare.

"Your highness, allow me to introduce knightmare frame, Guinevere Avalon. Not quite the monster that Cecile built for your lovely husband, but then again he is demon. Still it is not the kind of knightmare that any normal human could pilot."

Kallen looks up at the re knightmare. Its right arm ends with a gold and silver claw. The claw contains the radiant wave that Kallen is accustomed to. The left arm has the chain slash harken that all new personal knightmares are equipped with. Its flight is enabled by four energy wings that can also be used to fire energy beams. The energy filler has also been redesigned and improved. Energy fillers are usually not a problem since several drones are dedicated to getting new ones out to the battlefield.

Rakshata tosses the knightmare's key at Kallen.

"Have fun, your highness."

Kallen tosses the key into the air.

"Let's crush these guys."

**Palm Springs, California**

General Hiram Ulysses S. Upson is leading a small force to occupy Palm Springs. Odysseus appoints him to the task of reconnaissance in California. With Marianne and Nonette along the central California coast, Los Angeles and San Diego are undefended. Both cities are important to the war effort since they contain large army and naval bases. At the moment Odysseus has not received the support of the commanders of Camp Pendleton and Drake Naval Base. General Upson's move to Palm Springs is to remind those in California that there has been a change in the Britannian government. In a few days Nonette and Marianne will be declared rebels along with all those that follow them.

"General Upson, there appears to be some movement to the southeast."

"That's impossible. Where did they come from?"

"I do not know, general."

Several alarms begin to go off.

"General Upson, a large force is coming from the direction of Los Angeles. Another is coming from the north."

"General, we need to order reinforcements."

General Upson begins to shake.

"Reinforcements, only a coward would call for reinforcements at a time like this. Prepare the men for battle."

The others are unsure about what do. However they realize that if they do not hurry, their enemies will simply crush them. That may happen anyways.

* * *

Cornelia slowly pushes her force forward in pursuit of Salacia. She receives word that there is fighting in Alexandria. Given the size of their forces, the losses have been light, but the battle is not over until Salacia is pushed back over the Bosporus. Cornelia has to be careful because Salacia may try to outflank her in an effort to keep the battle going. Cornelia has been hearing rumors that reinforcements may be coming. Schniezel and the EU may also be hoping that the natives of Africa and the Middle East rebel. For now Cornelia must simply bide her time and keep the pressure on.

Sancia and Lucretia are observing the battle from the drone control room. Even though they are with Cornelia, they are assisting Milly and Kallen in their battles as well. They understand that the faster this battles are finished, the sooner they will be sent to the homeland and eventually Pendragon where Lelouch will be waiting.

* * *

Gino returns to Pendragon after crushing the rebels in Dallas. His only losses are a few Vincents and some idiots who get drunk. The present situation is not going the way Odysseus wants it. Things are probably not going to get easier. Especially considering the latest move by Odysseus.

"Is there something wrong, Lord Weinberg?" Odysseus asks.

"Are you sure it was wise to send Conrad after the Duke of Oregon, your majesty?" Gino questions.

"Are you afraid, Gino?" Karine inquires, "Besides anyone that cares about that old fart is far away."

Gino sighs, "I wonder about that. You are concentrating on the wrong people. Lelouch and Schniezel are dangerous, but Lelouch's wives are just as dangerous. Kallen is probably one of the five best knightmare pilots in the world. His other wives are popular and noble enough to gather supporters even here in the homeland."

"Who cares about those idiots," Karine states, "Like I said they are probably far away."

"Fine do whatever you want," Gino remarks, "I will be with my troops preparing for the inevitable battle here."

As Gino walks away, several soldiers run into the makeshift throne room. By the look on their faces, Gino can tell that it is not good news.

"Your majesty, we have some terrible news. General Upson's force has been wiped out."

More soldiers come running into the room.

"Your majesty, we have received word that Lord Odinus needs reinforcements in the north."

Gino smirks, "Like I said, I will be preparing my troops for battle. If Thorin couldn't beat Luciano and some civilian militia, what chance does he stand against Carolina and whoever comes with her?"

* * *

Aphrodite calls for a tactical retreat. Despite essentially winning the battle, they cannot maintain their position. Thorin will probably receive reinforcements soon. Luciano suggests retreating back towards Missoula. Aphrodite still does not understand Luciano's desire to keep their force separate. They land at the foot of a small mountain range. In the background Aphrodite can see the Rocky Mountains. Nearby there is a small cabin. Sitting on the porch are two people dressed casual clothes. Aphrodite assumes that they are ranchers. On the way here she sees cattle and sheep.

"Hey, I'm going to see if those jerks over there will let us use their land for repairs and stuff," Luciano comments.

Aphrodite watches as Luciano walks towards the cabin. She disembarks from her knightmare to get some fresh air. She wonders what happens to the Duke of Oregon's force. The civilian militia fight like maniacs to avenge their fallen lord. Before the battle they are informed that the duke is being transferred back to Seattle for his own safety.

"Well look here, Anthony. A pretty lady landed on our ranch. You think she has any friends."

"Well James, it wouldn't help to ask. We should probably check if she knows anybody that would date Andrew and Julian."

"Don't be dumb. Petra would kick Julian's ass if he looks at another woman."

Aphrodite instantly recognizes the two voices even if she does not recognize them physically. Spending all that time with Luciano, acquaints Aphrodite to his West Point friends. Cadets that are former teammates are sort of a little private club. Aphrodite can tell that Luciano discovers that his friends are here because he gets very loud and calls out to her.

"Damn that bastard is loud."

"I know what you mean. It's like he wants them to know that we are here."

"I do not believe that Thorin will follow us," Aphrodite comments, "His force suffered massively. I also believe that his primary target is the Duke of Oregon's troops."

"I think you're too smart to be dating someone like Luciano."

"Hey!" Luciano yells out, "What are you to morons doing over there? She's taken. Open this fucking thing up so we can repair our knightmares."

"Keep your shirt on!" Sanderson yells back, "Now Lady Venitus, allow us to show you his royal Luluness's secret cave network."

Aphrodite gasps as the ground and side of the mountain open up.

"How did Lelouch build this?" she asks.

"We are near what is supposed to be the border between the Duchies of Oregon and Alberta. Not that it matters since the rulers are uncle and niece. Perhaps in a few generations it will matter, but it does not at the moment."

"By imperial decree the land belongs to the Sforza family. Over the years they have given or sold the majority to others, but a lot of it still belongs to the family. Her highness Princess Carolina only has to tell her uncle that she wants to start a ranch here."

Aphrodite nods, "We should probably get moving. If it is true that they attacked the duke, I believe that his nieces will be arriving soon."

All of Luciano and Aphrodite's force is taken underground. Although Sanderson and Goodley do not have more troops, they have repair facilities and can communicate with Lelouch.

* * *

The battle is not really favoring Milly at the moment. Although it appears that Merlin is surprised at first, but he quickly recovers. Milly's biggest advantage is the number of tanks at her disposal. The tanks are Lelouch's best all purpose weapon. They work on land, sea and in the air. However Merlin is too smart to underestimate the ability of the tank.

"Your highness, perhaps we need to find a way to maneuver around the enemy," Liliana comments.

"Have the technicians prepare my knightmare," Milly orders, "I will enter the battle myself."

Liliana nods and attends to Milly's command. Minutes later Milly is down in the knightmare dock where Cecile is waiting.

"Your highness, your new knightmare is ready," Cecile states, "Are you sure that you want to enter this battle with it? This knightmare is quite high spec. Nothing out there should match up to it, not even the Titan MK V drones."

Milly understands what Cecile is saying. While Lelouch, Kallen, and Suzaku can pilot ninth generation knightmare with very little problem, other like Milly may not be able to handle the pressure of the machine. Not to mention that all high spec knightmares are equipped with the Zero fighting system. By all accounts the Morgan le Fey is perhaps he greatest offensive knightmare created. It matches the Lancelot Albion and Arthur Excalibur quite nicely.

"Whether or not I am able to handle it, Dr. Croomy, is not the issue. The battle dictates that I go out there. I should be fine if I use the knightmare at eighty percent capacity."

Cecile nods and hands Milly the knightmare's key.

"Your highness, there appears to be movement to the west," Liliana states, "I shall bring it up on a monitor."

In the desert west of Alexandria and out in the sea, there are several objects visible.

"There are about twenty ships coming towards the city. I am also tracking several dozen tanks and mechanical infantry carriers," Liliana comments.

"Liliana, focus on those objects in the back," Milly instructs, "They appear to be knightmares. That should tell us who this people are with."

A few moments later the knightmares are visible. They cause everyone to gasp.

"Are those Akatsuki?" Cecile asks, "How did anyone in Africa get hold of those knightmares?"

"Given their speed, they should be here by sunrise," Liliana states.

"That is in a few hours," Milly remarks, "Have someone try to contact them," Milly looks up at her knightmare, "If they are enemies, we need to finish this battle quickly so that we can deal with this new force."

**December 31, 2020**

As the sun begins to rise in Cyprus, Salzaar Gluten carefully examining the situation in Anatolia and Egypt. He is to assist with those operations if there is a need. If there is not, he is to attack Beirut and move towards Damascus. From there he will join Merlin and move towards Baghdad. A quick look at a map shows that Salacia is retreating towards Bursa rather than Istanbul. A retreat towards the latter city would indicate defeat. If she moves south perhaps a route can be open for Salzaar to aid her. Merlin has very little area to maneuver in. If Merlin lands to the west of Alexandria, it gives him an easier supply route. It also gives Salzaar an opening to land to the east.

Salzaar hears several alarms going off and leaves his office to investigate. He does not have to go very far to find his assistant.

"Captain Guiche, what is going on out here?"

"Lord Gluten, there is an enormous force coming from the southeast."

Salzaar quickly goes up to a nearby ledge. In front of the rising sun, he can see hundreds of ships, tanks, airplanes, and airships. His face turns white. He is not ready for a defensive battle. All his airships, airplanes, and sea ships are on the other side of the island. Below he can see his soldiers scurrying about preparing for this massive invasion. Someone on his staff hand him a communicator.

"This is Kallen kou Britannia, supreme commander of the east coast invasion force. You are in the way."

Salzaar stares at the communicator.

"East Coast invasion force? Do they plan on invading Europe?" Salzaar asks.

"Lord Gluten, there are dozens of airplanes coming at us from all directions."

"Did the radar operators fall asleep? Where are our observers?"

"It appears that the airplanes have stealth capabilities. We have not heard from our observers for several hours. We assumed that they are drunk."

Salzaar shakes his head. Down near the dock he sees several of the observer ships heading in towards land. One of his assistants sighs in relief.

"Lord Gluten, I will send someone down to speak with the observers. I will contact the other docks perhaps those observers have returned as well."

Salzaar has an uneasy feeling about the situation. If the observers are returning, then why has there been not contact with them. Then he realizes what is going on.

"Stop! Destroy those ships!" Salzaar screams out.

However it is too late. The first observer ship is destroyed from within by a red flash. A red knightmare with a gold and silver claw rises from the destroyed ship. Coming up behind it is a white knightmare with smaller version of the same claw.

"Order a full scale retreat. We shall retreat to the north to aid Lady Ravenguard."

It takes Salzaar's assistants a few seconds to register the command. Salzaar knows that the key to surviving this war is to avoid situations like this. There is no way that he can win this battle

Kallen looks on at carnage caused by her force. Things are not as bad as she expects. She hates how Lelouch correctly predicted that the enemy commander would retreat simply at the sight of her large army.

"Your highness, it is almost time for the broadcast. Perhaps you should return to the airship."

Kallen sighs and nods.

"I am on my way Marika. You should come up as well."

Kallen flies back to her airship. Once there Kallen is taken away to prepare for a broadcast later that day. She forces Marika and Rakshata to dress up as well.

* * *

For the moment Milly leaves the battlefield. There is still no word on what the force coming from the west is. Milly has other concerns since Merlin does not appear to be retreating. This gives the impression that the small force may be some of his reserves. Milly is selecting dresses for the broadcast. She is forcing Liliana, Villetta, and Cecile to dress up as well. Milly spends too much musing and now she has to hurry.

* * *

With all the action to the north Hannah Gottwald, Chelsea Nu, and Lilicia Gottwald and are able to sneak across Africa. At the moment they are in Dakar, getting ready to cross the Atlantic. Odysseus has a large naval force gathering in Florida and the Bahamas. Its purpose will probably to subdue the Caribbean and South America.

"Hannah, we are ready to go," Lilicia states.

Hannah looks at her little sister and grins.

"Let's show these jerks what we can do."

* * *

Nonette is observing the result of the Battle of Palm Springs. The force loyal to Odysseus is complete defeated. Very few of the soldiers are not captured, killed, or wounded. The victory for Nonette is important since it give her control of southern California. She is able to get reinforcements from various California forts and surprisingly from soldiers that are stationed throughout the Pacific. This may be an indication that Lelouch is about to enter the war in the homeland in support of those forces who are loyal to the Emperor. If this is true when this war ends, Lelouch will be the only one left to inherit the throne. At least the only one that is strong enough to take the throne. There is still the issue of finding the Emperor. Nonette still does not understand why neither the Emperor nor Bismarck had made an appearance yet. Eventually Nonette will have to lead troops into battle. The longer she waits the harder it will become.

"Lady Enngream, we are receiving word that an important broadcast will soon commence."

* * *

Nunnally and Suzaku are landing just south of Eugene, Oregon. They will spend the night here before moving towards Boise. Thorin is already receiving reinforcements. Among those reinforcements are Tohdoh and his group.

"Come on Suzu. It is almost time for the broadcast."

Suzaku sighs and follows Nunnally to get ready. Suzaku forces Lloyd to come as well. Lloyd is an earl after all.

* * *

Carolina and Isabelle land in Seattle where they are greeted by the uncle's servants.

"Your highnesses, it was not necessary for you to come all the way here."

"What is the condition of our uncle?" Carolina asks.

The servants lower their heads.

"Not good. He is stabilized, but the doctors do not have much hope."

"I see," Carolina remarks, "Isabelle, attend to matters here. I have to prepare for something."

Isabelle nods as Carolina reenters her airship. Carolina is quickly whisked away by her assistants who begin to dress for Lelouch's upcoming broadcast.

* * *

The Excalibur III is floating above Pearl Harbor. Lelouch looks down at the small force that defends the islands from possible pirate attacks. Beside him are Euphie, Anya, and Nagisa. Euphie is dressed in royal attire while the others are dressed in their military uniforms with markings to indicate their rank . Kallen, Milly, Carolina, Kaguya, Lihua, Shirley, and Cornelia are dressed in royal attire at their respective locations. Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata are dressed as nobles. The others are dressed in military uniforms (Jeremiah, Kewell, Villetta, etc).

Lelouch is waiting for Deithard's signal. Through the blond producer's magic, it will appear as if everyone is with Lelouch. Deithard begins the countdown. Ten seconds later, Faramond's favorite shows are interrupted by Lelouch. Lelouch raises his arms and swings them to the side.

"This is Lelouch vi Britannia, commanding general of the armies of the Holy Empire of Britannia, servant of the true Emperor, Charles zi Britannia."

This comment causes Karine to spit out her wine. Gino shrugs his shoulders.

"I guess I forgot to mention that the old man declared Lelouch commanding general about two months ago."

"I was never informed of this," Dorothea comments,

Gino smirks, "I guess the Knight of Four is not important enough for the Emperor to bother with."

Dorothea growls as Lelouch continues.

"We do not recognize the ascension of the so called 99th emperor," Lelouch motions to those behind him, "Odysseus eu Britannia is an usurper who has deceived and cheated his way to power. His coup is built on the lies and deceptions that he has told his former Purists allies. Britannia rejects his false and counterfeit reign. Odysseus and those that follow him are not worthy of the royal blood that runs through their veins. Those that have suffered because of their actions will be avenged."

Lelouch gestures towards where Carolina is standing.

"Several days ago agents sent by Odysseus eu Britannia attacked my uncle, the Duke of Oregon," Carolina says with visible tears running down her eyes, "My uncle has always been a staunch supporter of Britannia. He is a man who has given all that he has for the country that he loves so much. My uncle is currently in a coma. As the legal guardian of his daughters, I assume the temporary mantle of Duchess of Oregon," Carolina pauses for a few seconds to gather her words, "I, Carolina sfo Britannia, Duchess of Oregon and Alberta in accordance to the Imperial Decree of 1905 Ascension Throne Britannia declare my territories to be independent of Britannia until such time as the true emperor or his true heir sit on the throne."

Lelouch smiles and ends the broadcast. However that is not the end, the picture goes blurry for a few seconds. When the picture returns two eight year old girls are on the screen. Behind them Castor, Pollux, and Evelyn can be seen. The look on their faces is enough to scare even the most experienced person. The look in their eyes is on of hate and anger.

"We will destroy those that harmed our father," Emily states.

"As a sign of our seriousness, we will attack Pendragon tonight," Miranda says waving her head towards the younger vi Britannias.

Evelyn smirks and raises her hands. The broadcast is cut.

In Pendragon Karine sneers at the kids' broadcast. However Gino appears to be mortified at the thought of them attacking Pendragon.

"Is there a reason to fear them, Lord Weinberg?" Odysseus asks.

"Luciano calls them the little monsters. He is more afraid of those three than he is Lelouch."

Karine chuckles nervously.

"They can't attack us, can they?"

"They control Lelouch's drones. To them it is like a videogame. Their attack should be here in a few minutes so I will go out to meet the drones," Gino pauses, "Don't worry. They will not attack the palace. They are saving that for later."

"Where are they going to attack?" Odysseus asks.

"Probably the biggest base in the area. They are Lelouch's brothers and sister after all."

* * *

After the broadcast, Milly gets back into her battle uniform since the battle is still raging on.

"Your highness, the force coming from the west has arrived. We are receiving a transmission from them."

Milly signals for Liliana to put the communication on.

"This is the voice crying out in the wilderness. We will drive out all those that wish to enslave our homeland. No longer will we remain silent while others fight. We have come to clear the path for those that follow. "

Lelouch smiles when he hears the transmission sent to him by Milly.

"It seems that my faith is not misplaced. Welcome back to the game, Mohammed Shennib."

* * *

Author's note: General Upson is the person that is given the task of bringing Nunnally to Area 11 in season 2. When the Black Knights attempt to capture Nunnally, he ends up shooting his own engines. Nunnally is saved through the efforts of Guilford, Suzaku, Gino, and Anya.

It just occurred to me that the Rocky Mountains has to be the most generic name for a mountain range in the world.

The distance from Damascus to Cyprus is roughly two hundred fifty miles. Kallen's is spread throughout the Syrian Desert with her sea ships coming from the Red Sea. The radar operator would initially believe that it is a problem with their systems. I assume that airships travel about the same speed as airplanes do, perhaps a bit slower. Still 250 miles would take only an hour or so to traverse.

The Black Knights speech was about Lelouch and company being part of a larger group. This time he is staking a claim to the Britannian throne. By wearing his military uniform and having his wives dress up, he is saying hey look at me, I am the most successful military leader/conqueror since Genghis Khan, Alexander, etc, and I also have all these noble and royal wives. What have these other jerks done? Where the Black Knight speech says we are all equal, Britannian/Numbers, commoners/nobles, etc. These speech says I am awesome, those guys are liars and conmen that hurt people. It also says don't screw with me or the little monsters will send their knightmare drones to your house.

All the Akatsukis in the world are held by Lelouch. In case anyone is wondering about that.

Here is the battle data.

**Battle of Ankara**

Schniezel/EU alliance-Salacia Ravenguard: 150,000 soldiers, 15,000 knightmares (2000 Napoleon, 3000 Leopard, 4000 Jaguar, 3000 Caesar, 3000 Alexander), 150 airplanes, 300 airships, Andraste War  
Casualties: 8,000 dead, 10,000 wounded, 3000 knightmares (800 Napoleon, 1000 Leopard, 5000 Jaguar, 400 Caesar, 300 Alexander), 100 airplanes, 20 airships

Lelouch-Cornelia li Britannia/Kewell Soresi: 135,000 soldiers 13,000 knightmares (8000 Legacy Command Models, 5000 Supremacy Command Models)- 5000 Titan Mk V drones, 300 tanks, 120 airplanes, 300 airships (Demeter), Persephone  
Casualties: 3500 dead, 8,000 wounded, 2500 knightmares (1500 Legacy, 500 Supremacy, 500 Titan Mk V), 50 tanks, 50 airplanes, 10 airships

Lelouch-Major John Hellerman- 50 stealth drone airplanes, 3 stealth airships

**Battle of Dallas**

Alliance for Britannia- 50,000 soldiers, 100 Ios, 500 tanks, 55 airplanes, 10 airships  
Casualties: 25,000 dead, 25,000 wounded, 100 Ios, 500 tanks, 55 airplanes, 10 airships

Odysseus-Gino, 100,000 soldiers, 5,000 knightmares (1800 Vincents, 3000 Bors, 200 Legacy command models) 300 tanks, 250 airplanes, 100 airships  
Casualties: 15 dead, 20 wounded, 4 Vincents

**Battle of Boise**

Odysseus-Thorin, Monica: 15,000 soldiers, 3000 knightmares (1000 Gloucesters, 2000 Vincents) 75 airplanes, 50 airships, Loki Carnage  
Casualties: 3,000 soldiers dead, 10,000 wounded, 2000 knightmares (1000 Gloucesters, 1000 Vincents) 25 airplanes, 20 airships

Lelouch-Luciano, Aphrodite: 1800 soldiers, 1600 Legacy command model Knightmares, 200 Supremacy command models, Vlad Taranis, Venus Amore, 18 airships  
Casualties: 200 soldiers dead, 100 wounded, 300 Legacy Knightmares, 4 airships

Lelouch-James Stadtfeld, Duke of Oregon: 5000 soldiers, 20,000 civilian militia, 1000 Legacy Command Models, 75 tanks, 75 airplanes, 14 airships  
Casualties: 5000 dead, 9500 wounded, 400 Legacy knightmares, 30 tanks, 20 airplanes, 4 airships

**Battle of Alexandria**

Schniezel/EU alliance-Merlin Suzerain,: 250,000 soldiers, 25,000 knightmares (5000 Leopard, 9000 Jaguar, 5500 Caesar, 5500 Alexander) 100 ships, 500 airplane, 400 airships  
Casualties: 46,000 dead, 100,000 wounded, 11,000 knightmares (4000 Leopard, 3500 Jaguar, 1800 Caesar, 1700 Alexander), 35 ships, 250 airplanes, 100 airships

Lelouch-Milly ash Britannia/Villetta Nu: 225,000 soldiers, 20,000 Supremacy Command Models, 5000 Titan MK V drones, 500 tanks, 75 ships, 400 airplanes, 400 airships, Morgan le Fey, Charon, Valkyrie  
Casualties: 33,000 dead, 80,000 wounded, 5,000 Supremacy knightmares, 100 tanks, 20 ships, 100 airplanes, 50 airships

Mohammed Shennib:10,000 soldiers, 2000 Akatsuki, 100 tanks, 20 ships  
Casualties: 5000 soldiers, 1000 Akatsuki, 45 tanks, 10 ships

Lelouch-Colonel Charles Cunningham: 65 stealth drone airplanes, 4 stealth airships

**Battle of Cyprus**

Schniezel-Salzaar Gluten: 300,000 soldiers, 20,000 knightmares (10,000 Caesar, 10,000 Alexander), 50 tank, 75 ships, 300 airplanes, 500 airships  
Casualties: 5,000 dead, 6500 wounded, 200 knightmares (150 Caesar, 50 Alexander), 50 tanks, 10 ships, 200 airplanes, 15 airships

Lelouch-Kallen: 700,000 soldiers, 30,000 Supremacy Command Models, 25,000 Titan Mk V drones, 500 tanks, 300 ships, 500 airplanes, 1000 airships,  
Casualties: 200 wounded, 5 Supremacy, 2 tanks, 3 ships, 15 airplanes

Lelouch-Colonel Nicole Hillis: 112 stealth drone airplanes, 7 stealth airships

**Battle Of Palm Springs**

Odysseus-General Upson: 25,000 soldiers, 5000 Vincents, 100 airplanes, 30 airships  
Casualties: 5,000 dead, 8,000 wounded, 10,000 captured, 4990 Vincents, 100 airplanes, 28 airships

Marianne vi Britannia: 5000 soldiers, 1150 Ashford style Legacy command Models, 200 Ashford style Legacy tanks, 75 airplanes, 15 airships,  
Casualties: 15 dead, 20 wounded, 5 Legacy knightmares, 5 tanks, 3 airplanes, 2 airships

Imperial royal guard/Nonette: 100,000 soldiers, 10000 knightmares (4000 Bors, 4000 Vincents, 2000 Legacy Command Models), 30 tanks, 150 airplanes, 35 airships,  
Casualties: 2500 dead, 4000 wounded, 1000 knightmares (750 Bors, 250 Vincents), 15 tanks, 25 airplanes, 5 airships,


	96. Voice in the Wilderness

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

I meant to mention it sometime last chapter, but the only remaining palace in Pendragon is Aries Villa. Hence why the kids will not attack Odysseus directly since that is his base of operations. I have made a slight point of having only the Emperor called Majesty. All his consorts, children, and grandchildren are referred to as Highness. The exception is that Lelouch is technically Emperor of China through marriage so he is referred to as Majesty there. The distinction becomes important in this chapter. Have I mentioned that Lelouch is insane.

_Japanese is in italics_

...

Do not piss off Scooter.

The Wisdom of Pollux vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2055 ATB

...

It has probably been said by wiser men in the past, but do not piss off Scooter. A maser vibration sword is always more dangerous when angry.

The Lost Writings of Castor vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2101 ATB

* * *

A little girl is running aboard her parents' yacht.

"Carolina, stop running around."

The little girl huffs and puffs.

"I want to keep playing sailor."

"Sweetheart, we can play sailor later. Now you have to get ready for dinner. Go ahead with the car. Your father and I have to get things from the yacht."

Suddenly everything goes up in an explosion. The little girl is blown away. As she lies there she sees two men running away.

"Come Thorin, you idiot. We cannot get captured."

After a few days at a hospital, she is allowed to return home although her life is forever changed.

"What should we do about her?"

"Isn't too soon to be worrying about that, William?"

"Catherine, she is now Duchess of Alberta. I will admit that I am still hurt by the death of our older brother, but we have to be strong for Carolina."

**January 1, 2021**

Carolina wakes up from the knightmare that she has been having for fifteen years. This time the dream is much more vivid than ever before. She sits and begins think about it.

"Good morning, Carolina."

Carolina turns to face the voice.

"Lelouch, what are you doing here?"

"What indeed," Lelouch remarks, "Isabelle is on her way south to look for the twins. You should not worry. They should be fine. Our enemies have much bigger concerns."

"I see. What are you going to do now?"

Lelouch stands and walks for the door.

"I am not sure. I will wander around for a bit causing trouble. It will take a few days for everyone to arrive."

"What should I do?" Carolina asks.

Lelouch taps his chest.

"Just follow this."

Lelouch exits the room. Carolina eventually drifts back to sleep. In the morning she has work to do.

* * *

Merlin is looking at the situation in Alexandria. The entrance of Mohammed and his army lowers the morale of Merlin's troops. They are expecting the locals to join their side, but Mohammed seems to be siding with Lelouch. The knightmares that he is using should have been the first clue to his intentions. While the overall numbers are still pretty equal, Merlin is losing the knightmare battle. He is losing planes and ships to those infernal tanks. He does not underestimate the ability of the tank, but he does not expect them to be so effective. To make matter worse, Kallen is now in Cyprus which Salzaar abandons with minimal fighting.

"Order a retreat," Merlin commands.

"To where, my lord."

Merlin quickly scans a nearby map.

"Have the naval forces retreat here to the Gulf of Sollum. The land and air forces will gather at Matrûh. Once gathered in their respective locations, we will head for Crete. That appears to be the next objective of the force that has invaded Cyprus."

Merlin begins to make preparations for his retreat. However events are already turning against him.

* * *

Gino looks at the results of the Second Battle of Pendragon. Although not as intensive as the battle a few days ago, there is still plenty of damage. Gino admires the ingenuity of Evelyn and the twins. Instead of attacking with their new drones, they use older knightmares. While these knightmares are not effective against Vincents, under their control they put up a good fight.

Gino returns to Odysseus's headquarters which ironically is located at Aries Villa, the only remaining royal residence in Pendragon. Upon arriving Gino can tell that something is going on. He looks for someone that can explain things to him.

"Lord Weinberg, it seems that fighting in eastern Europe and North Africa has begun."

"We expect this. So what is the problem?"

"The problem, my lord, is that Prince Lelouch's forces are winning quite easily."

"Yes, this is also expected. We have to prepare for a multi-front defensive war."

"So you expected Lelouch to win with such ease," Guinevere states.

Gino nods, "Yes that is why I recommend to his majesty that Lelouch be sent to Europe to deal with Schniezel. Lelouch is prepared for an offensive war. He does not know any other way to fight."

"How are we supposed to beat him?"

"We cannot. We can only hope to stop him and force him to give up."

"I have faith in you, Gino," Karine comments, "You can stop him."

Gino sighs, "Whatever, I am going to rest for a bit."

After Gino leaves, Guinevere and Odysseus converse about important matters.

"Are you sure that we can trust Lord Weinberg?" Guinevere asks.

"Is something wrong with his performance? I believe he has performed remarkably. We have gained a few allies because of his presence," Odysseus responds.

"I still think we should keep an eye on him. Those West Point cadets tend to be a close knit group."

"Yes, I suppose we should. We should also keep building our force here. If Lelouch tries to take Pendragon, we must not allow him."

With the situation as it is in Europe, would it be possible for us to ally with Schniezel?" Guinevere asks.

"Perhaps, but before that we must attempt to win this war ourselves. We do not want to have to share power with anyone else. First we must crush this rebellion in the northwest before it gets out of hand."

* * *

"Captain Gottwald, Nassau is within firing range."

Hannah taps her chair.

"Who is the commander down there?"

"We believe that it is Admiral Wessington."

Hannah grins, "Old man Wessington, huh. I always hated that guy in class. Give the signal for the attack to begin."

Chelsea Nu is sitting aboard her knightmare, Cerberus, waiting for the signal to attack. Her knightmare is transferred to a submarine sometime during the night. It really is unfair that all of Lelouch's vehicles have stealth capabilities. Once the attack signal is given, Chelsea commands her submarines to fire and rise out of the water to release their cargo.

"Move out!" Chelsea commands.

Chelsea takes to the air. In the distance, she can see the Bahamas. Their attack for is split into several groups. Hannah is controlling the airships and airplanes that will attack from the north. Chelsea is in control of the naval forces attacking from the south. Lilicia is controlling the tanks and knightmare drones attacking through the center. Their plan is simple. Chelsea and the naval forces will draw the enemy south while the Gottwald sisters attack with their troops.

"Captain Nu, the enemy is not taking the bait. It seems that they have suffered heavy damage from our initial attack. They may also have visual confirmation of Captain Gottwald's force attacking from the north."

Chelsea quickly begins to formulate a new plan.

"Swing to the west of Andros Island. From there we will feign and attack towards Miami. Let's see if that draws them to us. "

Lilicia Gottwald is gathering her force at George Town on the island of San Salvador. About 80 miles to the west is Exuma Sound which leads to Nassau. Once there Lilicia will be able to draw the enemy's naval forces into a trap. Odysseus's Atlantic force is gathering here to eventually move south.

"Send the tanks first. Position the drones to attack from above. Once the enemy makes a move to counter the tanks, we will drop the drones behind their lines."

Things are not quite going as Hannah plans. The enemy turns their attention to her much too early in the battle. Even though she is flying above them, the enemy is finding ways to reach her airships. Her hope is that somehow Chelsea is able to draw some of the enemy south. If this does not happen, Lilicia will not be able to land her tanks and drones.

* * *

"Admiral Wessington, we are receiving reports of a substantial force to the southeast."

"Yes, it must be another attempt by that naval force to get our attention. Our scouts have been able to report that they have a fourth the warships that we have."

"Admiral sir, it does not appear to be the naval force. Several fishing vessels have radioed that there are tanks running along the ocean's surface. They also report several smaller airships flying unbelievably high in the air."

Admiral Wessington looks at the reports and laughs.

"Am I supposed to believe these reports? Do you believe them? Send someone to investigate them. We have a dangerous enemy to the northeast. As well as a decent sized naval force to the southwest. I do not have time for hallucinations."

* * *

Lilicia watches as her tanks successfully land on New Providence Island. They encounter very little opposition which allows them to reach Nassau in less than hour. They have double the knightmares of their enemy and have better knightmares. If this was a truly land battle, they would win with very little problem. That is probably why Admiral Wessington chooses the Bahamas to gather rather than Cuba. She assumes they chose this location because the islands provide some protection from attacks. The plan does not go exactly as Lilicia wants because the enemy does not have sufficient ground forces to combat her tanks. Despite this she still sends her drones crashing in from above. The surprise of the drones dropping is usually enough to frighten most normal people.

Chelsea decides to split her small naval force to further distract the enemy. She splits her force to either side of Andros Island. Her aim is to assist the others in their attacks. She does not have the naval power to defeat the enemy. She does hope to trap them around New Providence Island. The battle is only beginning so things have not been decided yet.

* * *

As Merlin approaches Matrûh, he is glad that it is not summer. Even on the first day of the new year, things are heating up. Since they are being pursued, he gathers what is left of his force here.

"Lord Suzerain, there is a small force approaching us from the west. We have visual confirmation."

Merlin looks at the monitor and sees lots of old knightmares.

"What the hell is this? Do they really expect to fight us with these old knightmares? Use some planes and airships to destroy them. We do not have time for this."

Several alarms begin to go off.

"What now?" Merlin asks angrily.

"Lord Suzerain, there appears to be a large force heading in our direction."

"Yes, I assumed that some larger force would follow us from Alexandria," Merlin remarks, "We have to continue boarding our transport vessels.

"My lord, this force is coming from the sea. We believe that is coming from Cyprus."

Merlin quickly looks at the situation. By the looks of things combined all his opponents do not equal his numbers. Although Merlin suffers from a knightmare deficiency. Merlin doubts that anybody will be able to match Lelouch's dominance in knightmares. Even facing a numbers disadvantage, Lelouch's forces can overcome it with superior quality knightmares.

"Finish off the forces that we are engaging," Merlin commands, "Do not, I repeat, do not send knightmares out to face them up close. Our opponents are desperate. They may try suicide type attacks."

Merlin knows that he must defeat the local forces before he engages with Lelouch's seasoned troops. The images showing up on his monitor let him know who he is facing. Leading the force coming from Alexandria is a completely black knightmare holding a wicked looking sickle. Leading the force from Cyprus is a white knightmare with a small gold and silver claw on its right hand. In its left hand is a katana-like MVS.

"That knightmare look like the personification of Death, the Grim Reaper," Merlin's assistant says.

"The one with the sickle is named Charon. The one with the katana is named Shinigami. So I believe you have a point about what they are supposed to be," Merlin observes the battle. The locals are being destroyed by his bombing runs, but it will not be fast enough to avoid combat with Lelouch's troops, "Prepare my knightmare for combat. I will show these fools true power."

* * *

Kallen is looking at the situation. She dispatches Marika south to trap Merlin. Not that Milly needs help but if there is a chance to capture Merlin and his force, then Kallen will take the opportunity. The bigger issue is to the north where Cornelia is now greatly outnumbered. Kallen could send some help north but that may detract from her actual goal. She is only in Cyprus to orient her troops and threaten the EU. Her goal is to continue towards Casablanca and New York. Her stealth airplane drones are already heading north to assist Cornelia.

Kallen quickly makes the decision to send some sea ships and airships to help Cornelia. She will also send knightmare drones. Not the new ones, but the ones that are captured and converted. Those always provide some confusion amongst the enemy. All three stealth airplane drone units are to stay here with Cornelia while Milly and Kallen head towards the east coast of the mainland. She hopes that sending forces to assist south and north quickly aids in those areas. She continues planning her route west.

* * *

Captain Scott Van Pelt is the highest ranking officer left in Schniezel's eastern Mediterranean fleet. In reality he is in charge of the remnants of the Cyprus fleet. A fleet that is forced to flee after being overwhelmed by a large Britannian fleet. It is a shameful sequence of events. A large Britannian force comes out of nowhere and attacks Cyprus. Despite the fact that Britannia uses stealth technology, someone should have been alerted to the fact that such an enormous force is hiding in the Syrian Desert and Red Sea. Perhaps Schniezel's rhetoric about the locals being unhappy with Britannian rule is incorrect. Possibly Lelouch has promised the locals some form of independence.

However Scott has other concerns at the moment. The retreat from Cyprus initially takes them to Antalya. This is fine for the land and air forces, but the sea force has to find another way. At the moment they are approaching the Dodecanese Islands. They are on the way to Izmir. Unfortunately for the naval forces, Izmir is inside a peninsula that juts northward. Not that much they can do much during the upcoming battle. Most likely they will end up assisting in transporting troops and supplies from Greece.

"Captain Van Pelt, our radar is tracking several large objects moving in our direction."

Scott stares at the radar and sees that it is being filled by objects approaching from the south.

"We're doomed. We cannot fight against such a force."

* * *

Salacia looks on as Salzaar's force combines with hers. Since Salzaar retreats with most of his force intact, they now outnumber Cornelia by three to one. There is one slight issue. High above Cornelia has stealth airplanes and airships. There is no way to attack them unless they come down. Additionally there are two potential dangers. The first is the location of Jeremiah Gottwald. There has been no word on where he is. The second is the large force now occupying Cyprus. From the information that Salacia is receiving, this force is large enough to be spilt into several pieces and cause trouble. It may also be large enough to directly invade Europe. If that is the case neither Salacia nor Merlin will be in position to stop it.

"I thought you said that you had several naval vessels with you," Salacia states.

"Yes, we have sixty five ships," Salzaar responds, "However it will take them some time to get here. Looking west, I don't see how having them here will do us any good."

"Actually I wanted them here to help transport supplies from Greece. We can also use them to transport the gravely wounded and dead so we do not have to waste resources that can be used here."

"I will let them know as soon as they arrive."

Salacia nods and gets back to her palnning. They will have to attack Cornelia before she can get reinforcements from Cyprus. Salacia understands that at this very moment the commander of the Cyprus force is contemplating similar issues. She notices that some of Salzaar's people are agitated about something.

"What is it?" Salacia asks.

"It seems that our naval forces are being pursued by a large force coming from Cyprus," Salzaar responds, "They are being attacked from the air and do not have the firepower to respond."

"What is the problem? Your report indicates that you have over four hundred airships at your disposal. Surely even a quarter of that can provide air cover."

By the look on Salzaar's face, Salacia can tell that none of his airships stay with the naval fleet. Salacia attempts to contain her irritation as her face twitches in anger.

"How could you do something so stupid? You know first hand that there are enough soldiers and knightmares on Cyprus to wipe us out," Salacia turns to face her assistant, "Send a group of airships out to the bay. We need to know the contents of this new force."

Salacia senses a large battle may soon begin. A battle that she will not be able to control.

* * *

Merlin successfully destroys the local forces led by the Shennib brothers. In reality they are nothing more than minor nuisances. The real issue is the forces led by Villetta Nu and Marika Soresi. Merlin is not going to be able to simply slip away. Although his large naval advantage allows him to ship his more gravely injured troops back to Europe. He also has a slight edge in airships, but he cannot fight knightmares with airships especially drones because they have self destruct features.

Merlin is currently out fighting in his personal knightmare. His personal guard is keeping Villetta and Marika from uniting their forces. The scene in the air is chaotic. In the distance Merlin can see the Charon keeping its distance from the battle. Merlin quickly heads towards Villetta.

"That's a pretty fancy knightmare for such a mediocre pilot. Don't you agree, Lady Nu?"

"Why don't you find out, Lord Suzerain?"

Villetta swings her sickle towards Merlin's left. He fires his slash harken chain (a design feature stolen from Lelouch's knightmares). The chain wraps around the sickle bringing it down. Merlin swings his MVS down towards Villetta. Her defense shield is able to stop the blow However Merlin has her trapped, and he continues to hack down at her shield which will eventually fail. Villetta's only change to escape is to let go of her sickle, but that is her only weapon. Her wrist hadron cannons will not be useful in close fighting.

Villetta is saved by a radiant burst that Merlin just dodges. Merlin quickly charges Marika. He slashes at her with his MVS forcing her to defend with hers. Merlin begins to push her back. Villetta recovers and charges Merlin with her sickle. Merlin fires his chain at Villetta and once more wraps it around. Merlin drops down pulling Villetta with him. Marika begins to charge her radiant burst again, but Merlin quickly fires missiles forcing her to use the radiant wave to block the missiles. Merlin pulls his chain hard to the left before releasing it. He charges Marika once more with his MVS. He pushes her back towards Villetta.

Merlin moves before the two female knights can come up with a plan. Once more he fires his slash harken chain at Villetta's sickle. He swings down hard at Marika pushing her back. Marika begins to charge her radiant burst, but Merlin is able to push Villetta between them. Marika quickly realizes that there is no way that they can defeat the former Knight of Two. She does realize that the best they can hope to do is to keep him distracted from the battle below. Since Merlin is by far the best knightmare pilot out here, keeping him from engaging others is important.

"I suppose that it is time to finish this," Merlin states, "It has been fun, but this is the end."

Merlin releases his chain and readies his MVS attack. Villetta and Marika block, however even with their combined power, they are not able to push him back. They are saved by a white knightmare.

"Liliana!" Marika exclaims, "What are you doing here?"

"Looks like I am here to save your butt," Liliana responds, "Her highness wanted a report about the situation."

Merlin fires missiles at them to remind them that he is still there. Merlin realizes that while he is occupying the enemy commanders and best pilots, they are also taking him out of the battle. He is correct about the ferocity of the local attack. It seems that they are even attacking Lelouch's forces. Of course this will just lead to their immediate destruction. From the looks of things Merlin's force is ready to retreat.

"Well ladies, I have enjoyed our time here, but I must be going."

Merlin makes his exit. Liliana prepares to follow him, but Villetta stops her.

"Our duty is secure the city. Anybody that does not pledge their loyalty to His Imperial Majesty Emperor Lelouch will be executed."

Marika and Liliana are shocked by Villetta's words. It is the first mention of Lelouch being Emperor outside of China. As the three women begin to organize the situation on the ground, Milly begins to move west from Alexandria. Lelouch has arrangements with several African officials so they do not expect any problems.

Upon Milly's arrival, Mohammed and Abdul Shennib are brought before her.

"You may leave us," Milly states.

Milly's royal guard nods and leaves the two men alone with Milly and Liliana.

"Are you certain that you are safe with us, your highness?" Mohammed asks.

Milly smirks and flexes her hand.

"Do you really want to test me? I may not have the reputation of my husband's other wife, but you must understand that you cannot kill me."

Mohammed nods, "Very well. You must understand that our people are proud and devout. They will not bow down to someone calling themselves a demon even of he is Emperor."

"I assume that you realize that Lelouch is not conventional. He does want false loyalty. For the duration of this war, you will not attempt to undermine his war effort. Whether you prostrate yourself or simply give your word, is up to you," Milly pauses to let the words sink in, "If you choose that path, then you are to simply return home. If you choose the path of rebellion, then I will strike you down here."

Milly's tone indicates that she is serious and hopes that they choose the latter option.

"You have out word of honor, your highness," Mohammed states, "We will not take arms against your husband."

"And your men?"

"You have our word that they will adhere to our pledge."

"Very well. You are not to take arms against Schniezel or the EU either. We will take care of them. Just return home."

* * *

Admiral Wessington withdraws his force the Bahamas to Miami. Lilicia's tanks rip through the few ground defenses. Much to the surprise of the admiral, the tanks take to the sea and air. The superiority of the Supremacy and Titan Mk V gives the invading forces an insurmountable advantage. However the biggest problem is that the invaders have airships and airplanes that can fly higher than any cannon can fire.

After Lilicia's initial strike, the defending forces return to attack Nassau/New Providence island. Lilicia simply has the tanks sit and put their shields up. She sets the Titan Mirage in the midst of the tanks. Their combined shields protect them. This leaves the tanks unable to fire back, however the trap is set. Hannah and Chelsea move in to attack and destroy the fleet. Admiral Wessington escapes with what remains of his force.

Admiral Wessington is observing what is left of his fleet. He is nominally still in command of the fleet of the Caribbean although that fleet is spread out engaging rebels throughout. There is already talk of moving the fleet to the other side of the Florida peninsula towards Tampa Bay. In the distance he can make out several small shapes approaching the dock.

"Commander, have someone inspect what is approaching."

"Do you think it is an attack, admiral?"

"It does not appear to be."

As the shapes get closer, they are revealed to be ships which contain the troops left behind. In his haste to escape, Admiral Wessington leaves behind the dead and wounded that cannot be easily transported. It is an easy thing to do since the enemy is Britannian as well. The commander comes back to inform Admiral Wessington of the situation.

"Admiral, the ships are carrying our dead and wounded."

"I see. Have the dead catalogued and sent north. Organize the wounded by their capability to fight. Send the more gravely wounded north if possible home."

Admiral Wessington wonders when the attack will come.

After Lilicia gives her report to Lelouch, she decides to get some rest. Sometime tomorrow Kallen and Milly are expected to make their final pushes through North Africa and the Mediterranean. From there they will make their way across the Atlantic. Then things will begin to get interesting.

* * *

Thorin Odinus is in Twin Falls, about 120 miles southeast of Boise. He is waiting for Conrad and Monica to return with more troops. Dorothea and Gino are staying back to defend the capital. There is also the threat of Nonette and Marianne in California. No one knows where Lelouch is. There is word that his is in Pearl harbor but there is no way to confirm that. There are more immediate concerns. In Ontario a small town northwest of Boise, a force is gathering. Other than sending spies there is no way to find out how large the force is, and more importantly who is leading it. From the reports that he has been receiving the force appears to be substantial. Whoever or whatever they are facing, the battle will be the largest on the North American continent at least since the Battle of Pendragon a few days ago.

* * *

Carolina is home for the first time in years. Meeting her there are not just nobles from Oregon and Alberta but from the various sections of the Britannian Empire.

"I would like to thank everyone for attending this meeting," Carolina states.

"It is our pleasure to be here, your highness."

"My lords and ladies, as you know Britannia is in the midst of a civil war. Now the cause of the civil war does not matter. Whether you believe that Odysseus is a usurper who lied to get his position or you believe that he rightfully sits on the throne, the truth is that none of that matters," Carolina explains.

"What does matter, your highness?"

"What matters is what has always mattered in Britannia," Carolina replies, "That is power."

"And you claim to have that power."

"Yes," Carolina declares, "The truth of the matter is that Odysseus cannot prove that the previous emperor declared him the heir. We have no actual evidence that he is dead. We also have not received any word from the previous emperor or the Knight of One. We do not know where they are or what they are planning."

"Your highness, may I ask why you refer to Emperor Charles as the former emperor. If we believe that Odysseus is a usurper then Emperor Charles still reigns alive or dead."

"While that may be true, we cannot separate our desires or ideas from the truth. Odysseus has been declared 99th emperor by those in Pendragon and controls a substantial part of the homeland," Carolina notes, "At the moment most of Areas 1, 2, and 3 are under his control. The failure of a force coming up from Area 6 has opened the possibility for Odysseus to expand his influence south."

"Yes, but Lady Enngream and Empress Marianne control California. Their position being so close to Pendragon may change things. Is there any chance of uniting with their force?"

This is an interesting option since Marianne is Lelouch's mother and Nonette is Cornelia's former senior classmate.

"It is not out of the realm of possibility, but our goals are different than theirs," Carolina comments, "Given how things have turned out, we are not certain that finding the previous emperor and restoring him to the throne is a good idea."

"I agree with the sentiment that Emperor Charles's policies allowed his children and their allies to run rampant. There are other matters which need to be discussed before we give Prince Lelouch our support."

"Those are?" Carolina inquires.

"We need assurances that our rights as nobles will be preserved."

"We need guarantees that we will have access to opportunities to around the world."

"We assume that when this war ends his highness will control or influence most of the world. We need to be certain that we are in positions of power."

"Yes, we need to be certain that we continue to be at the top. We understand that his highness has many Numbers working for him, but they need to know their place."

"I see," Carolina says, "How many of you feel like this?"

The majority of the nobles present raise their hands and nod.

"I am disappointed to hear and see that," Lelouch declares entering the room.

"Lelouch, I thought you were in the south with Euphie," Carolina states.

"Euphemia has all the help she needs in Anya. It appears that I am needed here."

Carolina notices that Lelouch's hand is already on Scooter. Carolina quickly exits the room. Several nobles attempt to follow her; however Lelouch begins to cut them down. After several minutes of Lelouch and Scooter rampaging, the only remaining nobles are those that did not raise their hands.

"What was that Scooter?" Lelouch asks and pauses waiting for his sword to respond, "Blinky, that guy cannot handle this much blood. I left him with Euphie. She said she wanted to use him to chop Karine's head off. I need a real man's sword for this stuff," Lelouch pauses once more as he cleans his sword, "It does stink. I'm a little hungry. I wonder if CC has any leftover pizza."

Lelouch exits the room leaving behind several frightened nobles not to mention the dead ones. Carolina realizes that Lelouch plans this meeting just to kill the nobles that oppose his plans. She follows him outside. Lelouch is talking with Nagisa Chiba and Ichiro Futaba. Carolina can see that those that accompanied the nobles are already being detained. Carolina quickly chases after Lelouch.

"Lelouch, what do you think you are doing?" Carolina asks angrily, "I could handle those fools in there."

"I am destroying the current world and rebuilding a new one," Lelouch answers, "I believe you already know this. Those fools in that room believe that they are untouchable. They misunderstood the situation. Besides it's been a few days since I killed anyone."

Lelouch leans over and kisses Carolina on the forehead.

"Me and Scooter have dinner reservations at a Chicago steakhouse so we need to be going."

"Your Majesty, the airship is ready," Nagisa states.

Lelouch and Nagisa board the Excalibur III and fly away. Ichiro stays behind. Carolina assumes that he is here to assist her.

"What should I do now, Colonel Futaba?"

"That is up to you, your highness."

As Carolina stands there pensive, it appears that Lelouch did not kill all the nobles. Two stagger out of the room and run towards Carolina. A large cybernetic man stops them. After breaking their necks, he tosses them aside.

"General Kouzuki," Ichiro stammers.

"Hey Ichiro, what's going on? Hey didn't you have some cute little sisters."

Ichiro points westward towards Portland (Ayame) and Tokyo (Midori).

Several screams are heard from inside the house.

"I guess you didn't tell your servants about the people that the bastard killed," Naoto remarks, "You should probably get someone in there to clean up the bodies."

Carolina runs inside the house to inform the staff of the situation.

"Well I better head south," Naoto states, "My dad wants me to lead some army he is putting together."

"Wait I will go with you," Carolina states, "These are my people. I did not declare independence to help Lelouch. I did it for the safety of my people. I must look out for my subjects above all."

"Actually I was hoping to get a ride with you since I do not have an airship," Naoto states, "Although I borrowed (stole) some cool motorcycle."

Carolina sighs, "Very well. We will leave after I have settled matters here."

Naoto shrugs his shoulders.

"Do whatever you want, your highness. Things probably won't get started until tomorrow. If you are planning on heading back south, you should be prepared for battle."

* * *

Euphemia li Britannia and Anya Alstriem land at Imperial Beach, a few miles south of San Diego. Here she will begin to gather her army to make her claim for the throne. Hopefully with all the action to the north and east, she will go unnoticed for a few days. Still it is not like she is unprepared for battle. Of all the people under Lelouch's command, Euphie and the kids get the most experienced and battle hardened. Euphie looks back the Pacific Ocean.

"Well Anya there is not turning back now," Euphie says turning away from the Pacific Ocean.

Anya makes the same motion that her master makes. Anya notes that from this distance they are the closest to Pendragon out of all of Lelouch's forces. They also have the one of the most popular members of the royal family (Euphie). In addition, Euphie's mother comes from one of the oldest noble families in Britannia. Her lineage reaches back to the Tudor family and Richard von Britannia, the first emperor to reign over the current homeland.

"Let's go Anya. We have work to do."

"Yes, your Majesty."

* * *

Isabelle is observing workers unload knightmares that will be used as drones in the upcoming battle. She notices that many of them are older knightmares.

"Why are you using older knightmares?" Isabelle asks Evelyn.

"They make better drones since there are a lot of them," Evelyn answers.

Isabelle observes that not all the knightmares are of Britannian origin.

"They are also cheaper to make and repair," Evelyn continues, "Since they are drones, they do not need all the cool gadgets and weapons that the new knightmares have."

"That makes sense. You sacrifice weapons for speed. You can probably toss several dozen bombs throughout the body because it does not really matter if they blow up."

Evelyn smiles at the fact that her older sister figures it out.

"Your highnesses, the people want to know the location of Princess Carolina," Ayame remarks.

Isabelle shrugs her shoulders looking towards Evelyn.

"Carolina is on her way to Spokane," Evelyn responds, "If anyone wants to join her, they should gather there."

Ayame bows and exits the room.

"Wow Evie, how did you know where Caro is going?" Isabelle asks.

Evelyn produces a small GPS unit.

"Big brother gave me this so that I know where everybody is," Evelyn shows Isabelle her GPS, "Here we are. There is big brother and Scooter. Here are sister Kallen and sister Milly. Look here are Nunnally and Suzaku."

Isabelle notices that Nunnally and Suzaku are just north of Boise.

"I wonder what those two are planning," Isabelle remarks.

* * *

Nunnally and Suzaku are watching Lloyd direct the unloading of two identical knightmares. The only difference is that one is pink and the other is white. Lloyd saunters over in Lloyd like fashion.

"Allow me to introduce knightmare frames, Ganymede Boudicca and Lancelot Albion," Lloyd smiles, "The two most powerful offensive weapons in existence."

Nunnally and Suzaku know that Rakshata and Cecile would argue that point. They believe that their creations are equal if not better. However in reality each knightmare is uniquely made for its pilot. So it really comes down to the pilot.

Nunnally grins as Lloyd hands them the keys.

"Come on, Suzu. Let's show those old guys what we can do."

Ryoga Senba sneezes causing him to rub his nose.

"_Someone must be talking about me."_

Kosetsu Urabe laughs, _"Silly old man."_

Both men notice that Kyoshiro Tohdoh is pensive.

"_We should get some rest," _Tohdoh comments, _"This battle will begin tomorrow."_

Both men nods and looks for Shogo Asahina. They understand that this may be their last chance to rest for a few days.

* * *

Below the ruins of Britannia Palace, which has been sealed off, several figures begin move.

"We must prepare for the end, Bismarck. Just like I planned Lelouch is bringing all the necessary individuals to me. Soon we will initiate Ragnarök."

* * *

Author's note: I just wanted to point out that Merlin Suzerain is Knight of Two for a reason. Other than Lelouch, Kallen, Bismarck, Marianne, Suzaku, and Nunnally, he is the best knightmare pilot. In addition only Anya, Gino, Milly, and Jeremiah have the potential to be better. That might seem like a lot of people, but if you consider the thousands of knightmare pilots around the world or even the two or three dozen named knightmare pilots, then it makes sense.

I thought about changing the color of Marika's knightmare, Shinigami, from white to black since that is the western color for death. However the eastern color for death is usually white although most of the Shinigami that we are familiar with use black or dark tones.

The Duchy of Oregon includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, western Montana, and British Columbia, basically the land west of the Rocky Mountains, north of California and south of Alaska/Yukon. The Duchy of Alberta includes Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, eastern Montana, and North Dakota, basically the land west of Ontario, south of the Northwest territories, and including the northern part of the Great Plains.

This is a list of ninth and eighth generation personalized knightmares. We have not seen some of them in action so there is some spoilers. I did leave one or two bigger surprises off the list.

Lelouch-Arthur Excalibur, Kallen-Guinevere Avalon, Milly-Morgan le Fey, Nunnally-Ganymede Boudicca, Suzaku-Lancelot Albion, Anya-Iseult Silencer, Jeremiah-Siegfried Sieg, Irregulars-GX-01 Omega, Gino-Tristan Legend, Marianne-Ganymede Supremacy

Euphemia-Freyja Vanir, Villetta-Charon, Nagisa-Amaterasu Yamato, Marika Soresi-Shinigami, Liliana Vergamon-Valkyrie, Sora-Chrysalis Fantasica, Hannah Gottwald-Thanatos, Chelsea Nu-Cerberus, Kewell-Oberon, Cornelia-Persephone, Faramond:-Percival, Bismarck-Galahad Grail, Merlin-Merlin Magica, Conrad Keyshavrin-Odin, Dorothea-Pelleas Death, Salacia-Andraste War, Nonette-Epona Carriage, Thorin-Loki Carnage, Luciano-Vlad Taranis, Monica-Andarta Fire, Aphrodite Venitus-Venus Amore, Salzaar Gluten-Ares Martius

Here is the battle data from this chapter

**Second battle of Pendragon**

Lelouch-Evelyn, Castor, Pollux: 25,000 drones (8000 Glasgows, 2000 Gun Rus 5000 Sutherlands, 5000 Ios, 5000 Gloucesters)  
Casualties: 25,000 drones

Odysseus- Gino, Dorothea 10,000 Vincents, 5000 Bors, 200 Legacy Command models, Tristan Divider, Pelleas Death  
Casualties: 3,000 Vincents, 1000 Bors, 15 Legacy

**Battle of the Bahamas**

Odysseus-Admiral Wessington: 250,000 soldiers/sailors, 10,000 Vincents, 100 ships (25 frigates, 25 destroyers, 25 cruisers, 10 battleships, 10 mega battle ships, 5 aircraft carriers), 75 airplanes, 30 airships  
Casualties: 30,000 dead, 50,000 wounded, 5,000 Vincents, 90 ships (20 frigates, 20 destroyers, 25, cruisers, 10 battleships, 10 mega battleships, 5 aircraft carriers), 10 airplanes, 5 airships

Lelouch-150,000 soldiers/sailors,  
Hannah: 10,000 Supremacy Command models, 25 stealth airplanes, 55 airships, Thanatos  
Chelsea: 5,000 Legacy command models, 25 ships( 7 submarines, 9 battleships, 5 mega battleships, 4 aircraft carriers), 50 stealth tanks, 35 stealth airplanes, 15 airships, Cerberus  
Lilicia: 5000 Titan Mk V, 50 stealth tanks, 15 stealth airplanes, 5 airships, Titan Mirage  
Casualties: 5,000 soldiers, 1,000 Supremacy, 10 ships (2 submarines, 6 battleships, 1 mega battle ship, 1 aircraft carrier), 15 tanks, 10 airplanes, 4 airships

**Battle of the Desert**

Schniezel/EU alliance-Merlin Suzerain: 190,000 soldiers, 14,000 knightmares (1000 Leopard, 5500 Jaguar, 3700 Caesar, 3800 Alexander), 65 ships, 250 airplanes, 300 airships, Merlin Magica  
Casualties: 10,000 dead, 34,000 wounded, 2000 knightmares (200 Leopard, 700 Jaguar, 500 Caesar, 600 Alexander), 5 ships, 10 airplanes, 2 airships

Mohammed Shennib: 5000 soldiers, 1000 Akatsuki, 55 tanks, 10 ships  
Casualties: 800 dead, 3800 wounded, 1000 Akatsuki, 55 tanks, 10 ships

Abdul Shennib: 20,000 soldiers, 1500 knightmares (250 Glasgows, 300 Bamides, 400 Panzer Hummels, 200 Burai Kai, 300 Gekkas, 50 Akatsuki) 40 tanks, 15 airplanes, 5 ships, 5 land transports  
Casualties: 10000 dead, 7000 wounded, 1500 knightmares, 40 tanks, 15 airplanes, 5 ships, 5 land transports

Lelouch-Villetta Nu: 50,000 soldiers, 5000 Supremacy Command Models, 5000 Titan Mk V drones, 25 tanks, 25 ships, 150 airships, Charon,  
Casualties: 1,000 dead, 4,000 wounded, 400 Supremacy, 200 Titan Mk V,

Lelouch-Marika: 35,000 soldiers, 3,000 Supremacy Command Models, 5,000 Titan Mk V drones, 50 tanks, 50 airplanes, 50 airships, Shinigami  
Casualties: 10 dead, 100 wounded, 50 Supremacy, 10 Titan MK V, 5 airplanes, 1 airship

Lelouch-Colonel Charles Cunningham: 65 stealth drone airplanes, 4 stealth airships


	97. Novus Ordo Seclorum

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Italics mean Japanese. 'Italics with single parentheses mean Chinese.'_

Novus Ordo Seclorum is Latin for New World Order.

The Eowyn is the Britannian/Odysseus/Guinevere attempt to make a mass production eighth generation knightmare. It is based on the data from the Knights of the Round's knightmares, but mostly from Conrad's Odin. Naturally it is not as good as Lelouch's newest knightmares, Supremacy Command Models and Titan Mk V.

Hey anybody else wonder where Sayoko and Jeremiah are at or what that cyborg bastard Xingke is up to. You might find out this chapter. Also in case anyone has forgotten, Villetta, Alice, Dalque, Lucretia, and Sancia are still the knights of the vi Britannias.

...

Britannia is like giant boiler. Once the fire is lighted under it, there is no limit to the power it can generate.

Winston Churchill

...

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.

Vince Lombardi

* * *

**January 1-2, 2021 Ascension Throne Britannia**

Monica and Faramond are gathering their force south of Mountain Home. Thorin is still in Twin Falls while Tohdoh is in Pocatello. Their strategy is simply to divide the force gathering north of Boise. Monica and Faramond will swing towards the west while Thorin attacks east of Boise. Tohdoh will move further north. The only problem that Monica has with the plan is that they do not know who is commanding the troops they will be facing. The possibilities are endless, Lelouch, Nunnally, Jeremiah Gottwald, Kamina, Haruhi, or Aizen. It can really be anyone. Although the way Faramond sees it, if the latter three are on the other side than it is already over.

"Hey Monica, did you pack my Haruhi nightlight?" Faramond asks.

"Yes, they should be next to your Mikuru pajamas," Monica answers with a sigh.

"Okay, I found it," Faramond connects his nightlight, "Now I can sleep safe under the protection of Haruhi. Too bad she cannot follow me out to the battle," Monica hears Faramond sigh and begin dialing his phone. After a slight pause, he continues, "Hey, what's up. I just wanted to ask something. What kind of knightmare pilot do you think Haruhi would be? Um yeah, Suzumiya," There is a pause as Faramond waits for an answer, "That's what I thought. What about Yuki? I think she would kick ass," Faramond stays silent once more, "Really Anya. I can kind of see it a bit. Me, nothing just getting ready for bed with Monica. Yeah she's wearing it. Damn right, she looks sexy. Who are you with," silence, "Nagisa Chiba huh, you're into the older women too. Hey, isn't that Shirley girl with you?" This comment catches Monica's attention, "Eh, looks I have to go. Yeah planning a battle and all that crazy stuff. Not if I kill you first."

Monica raises her eyebrow as Faramond hangs up.

"Who were you talking to?" Monica asks.

"Just my uncle Lelouch. He says he's in Chicago eating steaks with Scooter."

"Do you believe him?"

"I guess. It does not help him to lie. We are preparing like he is on the other side here anyways so it does not matter where he is," Faramond pulls Monica towards him, "Let's forget about that and concentrate on something else."

* * *

Salacia realizes that the only way for her to win this battle is to drive Cornelia way quickly. The longer she waits, the bigger the possibility that more troops come to Cornelia's aid. She must use her large advantage in manpower and vehicles. She has already lost all her ships and several airplanes and airships to the force coming up from Cyprus.

The news from Egypt is not good. Merlin is already retreating towards Crete and possibly beyond. There is no chance of Merlin coming to assist Salacia since the large force in Cyprus has yet to show any signs of coming to Anatolia. If anything that force will probably move through the Mediterranean towards Sicily.

"Lady Ravenguard, the enemy fleet is approaching Chios."

"Thank you. Have the available commanders meet me in the conference room," Salacia orders.

"As you wish, my lady."

Salacia gather her thoughts and materials and heads towards the conference room. Most of the commanders will attend via video conference. She wonders if anybody will say something about the fact that Salzaar is not attending. The truth is that Salacia does not know where he is. There are rumors that Schniezel will recall him to Rome or at least back to Italy to organize a defense. One of Salacia's assistants hand her a paper.

"I see, when did this come in?" Salacia asks.

"About an hour ago, my lady. Lord Gluten has already been informed. He is gathering a small escort. He states that he understands the need to have sufficient firepower for this battle."

"Very well. If he understands the situation, then we have nothing to worry about."

Salacia would rather wait for this battle to be over before sending Salzaar back to Rome. Surely Schniezel must understand the task at hand. Salacia quickly pushes those thoughts out of her head as she begins her meeting.

"I have just been informed that Lord Gluten has been recalled by his Highness. That does not change our plan. We must defeat Cornelia li Britannia. If we push her back, then the enemy naval force will have not effect on us. Hopefully our Black Sea fleet can protect Istanbul and our land route to Europe," Salacia states.

"Lady Ravenguard, I understand that we outnumber the enemy, but there are potentially more enemy forces in Asia."

"Yes, rumors are beginning to spread amongst the troops that Lord Suzerain has been routed and is retreating to Italy."

"Indeed, Lord Suzerain has encountered difficulties in Egypt," Salacia explains, "It seems that some locals have joined out enemies/ However that does not mean that we should retreat ourselves. We must make the people realize that here in the EU under Prince Schniezel we are striving to create a better society for mankind. We must not allow the world to fall under the tyranny of Lelouch vi Britannia."

Salacia's words trigger the effects of Schniezel's geass in the commanders.

"Yes, I suppose you are right, Lady Ravenguard. We are fighting for all of mankind."

Salacia dismisses the meeting. She knows that she must act quickly to if she is to defeat Cornelia. She can hear the anti-aircraft cannons going off. The stealth planes have been a huge problem. There is very little that can be done about them. Salacia already has airship crews flying as high as possible and observing non-stop. As the sun continues to ascend in the sky, she realizes that things are only beginning.

* * *

Merlin is flying over the ruins of Crete. It seems that the invasion force that took Cyprus continues west. Along their journey, it blasts just about every inch of Crete. Merlin realizes that he will have to return immediately to Italy in case that massive army turns north. However he does not believe that that is the case. His intuition is telling him that Kallen and Milly are merely passing through on their way to the Britannian east coast. The conquest of Europe will be left to Cornelia. Possibly Lelouch plans on bombing Europe into submission as well.

What makes Merlin worry is what else Lelouch has planned. How many more troops, knightmares, and airships are hiding further east? Merlin advises Schniezel that the attacks through Anatolia and Egypt are counterproductive and playing into Lelouch's hands. However Schniezel believes that Lelouch will concentrate on invading Britannia, but from the look of things he is making sure that things are settled in the old world first. The main part of Schniezel's offensive power is gone. There is still plenty of defensive power for them to use, but it has also been weakened by the attempted attacks.

For the safety of his troops, Merlin avoids landing in Crete. He sets course for Italy. Hopefully Salacia and Salzaar will be able to stop Cornelia and preserve their own troops. Whatever the situation, they will have to be prepared.

* * *

Kallen is flying over Malta. Originally she plans on stopping here, but she changes her plan. She will fly directly to Casablanca. From there she will orient her force to fly to New York. From here things are about to get interesting. In the distance Kallen imagines she sees Italy and Europe. She decides to get some rest because in a few hours she will be landing in New York.

Milly continues flying westward from Alexandria. Her original plan is to head towards Dakar. Now she plans on meeting Kallen in Casablanca to reorganize their armies before heading towards the east coast of the homeland. Milly looks at the numbers between hers, Kallen's, and Hannah's command there is a little more than a million soldiers. Another hundred thousand or so are coming from Africa. Milly wonders how things will turn out. Milly decides to get a few hours of asleep. She does mostly because she wants Liliana to rest as well.

Since returning to her airship, Villetta has been pensive. The biggest thing on her mind is her defeat at the hands of Merlin. While many can argue that it is a draw since both survive the fight, there is no doubt that she is the loser. Villetta knows that she will have to improve. She is the Knight of Lelouch vi Britannia after all.

* * *

Battle of Izmir begins in an unexpected fashion. Cornelia makes the bewildering move of attacking despite being outnumbered three to one. Salacia wonder if Cornelia assumes that the Cyprus force is coming to her aid. Salacia begins to contemplate the situation. Her troops are still being harassed by the stealth airplane drones. They have not been able to knock any of them down. The drones come in to attack and leave. Salacia's only choice is to attack and push Cornelia back before she can receive any aid.

Sancia and Lucretia leave Cornelia to take control of the force that Kallen sends. However they do not have to stay in the area because they can control the drones from anywhere. They are on their way to the Britannian homeland to join Lelouch. Lucretia reaches for her microphone.

"Okay guys the game is about to start. The one with the most kills gets a hug from big brother Lulu or sister Kallen."

"I wants a hug from you, Lucretia."

"I wants one from Fuffie."

"I likes Millys."

"Win and you can get a hug from whoever you want as long as they are alive," Sancia states.

The kids below smile and prepare for battle. Sancia and Lucretia take control of the drones that are similar to the current EU knightmares. They will use these knightmares to sneak close the enemy lines. They will have to be careful about this because a few of the knightmares are captured or stolen, but the vast majority are imitations built by Lelouch's people. All the drones are loaded with bombs as a final attack measure. The kids are controlling the nine thousand five hundred Titan Mk V drones in the area. To avoid having the kids attack the faux EU knightmares, the game program recognizes the knightmares as friendly.

Cornelia's attack is a combination of her nature and Lelouch's plan to infiltrate the enemy lines. In the confusion the enemy will not bother to check the knightmares that are joining their formations for the battle. They would just be glad that more allies are joining the battle.

The first part of the battle is quite predictable as Cornelia is driven back. Salacia is careful not to rush into things, but her troops are excitable. Knowing that Merlin has been defeated, they crave any potential victory. Salacia is a little worried at reports of heavy knightmare losses. It seems that enemy has landed several lucky hits. These hits cause the EU knightmares to instantly explode sending shrapnel everywhere. For this reason alone, Salacia is not able to use her ground troops where her real advantage lies. Salacia would rather have her airships simply move forward and bomb the enemy, but her own troops are too eager to fight. Still Salacia is uneasy about something, a feeling that she cannot explain.

"Lady Ravenguard, we are still receiving reports about knightmares exploding unexpectedly."

"Yes, I have seen these reports. At this point it will be nearly impossible to get someone to investigate the situation. The troops are too riled up to be stopped," Salacia comments, "Is it possible for us to get a visual on the knightmares in question?"

"I believe so. We have some smaller airships in the area. I will bring up their cameras."

Salacia looks at the images. There is almost nothing left of the knightmare in question. Even the most seasoned investigator would have problems finding out what went wrong. Salacia continues to look on as more images are brought up.

"Wait, focus on the last one," Salacia orders. Salacia gasps when she realizes what is happening, "How could they copy the Caesar and Alexander in one day? Even if they used units captured in Cyprus or Alexandria, there is not way that they could have made a functioning knightmare."

"Actually Lady Ravenguard, it is quite simple," her assistant states, "All EU and Britannian knightmares are based on a similar design thought the final product is a slightly different. What I mean is that all current knightmares are based on the original Titan and Io with a few slight changes. For the EU, our basis is the Musketeer. Basically all they had to do is make a knightmare base and attach the captured Caesar and Alexander parts. They could also have used images of said knightmares."

"I see," Salacia remarks, "Taking the information that we have, the knightmares have been loaded with explosives," Salacia thinks about what to do, "Have all our knightmares give their identification signal. Those that do not do so are to be destroyed. I understand that we have thousands of knightmare in the field and that this will take some time. Perhaps it will slow the charge and allow us to send in some airships for a bombing run."

Salacia's subordinates begin to do as she instructs.

* * *

The moment that Sancia and Lucretia are waiting for has happened. The EU forces are beginning to get suspicious.

"What would Lelouch do right now?" Sancia asks.

Lucretia smirks, "That's pretty obvious. He would charge in with his knightmare. Then he would open his hatch and come at swinging with Scooter."

"Yes that sounds like Lelouch. What would he do if he was us?"

Lucretia's smile gets wider.

"He would blow everything up."

"That sounds like a plan," Sancia states, "Target the larger airships. Once those go down, the EU troops will be trapped."

"Even half a million soldiers can't go up against all our tanks and airships."

Cornelia is retreating allow predetermined routes. The enemy is too eager to notice that they are being lead into a trap. Cornelia senses Sancia and Lucretia's handiwork in the exploding knightmare incidents. She can also sense Salacia's cautious tendencies in situations where the enemy knightmare advance stops and airships take over. It is hard for Cornelia to not to rush into things. Her tanks are behind her lines waiting for the precise moment to attack. Cornelia just has to wait which is something she is not very good at.

Salacia's troops are beginning to find and destroy the masquerading enemy knightmares. Suddenly enemy knightmares begin to drop from the sky. Several are nothing more than bombs disguised as knightmares, but others are Titan MK Vs which is perhaps the best mass production knightmare in the world. The knightmare seem to read the battlefield perfectly. It is as if they know where everything out in the battlefield is and where it is going. Even though Salacia is prepared for a possible attack from the sea and air, she is not able to defend against such perfect attacks.

"Lady Ravenguard, several knightmares are launching themselves at our airships. The attacks are well coordinated. The airships' shields are having problems holding up."

Salacia realizes that this battle is not as simple as she thinks it will be.

Sancia and Lucretia order their Supremacy knightmares and tanks to head towards the north. Their airships and airplanes are also moving in that direction. The goal of these units is to prevent the EU forces from escaping to the north. Their nearly two hundred sea ships are spreading across the Aegean Sea to prevent any possible rescue attempt. Although it may appear that such actions are premature, they are part of Lelouch's orders. The attacks on the airships are going quite well. At this point they have given up on using the knightmare drones to fight. Those on the ground are simply sent to where enemy knightmares are gathered. Those in the air are simply sent down as missiles. The effect on the enemy is quite disheartening. It makes Sancia and Lucretia wonder why no one else has thought of using old knightmares like this.

* * *

Lelouch is north of Chicago where he plans on wreaking havoc in the morning. However at the moment he is lying in bed with Shirley on his right and Nagisa on his left. After wearing out both women, Lelouch decides to head over to the drone control room. He finds CC in there speaking about the greatness of pizza to some kids.

"Shouldn't all of you be asleep?" Lelouch questions.

CC and the kids groan, but eventually leave. CC is finding it a little difficult having to live as a human.

Lelouch sits at the main controls. What Lelouch does next can be considered the most horrible act he commits during the entire war. He returns control of all television and radio stations to their owners. For the first time in over a week, the world is able to see and hear what is really going on. They can see the carnage first hand. For the first time Britannians realize that they can be victims of war too. After that Lelouch begins to position his satellites and high flying drone airships for a final attack. Even if Cornelia fails at Izmir, Lelouch will destroy Salacia's army. After that he will bomb Europe into submission.

* * *

Cornelia's tanks make their entrance into the battle surprising the enemy. However Salacia quickly recovers and her smaller airships quickly move forward. Their firepower is too much for Cornelia's knightmares and tanks to handle. Once more Cornelia begins to retreat. Salacia is concerned about the movement to her north. It makes very little sense for the force from Cyprus to be gathering to the north. Although Cornelia's force seems to be angling in that direction, but that may be because Ankara is in that general direction. If Salacia can trap Cornelia in Ankara, then she can secure a path further east. This may encourage the Russians to provide reinforcements through the Caucasus.

Cornelia does not quite understand Lelouch's plan. She is heading towards the north. She does not really have objective. She is just turning to the north. Also forming to the north are the troops from Cyprus. She knows not to expect help from Kallen because she should be nearing Casablanca by now. The stealth airplane drones are still providing help, but without the protection of a large force, they may soon be ineffective.

"Your highness, we are receiving a communication from Lady Cummins."

Cornelia nods for the channel to be open.

"Lady Cummins, how may I assist you?" Cornelia inquires, "As you probably know we are having a bit of a battle here."

"That is precisely what I am calling about. I am here with gifts from Princesses Euphemia and Evelyn as well as my father. He states that he as the weapon that your knightmare needs to be complete."

Hope begins to rise in Cornelia's mind.

"What are these gifts you speak of?"

"I suppose that it is better if I show you."

Cornelia sees a large orange and green ball. Behind it are several thousand knightmares. Behind them are several hundred airships. Below all of them are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of tanks.

"Where did all of these come from?" Cornelia asks.

The big ball moves forward.

'_For the sake of Lady Evelyn, we will destroy all master's enemies,' _Li Xingke declares, _'All hail Emperor Lelouch.!'_

'_All hail Emperor Lelouch!'_

"All hail Emperor Lelouch!"

"_All hail Emperor Lelouch!"_

Salacia's face turns white when she is informed of the massive force slamming into her troops from the south.

"Those cannot be the troops from Cyprus. Merlin told us that they are past Crete and heading towards the west."

Salacia listens to the transmission coming from the south.

"What language is that?" she asks.

"It appears to be Chinese and Japanese."

Salacia now understands why the troops from Cyprus are digging in to the north. They are blocking the direct route to the Dardanelles while Cornelia is blocking the path to Istanbul. She assumes that the fleet from Cyprus is already occupying the Sea of Marmara. The airplane drones have also disappeared from the battlefield. The knightmare bomb drones also appear to be gone. Perhaps they are to the north as well. All of Istanbul's defenses are to the east. There are a few to the south as well, but nothing to the north or west because that would not make any sense. If Istanbul has to defend from the west or north, something is seriously wrong.

"Retreat," Salacia orders. Then she thinks about it, "Keep moving forward. Mass the troops to the west and retreat. We must punch a hole in the enemy lines and push through."

This time it is Sancia and Lucretia who retreat so that the enemy moves the way Lelouch wants them to move. They retreat slowly towards the ships waiting along the western coast of Anatolia. Cornelia continues to shadow Salacia's force blocking their path eastward. Not that Salacia would attempt such a move. The new force to the south almost outnumbers Salacia's army on its own. As day turns into night, Salacia continues her retreat. Her only chance of surviving is to beat the enemy to Istanbul. She has enough airships to transport her troops back to Europe, but she does not have the time to load them all up because the enemy does not stop attacking. Salacia realizes that it is going to be a long night.

* * *

For most of the day both sides continue to gather troops around Boise. To the far north, Carolina is gathering troops from Alaska and her duchies. The majority of the soldiers are led by Lelouch's former West Point classmates. There are about two hundred thousand in their ranks. Carolina is able to gather about the same number in civilian militia although most of these troops are not very well trained. In this battle they will be nothing more than reserves.

To the east of Boise are Tohdoh and his army of anti-Lelouch Numbers. There are about two hundred thousand in their ranks, however not all of them are properly trained, but many of them have some form of combat experience. They use primarily Bors since the system is similar to the Akatsuki. A few use Vincents since they do not want to use a knightmare designed by Lelouch.

Southeast of Boise is Thorin and Conrad. The majority of their two hundred thousand troops are brought north by Conrad. They mainly use the new Eowyn knightmare. Neither leader in particular wants to join the battle personally although they will not admit it. There are too many people on the enemy side that hate them personally.

To the south of Boise are Faramond and Monica. They have one hundred fifty thousand soldiers and use Eowyn knightmares. This will be the initial attack force. While they understand the weakness of the enemy's civilian militia, they do not want to face those troops. Faramond would prefer to have Tohdoh face those troops. That may also get rid of some of the more dangerous Numbers.

To the northwest of Boise are Suzaku and Nunnally. They are leading two hundred thousand of Nunnally's white knights. They plan to take the brunt of the enemy attack while Lelouch's plan unfolds. Although they do not really understand what that plan entails exactly.

To the far west of Boise, Evelyn and the twins are preparing for battle. Nobody really knows what effect they will have. They are perhaps the most feared combatant in this battle because they are the most unpredictable. Of course the biggest issue with them is that their exact number of knightmares is unknown. There is no telling what kind of firepower they will have.

To the far northeast Luciano and Aphrodite prepare to reenter the battle. Their numbers have dwindled since their first action in Pendragon over a week ago. They cannot do anything about that since they have no real cause or following. All they can do is fight as best they can.

To the far southwest are Marianne and Nonette. Although it is unlikely that they will enter the battle. Their biggest hope is that both armies wear each other out. Perhaps soon the Emperor will return and lead a counterattack.

As the day winds down, artillery signals the beginning of the Second Battle of Boise.

* * *

**January 3 **

Kallen and Milly leave Casablanca early in the morning. They have a few hours before they have to do anything. Lelouch expands his list of targets. They will attack New York, Richmond, Miami and New Orleans or Houston. There will also be a force in reserve stationed in the Bahamas for now. The troops are divided evenly amongst the four attacking forces. With the exception of the Richmond force, they will get the same amount of sea ships as well. Villetta and Lilicia will lead the New York force. Kallen will lead the attack on Richmond. Milly will attack Miami. Hannah and Chelsea will attack New Orleans or Houston. In a few hours the Britannian homeland will experience its first full scale war in over a hundred years.

In the distance Salacia can see the lights of Istanbul; however something seems to be odd about them. As Salacia gets closer, she is overcome with horror. The entire city of Istanbul appears to be on fire. She sees enemy ships and airships bombing the city without mercy. In the air she can see knightmares gathering for an attack. It takes her a few seconds to realize what they are really going to do.

"Oh my, those knightmares are those bomb filled drones," Salacia begins to feel faint, "This is insane. This is not honorable war. This is not the way things are supposed to be."

Salacia begins to formulate a plan to board whatever knightmares and troops she can.

"Prepare my knightmare. I will have to go out there and provide cover for our troops to enter the transport airships. "

* * *

Lelouch disembarks his airship and heads down to Chicago in his knightmare. Since it is going to take the others a few more hours to attack, he decides to cause some havoc on his own. As Lelouch flies high above, he is hailed by the commander of Chicago's garrison

"Lelouch vi Britannia, by order of his Imperial Majesty Odysseus eu Britannia, you are no longer supreme commander of the military. I am placing you under arrest."

Lelouch smirks, "You and what army?" Lelouch asks.

Suddenly about fifty Vincents surround Lelouch. Lelouch's grin gets bigger.

"It just occurred to me that if any of you were any good, then you would be in Miami, New York, or Boise. Unfortunately for you, I do not recognize the reign of Odysseus eu Britannia. Even more unfortunate is the fact that there is very little humanity left in me. I am nothing more than a demon incarnate. Now you will suffer my wrath."

Lelouch easily destroys the knightmares that attack him. The Chicago garrison quickly realizes that they must come up with a better strategy if they are to defeat Lelouch. However something from their worst nightmares begins to fill the sky. Hundreds of missiles begin to fill the sky all over the Britannian homeland. The Chicago garrison quickly leaves Lelouch and head down to the city to assist with the fires breaking out everywhere.

"When I am done with you people, you will wish you had never lived," Lelouch says to no one in particular.

* * *

Faramond changes the plan slightly. Rather than having the three armies at his disposal attack separately, he has them surround Boise and attack at the same time. The only problem is that Tohdoh's force is too eager, and their knightmares move too fast. This allows Luciano's small force to rip through the ground troops left behind. In addition the force gathering to the north also slams into Tohdoh's flank. Despite losing many members, the civilian militia is so ferocious that many of Tohdoh's soldiers begin to falter. Despite these slight setbacks, Faramond is able to recover the situation; however the numbers are now close. This battle will be one decided on sheer will and strategy.

* * *

Salacia does not particularly believe in hell, but she imagines that it cannot be as bad as Istanbul. The city is like the scene from some post apocalyptic story. In fact she imagines that it is much worse than that. Cornelia is attacking with everything she has. Both sides are suffering unimaginable losses. Salacia does not believe that either side will be able to continue after this battle. If the intense fighting is not enough, suddenly missiles begin to drop indiscriminately from the sky. The missiles hit both civilian and military targets. However looking solely at the numbers of dead and alive, Salacia still has a slight advantage if she can get some reserves. However the EU soldiers are defeated mentally, there is not way they can continue the battle. Meanwhile Cornelia still has the option of using drones.

Cornelia has never seen a battle with this much carnage. Hospitals all the way back to India will be filled with wounded. Cornelia remembers something said by someone in ancient times.

"One more such victory would utterly undo him."

She looks over at Istanbul and wanders what else Lelouch has planned for the world. She makes sure that what remains of her force stays away from Istanbul. Cornelia's orders are to wait a few days for before beginning her invasion of Europe. She looks at her available troops and realizes that she does not have enough to troops to even take a portion of Europe and hold it. Cornelia cannot help but feel sick at the amount of dead and wounded in this battle.

* * *

**January 4**

In the morning the battle around Boise continues to rage on. There has been light fighting throughout the night. Faramond realizes that the battle is to far gone to control or stop. It will end when everyone is too tired to continue. At this point he has a slight advantage and is pushing back the enemy. He now knows that Nunnally and Suzaku are lading the force northwest of Boise while Carolina and Naoto Kouzuki are leading the force to the north. Faramond realizes that if he continues pushing the enemy back he will enter enemy territory. His troops could suffer attacks from disgruntled locals.

Luciano and Aphrodite move west and join Carolina.

"Damn I will want to fight those bastards Conrad and Thorin," Luciano says with a scowl.

"Yes, it does not seem like them to hold back like this," Aphrodite comments.

"Those bastards are afraid of us."

Aphrodite sighs because she knows that the former Knight of Three and the Knight of Seven would have no problems handling her and her lover. Aphrodite notices that Carolina is pensive.

"Is something wrong, your highness?" Aphrodite knows that this is a stupid question to ask.

Carolina understands that Aphrodite is just trying to be helpful.

"No, I am just thinking of something. Is there a way that I can see some pictures of Conrad and Thorin?"

"Well I am sure that the Knights of the Round website is still up and running. There should be profiles and even pictures from when we were children."

Carolina quickly looks up the website. After a few minutes of searching, she gasps.

"It's them."

Luciano and Aphrodite realize that the pictures Carolina is looking at are over ten years old. Carolina looks up at the two former Knights of the Round.

"These are the people that killed my parents."

"Are you sure?" Aphrodite asks.

Carolina nods, "Yes, they haunt my dreams every night."

Luciano sighs and begins to walk towards the knightmare hangar.

"Let's go, babe. We have two bastards to kill."

Faramond does think that it is possible, but the civilian militia becomes even more ferocious. This time there anger is directed at Conrad and Thorin's force. Faramond does not understand why until Monica hands him a headset. Faramond cannot believe what he hears.

Faramond sighs, "Things are really screwed up."

Suddenly a brown disk comes flying towards Faramond's force.

"Is that a giant flying cookie?" Faramond asks.

To the west four knightmares are floating in the air. Standing atop the knightmares are Isabelle, Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux. In his head Faramond thinks, cue awesome anime theme song. Then he begins thinking about which one it would be. He comes to the conclusion that the kids would prefer the main Fairy Tail battle theme or "Liberame from Hell" (Guren Lagann).

"Is that knightmare in the back fucking Elmo?" Faramond asks.

The other knightmares are mini versions of the Titan Mk V, Guinevere Avalon, and Morgan le Fey. Behind the knightmares are four airships: Cookie Monster, Super Sparkle, Emily, and Miranda. Behind those airships, are twenty more airships releasing thousands of knightmares. Faramond realizes that the Second Battle of Boise is just beginning.

"We're fucked," Faramond remarks.

Monica scowls because she does not approve of such language.

"Do not approach those knightmares!" Tohdoh commands.

However when his troops see that many of the new knightmares are older knightmares, they move in to attack. They quickly discover their error when the drones begin to explode. These exploding knightmares not only destroy their attackers, but also send pieces of shrapnel flying through battlefield.

Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux lift their knightmare keys into the air. They back flip into their knightmares.

"Let's play," they say while smirking.

* * *

Jeremiah Gottwald is meeting with Russian leaders hoping to end the war.

"You must understand, Mr. Gottwald, that our people will not bow before any emperor."

Jeremiah knows what he would say to the man if he did not have specific instructions.

"I believe that you realize that my master is not conventional," Jeremiah says sliding over the table a paper containing Lelouch's terms of surrender, "These terms are non-negotiable. I must leave this meeting with your answer. Failure to do so will be taken as a rejection."

After a few minutes of discussion Jeremiah gets his answer.

"I believe that these terms are acceptable, Lord Gottwald."

"Very well. My master will be pleased."

* * *

Sayoko and her team are sneaking their way through Rome's underground looking for their target. Lelouch destroys Schniezel's FLEIA facility in Greenland, however Schniezel has a facility here in Rome. There are very few places to hide such a place, but Sayoko thinks that she knows where it is. Suddenly the ground begins to shake.

"_This is not a good sign. It seems that we are too late. We must leave the city as soon as possible."_

Sayoko orders her team to escape from Rome by whatever means possible.

Salacia returns to Rome. After her defeat at Izmir, Lelouch begins to systematically bomb cities throughout Europe. This causes mass rioting to break out throughout the continent. Several of the EU's leaders are killed by rioters. The scene below in the city is similar to Istanbul. She sees that Schniezel's palace is surrounded by rioters. At the top of the palace sits Schniezel's airship which is being boarded by several individuals. She assumes that Schniezel and Kannon are already on board. In the distance she can see other knightmares taking to the air. Salacia takes a transport shuttle to Schniezel's airship. Merlin and Salzaar are already there.

"Kannon, is the Damocles ready to go?" Schniezel asks.

"Yes, your highness," Kannon replies, "There missiles have all been loaded."

"Wait I thought that all the missiles got destroyed in Greenland," Salzaar remarks.

Salacia thinks the same thing but does not say anything.

"Fortunately for us, his highness sets up several facilities including a large one here in Rome," Merlin comments.

Salacia can tell by his tone that he knows where all of Schniezel's facilities are. It disturbs Salacia greatly that she is not trusted with this secret. She must find a way out of this situation.

Below the rioting appears to have calmed down. The reason must be because they can no longer get to Schniezel although Salacia wonders if any of them think about stealing airplanes. Then again Schniezel would probably think about that. Salacia looks on in amazement as the Coliseum begins to shake. For some reason Lelouch's attacks leave major European monuments intact. The ancient arena is destroyed as a large airship. Soon the Eternal City joins its most famous monument and is soon destroyed by being taken off the map. This is followed by attacks on Berlin, Paris, Athens, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and London.

Salacia understands what the FLEIA is and that many are being created, but she does not expect them to be used like this.

* * *

Meanwhile high above New York, Richmond, Miami, and Houston, the airships of Lelouch's invasion fleet are gathering. In Chicago Lelouch is finished with the local garrison. He returns to his airship to await the invasion of the east coast. South of San Diego Euphie's army is finished gathering. They are completely unaware of the danger that is coming from Europe.

Schniezel looks over the data.

"In a few days, the Damocles will ascend to an orbit above Pendragon. From there we will fire our remaining FLEIA missiles on the world below. The world will believe that it is Lelouch firing the missiles," Schniezel declares. He decides to add some Latin he learned while in Rome, "Novus ordo seclorum. Yes, from this moment forward the world will not be the same."

GG looks down in horror at a large empty space where Rome used to be.

"This is why all these bastards have to die. I will be the one who finishes this. Not just for my revenge, but for the entire world."

* * *

Author's note: The Second Battle of Boise continues as Evelyn and the twins make their appearance. Another battle to the south also appears to be brewing as Euphie makes her move to Pendragon. Lelouch and Schniezel are about to bring the horrors of war to the Britannian homeland. Of course Charles is setting up a trap in Pendragon that no one knows about.

Someone asked about the almost impossible number of airships being used in battles. I probably should have given the different sizes of airships as well. Most of the airships are slightly larger than airplane bombers. This means that most airships are just big airplanes. The difference is that airships are designed to maximize knightmare transportation and perform the duties of jets and bombers. Airships are basically the ultimate mobile weapon. Mega battleships are just large battleships. They are also maximized for knightmare and troop transport.

**Battle of Izmir**

Schniezel-Salacia Ravenguard: 430,000 soldiers, 31,800 knightmares (1200 Napoleon, 2000 Leopard, 3500, Jaguar, 12,450 Caesar, 12,650 Alexander), 110 airplanes, 735 airships, Andraste War

Casualties: 90,000 dead, 200,000 wounded, 10,000 knightmares (1200 Napoleon, 2000 Leopard, 1500 Jaguar, 2500 Caesar, 2800 Alexander), 70 airplanes, 400 airships

Lelouch-Cornelia li Britannia/Kewell Soresi: 125,000 soldiers, 11,000 knightmares (6500 Legacy, 4500 Supremacy), 4500 Titan Mk V, 250 tanks, 70 airplanes, 290 airships (Demeter), Persephone, Oberon

Casualties: 35,000 dead, 90,000 wounded, 7000 knightmares (5000 Legacy, 2000 Supremacy), 150 tanks, 70 airplanes, 200 airships

Lelouch-Sancia, Lucretia: 8,000 Supremacy, 5000 Titan Mk V, 10,000 knightmare drones (2000 Ios, 2000 Bors, 2100 Akatsuki, 1000 Panzer Hummels, 1000 Musketeers, 500 Napoleons, 500 Jaguars, 500 Panthers, 200 Caesars, 200 Alexanders), 100 tanks, 195 ships, 100 airplanes, 195 airships

Casualties: 6,000 Supremacy, 5000 Titan Mk V, 10,000 knightmare drones, 100 tanks, 100 airplanes, 127 airships,

Lelouch-Sora Cummins, Li Xingke: 500,000 soldiers, 5,000 Legacy, 5,000 Supremacy, 5,000 Titan Mk V, 300 tanks, 500 airplanes, 500 airships, Chrysalis Fantasica, Siegfried Dragon

Casualties: 80,000 dead, 250,000 wounded, 4000 Legacy, 1000 Supremacy, 5000 Titan Mk V, 200 tanks, 400 airplanes, 200 airships

**Second Battle of Boise**

Odysseus-Thorin, Conrad: 200,000 soldiers, 1000 Vincents, 8000 Eowyn, 100 airplanes, 70 airships, Loki Carnage, Odin

Odysseus-Faramond, Monica: 150,000 soldiers, 9000 Eowyn, 100 airplanes, 100 airships, Percival, Andarta Fire

Odysseus-Tohdoh: 200,000 soldiers, 8000 Bors, 3000 Vincents, 50 airplanes, 30 airships, Zangetsu, Orochi, Susanoo, Kusanagi

Lelouch-Luciano, Aphrodite: 1600 soldiers, 1300 Legacy, 200 Supremacy, 14 airships, Vlad Taranis, Venus Amore

Lelouch-Carolina, Naoto: 200,000 soldiers, 200,000 civilian militia, 1000 Bors, 3000 Legacy, 3000 Supremacy, 75 tanks, 75 airplanes, 100 airships, Shen Hu

Lelouch-Nunnally, Suzaku: 200,000 soldiers, 10,000 Supremacy, 5,000 Titan Mk V,

Ganymede Boudicca, Lancelot Albion, GX-01 Omega 3, GX-01 Omega 4

Lelouch-Isabelle, Evelyn, Castor, Pollux: 50,000 knightmares (3000 Glasgow, 5000 Burai, 1000 Panzer Hummel, 2000 Sutherland, 500 Burai Kai, 500 Bamides, 3000 Gun-ru, 6000 Io, 5000 Gloucester, 3000 Gekka, 2000 Musketeer, 1000 Cossack, 1000 Panther, 6000 Bors, 6000 Akatsuki, 2000 Vincent, 1000 Napoleon, 1000 Leopard, 1000 Jaguar), 5000 Titan Mk V, 24 airships (Cookie Monster, Super Sparkle, Emily, Miranda), Elmo, mini Titan Mk V, mini Guinevere Avalon, mini Morgan le Fey


	98. The Sword in the Stone

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Hey when did this story get popular in France? Just for that Schniezel will not hit you with a FLEIA on the way out of Europe or will he?

Cornwallis City is Washington DC. The state of Cornwallis includes West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. I had Salacia talk about it a little last chapter, but lots of Britannian leaders and generals still think that war should be fought with chivalry. Lelouch and Schniezel will teach them otherwise. I would like to apologize beforehand for CC's feelings about Indianapolis and Columbus. I am sure that they are lovely cities. Just wanted to say that ahead of time. Maybe she does not like their selection of pizzas

...

Once you learn to quit it becomes a habit

Vince Lombardi

...

There never was a good war or a bad peace.

Benjamin Franklin

* * *

**January 4, 2021, Pendragon**

Gino has a lot of things to worry about. The Second Battle of Boise is going into its second day. Gino does not expect this battle to end soon. The entrance of the kids and their drones makes things more difficult. Gino understands the system well enough. Aboard the airships are dozens of children playing a video game. There are also reports of activity on the east coast. The word from Europe is that Schniezel is losing several battles to Lelouch. This morning reports are coming in about Euphie gathering an army south of San Diego. Gino can tell that Odysseus and Guinevere are nervous about the situation. If all of that is not enough, Lelouch is in Chicago wreaking havoc. Gino wonders where Karine is at the moment.

"Your majesty, there is a call on the royal only channel," one of the servants states.

"It's probably Faramond," Odysseus comments, "Put the call on the main monitor."

It takes a few moments to transfer the call. However it is not Faramond, but four small children. Gino instantly recognizes them, but more importantly they recognize him. Odysseus and Guinevere are confused, although they notice the look in Gino's eyes. Naturally the oldest and biggest of the children is the spokesperson.

"Hey you bad guys, what did you do to jii-san Oats Guy."

Odysseus and Guinevere are even more confused.

"What is a jii-san?" Guinevere asks.

The smallest child, a girl, yells out, "Give us back, Grampa Charlie!"

"Who are these children?" Odysseus asks, "How did they get on the royal only channel?"

"They are Lelouch's kids," Gino answers, "and they look really pissed."

"Track the call," Karine says.

Everybody looks at her because they did not know that she is here.

"Your majesty, according to our information, they appear to be transmitting from everywhere."

James smirks in a fashion that would make his father proud and raises his arms. He appears to be preparing to say something. All four kids put on some sort of helmet.

"MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN."

With that the connection is cut.

Karine scoffs at the comment.

"What does that even mean?"

Gino sighs, "It means that they are coming to kill you. Unlike Evelyn and the twins, those kids have never lived here."

"What? Can they control drones too?"

"Yes," Gino responds, "You do not seem to understand how these drones work. They can be controlled from anywhere by anyone. They make it look like a video game. Friendly knightmares transmit signals. Once a drone is defeated it goes into self destruct mode. The game manager finds the nearest large enemy target and sends the damaged drone in that direction," Gino begins to rub his forehead, "I will increase security around the palace because they may be using mini drones."

Odysseus glares at Karine because he knows where she has been. Since it is discovered that Euphie is south of San Diego, Karine has been trying to gather troops and vehicles to head in that direction.

"Karine, what are you planning?" Odysseus asks.

"I am not planning on waiting here to be killed. I don't think Euphie is in San Diego just to show off. She is coming here to take over."

Guinevere finds the idea of Euphie making a claim on the throne ridiculous.

"That is absurd. Euphie would never try to take the throne by force."

Karine laughs, "Don't be stupid. She isn't taking the throne by force. She is kicking out the usurpers. If the emperor happens to be dead, then there is an opening at the top."

"Very well, but you are not taking Gino with you. If you need to take someone, then Dorothea is available."

Karine grunts a little bit does not say anything. After Karine leaves, Guinevere approaches Odysseus.

"Is it a good idea to send Karine to face Euphie?"

"There shouldn't be a problem. If Euphie is coming to take over, then she will be at odds with Nonette. Wherever the battle occurs to the west, it will most likely be a three sided matter."

"What about Lord Weinberg? I understand our desire to keep an eye on him. But Karine feels comfortable around him."

"That may be, but Lelouch is rampaging on his own. If he decides to head in this direction, we need someone that can face him directly," Odysseus comments, "Gino is the only person at our disposal who can do that."

Guinevere laughs uneasily.

"Lelouch wouldn't dare come here with only one airship."

"He is in Chicago with only one airship. We have to assume that our opponents are insane and will do unexpected things."

Odysseus leaves Guinevere to think about the situation. She did not expect it to be easy, but this is getting ridiculous. Unluckily for Guinevere, she is only one in the room when the east coast cities begin to report the invasions.

**January 5**

Hannah and Chelsea are several miles outside of Houston. Despite having to travel the furthest, they are attacking first. According to their reports there are very few troops in Texas. Most have been sent to Miami or Chicago to deal with potential situations there. Hannah is dividing her knightmares between airships and sea ships. There is also the issue of how to land the ground troops. If Houston becomes a battleground, landing troops may be difficult. Landing them by sea may be difficult so parachuting out of airships and airplanes will be the easiest. There may also be a way to transport them using tanks and knightmares.

Hannah is already thinking of her next move. She can head north to Dallas where there is a sizeable garrison. She can also go to San Antonio, the site of Britannia's greatest victory in their war against Mexico now Area 3 over a hundred years ago. Hannah does realize that she has to win in Houston first, and for that to happen she has to attack.

"After the ground troops are loaded on the airship, begin the attack," Hannah commands.

All fifty of Hannah's sea ships begin unloading their missiles upon Houston signaling the beginning of Lelouch's invasion.

* * *

"Have you ever been to Miami, Liliana?" Milly asks.

"No, your highness, I have not."

"I suppose when we are done with it, it will return to being the swamp that God intended it to be," Milly sighs, "Too bad, I left Charlotte back in Beijing because I think she would love Orlando."

"I have always wanted to go there. I here they have some amazing shows and tours."

The captain of Milly's airship clears her throat.

"Your highness, Lady Vergamon, the attack is underway."

Milly smiles, "Thank you, Laura. I suppose we just got carried away with childish thoughts."

"Nothing wrong with that, your highness. I visited Orlando a few years ago with my family. It is really a Wonder World."

"Laura," Milly says with a slight smirk, "you're fired."

"Fortunately for me, your highness, I work for your husband. I will continue to observe the battle."

Milly nods and begins to look over the situation as well. The garrison protecting southern Florida is not really that big. With most of the world under Britannia's control, most veteran troops are stationed elsewhere. Of course Lelouch has been leading most of Britannia's invasions the last five years. This means that most of the veterans are loyal to him.

Hopefully Milly will be able to sweep through Florida with very little resistance. Since Florida does not have many permanent military installations, Milly's targets are easy to find. Milly makes sure to target only military targets. For now they are to leave civilians alone. She wonders how successful the others are.

* * *

As Kallen approaches Chesapeake Bay, she has a choice. She can head towards Richmond or Cornwallis City. Although the cities are close, the former puts her on course to go through the center of Britannia while the latter puts her on course to head through the north and join Villetta and more importantly Lelouch. However Kallen realizes that the overall plan is important. Cornwallis City has a large military presence that will be forced to decide between helping Richmond, New York, or wherever Lelouch goes if he decides to move towards the east coast.

"Marika, signal the attack."

Below Kallen can see the small force protecting Richmond forming. She figures at the most there is thirty thousand poorly trained militia with a few hundred Ios and Glasgows. She sees several old tanks that may have been taken from a museum. The defenders also seem to have gotten hold of some pieces of artillery.

"Marika, stop the attack. I will deal with this myself. Keep an eye on the Cornwallis City garrison."

"As you wish, your highness."

Kallen takes her knightmare out and flies above her enemy. Unfortunately for them, their knightmares do not have flight capabilities. This almost makes Kallen laugh at the stupidity of her enemies. At least Schniezel is able to get knightmares that can match Lelouch's. The commander of the Richmond garrison is telling Kallen to surrender. This really pisses Kallen off.

"Hey idiots, this is an invasion so surrender or fight because there is no way that I am surrendering."

Kallen charges her radiant wave and fires. After this happens a few more times, the commander of the Richmond garrison surrenders.

"Your highness, a large force is coming from Cornwallis City and Baltimore."

"Have the airships fire upon them as soon as they are in range. Have the high altitude airplanes and airships begin bombing the enemy. Drop several tanks and have them scout the ground for further action," Kallen looks at a map, "Have s group of airships scout back towards the bay for possible naval action. Spread the remaining airships in a defensive ring."

Kallen wonders what the reaction will be amongst the other garrisons throughout the south and east of the Britannian homeland. The other issue is that this is the area with the most nobles. They will not be too happy with what Lelouch is doing. Kallen reenters her airship and prepares for battle.

* * *

Villetta and Lilicia are flying over Long Island. There is no way that they can hide the target of their invasion. Their spies in Manhattan indicate that there is panic throughout the city. A quick look at the numbers tells Villetta that she greatly outnumbers her enemy in quantity and quality. The enemy's only advantage seems to be in number of airplanes. Though who knows what kind of planes the enemy has. The other issue is that the enemy will be able to draw troops from Boston and Philadelphia

Villetta has an advantage at sea since she is able to quickly sink the enemy sea ships. This means that her own ships will be able to move without being harassed.

"General Nu, we have begun bombardment of the city. Our ships have also begun firing at target inland. We have found the route that the enemy reinforcements are taking."

"That is good to hear. Are the high altitude airplanes and airships in place?"

"Yes, general."

"Then let us begin this attack. We will trap the enemy on Manhattan and finish them off."

In New York Brigadier General Vince Random is trying to assess the situation. With attacks hitting several cities at the same time, there are very little reinforcements available, but he has an advantage. He is able to call upon soldiers stationed in Boston and Philadelphia during Karine's battle with the Purists. At least that is what he thinks, however the enemy commander begins to bomb the interior using their ships' long range missile systems. To think that something so devious is making its way into a war between Britannians. Now the reinforcements have to take a longer route through upstate New York.

* * *

Lelouch decides that he has had enough of Chicago. He makes sure to bring a deep dish pizza chef along for the ride or else CC will be mad. He does not bother doing anything while flying over Indianapolis or Columbus because those people have suffered enough. As CC puts it, they do live in Indianapolis and Columbus. However as Lelouch flies over Pennsylvania, he runs into something interesting. For some reason there are trains of troops being transported. At first Lelouch believes that they are coming to confront him, but soon he realizes that they are taking the long route to New York.

This causes Lelouch to slightly change his plans. He is heading east to meet with Kallen, but now he decides to head to New York. He is receiving some disconcerting news from Europe. He begins to move surveillance satellites around to investigate the situation. If he finds anything he will have to tell Lilicia about it. In fact he will probably call her anyway to inform her of his plans.

* * *

Duke Edmund Duffau is moving his army from Dallas to Houston. He is mostly using the troops and knightmares that Gino brings to Dallas a few days ago. This is not a position he wants to be in. He is fighting an enemy that he knows nothing about, but the enemy knows what he has.

"Why did that fool Weinberg bring so many tanks?" Duke Duffau asks, "Those things are practically useless against knightmares. Send the knightmares and airships south to engage the enemy. Have the tanks remain back in Dallas. If they are needed, we will call for them."

"Captain Gottwald, we are tracking a large force coming south from Dallas."

Hannah looks on as her attack continues. She encounters very little resistance in Houston. She is about to send her sea ships to patrol, but now has something else for them to do.

"Have the ships target that force as soon as they can. Have the drones dropped back in Dallas. It looks like they left something back there."

"Yes ma'am."

Chelsea is leading a group of airships over Dallas when the missiles from the naval forces begin to fly inland.

"Hey does anybody know what is going on down there?"

"I believe that Captain Gottwald is having the naval forces attack a large force coming south from Dallas."

Chelsea smiles, "So they are sending someone to stop us. Prepare Cerberus. I will take of the situation myself."

"Captain Gottwald is ordering us to head towards Dallas with the drones."

"I see, then we should prepare to move."

* * *

Milly sweeps through Florida with very little resistance. What is left of Admiral Wessington's fleet is destroyed, but since he is the highest ranking officer in the area, he is in command. His first order is to retreat north. He hopes that one the get further from the coast the sea ships will no longer be of any use. Milly suffers almost no casualties. Milly assumes that Admiral Wessington will gather a force in Atlanta or Birmingham. Although she wonders how much more Odysseus can have. At this point the homeland defense forces are probably stretched to their limit.

* * *

North of Richmond, Kallen makes the same discovery that Milly makes. There is no one left to stop them from making there way across the Britannian homeland. Kallen suffers minimal casualties from the battle. Her enemy surrenders before all his troops get killed. Kallen wonders they bother attacking her with such a small amount of knightmares, airplanes, and airships. She supposes that they are too arrogant to realize that Kallen's force is superior in every way. Kallen calls the reserve force to take over the area. The reserve force is not going to send up troops, but rather technicians who will work on captured knightmares. Since Cornelia is no longer invading Europe, all available knightmare drones are being sent across the Atlantic to garrison cities as the invasion force moves west.

Kallen begins to reorganize her army to push across the continent. There is something that is bothering her. By now she expects Lelouch to be heading in her direction; however she has not heard from him.

"Your highness, I think you better return to the airship. There is a situation developing to the north."

Kallen wonders if Villetta and Lilicia are overmatched in New York. Once inside Kallen learns that a sizeable force from Philadelphia was traveling northwest taking the long route to New York. Kallen assumes that Villetta and Lilicia are having the ships attack with their long range missile systems. Somewhere along the way the reinforcements for the New York defense force are stopped.

All of this makes Kallen wonder about the quality of the Homeland defense forces. They do not see the need to improve the quality of its defense forces. The knightmares do not have flight capabilities. The tanks and airplanes are old. Nothing has blaze luminous or any sort of defense shield.

* * *

Cornelia is currently on her way to Paris to deal with what is left of the EU Central Hemicycle. For the past few days there has been rioting throughout Europe. From the look of things Cornelia will have to bring troops not to invade, but to help put down the rioters. Cornelia has her airship fly over what was Rome even though it is not on the route from Istanbul to Paris. A part of her wishes that she hadn't.

"Lady Cummins, are the food and medical supplies here yet?"

"Yes, your highness, we began distributing supplies in Anatolia and Istanbul last night. Supplies are being sent to places where rioting is calming down. Rioting has also lessened in areas where supplies are brought in."

"That is good to hear. Can the supplies be increased?"

"As the rioting comes to an end, we will increase supplies. Perhaps after your meeting with the remaining EU leaders."

Cornelia understands Lelouch's thinking. If the medical and food supplies increase after Cornelia's meeting with the EU, then she becomes the hero of Europe. Schniezel and Lelouch are the reason why hundreds of thousands of people are dead. They are the reason why many cities are gone or in ruin. Meanwhile all Cornelia does is defend her Area. It is an important fact that Cornelia does not order her troops into Istanbul.

Given her reputation Cornelia finds this reasoning to be faulty. However human nature is peculiar. Cornelia's sins of the past including her previous invasion of Greece is forgotten. Now Cornelia is the merciful leader who stops her armies from ravaging Europe. Instead she comes with aid that may save the lives of thousands of Europeans.

"Your highness, we are here."

Cornelia nods and heads for the airship's docking port. She looks down at her clothes. They are another part of Lelouch's explicit instructions to her. Cornelia is not appear in Europe in any sort of military uniform instead she is wearing fancy, frilly dresses which she does not feel comfortable wearing. Cornelia supposes that her discomfort is also part of Lelouch's plan. To those seeing her from far away or through the camera's lens, she looks apprehensive and troubled. However to those in front of her, the look in her eyes gives them an opening to her true nature.

Above Cornelia's two airships also have meaning: Nike named after the Greek goddess of victory and Demeter, Greek goddess of agriculture and rebirth.

"Your highness, I would like to thank you for meeting with us," one of the EU leaders says as they all bow.

Cornelia returns the bow and waves the men to stand straight.

"Gentlemen, there is no need for such honors or formality. We are here to discuss peace between our nations. Before us stands the opportunity to bring peace to the Old World. "

One of Lelouch's main points to Cornelia is that he is not to be mentioned. If issues come up that Lelouch agrees with, then Cornelia is to agree with it. Everything is supposed to be Cornelia's idea. If there is need for more supplies, she simply orders them to be brought in rather than asking if it is possible. Kewell and Sora are to follow Cornelia's orders as if they are Lelouch's.

After a short meeting, the leaders of the EU decide to once more hand power over to a member of the Britannian royal family. They hope that the second princess is not as disastrous as the second prince. Cornelia decides to hold a press conference immediately.

"This is to all the people of the world. No longer will we be victims to the whims of madmen who make us suffer for their selfish purposes. No longer will the innocent be silent. From this moment we will stand up, and the world will hear our wishes."

Cornelia wonders if Lelouch notes the irony in the words he is making her say. He is on of those madmen. For years Cornelia simply does as her father orders in order to protect herself and Euphie.

Schniezel has heard enough of Cornelia's speech. He decides to put an end to her and those European traitors. He would prefer that they suffer before they die, but this method will also get his message across.

"Good bye Cornelia. You could have ruled the world at my side."

High above Paris, Cecile, Rakshata, Jeremiah, Sayoko, and Nina are flying in the Excalibur IV. Much like Lelouch's Arthur Excalibur is mean to be the ultimate knightmare, the Excalibur IV is ultimate airship. It is maximized for the sort of combat that Lelouch wants. Knightmares, tanks, and airplanes can be launched from various points at a much faster rate than other airships. The living quarters are spread out in a manner that makes it easier to reach battle stations. They see a FLEIA missile heading towards Paris from across the Atlantic.

Cecile smiles, "I don't think so."

Seconds later their anti-FLEIA missile collides with the FLEIA producing a bright light above Cornelia's press conference.

"You see even as we speak of peace, the enemies of the world are conspiring against us," Cornelia continues. She is done with Lelouch's script, but Schniezel's attempted attack give her more to rant about, "We cannot allow our enemies to see us falter. We must continue to push forward."

Cornelia continues with her speech for a few more minutes. After the speech, she boards her airship. She is overcome with a sense of excitement. Now she realizes why her father and brothers always seem transcendently godlike when speaking. They feed off the energy of the audience or the situation.

"Your highness, are you alright?" Carmina Soresi asks.

Cornelia stands straight.

"Yes Lady Soresi, I am fine."

"That is good to hear," Carmina says with a smile, "You can call me Carmina if you would like."

Cornelia smiles and nods, "Very well, Carmina, but only if you call me Cornelia. I seem to remember that you are Guinevere's friend."

Carmina's smile wavers a little and she sighs.

"Yes, Lulu promised to try to get her in one piece, but I do not much hope. Guinevere has made her choice."

"I see. Well I need to rest for a bit. If anything occurs, do not hesitate to call me."

Cornelia goes to her room. Her excitement is so much that she immediately undresses and begins to fondle herself. After her second orgasm, she falls asleep. Cornelia knows that sooner or later she will have to go back to Britannia and deal with matters there, but for now she will enjoy this moment.

* * *

After Lelouch informs Lilicia about a possible attack from behind, she sends her submarines and a few smaller airships to investigate. She gets an alarming report from the stealth team which is on it way west. Lilicia quickly orders the investigative team back to New York, but it is too late. In the distance she sees a bright light that causes the ocean to roar a bit.

"Evacuate the city!" Lilicia commands, "All units evacuate the city this instant."

Streaking over Long Island is the instrument of death. Moments later New York ends up like Rome and Omsk. Lilicia sees another missile being fired. Then she hears a loud almost feral scream.

"SCHNIEZEL!"

Although it seems impossible the scream is heard in Paris, Richmond, Florida, Houston, Pendragon, San Diego, and Boise. Around the world a collective gasp is heard as Lelouch physically enters a major battle.

"What the hell is that?" Merlin asks as a black blur slams into the FLEIA missile.

Moments later the missile disappears in a flash of light.

"So it seems that Lelouch has FLEIA countermeasures," Schniezel comments.

"Your highness, the stealth fleet is attacking us from the rear," Kannon states, "We will not be able to stay here for much longer."

"Somebody just needs to clear the path," Salzaar remarks, "I will go out there and deal with the problem."

Merlin stops Salzaar.

"Are you insane? You cannot fight against that thing."

"What's wrong, Merlin? Did something happen to your balls?" Salzaar asks.

"I agree with Lord Gluten," Schniezel remarks, "This is not the time to be timid."

Merlin glares at Schniezel in a way that lets the second prince know that this relationship is over.

"You called out the demon, your highness, but if is your wish then I will deal with him. Salacia, let's go."

After the three former Knights of the Round leave, Kannon sighs.

"Should we launch another missile, your highness?"

"No Kannon, that would be greedy. Though we do not have many missiles left. There is not telling how many anti-FLEIA weapons Lelouch has left or even how many FLEIA weapons he has. If something were to happen to him here, Evelyn would destroy the world in a hellfire of FLEIA. We will simply maintain our course towards Pendragon. Lelouch has other concerns."

In the air the three former KOR confront Lelouch. Villetta comes over to help. This causes Merlin to smile.

"Your highness, I am on my way," Lilicia comments.

"Stay aboard the airship," Lelouch commands, "Tell the stealth fleet to cease their attack. Kallen should be heading north. Join her and keep heading west. Take Villetta and the Excalibur III with you."

"Your highness, I will remain here and assist you," Villetta states.

"I ordered you to leave!" Lelouch yells, "If you feel like disobeying, you can join those three fools on the other side because they are going to need the help."

Salzaar grunts and rushes at Lelouch with his MVS. Lelouch stops the blow with his knightmare's hand.

"Don't you have any manners? I am having a conversation here!" Lelouch growls out.

Lelouch pulls Salzaar closer and raises his knightmare's other arm.

"Damn, that idiot is about to get killed," Merlin scowls moving forward.

Merlin attacks Lelouch from the other side forcing him to protect rather than attack. Salacia takes the opportunity to attack Lelouch from behind, but his defense shield stops her. Lelouch pulls out his slash harkens chain. He releases Salzaar's MVS and pulls out his own. Salzaar swings his MVS down at Lelouch. Lelouch simply blocks it with his own MVS. As he does this Lelouch begins to swing his slash harken chain around.

Salacia notices that Villetta is still out and decides that the female knight will be an easier target. However Lelouch's chain wraps around her. Lelouch turns his MVS hand so that his hadron cannon is pointing straight at Salzaar.

"It is rude to leave in the middle of a fight," Lelouch states.

Merlin takes the opportunity to use his MVS and swings down at Lelouch. Lelouch withdraws his other MVS and pulls Salacia away from Villetta at the same time. Lelouch blocks Merlin's attack with very little effort. Salacia angrily attacks Lelouch from behind once more. Once again the defense shield stops her.

Villetta can only stare as Lelouch handles three Knights of the Round with little effort. She and Marika could barely keep up with Merlin. If Merlin were to fight Lelouch alone, the battle would probably be over.

"Villetta, you can leave now," Lelouch orders once more.

This time Villetta obeys. The three KOR continue to push against Lelouch hoping to exhaust him.

"It appears that your time is up," Lelouch comments, "although it was fun. We should do it again sometime."

Lelouch expands his defense shield pushing the three Knights back. Suddenly a huge red burst come flying over them. The three Knights just avoiding getting hit. A red knightmare with a gold and silver claw appears.

"Hello Lelouch my love, did you need any help?" Kallen asks.

"Not really I was just playing a little. It is a little fun to play with competent pilots. You want to pretend that you are on their side for a little bit," Lelouch inquires, "Hey Merlin, I will trade you Kalli for Salacia that should even things out."

"You're an idiot," Kallen responds.

"Merlin, now is our chance," Salacia states.

"Don't be stupid," Merlin retorts, "We barely stood a change before. We certainly don't stand a chance now. Just thank the heavens that the blonde one isn't here. She has an inferiority complex that will get us all killed."

"So we retreat," Salzaar says solemnly.

"That would be a good idea."

Kallen watches the three Knights leave.

"Are you sure that it is wise to let them go?" Kallen asks, "They could be trouble later."

Lelouch is facing what one was New York City.

"Our only goal is to stop Schniezel. Did you see that large explosion right before you got here? I think it means that he only has a few FLEIA remaining."

Captain Steve Libbon is one of the few remaining Britannian soldiers that stays with Schniezel. However after seeing what happens to Rome and then New York City, his conscience gets the best of him. Schniezel divides his FLEIA amongst three airships for the purpose of security. Steve is able to get aboard the airship with the majority of the missiles. He decides for the survival of the world and Britannia something must be done about these airships.

As Villetta boards the Excalibur III, she sees a large explosion in the distance. Two of the airships that Schniezel is traveling with are destroyed. There are still three left. Villetta wonders how many of these ships have FLEIA. She sees the three former KOR flying towards an airship. She also sees the stealth team airships flying over Long Island. Behind them she sees a large airship that Lelouch and Kallen board. That must be Lelouch's newest airship.

Merlin, Salacia, and Salzaar board the nearest knightmare. Fortunately for Schniezel, he is not on it.

"Lord Suzerain, Prince Schniezel is hailing us," one of the airships technicians states.

"Tell him to fuck off. Captain Rogers, set course for Pendragon."

Salacia is not surprised. She is not all that pleased with Schniezel's recent actions. However Salzaar looks incensed.

"Are you insane?" Salzaar asks angrily, "His highness has FLEIA missiles."

"Schniezel has two FLEIA missiles left," Merlin retorts, "If you would get your head out of his ass, you would have realized that the large airship that had most of the missiles just exploded and took the other airship with FLEIA. Whoever blew it up made the mistake of not blowing up one of the FLEIAs."

"What do we do now?" Salacia asks.

"Well continuing to serve Schniezel is useless at the moment. He does not have any troops besides the ones on those two airships. His plan of using the FLEIA to bomb the world into submission will not work since he has no allies. Now he can only hope to use his two missiles so that they do a lot of damage."

"So he will probably wait for everyone to gather in Pendragon before unleashing his remaining missiles hoping to destroy them all."

"I suppose he expects that to buy him some time to build more missiles," Salzaar finally comments, "Are we simply going to beg for our jobs?"

"No, by the time we get back, they are going to need our help. I take it that no one here agrees with Lelouch's ideas."

Salacia and Salzaar nod in affirmation.

"Good, then I shall call are good friend Gino," Merlin declares.

* * *

Despite basically winning the battle, Faramond pulls his force away from Boise. He maintains a few front line forces in Twin Falls, but his command center is back in Salt Lake. He is able to confirm that the enemy is pulling back towards Spokane. Though he outnumbers the enemy in everyway, pursuing them would put him further into enemy territory. There is too much else going on to worry about this particular enemy exclusively.

Faramond's biggest concerns are Lelouch's invasion of the east coast. Faramond has an uneasy feeling that most in the area would rather surrender than fight Lelouch. The spectacular failure of Duke Duffau to defend Texas may be the breaking point. That would be really bad for their side because it would leave Lelouch's invasion force almost completely intact. Faramond also has an uneasy feeling about what is going on in Europe. If Schniezel is truly out, what will he do next? That is the question that must be on everybody's mind. Faramond decides that he needs to get some information.

Nunnally is not happy with the results of her first big battle. Not only does her side lose, but they do not get to fight Tohdoh and his group. On effect that the battle has is that Carolina no longer wants to participate in the war. She will remain behind preparing for the possible defense of her home. Nunnally cannot worry about that she has to prepare mentally for the carnage that the final battle may bring.

Isabelle is coming south. She still wants to avenge Edward by killing Schniezel. She cannot forget the fact that the two men responsible for the death of one of her uncles and the coma of her other uncle are still alive.

Evelyn and the twins are looking over the stock of knightmares drones. Faramond's retreat means that they are able to recover all the knightmare pieces from the battle. In a few days they will receive a large shipment of knightmares from China. Although not up to the standards of piloted knightmares, these drones are quite efficient in battle. After a while the twins decide to get some sleep. Evelyn stays up a little longer. Jinta brings her a blanket.

"_Arigatou gozai masu Jinta-kun."_

Jinta sits down and wraps his arms around Evelyn. They both quiver as their lips begin to move closer to each other. Suddenly someone clears their throat loudly. They slowly turn around and see Ayame standing there.

"You two should get some rest."

"Yes onee-chan, we were just about to go," Evelyn responds.

Evelyn quickly stands and exits the room. Ayame looks down at her little brother.

"You do realize that her older brother is an unrepentant killer."

Jinta nods.

"Very well as long as you understand what you are getting into. Now off to bed."

Ayame sighs. As she prepares to go back to her room, she hears a loud burp coming from inside the room. Dalque and Alice come out of a closet.

"See I told you," Dalque remarks, "that boy doesn't have what it takes to make a move on my girl. If he tries to get fresh with her again, it's clobbering time. I have to keep my reputation as a knight."

Dalque and Alice nod to Ayame on their way out. Ayame sighs once more and goes to her room.

**January 6**

Kallen spends the night with Lelouch. In the morning she sits up. For some reason CC and Shirley are lying on the floor surrounded by pizza boxes and wine bottles. Kallen scratches her head and heads for the bathroom where Lelouch is taking an apparently comfortable bath. Kallen shrugs her shoulders and joins him in the tub. After a few minutes of lying there, she decides to ask him what happened last night.

"Hey Lelouch, why are Shirley and CC on the floor?"

"We were playing video games with Faramond last night."

"Video games?"

"Yeah, we were playing Ancient Warfare III and Pervy Adventure II."

"What the hell is Pervy Adventure?"

"It is a multiplayer RPG with adult themes. It's my favorite game after Lulu's Dungeon Quest."

Kallen nods in annoyance and then realizes something important.

"Wait, you were playing with Faramond. How did you get in contact with him?"

"He called asking for some information about Schniezel. He didn't get to play Pervy Adventure because he is underage. Monica is such a buzz kill."

"What did you tell him about Schniezel?"

"That he is on his way west with some FLEIA missiles. From the look of things, it appears that Merlin and the others have abandoned Schniezel, but they may be thinking about going back to Pendragon."

"How often do you talk to Faramond?"

Lelouch scrunches his face a little.

"About once a week I like to check up on his relationship with Monica."

Before Kallen can say anything else, Shirley bursts into the room and heads straight for the toilet. CC comes in behind her and holds her hair.

"I don't think that Shirley can handle alcohol," Lelouch comments.

Kallen sighs, "You guys are idiots."

"I know it's so cool."

* * *

Euphie looks north towards Los Angeles. It appears likely that a battle will soon take place there. Earlier today Euphie rejects an offer from Marianne and Nonette to join their side. She receives reports that Karine is coming west with a substantial force. Now Los Angeles appears to be the likely site for a three sided battle. Anya is leading Euphie's force north. Behind Anya are thousands of Titan Mk Vs. Unlike the Legacy and Supremacy knightmares which are simplified versions of Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly's knightmares, the Titan Mk V is completely high spec. They are the continuing perfection of the original Titan.

"Your Majesty, we are ready for your broadcast."

Euphie nods and prepares for her speech.

"This is Euphemia li Britannia. I can no longer sit by as my homeland is torn apart by warring factions. I reject the worlds of my father and of my brothers. I do not believe that any true Britannian, that any true human being would wish for this. We are humanity rejecting the current world. We are humanity rejecting the current future. We will make our own future in our image, an image of peace and kindness. If the enemies of peace and humanity attempted stand in our way," The image of Euphie's army moving north replaces her on the screen, "We shall push them aside. It is not Charles zi Britannia, Schniezel el Britannia or Lelouch vi Britannia who shall judge the world, but rather humanity itself. If you value justice, if you value life, if you seek truth, then rise and show your rejection of this world. Only those who are prepared to be killed should kill. Humanity, rise and take control of your destiny!"

* * *

Author's note: Anybody notice the name that Euphie purposely leaves off her list. The li Britannia sisters make their play for the future of mankind, and Lelouch joins the war physically. Now everybody is moving towards Pendragon.

**Battle of Houston**

Lelouch-Hannah, Chelsea: 250,000 soldiers, 12,000 Supremacy, 7500 Titan Mk V, 200 tanks, 175 airplanes, 275 airships, 50 ships (8 submarines, 13 battleships, 25 mega battleships, 4 aircraft carriers) Thanatos, Cerberus  
Casualties: 200 wounded, 2 Supremacy, 15 Titan Mk V, 50 tanks, 25 airplanes, 3 airships,

Odysseus-Duke Duffau: 100,000 soldiers, 6,000 knightmares (1800 Vincents, 3000 Bors, 1200 Eowyn), 300 tanks, 250 airplanes, 100 airships  
Casualties: 300 dead, 5500 wounded, 6000 knightmares, 250 tanks, 150 airplanes, 80 airships.

**Battle of Miami**

Lelouch-Milly, Liliana: 250,000 soldiers, 12,000 Supremacy, 7500 Titan Mk V, 200 tanks, 175 airplanes, 275 airships, 50 ships (7 submarines, 20 battleships, 19 mega battleships, 4 aircraft carriers) Morgan le Fey, Valkyrie  
Casualties: 20 wounded, 2 tanks.

Odysseus-Wessington: 200,000 soldiers, 5000 Vincents, 15 ships (5 frigates, 5 destroyers, 5 battleships), 75 airplanes, 30 airship  
Casualties: 15 dead, 35 wounded, 20 Vincents, 15 ships, 2 airplanes

**Battle of Richmond**

Lelouch-Kallen, Marika: 250,000 soldiers, 12,000 Supremacy, 7500 Titan Mk V, 200 tanks, 175 airplanes, 275 airships, Guinevere Avalon, Shinigami,  
Casualties: 2500 wounded, 2 Supremacy, 3 Titan Mk V, 50 tanks, 15 airplanes, 5 airships

Odysseus-General Stewart: 125,000 soldiers, 4000 Vincents, 50 airplanes, 50 airships  
Casualties: 7000 dead, 19,000 wounded, 4000 Vincent, 50 airplanes, 50 airships

**Battle of New York**

Lelouch-Villetta, Lilicia: 250,000 soldiers, 12,000 Supremacy, 7500 Titan Mk V, 200 tanks, 175 airplanes, 275 airships, 50 ships (10 submarines, 13 cruisers, 17 battleships, 6 mega battleships, 4 aircraft carriers), Charon, Titan Mirage II  
Colonel Charles Cunningham, Colonel Nicole Hillis, Major John Hellerman: 238 stealth drone airships, 14 stealth airships  
Casualties: 5000 dead, 400 wounded, 250 Supremacy, 100 Titan MK V, 100 tanks, 50 airplanes, 10 airships, 10 submarines

Odysseus-General Random: 120,000 soldiers, 15,000 conscripts, 2000 knightmares (300 Police Glasgows, 300 Police Ios, 670 Gloucesters, 730 Vincents), 298 airplanes, 19 airships, 11 ships (2 mega battleships, 5 battleships, 4 destroyers)  
Casualties: all

**Second Battle of Boise**

Odysseus-Thorin, Conrad: 200,000 soldiers, 1000 Vincents, 8000 Eowyn, 100 airplanes, 70 airships, Loki Carnage, Odin  
Casualties: 3,000 dead, 10,000 wounded, 200 Vincents, 200 Eowyn, 5 airplanes, 2 airships

Odysseus-Faramond, Monica: 150,000 soldiers, 9000 Eowyn, 100 airplanes, 100 airships, Percival, Andarta Fire  
Casualties: 20,000 dead, 30,000 wounded, 500 Eowyn, 20 airplanes, 10 airships

Odysseus-Tohdoh: 200,000 soldiers, 8000 Bors, 3000 Vincents, 50 airplanes, 30 airships, Zangetsu, Orochi, Susanoo, Kusanagi  
Casualties: 70,000 dead, 100,000 wounded, 4000 Bors, 2000 Vincent, 50 airplanes, 20 airships

Lelouch-Luciano, Aphrodite: 1600 soldiers, 1300 Legacy, 200 Supremacy, 14 airships, Vlad Taranis, Venus Amore  
Casualties: 300 dead, 100 wounded, 400 Legacy, 2 airships

Lelouch-Carolina, Naoto: 200,000 soldiers, 200,000 civilian militia, 1000 Bors, 3000 Legacy, 3000 Supremacy, 75 tanks, 75 airplanes, 100 airships, Shen Hu  
Casualties: 50,000 dead, 200,000 wounded, 800 Bors, 500 Legacy, 400 Supremacy, 75 tanks, 75 airplanes, 50 airships

Lelouch-Nunnally, Suzaku: 200,000 soldiers, 10,000 Supremacy, 5,000 Titan Mk V, 200 tanks, 250 airplanes, 100 airships  
Ganymede Boudicca, Lancelot Albion, GX-01 Omega 3, GX-01 Omega 4  
Casualties: 70,000 dead, 100,000 wounded, 7000 Supremacy, 4000 Titan Mk V, 150 tanks, 200 airplanes, 50 airships

Lelouch-Isabelle, Evelyn, Castor, Pollux: 50,000 knightmares (3000 Glasgow, 5000 Burai, 1000 Panzer Hummel, 2000 Sutherland, 500 Burai Kai, 500 Bamides, 3000 Gun-ru, 6000 Io, 5000 Gloucester, 3000 Gekka, 2000 Musketeer, 1000 Cossack, 1000 Panther, 6000 Bors, 6000 Akatsuki, 2000 Vincent, 1000 Napoleon, 1000 Leopard, 1000 Jaguar), 5000 Titan Mk V, 20 airships, Cookie Monster, Super Sparkle, Emily, Miranda  
Casualties: 50,000 knightmares, 3500 Titan Mk V, 15 airships


	99. E pluribus unum

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parentheses.'_

I mentioned this last chapter. With all the conquests of the past decade most elite Britannian soldiers are probably stationed elsewhere. This means that the homeland defense forces do not compare to what Lelouch has. KOR means Knights of the Round.

Schniezel is overcome with geass induced madness. His current immortality does not help the issue. I find some parallels between Schniezel's attempt to capture Cornelia and Lelouch's season two attempt to get Nunnally. He is stopped by who he considers his worst enemy.

Parts of the next few chapters may get weird. You have been warned.

...

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.  
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

A man falls in love through his eyes, a woman through her ears.  
Woodrow Wyatt

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.  
Vince Lombardi

* * *

**January 6, east of St Louis**

"Hey look, Euphie is on TV," Lelouch comments, "She looks mad. You tell those bad guys," Lelouch says while punching imaginary bad guys.

Kallen sighs and shake her head.

"You're one of the bad guys."

"Really," Lelouch twists his mouth, "I am going to have to confer with Scooter about this," Lelouch looks over at his sword, "What was that Scooter?" slight pause, "You're right it does stink."

"Can you be serious for a minute?"

"Well only if it is just one minute."

"Maybe, I should just hide your video games."

That threat immediately works and Lelouch sits up.

"There isn't much for us to do until Euphie's battle is over. I expect our enemies to unite against us. We should probably have Milly and little Hannah come here to St Louis."

"Why do you always call her little Hannah? Isn't Lilicia younger?"

Lelouch wraps his arms around Lilicia.

"I know isn't Lilicia the cutest thing in the world," Lelouch says kissing his assistant on the cheek, "I should have Milly dress her up like a little doll. I wish I had a little sister who acted like Lili does."

"Aren't you afraid of her older brother?" Kallen asks.

"No, I can take Jeremiah."

"Speaking of my older brother." Lilicia states, "he is on his way."

"Is Sayoko with him because I really want her to do some sneaking ninja stuff. Sayoko is so cool, and she never loses her hat," Lelouch looks pensive, "I should make a video game about her. Sayoko, the Ninja Maid."

Lelouch quickly makes a conference call. It takes about a minute to set it up.

"What do you guys think about this? A video game about Sayoko being an ass kicking ninja but also a maid."

"I love it. Put me down for a few, big brother."

"Sayo-chan, I likes her. Can we puts jii-san Oats Guy in the game?"

"Sayoko, that's Nunnally's karate instructor. H'm, sounds like a plan to me. Let's do it."

"Sounds sweet. Then we can do some crossovers."

"We should get some pizza involved somehow."

A muffled voice can be heard mumbling something.

"Alright," Lelouch remarks, "How about some Ancient Warfare tonight after Kallen falls asleep. I call Ook the blood-loving caveman."

After some more video game banter, Lelouch ends the call. Kallen smack him on the head.

"Hey Kalli, what was that for?"

"Who did you call?"

"All my video game buddies: Evie, Faramond, Castor and Pollux, CC and Shirley. Why are you mad? We still have to wait for Milly and Jeremiah," Lelouch visibly pouts, "Now I'm not going to include you in my wild orgy tonight."

"You're an idiot," Kallen responds leaving the room.

"I know it's so cool," Lelouch says no longer paying attention to Kallen because he is playing a game on his phone.

"Your highness, can you let go of me now?" Lilicia asks, "I have work to do."

Lelouch sighs, "Okay but it's so comfortable having you on my lap because you're so light. Well I guess it's Villetta's turn. Take a seat, my knight," Lelouch says patting his lap.

Villetta does as she is instructed.

"Your Majesty, I have been in contact with the commanders of the African defense forces. They agree to stay put if you agree to keep the damage to the homeland to a minimum."

"That sounds reasonable. We should send the Bahamas reserve force back to Europe or the Middle East. We will not need them here," Lelouch smiles coyly, "Now enough of this stuff, let's have some fun."

**Salt Lake**

After Monica scolds Faramond for talking with Lelouch again, she attempts to have Lelouch's phone tracked. Her attempt is unsuccessful. She gets a little angry when Faramond mentions that she can try again at night when Faramond plays online games with Lelouch. However she cannot deny that he is correct.

Once it is obvious that Faramond is not going to renew the attack Conrad and Thorin head to back to Pendragon. Thorin is extremely worried about Karine heading out to fight Euphie and Marianne. Even though Dorothea is with her, Thorin has his doubts about what she can do. If Nunnally has someone like Suzaku Kururugi with her, who does Euphemia have? Most of Lelouch's people have been accounted for although no one really knows where all of his West Point classmates are at.

**Los Angeles**

As Anya floats above Anaheim, she notices several things about the area that most people do not think about if they do not live in the area. Los Angeles is surrounded by mountains. Not all the mountains are huge, but if civilization is peeled away, there is a visible wall of mountains separating the California coast from the interior. Not that any of this really matters with flight capable knightmares and airships. However the mountains and hills do affect the missile guidance systems of the ships off the coast and the tanks. It is also more fuel efficient to have knightmares travel over land than in the air.

The evacuation of the city has been difficult since there are armies coming from all directions. Anya positions her army near Riverside. Karine's army is at Palm Springs while Marianne is making her way through Beverly Hills. In a few hours the Battle of Los Angeles should begin. A victory for Euphie advances her cause. A loss may still be beneficial to the overall cause, but she must avoid getting captured. Anya does not believe that a loss is possible, but there are many unknown factors in battle.

"Your Majesty, the enemy is making their move."

Euphie stands and raises her right arm.

"All units attack"

Euphie sends her knightmares and tanks to crush Karine before Marianne and Nonette can move their force in that direction. At this point Euphie wonders if all their enemies will unite. It would sense for them to do it since Lelouch's forces outnumber their enemies.

As is her nature, Karine responds by attacking in return. With her inferior numbers Karine is at a disadvantage, but something like that would not stop her because she is fueled by hatred and anger. Karine continues to send her army forward to meet Euphie's. Karine is just getting started when Dorothea asks to meet with her. She assumes that it is to discuss their strategy should Nonette get involved in the battle.

Cornelia and Sora are flying over the Atlantic. Lelouch sends the stealth drone team back to Europe to assist Kewell in keeping order. As Cornelia flies over what once was New York, she glares in anger. She promises to make Schniezel pay for this. Cornelia notices that Sora is speaking with the communications officers.

"Is something wrong, Lady Cummins?"

"Your highness, we are being hailed by an unknown airship. We do not believe that they are friendly."

Cornelia thinks about it for a moment.

"Put the call on."

"As you wish, your highness."

Moments later Schniezel appears on the screen before Cornelia.

"My dear Cornelia, here I thought that you were on your way to become ruler of Europe."

"I have no such wish, Schniezel," Cornelia says while glaring, "What do you want?"

"You," Schniezel states, "If you come quietly, I will not harm those aboard the airship."

Cornelia notices the look in Sora's eyes.

"Send a transport for me. I will have to gather a few things."

"It is on its way," Schniezel says before signing off.

On the way to Cornelia's room, Sora asks, "Is this a smart move, your highness?"

"Yes, report to Lelouch what happened here. I believe that he will come to the same conclusion as you."

Sora nods and helps Cornelia gather her things. While Cornelia heads to the transport docking harbor, Sora goes back to the bridge. She immediately gives Lelouch her report of what just happened. After Cornelia is aboard Schniezel's airship, it leaves without further incident.

Lelouch ends the communication with Sora and smiles. Milly, Hannah, and Chelsea have just arrived.

"Are you going after Cornelia?" Millys asks, "If you want, we can send some drones to test Schniezel's inclination to use FLEIA."

"There is no need," Lelouch says shaking his head, "Think about it. Schniezel already used a FLEIA to try to kill Cornelia while she was in Paris. What has changed since then?"

"What do you mean? We know that he will use the FLEIA if he feels the need."

"Yes, but I get the feeling that he only has a few remaining. Cecile and Nina inspected the downed airships in New York. They found the area quite radioactive. I believe that the majority of Schniezel's FLEIAs are destroyed. Like I said why else would he bother threatening Cornelia if he tried to kill her before?"

"Maybe he is crazy like you," Kallen retorts, "It could also be that she was right there for him to take."

"Yes, but considering the fact that Merlin and the others have abandoned him and are back in Pendragon, I believe that Schniezel wants to wait until his enemies are all gathered in Pendragon before firing his remaining missiles. Let's go. We have a message to send."

Thirty minutes later in a symbolic gesture Lelouch's entire invasion force led by him crosses the Mississippi River. Every available knightmare, airplane, and tank in his force is out. The sight of Lelouch's awe inspiring force lets those to the east that surrender realize that they made the correct choice. Those to the west prepare for war.

* * *

In Pendragon, Merlin, Salacia, and Salzaar are meeting with Gino, Conrad, and Thorin. They make the choice to take over the government. Odysseus, Guinevere, and Karine have no idea how to run a war or government. Their first order of business will be to bring Faramond's army back and prepare for the defense of Pendragon. They will have to trust Lelouch to deal with Schniezel and the FLEIA. Even putting all their available resources, Lelouch still outnumbers them in everything. They will need to think outside of the box to find a way to defeat Lelouch.

Euphie notices that her enemies are attempting to avoid combat. For some reason they even appear to be working together. The biggest notable change is the way that Karine's army is fighting. Euphie wonders what happens to make the change their strategy. Both forces appear to be making a slow retreat towards Pendragon, however Anya and the rest of Euphie's royal guard is in their way.

Anya is attempting to stop the enemy from retreating. Compared to the other battles, the Battle of Los Angeles has only seen light fighting. Several theories are already beginning to form in Anya's head, a side effect of spending so much time around Lelouch. Anya can see two knightmares coming towards her. Her computer recognizes them as Nonette and Dorothea's knightmares.

Dorothea quickly rushes at Anya hoping to scare her into pulling back. Anya casually tosses a chaos mine at her. Dorothea is forced to change her course and flies straight into Anya's MVS; however Nonette comes for the save. Both KOR pull back.

"This girl is smart," Dorothea remarks, "We should move in at the same time."

Nonette does not disagree.

"I shall make a memory of you," Anya declares, "You shall go no further than this."

Dorothea becomes incensed at Anya's comment and charges in alone. Anya once more tosses a chaos mine, however Dorothea back up before charging again. This time Anya fires missiles at her. When Nonette move in to help, Anya fires her stark hadron. The blast nearly takes out Nonette's left arm. The female KOR back up once more. Anya withdraws both MVS.

"I will begin my attack now," Anya pronounces.

Nonette states in amazement as Anya moves to fast for her to follow. Just as Anya swings her MVS to destroy Nonette's knightmare, another knightmare blocks the blow. Dorothea cannot even move as Anya charges. Her jaw drops when a white knightmare flies out of nowhere to save Nonette.

"Now then aren't you an energetic little girl," Marianne comments, "If you are here with Euphie, then you must be Anya. I had such high hopes for you when I brought you to Aries. You must be quite skilled if my little boy has you protecting Euphie," Anya does not respond, "Well then follow my lead, girls. We shall take care of this hindrance."

Nonette and Dorothea move to Marianne's side.

"Euphie kick!"

A pink knightmare crashes into Marianne's knightmare knocking it to the ground.

"Hey Anya, I'm here to help. I'll take care of Lady Marianne. You take care of those two," Euphie states.

Euphie places her knightmare above Marianne's and activates her defense shield. This traps Marianne between the ground and her shield.

"Euphie! Get off me, you impertinent, naughty child. When I get out of here, I am going to hurt you."

Euphie yawns, "I feel like a nap. Don't worry my shield should last most of the day. If I turn off everything but life support, it can last through the night."

In the air Dorothea and Nonette cannot believe that Euphie comes in and takes out Marianne. Now they have to deal with Anya once more. However they are save by the arrival of the Glaston Knights. Anya is forced pull back. Even though Euphie's shield is too strong, Marianne is freed by destroying the ground around her.

Euphie decides to order a retreat. If Lady Marianne and Nonette are working with Dorothea, then she will have to tell Lelouch that something is up. It has also been several hours since Euphie hears anything from Karine. That is a sign that something major is going on back in Pendragon.

* * *

Nonette is not sure about the new alliance that Marianne makes. She is not even sure how she manages to get Bismarck to join. It has been weeks since anyone has seen the Knight of One. The information given to Nonette is that the KOR that are not with Lelouch will take command of the military situation. Odysseus will remain emperor because other than a short broadcast, the former emperor has yet to make any sort of public appearance or attempt to communicate with anyone. Of the royals only Faramond and Marianne are involved in the chain of command. None of this is announced to the public. The situation with Lelouch comes before everything else. Nonette is not even sure that defeating Lelouch here in Pendragon will resolve anything. At the moment Lelouch controls all of Asia and has influence in Africa and Europe.

The situation in the rest of the homeland is unknown since the defense garrison commanders surrender, but that may have only been to save the lives of poorly trained troops. Soldiers have been pouring in from different parts of Britannia to join the Pendragon defense force. Some do it because of pride or honor while others do it because they do not agree with Lelouch's stance on Numbers or other such issues. There is very little time to check the claims of those pouring into the city. The military clerks are forced to work all day and through the night.

* * *

Faramond realizes that the time for games and fun is over. Even with the soldiers pouring into the city, the situation will be difficult. The upcoming battle will be the largest battle in the history of mankind. Faramond knows that his grandfather has been neglecting governance of the nation, but the situation is beyond that. All the experienced veteran troops are with Lelouch. It certainly does not help that most of the successful invasions of the past six years have been led by Lelouch.

The common soldiers love Lelouch not just because his mother is a commoner, but because Lelouch honestly cares about them. This is the reason why so many are willing to give their lives for him and his cause. Meanwhile Faramond's side depends on the soldiers being loyal to Britannia and its ideals. Of course they are all forgetting that Lelouch is the perfection of those ideals. He is a compassionate, intelligent, charismatic leader that reminds people of the warrior-kings of a bygone era.

Even Lelouch's stance on Numbers does not contradict Britannian philosophy. While Emperor Charles applies Social Darwinist on a national level, Lelouch applies the same principles on a personal level. This is way individual Numbers are able to rise if they desire it. Even in Nunnally's army, Britannians outnumber non-Britannians. In fact the army protecting Pendragon has as many non-Britannians as the enemy. It may also be part of Lelouch's philosophy. There are no Honorary Britannians in Lelouch's army. Either you are Britannian or you are not. To Lelouch, being Britannian is a state of mind rather than an issue of birthplace or race.

Not surprisingly Lelouch is leaving the south open. If they are forced to retreat from Pendragon to Area 3, Lelouch's sea ships will come back into play. Leaving the south open also allows the defenders somewhere to go. Otherwise they may be tempted to defend the city until the last man.

Faramond decides to get some sleep. In the morning they will begin setting up defenses around the city.

* * *

Nunnally and Suzaku send scouts to investigate reports that the enemy is retreating south. They discover that the enemy does not leave anyone behind. They take everyone and every piece of equipment south. Nunnally and Suzaku prepare to separate their force between the troops that they will take south and those that will stay here. Those that will remain are mostly civilian militia.

From this point forward Nunnally and Suzaku will be under the command of Lelouch. In all their previous actions, they are independent. This time no one will work independently. Everyone is under the command of Lelouch for this battle. Also it most likely means that they will not get to fight against Tohdoh and his crew. Although at this point such petty things do not matter. Pride takes a back seat to victory. Victory means world peace while defeat means years perhaps decades of more war throughout the world.

The battle will not begin for several days so Nunnally and Suzaku decide to spend some time alone. Milly advises them to get married.

**January 7**

Despite patrols combing the edges of Pendragon, Sayoko and her team slip into the city with relative ease. They quickly make their way to safe houses that Lelouch owns throughout the city under various aliases. Once the battle starts they will move towards predetermined positions. Until then they will stay quiet hoping that no one spots them. For the next few days they will not have communication with anyone but the people in their cell.

Lelouch spreads his force in from the coast of the Gulf of Britannia (Mexico) to the Pacific Ocean in a half circle. Over the next few days the half circle will grow smaller as they get closer to Pendragon. Lelouch is not in a hurry to begin the battle. He wants to cause panic in his enemies by slowly moving towards Pendragon. It also allows him the opportunity to sneak his own soldiers amongst those joining the Pendragon defense forces. Of course it also allows the defenders to get more members, but who knows if those troops will be any good. There is also a vast difference in available vehicles. Lelouch's east coast invasion encountered very little resistance.

Lelouch looks at the list of the troops he sends back to Europe and Africa.

Bahamas Reserves: 150,000 soldiers, 3000 Supremacy, 100 tanks, 75 airplanes, 125 airships, 25 ships (22 cruisers 3 aircraft carriers)  
Stealth team: 238 stealth drone airships, 14 stealth airships

The stealth team is what he may miss the most, but the Third Battle of Pendragon will be so hectic that the stealth team will have problems hiding. There is also the issue of Schniezel who is not as desperate and dumb as the Pendragon group makes him out to be. The truth about the situation in Europe is beginning to spread especially after Cornelia's speech. Even Lelouch's spies have not been able to find Schniezel. Lelouch is certain that Schniezel has been able to gather a few more followers from Europe although his number of FLEIA must be low. In fact Lelouch figures that he has less than five.

Lelouch has another distinct advantage in the ruins of Britannia Palace. Lelouch is able to bring knightmares through the thought elevator although it requires that Alice return to Japan to guide them through. Lelouch also has a large naval force, but that will not matter so far inland. It may not even matter if Lelouch is able to gain control of the Caribbean.

Lelouch decides to spend a few days with his family as he finishes organizing his battle plan.

* * *

Cornelia surrenders to Schniezel, but she does not surrender herself to him. Schniezel must defeat Lelouch first. Cornelia sits quietly. She is able to confirm her suspicions that Schniezel only has a few FLEIA at his disposal. She concludes that he has few than five perhaps only two or three. She also learns that a few more airships and knightmares come from Europe. However Schniezel still does not have any elite pilots. Lelouch's anti-FLEIA and orbital weapons neutralize Schniezel's FLEIA making him quite impotent in this battle.

At the moment the only thing that Cornelia can do is wait for an opportunity to strike. It seems like Lelouch is also waiting for something.

* * *

Charles is in the ruins of Britannia Palace. He is alone since Marianne and Bismarck have abandoned him to foolishly fight for the current world. However soon Lelouch will bring the code bearers to him and Ragnarok will begin.

Even though Britannia is being invaded, the people continue with their lives. GG assumes that it is because the country is so large. When the little bastard invades her home country, it is felt everywhere. Still there are enough kind people that help her out on her way to Pendragon. She already has a brush with death when two of Schniezel's airships explode. She must be careful while making her final approach into Pendragon.

**January 8**

Lelouch is in the knightmare hangar as Cecile and her team work on the Arthur Excalibur, Charon, Morgan le Fey, and Valkyrie. On Kallen's airship, Rakshata and her team are working Guinevere Avalon, Shinigami, Amaterasu Yamato, Thanatos, and Cerberus. On Nunnally's airship Lloyd is working on the Ganymede Boudicca, Lancelot Albion, GX-01 Omega 1-4, and Elmo. Aboard Euphie's airship, Sora and her dad are working on the Iseult Silencer, Freyja Vanir, Chrysalis Fantasica, and Persephone. Aboard the Super Sparkle some crazy scientists that Evelyn hires are working on the Siegfried Sieg, Siegfried Dragon, Shen Hu, Vlad Taranis, and Venus Amore.

"Your Majesty, Empresses Lihua and Kaguya are here," Ayame comments.

"Thank you, Ayame. Take them to my office."

After watching the technicians work on the knightmares for a few more minutes, Lelouch heads up to his office. Waiting for him are Lihua, Kaguya, and their children. Lelouch spends the rest of the day with them.

* * *

Tohdoh finds some irony in the fact that both sides in this battle have soldiers from all over the world. He also realizes if not for their personal hatred of Lelouch vi Britannia, many of the non-Britannian soldiers on this side would not be fighting. Many would be at home or even possibly on the other side. For the moment all he can do is organize his force for battle. The unofficial change of the leadership structure does not matter to the majority of Tohdoh's troops.

Faramond is working on improving the defenses of Pendragon. It is not an easy task since the city if not set up for defense. To improve the odds a little, Faramond has all the available cannons brought to the highest level of the city. He hopes that they can provide some assistance against Lelouch's superior number of air units. Given the progress of Lelouch's army, the battle is still a few days off. There are still too many things to worry about. Schniezel has still not been found. There is no way of knowing how many FLEIA he may have left. Lelouch may also have FLEIA or other orbital weapons left. Faramond leaves the preparations to attend a meeting.

Marianne, Bismarck, Merlin, and Gino stay after the meeting is over. During the meeting they discuss the issue of how to deal with their numerical disadvantage. They divide their army into small units in order to provide flexibility. The biggest issue is determining the skill of the knightmare pilots. It is obvious that Lelouch has more skilled pilots. At some point during the battle order will begin to break down. At this point the better pilots will begin to seek each other. It may also provide opportunity for Lelouch to slip past everyone and get into the palace. For Marianne and Bismarck this means that he may confront Charles. There is way of knowing what such a confrontation will bring. For Merlin and Gino, Lelouch may try to eliminate Odysseus, Guinevere, and Karine.

Either way someone must occupy Lelouch during the battle. They must also find a way to guide the enemy towards the anti-aircraft weapons that they have been placing over the city. All they can do now is wait for Lelouch to begin his attack. In the meantime all factories in Pendragon are working on producing knightmares, tanks, and any other vehicles that can be used for the battle.

**January 9**

After a few days of planning and preparation, Nunnally and Suzaku's wedding is today. They go north to one of Carolina's houses. The wedding is quite simple. Since Lelouch is best man, Jeremiah walks Nunnally down the aisle. Kaguya serves as Nunnally's maid of honor. The celebration is another gaudy Milly affair. Afterwards Suzaku and Nunnally head up to her airship. They will go on a honeymoon after the war is over.

Gino is walking through the forbidden section of Aries Villa (Lelouch, Nunnally, Evelyn and the twins' rooms). Everyone else is asleep. They come to the conclusion that someone like Lelouch will not sneak attack. He may have units hiding waiting to attack, but his primary attack will come from the north after a lengthy speech. That is just Lelouch's style. This is not going to be a simple battle. Once things get going, there is no telling how it will turn out. Gino almost feels sorry for the few remaining civilians in Pendragon. No matter who wins the battle Pendragon will be destroyed. Not that it really matters to anybody because he is certain that the capital will move no matter who wins.

**January 10**

Lelouch spends the night with his kids. In the morning he returns to Pendragon. He leaves Kaguya, Lihua, Ayame, and his kids with Carolina. They refuse to go back to Beijing or Tokyo. On the way back towards Pendragononce more Lelouch takes over all television stations around the world. All forms of communication are cut off. He has Nunnally and Suzaku's wedding broadcast around the world. He gives final orders to all his forces before they separate into their individual battle groups.

Schniezel moves his airship close to Pendragon because Lelouch is tightening his grip on the city. He will have to find an opportunity to use his FLEIA to their maximum advantage. Schniezel figures that Lelouch has many anti-FLEIA weapons. There no telling how many FLEIA or orbital weapons Lelouch has. There is no way of knowing when those weapons will come into play. Schniezel will have to play his hand carefully. If Lelouch trounces his enemies, then he will most certainly come for Schniezel. It is a deadly game now that Schniezel does not have many FLEIA or the capability to make more.

* * *

Kallen and Milly are running reconnaissance missions around Pendragon. They are attempting to find weak spots in the enemy's defenses. Naturally Marika and Liliana follow along. In the distance they can see the enemy setting up anti-aircraft weapons. The data from their visual sensors is being sent back to Lelouch. Along with his satellites images, he will be able to put together.

"We should go back, your highnesses," Marika comments.

"Wait," Kallen responds, "I see something out there."

Down below in the city, they see several knightmares that appear to be shadowing them. Amongst them are the knightmare of Bismarck and Gino.

"Looks like they are playing this one smart," Milly remarks, "They may be trying to goad us into doing something stupid."

"Anya says that she encountered Merlin and Nonette when making her recon trips," Kallen states, "Let's go back. Lelouch is probably working on his plan."

Gino sighs as Kallen and Milly fly away.

"I told you they wouldn't do anything," Gino comments, "but I think that they will attack tomorrow. Why else would he have all his top pilots doing recon today?"

"Yes, I believe that the attack will come tomorrow," Bismarck replies, "I do not believe that they will attack along any sort of predetermined lines."

"I think they are going to just come in from all sides. I don't think they will worry about looking for specific opponents."

Gino and Bismarck return to inform the others of their suspicions.

Carolina looks at the troops that Lelouch leaves behind as a last measure. She supposes that they are here for the protection of her people and for a possible retreat over the Pacific. From what Carolina has seen of war after the battle, she does not believe that either side will have much left. Of course Lelouch relies on automated drones so he can conserve a lot of his soldiers. Still Carolina is a bit uneasy about being the only one not involved in the battle in any way. After experiencing a little bit of war, she does not really want to get involved in another battle, but she may not have a choice because her pride is on the line.

**January 11**

Despite all the posturing of the last week, it is Lelouch is at the forefront of the force attacking Pendragon. Lelouch is standing atop his knightmare.

"The enemies of peace are within our reach. Those fraudulent charlatans, who have betrayed their own fathers, friends, and people, the enemies of the world, those who hold the world hostage with their evil intentions, they are before us. We shall not waver in our conviction. We shall press forward to secure the future. Not our future, but the future of mankind, the future of our children. It is for them that we fight. It is for them that we struggle. It is because of them that we will never surrender to the hatred and oppression of our enemies!" Lelouch raises his hands, "Onward towards the future!"

A low roar can be heard coming from Lelouch's force. Each second it gets louder and louder. Lelouch lowers his hands, and the roar ends. However Jeremiah Gottwald begins another.

"All hail Lelouch!"

"_All hail Lelouch!"_

'_All hail Lelouch.'_

From inside Aries Villa, Karine can faintly hear the roaring and chanting. However the cannon fire is something that she cannot miss. In fact hundreds of miles away people can hear as the largest battle in the history of mankind begins.

* * *

Author's note: As is shown below there are about fifty elite pilots left. This does not include Lelouch and Luciano's West Point buddies or anyone that may have gotten better over the years. Along with all of these people, we will see the points of view of Charles, Schniezel, Kannon, Carolina, Kaguya, Lihua, Shirley, Ayame, Ichiro, Midori, Jinta, Evelyn, and both sets of twins. In case anyone is still wondering about it. Lelouch acts crazy for two reasons. First it really pisses Kallen off. Second it makes it hard to take him seriously when he talks to his sword or about anime and video games.

Below are the statistics the battle of Los Angeles and what is available for the Third Battle of Pendragon. The biggest issue is that Lelouch's east coast invasion force encounters very little resistance. It leaves the Pendragon force at a huge disadvantage because Lelouch has fresh experienced troops. I do not remember if I mentioned it in the notes before. The majority of the airships are slightly larger than airplane bombers. The difference is that small airships are built to carry knightmares. This is why there are such a large number of them.

Here is how all the living knightmare pilots rank. The rankings are based on two things, pilot skill and quality of knightmare. This is why Euphie is ranked about in the middle. Her skills are decent, but it her knightmare that puts her on another level. She has also been training non-stop for the past few years while many other characters have not had the opportunity to train that much. These are the fifty best knightmare pilots in the world. Opportunity has as much to do with this as skill. If given the opportunity others may rise. The actual rank of the final two entries (Glaston Knights and Cyborg Darlton and Guilford) is up for debate. The Glaston Knights are not shown to be particularly skilled pilots. They are decent I suppose. The same can be said for Darlton and Guilford.

It was actually easier to rank then from worst to first. The first two are well beyond the abilities of the others. The others in the top ten are also well above the others. We have already seen examples of this. Merlin (8) easily handles Villetta (31) and Marika (32). The addition of Liliana (33) would not have made much a difference in that battle. Lelouch (2) handles not only Merlin (8), but also Salacia (19) and Salzaar (36). Anya (4) handles Dorothea (17) and Nonette (21). Euphie (28) is able to use her knightmare to trap Marianne (1). In fair fight Marianne would tear Euphie apart. The rankings matter differently for different people. All of Nunnally's group ranks higher than Tohdoh's group, but they still have problems with them because the Holy Swords work as a group.

1. Marianne: 9th Ganymede Supremacy, 2. Lelouch: 9th Arthur Excalibur, 3. Kallen: 9th Guinevere Avalon, 4. Anya: 9th Iseult Silencer, 5. Bismarck: 8th Galahad Grail, 6. Suzaku: 9th Lancelot Albion, 7. Gino: 9th Tristan Legend, 8. Merlin: 8th Merlin Magica, 9. Nunnally: 9th Ganymede Boudicca, 10. Tohdoh: 8th Zangetsu, 11. Conrad Keyshavrin: 8th Odin, 12. Jeremiah: 9th Siegfried Sieg, 13. Faramond: 8th Percival, 14. Alice: 9th GX-01 Omega, 15. Urabe: 8th Orochi, 16. Milly: 9th Morgan le Fey, 17. Dorothea: 8th Pelleas Death, 18. Li Xingke: 9th Siegfried Dragon, 19. Salacia: 8th Andraste War, 20. Shogo: 8th Susanoo, 21. Nonette: 8th Epona Carriage, 22. Thorin: 8th Loki Carnage, 23. Luciano: 8th Vlad Taranis, 24. Naoto: 8th Shen Hu, 25. Dalque: 9th GX-01 Omega, 26. Senba: 8th Kusanagi, 27. Cornelia: 8th Persephone, 28. Euphemia: 8th Freyja Vanir, 29. Monica: 8th Andarta Fire, 30. Aphrodite 8th Venus Amore, 31. Villetta: 8th Charon, 32. Marika Soresi: 8th Shinigami, 33. Liliana Vergamon: 8th Valkyrie, 34. Sora: 8th Chrysalis Fantasica, 35. Nagisa: 8th Amaterasu Yamato, 36. Salzaar Gluten: 8th Ares Martius, 37. Hannah Gottwald: 8th Thanatos, 38. Chelsea Nu: 8th Cerberus, 39. Kewell: 8th Oberon, 40. Lilicia Titan Mirage II, 41: Lucretia: 9th GX-01 Omega, 42. Sancia: 9th GX-01 Omega, 43. Isabel: 8th Elmo, 44-48. Glaston Knights: Ashford style Legacy Command Models, 49-50. Cyborg Darlton, Guilford

**Battle of Los Angeles**

Marianne vi Britannia, Nonette: 100,000 soldiers, 10,145 knightmares (1145 Ashford style Legacy, 2000 Legacy, 3250 Bors, 3750 Vincents), 210 tanks, 200 airplanes, 75 airships, Ganymede Supremacy, Epona Carriage

Casualties: 200 dead, 1,000 wounded, 1000 knightmares (137 Ashford Legacy, 350 Legacy, 200 Bors, 313 Vincents), 40 tanks, 35 airplanes, 13 airships

Euphemia li Britannia, Anya: 300,000 soldiers, 10,000 Titan MK V, 2000 Titan Mk V drones, 150 tanks, 300 airplanes, 5 aircraft carriers, 5 mega battleships, 100 airships, (Aphrodite, Silencer), Freyja Vanir, Iseult Silencer

Casualties: 450 dead, 700 wounded, 500 Titan Mk V, 40 tanks, 50 airplanes, 2 airships

Karine le Britannia, Dorothea: 200,000 soldiers, 5000 Eowyn, 2000 Vincents, 200 airplanes, 50 airships, Pelleas Death- Glaston Knights

Casualties: 500 dead, 3000 wounded, 500 Eowyn, 600 Vincents, 100 airplanes, 10 airships

**Third Battle of Pendragon**

Lelouch-1,472,330 soldiers, 45,000 Supremacy, 35,000 Titan Mk V, 40,300 knightmare drones (2,000 Gloucesters, 10,000 Ios, 10,000 Bors, 10,000 Akatsuki, 3800 Legacy, 4500 Titan Mk V drones), 500 tanks, 500 airplanes, 1,000 airships,

Odysseus- 1,676, 354 (906,485) soldiers, 42,125 knightmares (7050 Bors, 11,617 Vincents, 1008 Ashford style Legacy, 1650 Legacy, 20,800 Eowyn), 170 tanks, 613 airplanes, 320 airships- 64,500 reserve knightmares (20,000 Sutherlands, 20,000 Ios, 20,000 Gloucesters, 4,500 Vincents), 150 anti-tank weapons, 200 artillery pieces, 350 anti-aircraft pieces

Schniezel: 5 FLEIA, 5,000 Alexander, 5,000 Caesar, 10 airships, 150 cyborgs

Carolina-3,326 Supremacy, 4,382 Titan Mk V, 258 tanks, 410 airplanes, 299 airships


	100. The end of days

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. 'Chinese is in italics with a single parenthesis.'_

There is a Thought Elevator below Britannian Palace which is now in ruins. It is insinuated that travel between Thought Elevators is possible. Other Thought Elevators are located in China, Kamine Island (Japan), London, South Pole, Middle East, south central Africa, and New York. Keep that in mind for this chapter and for later.

This is the way that Lelouch's force is spread out starting from the north center and moving towards the west then south then east and finally northeast. The airships and airplanes are constantly moving around. The ground troops are also spread around. This list and the one for the defenders below are from the beginning of the battle. I had to draw a little map to keep track of things myself.

North: Lelouch, Villetta, Nagisa: 15,000 Titan Mk V  
Anya, Sora: 15,000 Titan Mk V, 500 tanks  
Northwest: Euphie, Isabelle, Jeremiah, Xingke: 5,000 Titan Mk V  
West: Kallen, Marika: 15,000 Supremacy  
Southwest: Hannah, Chelsea, Lilicia: 15,000 Supremacy  
Ruins of Britannia Palace/Thought Elevator:  
Luciano and Aphrodite: 3,800 Legacy  
Evelyn, Castor, Pollux, Sancia, Lucretia: 10,000 Akatsuki drones, 10,000 Ios drones, 2,000 Gloucester drones  
Southeast: Milly, Liliana: 15,000 Supremacy  
East: Naoto: 4500 Titan Mk V drones  
Northeast: Nunnally, Suzaku, Alice, Dalque: 10,000 Bors drones  
Stealth Force: 238 stealth drone airships, 14 stealth airships

Defenders  
North: Merlin, Salacia, 250 anti-tanks weapons, 170 tanks, 200 artillery, 100 anti-air pieces, 10,000 Gloucester, 5000 Eowyn,  
West Bismarck, Nonette: 100 artillery, 75 anti-air pieces, 4500 Vincents, 1008 Ashford style Legacy, 8,000 Eowyn  
Central North: Thorin, Monica: 11,617 Vincents  
Central south: Faramond, Gino: 20,000 Ios  
Southeast: Dorothea, Glaston Knights, 100 artillery, 100 anti-air pieces, 10,000 Gloucester, 1650 Legacy, 5,800 Eowyn  
Northeast: Tohdoh: 75 anti-air pieces, 20,000 Sutherlands, 7050 Bors

….

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother;

Henry V  
Act IV scene iii

…

A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilized nations. They have the best implements of war.  
Herbert V. Prochnow

…

If we don't end war, war will end us.  
H. G. Wells

* * *

**January 11**

Pendragon is a multi-tier settlement built in a semi-desert valley. At the top sits Saint Darwin Street where all the palaces of the royal family are located. On the lower tiers are the noble houses. The tiers are not just stacked upon each because this would mean that the lower levels would not get any light. There are openings throughout the levels to allow light. The tiered settlement only covers half the city. The non-tiered sections are the areas where the common people live and work. Lelouch ignores these sections and attacks the settlement. Faramond and Gino assume that this is what he will do and prepare for this sort of attack.

Lelouch is directly north of the city as his airships begin bombing the city. Villetta and Nagisa are at his side. At this point in the battle they stay back. Once the knightmares begin to enter the battle fully, they enter the battle. A few of the low flying airships and airplanes are knocked down by the anti-aircraft weapons. This actually ends up worse for the defenders since the downed aircraft crash into the city.

"Villetta, send some drones out," Lelouch orders.

"Yes, your Majesty."

Far away several dozen children are preparing to enter the battle. Helping them are Midori Futaba, Ichijiku Hinata, and Mutsuki Minase

"Nagisa, have the left flank move south a little. Let's see if that does anything."

Faramond and Gino are in command of the Pendragon Defense Force. They decide not to make any major moves until Lelouch commits. At the moment they are simply responding to his bombing attacks.

"Looks like he is trying to extend his left flank," Gino comments.

"I suppose we will have to extend a little to meet him," Faramond responds, "We cannot have him simply surround us."

"I will relay the message to the commanders."

They spend the next thirty minutes making moves and countermoves. The movement results in very little actual action. Lelouch continues to bomb the settlement from above. He is waiting for his opportunity to open up the battle. Despite the battle being in its early stages, Lelouch decides that this is the time for his surprise attack.

* * *

Charles leaves the Thought Elevator and prepares the device that will turn all of Pendragon into a Thought Elevator. All he needs is for all eight code bearers to get within a certain range. After that the Sword of Akasha will activate with that Ragnarok will begin. Suddenly Charles hears rumbling coming from the Thought Elevator. This makes him glad that he no longer needs the physical Thought Elevator.

Thorin and Monica are staying back to defend the palace from any possible attack. Neither particularly wants this assignment since they are basically protecting Odysseus, Guinevere, and Karine. They are certain that Lelouch would not bother with them. Suddenly there is loud rumbling from underneath Britannia Palace.

"What the hell is that?" Thorin asks.

"Could there still be some loyalists hiding underneath ruins?" Monica questions.

"I told them that we should have sent someone down to inspect the palace ruins."

"This is too much noise to simply be a few dozen loyalists. Perhaps they are using some sort of tunnel."

"Whatever it is we better let someone know about this."

* * *

Lilicia still does not understand how it works. At first she figures that Lelouch would use some sort of tunnel, but she assumes that the enemy would think about that as well. She certainly does not expect to be transported from Japan through some sort of magical door. But here they are in the ruins of Britannian Palace when they were just on Kamine Island off the coast of Japan. Sancia, Lucretia, Alice, and Dalque stand beside the youngest Gottwald sibling. Dalque pounds her knightmare's fists.

"It's clobbering time."

"We have his Majesty's orders," Lucretia states.

"Lucretia and I will remain here and use the Thought Elevator in case we need to escape," Sancia remarks.

"Dalque and I will go to Nunners," Alice declares.

"Very well. We have our orders," Lilicia states, "Now let's move."

Lilicia leads the way with a blast from her Zero beam. Behind them come ten thousand Akatsuki drones.

"_What the hell is that?" _Urabe asks, _"Where are those knightmares coming from?"_

"_General, we are the nearest to the disturbance," _Senba states.

Tohdoh has about five thousand knightmares left in his force from Boise. Of course all those knightmares are taken to the front line. Now Tohdoh has to use the makeshift knightmares that have been built over the past week. Most of these also happen to be older knightmares.

"_We have to stop these knightmares before they reach the rear of the main force," _Tohdoh commands.

Tohdoh hopes that the twenty thousand Sutherlands at his disposal will be enough to fight the Akatsukis.

Kallen and Marika are along the right flank towards the west of the city. At the moment they are simply observing the battle.

"Perhaps it is time for us to enter this battle," Kallen states, "Send in some drones."

"Yes, your highness," Marika responds.

Kallen's drones slam into the enemy lines creating an opening.

"Let's go, Marika. This is our chance."

Bismarck and Nonette are west of Pendragon. They are here to shadow Kallen. Nonette does not understand what all the commotion to the rear is, but she knows that they must not get distracted. Before them is a fearsome opponent with an incredible knightmare.

"Nonette, the enemy appears to be attacking."

"Yes, should we send units out to meet them?" Nonette asks.

"No, we will wait here," Bismarck replies, "They may be trying to isolate our units."

"Very well. I shall have the artillery respond first."

As the enemy knightmares get closer Nonette notices that they are Gloucesters. This probably means that they are drones. The drones are also not affected by the artillery. They continue on their course towards the city. The surviving drones slam into the artillery positions.

"That doesn't look good," Nonette comments, "Those drones took out the artillery."

"Then I suppose the artillery has done its job and conserved our knightmares," Bismarck notes, "Prepare the knightmares for combat. They are coming."

Marika leads Kallen's royal guard into battle against Bismarck and Nonette.

Milly and Liliana are on Lelouch's left flank toward the east of the city. However they are slowly moving towards the southeast. The maneuvering of the last hour has spread Lelouch's force out. This makes it harder for Schniezel to target with FLEIA. For now Milly is not to attack with her full force. Above the high altitude airships continue bombing the city.

"Your highness, shall we send the knightmares in?" Liliana asks.

"No, we will wait here for now. Once the enemy begins moving, we will strike."

"Should we send some drones in to draw the enemy's attention?"

Milly thinks about it.

"Yes, have the drones test the enemy's defenses, but do not have them commit."

Liliana begins to test the enemy's defenses with their drones.

Dorothea does not particularly like her assignment. She is guarding the eastern flank of the city. Her opponent is Milly. She would much rather be to the north where all the elite pilots are located. In particular she wants another shot at Anya. It is obvious that Milly is sending knightmares to test her defenses. Dorothea is not foolish enough to attack the enemy. Their defense plan is to force Lelouch to spread his forces around the city. They will then pick a weak point and attack. Hopefully such an attack will divide Lelouch and force him to retreat.

"Lady Ernst, the enemy is refusing to engage us and is retreating. Do we have permission to pursue?"

"No," Dorothea responds, "we will maintain are defenses positions. Let them come at us if they dare."

Kewell understands that the final battle is beginning. At least it will be the final battle if Lelouch wins. If he loses, more battles and wars may follow. He brings Lelouch's Bahamas reserves to Europe, but sends the stealth team back to North America. He does not need them here. In the past few days great strides have been made towards repairing the infrastructure of the continent. Even so the delicate balance may break because of Russian ambitions. There is talk that they want to amend the treaty they signed with Jeremiah.

Kewell knows that Lelouch would send the stealth team to teach them a lesson, but Carmina wants Kewell to do things differently. Lelouch is a results oriented person. He will not care how things get done. Of course Lelouch may decide to bomb Russia with orbital missiles. Kewell hopes to avoid such an event. He wants to begin a peaceful future here and now.

Theseus ju Britannia is informed that a large battle is beginning in Pendragon. He does not know what to think about it. Although he is siding with Lelouch at the moment, that does not mean that he supports him in everything. Still Theseus has his subjects in Area Six to consider. He is hoping to break their dependence on Lelouch for their telecommunications purposes. To this end a few days ago Theseus launches a new satellite that he hopes will give them some freedom from the rest of the world. If for some reason Lelouch loses the battle, Area Six may have to fend for itself.

* * *

Kaguya dislikes having to wait. For the past several years she is nothing but a puppet, a face, which Lelouch uses to appease the Japanese people. It is not that he does anything horrible to them or is planning on doing something. The issue is that Kaguya's presence much like Lihua's makes the natives more accepting of Lelouch. Little do the people know that Lelouch could have crushed them with very little effort.

In Japan Lelouch controls the technology sector despite having sold many of his companies. The truth is that he just purchases them again under a different name and with Japanese accomplices. In China the issue would have been and to a certain extent was Lelouch's superior technology and soldiers.

The survivors of Lelouch's invasions of Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Japan, Siberia, China, India, Iran, and Central Asia are with him in Pendragon. Kaguya gets tired simply thinking of the list. She can tell that Lihua is worried about the situation as well. From this point forward things will get complicated.

"Colonel Futaba, is there any news on the battle?" Kaguya asks.

"At the moment there is nothing, your highness," Ichiro responds.

Kaguya is glad that the staff has stopped calling her, Majesty. Unfortunately Lihua does not get to make that request since she is an empress in her own right. At least they are used to be treated as royalty/nobility; Xianglin does not know how to react to the treatment of the staff. Carolina refuses for the woman who has given Lelouch three children to act as a servant or aide. She has the servants and military staff treat Xianglin as a noble. The house servants do it because Carolina orders them to. The military staff does it because Xianglin is Lelouch's mistress.

"Ichiro, where are the kids?" Carolina asks.

"That is a good question, your highness," Ichiro responds, "I assumed that they were in their assigned rooms. Now that I think about it I have not seen Ayame for some time."

Above in the combined airship Gemini Sparkle, Ayame is receiving news from Lloyd.

"It seems that there was a new satellite launched a few days ago," Lloyd states, "According to Cecile, it is loaded with missiles and is under our control now."

"I see," Ayame remarks, "What does his Majesty think about this? Certainly he would not just hand over control of this to these particular kids."

"She was not specific about what he wants to do with it. However she did tell me to inform you about it. She said the kids would be able to figure out the password. That is all."

Lloyd signs off leaving Ayame to think about the situation.

* * *

Gino and Faramond continue to observe the battle from the rear. At this point their biggest problem is the surprise of having knightmares show up near Britannia Palace. Their knightmare disadvantage is slowly getting smaller, however the cost has been huge. A lot of their anti-aircraft and artillery weapons are gone. They are nearly reaching the point when they will have to take the field.

"Looks like Lelouch is sending his tanks in from the north," Faramond states.

"Yes, from the looks of things, it is all of them," Gino responds, "We will have to send our anti-tank and remaining artillery to stop them. We cannot risk endangering our knightmares."

"Very I will go out to and supervise out counterattack."

Nunnally and Suzaku are waiting for Alice and Dalque to rip through the enemy's force. It should not take them too long to do it, but it could be a difficult task if the enemy concentrates on them. They see Anya flying forward leading the tanks in an attack towards the center of the defense formation from the north. Hopefully the attack will allow Alice and Dalque to get through.

Merlin and Salacia are in command of the north part of the city. Somewhere before them are Nunnally, Suzaku, and Anya. If the reports are to be believed, the latter is the biggest danger.

"Damn! What is this?" Merlin inquires.

Salacia looks at her monitors.

"Looks like they are sending their tanks at us."

"I can see that, but unless my sensors are wrong. They are sending them all towards this position."

Thorin and Monica come forward to place the anti-tank weapons.

"Damn, I don't think we have enough," Thorin states.

"It does not matter what they are sending," Monica comments, "Place the anti-tank and artillery weapons. Have our tanks move into position."

Alice and Dalque are making their way through the enemy's forces. They are being followed by the five thousand remaining Akatsukis. In pursuit are the Holy Swords and eight thousand Sutherlands.

"Have the drones stop here to cover our escape," Alice orders, "This is a good position between enemy forces."

"Screw that, have them pound the rear of those bastard in front of us," Dalque comments, "Who cares about some crappy Sutherlands?"

"You're probably right. We should have Nunners come to us."

Sayoko does not care how Lelouch is moving five hundred tanks through such a small space. Her group understands that the tanks are their signal to move. The enemy will be moving equipment and vehicles to counter the mass of tanks. Under the cover of night, they have been laying bombs and mines along the possible routes that the enemy will use. They also set tracking markers at locations that Lelouch will use his orbital missiles against. However they are not to move further into the city because it will be harder for them to hide.

* * *

Anya has the tanks form a shield around several hundred knightmares. Once they break through the enemy's initial defenses, the formation will split. Each tank has a limited blaze luminous system, but together like this their shields overlap and are quite strong. If Sayoko does her job, then the enemy will not be able to bring up their anti-tank and artillery weapons forward.

"Sora, have the tanks form a wall," Anya orders, "We will place our knightmares behind them."

"I'm on it," Sora replies.

Moments later the tanks begin to form a wall that reaches far up into the sky. The tanks begin to pound away at the enemy's front lines.

"Prepare the blaze luminous counter missiles," Faramond commands.

His father and aunts may have ignored the technological advances happening the past few years, but Faramond is prepared.

"Yes, your highness."

Several missiles slam into the wall of tanks causing a chain reaction. However the tanks defense systems begin to recover.

"That is a nasty little trick," Sora comments, "Who would have guessed that they have such weapons? But my papa's tanks are a lot stronger than people think. Activate the hadron cannons and fire!"

The next half hour is a duel between the tanks and the anti-blaze luminous missiles. Although the majority of the tanks are lost, they complete their mission by opening a large gap in the northern defenses. Anya sends her group of Titan Mk Vs through the gap.

Nunnally and Suzaku turn their group towards the southeast and prepare to attack the enemy lines at an angle. Their attack will free up Milly to continue pushing to the south.

Merlin has no choice, but to call for a small retreat in the north. They lost some of their anti-tank and artillery weapons to saboteurs, but the surviving pieces are now being set into place along the new defensive line. They will make Lelouch pay for every inch with his drones. Once those are out of the way, it will become a battle of the pilots' skills.

Monica and Thorin begin to move back towards the command center. Things are getting out of control along the front. Faramond and Gino will have to quickly decide what move to make next because they cannot simply wait for Lelouch to exhaust his forces. No matter how aggressive Lelouch is, he understands the implications of this battle. He will try to conserve his forces. The defenders of Pendragon do not have the luxury of holding back.

Faramond returns to the command center. He needs to plan for the next level of defenses. Having Lelouch waste his forces on attacking is the only way they are going to win. Suddenly there is a lot of commotion back at the front.

Lelouch has been watching the battle from his knightmare for over an hour. Little by little he has prodded and pushed the enemy back. He wonders if the enemy even notices what is going on. Lelouch is extending his army further to the south, but at the same time he is making his circle smaller.

"Villetta, Nagisa, prepare the next group of drones. I will open the path for them myself," Lelouch states as he joins Anya behind the wall of tanks, "Anya, let's open a hole here."

Salacia notices that the tanks are spreading out quickly. They appear to be clearing a path for something.

"Oh no, it's him."

Bismarck is about to leave the eastern front of the city under Nonette's command when Kallen enters the battle. Behind her are fifteen thousand Supremacy model knightmares.

Meanwhile to the east, Naoto is preparing to enter the battle. His entrance gives the enemy something else to worry about.

Lelouch and Anya destroy the enemy's frontline forces with their hadron cannons. There is very little that the defense forces can do against them.

"Damn!" Merlin scowls, "Let's go Salacia. We will have to stop them, ourselves."

Merlin and Salacia race to stop Lelouch and Anya. However Lelouch is already gone. Even so, Anya is not there biggest problem because hundreds of knightmares are attacking the gap cause by Lelouch and Anya.

"Pull back," Merlin commands, "Those are not drones. They are Titan Mk Vs. Look at the way each one is moving independently."

Salacia gives the signal for a full retreat. Faramond has no choice. He has to send reinforcements to cover up all the gaps along the north and west.

"It seems that Lelouch is using his piloted knightmares. Send the Eowyns to confront them," Faramond orders.

However unknown to the defenders of Pendragon is the knightmares entering the battle are still drones being individually controlled. In Japan Midori Futaba, Ichijiku Hinata, and Mutsuki Minase are overseeing thousands of children controlling the drones. They are using Lelouch's former airships, Excalibur I and II. It will only be a matter of time before all the drones are engaged in battle.

Gino is sitting in the command center directing the movement of reserve troops and knightmares. The battle is definitely not going their way. Little by little Lelouch is chipping away at their defenses.

"Hey Gino, having fun?" Karine asks entering the command center.

"What do you want?" Gino asks with a sigh, "Shouldn't you be down with the others?"

"It is boring down there. Odysseus and Guinevere are just sitting there. I feel like doing something."

"There is not much to do. Faramond is already out in his knightmare. I will have to join him soon."

Karine looks at the monitors that show the battle in real time.

"It looks like they are pushing us in the north and west. Do you have to a plan?"

"Don't worry about it. Just go back with the others."

Karine sighs and begins to exit the room.

"Just make sure you win this battle."

Gino smiles, "I intend to do just that."

Gino decides to contact Faramond. He has a new plan that may tip the scales of the battle, but it will require some quick action on their side.

* * *

Cecile, Lloyd, Nina, and Rakshata are waiting patiently at the four corners of the city. They are waiting for Schniezel to appear with his FLEIA missiles. They have several anti-FLEIA weapons with them. Schniezel will most likely come from the west or north. They do not have to play any other part in this battle.

Lelouch returns to his airship to prepare for his next move. Up until now everything is going according to plan. At some point he expects the enemy to come up with something. For now Lelouch will continue with his plan. He could really startle the enemy by dropping drones from a high altitude. However there is very little to gain from that because Odysseus and Guinevere are not important. Lelouch decides that it is time to push some more.

Guinevere and Odysseus are spending the battle under the ruins of one of the palaces. The site is secured and inspected by Conrad so there are no worries in that department. There is some fear that Aries may be attacked since it is the only remaining palace on Saint Darwin's Street. Sometimes Guinevere wonders why she even bothers with any of this. Even if Lelouch is defeated here, that does not mean that he loses the war. In fact if their side wins the battle, it will just mean many more months, possibly years of war. Still they cannot simply allow Lelouch to win.

After Lilicia makes her way from the ruins of Britannia Palace to Lelouch's side, she meets up with Hannah and Chelsea. Together they swing around Kallen's force and head towards the southwest side of the city. Along with Luciano and Aphrodite, they are the final piece to Lelouch's initial attack. When they reach their destination, they find that the enemy has very few defenses in the area. They are moving a few to combat KAllen. However the three girls and their fifteen thousand Supremacy knightmares are a much bigger problem.

"Are you girls ready?" Hannah asks.

"About as ready as I will ever be," Chelsea responds.

"This are the orders from his Majesty," Lilicia comments, "My Lili, little Hannah and Chelsea Chels are to attack south of the city."

"Let's move," Hannah orders.

Euphemia and Isabelle are watching the battle from far behind Lelouch's front. Jeremiah and Li Xingke are with them. Despite the fact that they are winning, the situation is still tense. If Schniezel decides to use his remaining FLEIA against them, the nature of the battle will change drastically.

"It looks like Hannah and Chelsea have entered the battle," Isabelle states.

"Yes, that is them to the far southwest," Euphemia comments, "Lelouch is using them to draw the enemy's attention from something he is about to do. I believe that Lilicia is with them."

They notice that Jeremiah is nervous about his sisters being used as decoys.

"Perhaps it is time for us to get a little closer to the battle," Isabelle remarks.

Jeremiah does not have any specific orders about protecting Euphemia and Isabelle. However he understands that such a task is much easier to do from the rear.

"We will probably be safer up there," Euphemia states, "There is very little we can do if Schniezel shows up behind us with his FLEIA."

Jeremiah does not particularly believe that statement. He is certain that somebody somewhere is controlling several satellites that only keep an eye on this airship. Lelouch has been reserved about the Schniezel. There is an unspoken understanding that Lelouch can find Schniezel if he feels like it. With that understanding if Schniezel comes within half a mile of this airship, he will be obliterated from space, whether he still has Cornelia or not. Jeremiah is certain that the purple haired princess will agree with that sentiment if it means protecting her beloved Euphie.

Euphemia sighs, "Just go out there. It's what big brothers do."

Jeremiah nods and goes towards the knightmare hangar. He will lead a force and cut through the northwest. This will draw the enemy's attention and press the already beleaguered northern force.

* * *

Bismarck is observing the battle from behind his besieged force. The truth is that the defenders do not stand a chance at winning this sort of battle. Bismarck knows where the knightmares that ripped through the city a few hours ago come from. They use the Thought Elevator and probably come from Japan or China where Lelouch has plenty of factories. It certainly does not help that they are using inferior knightmares. Even Lady Marianne's efforts to get new knightmares, may not be enough. So far Lelouch's elite pilots have been holding back. If they are unleashed onto the battlefield, then things will begin to go badly for the defenders. If all of that is not enough for them to worry about, Schniezel is still out there with his FLEIA.

"It seems that they have begun the battle without us, Kannon," Schniezel comments.

"Yes my lord," Kannon responds, "Shall we proceed with the plan?"

"Yes," Schniezel smirks, "Let's make our mark on this battle."

Faramond begins to move knightmares around for Gino's plan. Ideally they would trap Nunnally causing panic. However Nunnally's group is near Lelouch. The plan is to stop Lelouch not piss him off. Instead they will isolate Milly to the southeast forcing Lelouch to concentrate on that. Preferably they would surround and capture her, but even if she is forced to retreat, it works out. Tohdoh's group will have to hold out against Nunnally and Naoto for the plan to even stand a chance. It is a given that the others will have to hold out as well.

They take three thousand Gloucesters from the north, eight thousand Eowyns from the west, eleven thousand six hundred Vincents from the center, and 10,000 Sutherlands from the northeast. Although inferior to what Milly has, they will have double the knightmares that she has. To help in the west Gino is sending the twenty thousand Ios in the central south to the west. The factories in Pendragon are also still making whatever they can. Those will be sent to the north. They have also ordered for all the knightmares from Area 3 and anywhere else that supports them to be sent here, however it may not be enough.

Naoto is moving forward with his Titan Mk V drones. Suddenly he is attacked by several thousand knightmares to the south. Naoto is quickly overwhelmed so he decides to push his knightmares forward. Even if all his knightmares are destroyed, the enemy will suffer significant damage.

Being led by Thorin and Monica, the northern part of the force to surround Milly punches through Naoto's small force. They place the eight thousand Eowyn directly in front of Milly and take the other twenty four thousand knightmares to the north to begin encircling Milly. Dorothea leads her knightmares towards the south to complete the attack. It will only be a matter of time before Milly's force is completely surrounded.

The attempt to isolate Milly does not surprise Lelouch too much. He is expecting them to try something like it. He just is not sure where they will try it. Trapping Nunnally would make more sense, but Milly is further away from the others so this plan has its merits.

"Send all knightmares into the battle," Lelouch commands, "Push them, push them until they break."

Lelouch's airships begin to bombard the enemy to open the way for his knightmares. Lelouch feels confident that this is the beginning of the end of this battle. However his confidence is misplaced because the battle is just beginning.

* * *

Marianne is flying towards the northeast part Pendragon with her army of new Ashford created knightmares. She has seventeen thousand which is enough knightmares to upset the balance of this battle. From her location the logical thing would be to attack Euphie and force her to retreat towards Kallen. Except that the real danger is Lelouch and Anya to the north. They are facing the overmatched Merlin and Salacia. At this rate Lelouch will easily defeat his enemies. Marianne makes her move.

Schniezel divides his small force up. He sends a small airship to the south loaded with three FLEIA. He sends the three airships carrying the knightmares to the north to attack Lelouch. The other six are divided up between west and east. He also sends one FLEIA to the east and one to the west. Like Marianne, Schniezel understands that Lelouch is the most important piece and must be taken out first. The problem is that Lelouch will be prepared for FLEIA. Schniezel must use the missiles somewhere that Lelouch is not expecting them.

The plan to encircle Milly is going well, but Faramond begins to wonder about the early attack from inside the city. He wonders how Lelouch gets those knightmares into the city. Even though Milly retreat quickly, Thorin pushes a large part of his force to stop her. There is some good news because the defenders learn of Marianne's entrance into the war. However many wonder what this will bode for the future. His biggest hope is that Milly can be defeated before the defending forces are.

Nina is supposed to remain in the southeast corner of Pendragon to protect from a FLEIA attack. However she decides to retreat with Milly to protect her from a possible attack since she is a possible target.

Schniezel is aboard a small airship heading towards the south because he wants to sneak into the city. He finds Milly's force along is way and decides to use a FLEIA on her. However the encirclement of her force means that at this distance the missile may not reach her because she may have an anti-FLEIA weapon. There is no need for Schniezel to worry about it because Lelouch has plenty of forces a little further west. Luckily for Schniezel something appears much closer to his location.

From inside the ruins of Britannia Palace, the final piece of Lelouch's force comes flying out, twenty thousand drones. Behind the drones Evelyn, Castor, and Pollux come through the Thought Elevator to confront their father. Sancia and Lucretia are waiting for them. Luciano and Aphrodite are behind them.

Lelouch, Villetta, and Nagisa are flying to deal with Schniezel's knightmares.

"James, Anthony, lead the other knightmares into the city," Lelouch commands, "We will deal with this scum,"

"Are you sure? Wiggins and Carter are out here. We can help you out."

"There is no need for that," Lelouch responds, "We will deal with them," Lelouch withdraws his MVS, "Anya, take care of my mom. Send the rest of your knightmares south."

"I will make a memory of her," Anya states.

Euphie sends Jeremiah, Xingke, and her force over to help Anya and Lelouch deal with Marianne. She notices that Lelouch is sending his and Anya's force south. They will need some help. She observes that Cecile is positioning her airship close to hers. It must mean that Schniezel is nearby.

Schniezel's knightmares notice three black knightmares flying towards them.

"What is this?"

"Is all they are sending to fight us?

"This is a slap to the face of our force."

"We are the best the EU has to offer."

Several of Schniezel's knightmares explode.

"Scooter says that is enough out of you," Lelouch comments, "Normally I would not bother dealing with scum like you, but today I am in the mood to kill. I would like you to meet Scooter's son, Super Scooter Jr.," Lelouch says pulling out his MVS.

Lelouch charges at the EU knightmares. At the same time Anya and Sora are heading out to meet Marianne's force.

"Leave these little girls to me," Marianne orders, "The rest of you continue towards the city."

"Sora, I will deal with Sparkle," Anya commands, "Take care of those knightmares."

"Sounds tough, but I can deal with it," Sora responds.

Marianne quickly gets the upper hand against Anya.

"Looks like my little boy was wrong in sending you here." Marianne states.

Marianne raises her MVS to attack Anya when a large slash harken stops her. Two large black balls join the battle. Behind them are a few thousand knightmares. Marianne still feels confident about her chances, but she feels like she is wasting her time here. She decides to look for Lelouch.

"Perhaps somebody should pursue Lady Marianne," Jeremiah suggests.

"I believe we have bigger problems," Anya declares, "These knightmares are a little stronger than we anticipated."

"We have her Majesty's force with us. They should be of some help here," Jeremiah states.

"Very well. Let's take care of these fools."

Inside the city the kids move their drones east to break Milly's encirclement. At this point Schniezel decides to begin his plan. He fires one of the FLEIA at his disposal. It destroys the drone army coming out of Britannia Palace. It also takes out the above ground section of the palace.

* * *

Off in the northeast part of the city, Nunnally and Tohdoh's groups are getting ready to fight each other. Nunnally is waiting for Dalque and Suzaku who are helping Lelouch take out the EU knightmares. Once they return, the battle with the Holy Swords will commence. Kannon decides to use the second FLEIA here. Instead of risking the missile being hit by an anti-FLEIA weapon, Kannon sets the missile off inside of the airship. To maximize its effectiveness the airship is sent into the largest concentration of knightmares. Lloyd quickly responds to the attack and fires his own missiles. He is not able to stop the FLEIA from taking out the majority of Nunnally and Tohdoh's knightmares, but he is able to contain the field from expanding.

Nunnally can only stare as her knightmares are wiped away. At least they are only drones. However the path is cleared for them to battle the Holy Swords.

"Come on, Alice. The enemy is before us," Nunnally states.

"Yes, your highness."

Carolina is not sure about her role in all of this, but she decides that it is time to move her small force south to help Lelouch out. She leaves behind a few hundred knightmares to protect those left behind. It seems that she arrives just in time to help Lelouch. With her help, the EU forces are quickly destroyed.

Dalque sees the two FLEIA blasts. After confirming that Nunnally is alive, she looks towards the ruins of Britannia Palace. She does not forget that she is Evelyn's knight.

"Villetta, go back and continue pushing towards the city," Lelouch commands. He looks towards Dalque, "I am heading in if you want to follow me."

"I would, but I need to help beat the old guys," Dalque responds.

"Nagisa can take your spot. Her honor depends on it."

Lelouch flies into the city, and Dalque quickly follows him.

Marianne arrives too late and just misses Lelouch. The battle inside the city is getting intense. She sees her own force pushing back the knightmares that come to Anya's aid. Even so the defenders are being crushed on all fronts. Marianne does not have the latest information, but things do not look good for the defenders. There is still no word from Charles. Marianne wonders what he is up to. She decides to find some cover and wait things out.

Rakshata informs Kallen about three wandering airships. They do not appear to be coming from inside the city. Kallen quickly heads out to investigate. While all airships are made along Lelouch's original designs, his have slight differences that are recognizable to anyone that spends a lot of time around them. The three airships approaching her force from the rear are not Lelouch's.

"If they are not with us, then they are against us," Kallen states as she charges her radiant wave.

However there is no need for her to do anything because several missiles come flying from high above.

"Don't worry kaa-chan," James yells, "We is here to help."

Kallen smiles, "That's great honey. Remember to be a good boy."

Kallen head back to the battle. If Lelouch is already using his orbital weapons, then things must be getting hectic on the other side of the city. Kallen quickly reenters the battle to deal with Bismarck. With him out of the way, the western forces will push into the city.

* * *

Despite Marianne's help, Merlin and Salacia are forced to withdraw. Bismarck and Nonette do the same. However their retreat is not even and the battle becomes hectic. The defender's protective ring is getting smaller while Lelouch's forces begin to combine. Even the encirclement of Milly will not last. She is already beginning to push through Monica's depleted and inferior forces. Faramond orders for the eastern forces to proceed to the north and west to support knightmares there. Milly does not enough knightmares to be anything more than a slight nuisance in the east. Dorothea will remain there and handle the situation.

There is one situation that Faramond does not account for. While the FLEIA destroys most of the drones, it does not destroy Luciano's force now emerging from the Thought Elevator. Even though they have two more FLEIA, they cannot fire because Schniezel is somewhere on Saint Darwin Street. Lelouch and Dalque are also approaching the area from the north.

Luciano quickly moves his knightmares to block Faramond's move. Even though he is quickly overwhelmed, it allows Kallen and Anya to continue pushing the defenders back. All of Lelouch's force begins to form a half circle over the northern part of the city. They do not allow Marianne to unite with the defenders.

Charles sits calmly underneath the ruins of Britannia Palace. The FLEIA blast frightens him a little. It is a good thing that Schniezel does not know where the drones are coming from. He simply destroys those in the air. A little lower and Schniezel would have destroyed not only the Thought Elevator but also all of Charles's equipment for Ragnarok.

* * *

Outside the battle rages on as Anya and Kallen continue to press the defenders, and Faramond moves into the city to deal with the situation. On the ground the remaining civilians of Pendragon huddle in fear of the battle. Very few have seen any sort of battle. Even less have seen a battle like this. Even though Lelouch tries to avoid the civilian sectors, from high above the airships are having problems aiming. Now James, Charlotte, and Gabriel are beginning to rain down with orbital missiles. The two remaining FLEIA could take care of the situation, but Schniezel is still in the city.

Schniezel is dragging Karine through the ruins of the palace. She does quite understand what he is doing. She assumes that he is insane when he mumbles something about needing a queen. She struggles to escape, but he is too strong. They hear footsteps ahead.

"I was wondering when you would come down here," Gino comments.

Karine sighs in relief.

"Gino, save me from this idiot."

Schniezel begins to laugh loudly.

"Are you seriously asking Gino for help?" Schniezel asks as lowers his face to Karine's. "He works for me."

"Are you an idiot? Gino hates you. He talks about it all the time."

Schniezel and Karine begin to argue about whose side Gino is on. Suddenly they become quiet because they hear metal being dragged across the floor.

"Both of you are wrong. Gino works for me," Lelouch says as he walks towards Gino. They perform the Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron handshake, "He is my best friend after all," Lelouch says as he hands Gino a personal MVS.

* * *

Author's note: Next chapter the battle gets crazier as the Kallen and Anya push the enemy further into the city. All the one on one battles that I have been planning since chapter 30 will finally take place.

After writing this story I need to write something that does not require me to keep track of so many things nor has my mapping out battles on paper. Somebody asked me how I keep track of it all. I have eight Word documents of several pages dedicated to things like characters' ages and for some birthdays, their military ranks, different areas and their viceroys, the sides they are on and will end up on, who gets what knightmare, the different knightmares and their specs, quotes I have not used, quotes I have used, the Tohdoh quotes, potential chapter titles, the names of the made up books that I get certain quotes from, the geasses that character have and who they got them from and finally the battle statistics. I also have a page with over three thousand words of things I meant to put in the story at one time, but changed my mind

Slices mentioned that Alice should have been Nunnally's maid of honor. Despite being Nunnally's knight if it there was peace Alice would have been maid of honor since the vi Britannias disregard social status in all matters. However Nunnally's wedding was sudden, and Alice was in Japan preparing the drone knightmares that would be going through the Thought Elevator. The truth is that Nunnally and Suzaku's wedding is the last part that I added to the chapter. I left Alice out of it by accident. After Slices mentioned it, I realized that all four Irregulars were in Japan preparing the drone army. So it kind of works itself out.

I forgot to add a part last chapter where Lelouch does not see Jinta and Evelyn kissing if Carolina and Isabelle do not see Castor and Pollux kissing Emily and Miranda. No need to worry because Scooter saw the whole thing, and there will be retribution later for all responsible parties including Lelouch.

If you look carefully below, you will see the name of the Ashford Foundation's attempt at an eighth generation mass production knightmare. Also Schniezel now has five FLEIA instead of three.

This is what is left of the knightmares and tanks. For the most part the airships and airplanes are still there although the defenders have lost most of theirs. Obviously the list does not include the super powered knightmares of the main characters.

North  
Lelouch/Anya/Euphie: 24,012 Titan Mk V, 103 tanks  
Carolina: 1987 Supremacy, 3345 Titan Mk V, 240 tanks

Marianne: 3745 Ash. Legacy, 4388 Ash. Eowyn, 2467 Boudicca  
Merlin: 267 Gloucester, 4012 Eowyn

Kannon: 567 Alexander, 873 Caesar, 3 airships, 150 cyborgs

West  
Kallen/Hannah: 18,605 Supremacy

Bismarck: 1067 Vincents, 512 Ash. Legacy, 8854 Ios

Ruins of Britannia Palace/Thought Elevator:  
Luciano and Aphrodite: 3,800 Legacy  
Evelyn, Castor, Pollux, Sancia, Lucretia: 567 Akatsuki drones,

East  
Milly: 4388 Supremacy  
Naoto: 500 Titan Mk V drones  
Nunnally: 417 Bors drones  
Stealth Force: 238 stealth drone airships, 14 stealth airships

Thorin 4359 Vincents  
Monica: 2347 Sutherlands, 1123 Gloucesters  
Faramond, 5632 Eowyn  
Dorothea: 1145 Gloucester, 453 Legacy, 4156 Eowyn  
Tohdoh: 755 Bors

**Third Battle of Pendragon**

Lelouch-1,472,330 soldiers, 45,000 Supremacy, 35,000 Titan Mk V, 40,300 knightmare drones (2,000 Gloucesters, 10,000 Ios, 10,000 Bors, 10,000 Akatsuki, 3800 Legacy, 4500 Titan Mk V drones), 500 tanks, 500 airplanes, 1,000 airships,

Carolina-3,000 Supremacy, 4,000 Titan Mk V, 250 tanks, 400 airplanes, 250 airships

Stealth Force: 238 stealth drone airships, 14 stealth airships

Casualties: 407 tanks, 2,000 Gloucesters, 10,000 Ios, 9,583 Bors, 9,433 Akatsukis, 27,408 Supremacy, 4000 Titan Mk V drones, 7643 Titan Mk V

Odysseus- 1,676, 354 soldiers, 42,125 knightmares (7050 Bors, 11,617 Vincents, 1008 Ashford style Legacy, 1650 Legacy, 20,800 Eowyn), 170 tanks, 613 airplanes, 320 airships- 64,500 reserve knightmares (20,000 Sutherlands, 20,000 Ios, 20,000 Gloucesters, 4,500 Vincents), 250 anti-tank weapons, 400 artillery pieces, 350 anti-aircraft pieces

Marianne: 7,000 Ashford style Legacy, 7000 Ashford style Eowyn, 3,000 Boudicca

Casualties: 17,653 Sutherlands, 11,146 Ios, 17,465 Gloucesters, 24,491 Vincents, 3751 Ash. Legacy, 1197 Legacy, 7000 Eowyn, 2612 Ash. Eowyn, 533 Boudicca, 250 anti-tank weapons, 400 artillery pieces, 350 anti-aircraft pieces

Schniezel: 5 FLEIA, 5000 Alexander, 5000 Caesar, 12 airships, 150 cyborgs

Casualties: 3 FLEIA, 4433 Alexander, 4127 Caesar, 9 airships,


	101. Ragnarok Connection

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_Japanese is in italics. _Now we get to find out how and why Gino is a double triple double agent.

...

An unjust peace is better than a just war.  
Marcus Tullius Cicero

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.  
Voltaire

It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.  
Robert E. Lee

* * *

**May 28, 2014 (a few days after their graduation from West Point)**

Lelouch and Gino are sitting alone in the garden of Aries Villa. They are thinking about their future.

"I have an idea," Gino states.

"Well, what is it?" Lelouch asks.

"What if you work from the outside, and I work from the inside."

"That will not work."

"Why not?" Gino asks a little upset.

"Well for one, you are a terrible actor."

"What are you talking about?" Gino questions even more upset at Lelouch's criticism, "The West Point Theater Critics Association gave me five stars for my performance in Hamlet."

"That's because the Critics Association is full of girls who thought that you were cute. I think they were just being nice or they wanted to get you in bed." Lelouch shakes his head, "Sick bastard. You were only a thirteen year old boy at the time."

Gino begins to drool.

"Yeah they were nice."

"You're an idiot," Lelouch says shaking his head.

"Well other than that, what other objections do you have?" Gino asks, "You said 'for one.' That means that there is a two."

"I really did not have anything else. I thought that you would argue more about that point and forget that I have a list which I do not have. You're actually smarter than people think."

"But there has to be a way."

Lelouch sighs, "There is," he stands and removes his contact, "Lelouch vi Britannia commands you…"

**April 8, 2016 (a little after Milly's wedding)**

"What's up with your friend Gino?" Kallen questions.

"What do you mean? Is he doing something stupid?" Lelouch asks.

"He is acting like a jerk. I thought he was your friend."

Lelouch shrugs his shoulders, and then he taps his right eye.

Kallen opens in her eyes in astonishment.

"You cast a geass on him."

"Maybe," Lelouch replies, "Well I better go have some more sex with Milly. We are on our honeymoon after all."

"You're an idiot."

"I know I'm so cool, huh."

**December 1, 2020**

Lelouch decides to visit the Thought Elevator on Kamine Island before beginning his preparations for the invasion of Europe. He knows of one sure-fire to stop his father's plan, other than physically removing him. Lelouch hopes that he makes the right choice.

* * *

**January 11, 2021**

Schniezel is dragging Karine through the ruins of the palace. She does quite understand what he is doing. She assumes that he is insane when he mumbles something about needing a queen. She struggles to escape, but he is too strong. They hear footsteps ahead.

"I was wondering when you would come down here," Gino comments.

Karine sighs in relief.

"Gino, save me from this idiot."

Schniezel begins to laugh loudly.

"Are you seriously asking Gino for help?" Schniezel asks as lowers his face to Karine's. "He works for me."

"Are you an idiot? Gino hates you. He talks about it all the time."

Schniezel and Karine begin to argue about whose side Gino is on. Suddenly they become quiet because they hear metal being dragged across the floor.

"Both of you are wrong. Gino works for me," Lelouch says as he walks towards Gino. They perform the Team Super Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron handshake, "He is my best friend after all."

"No way," Karine gasps in bewilderment, "Gino can't be on Lelouch's side. He, he…"

"You used geass on him," Schniezel remarks.

"What the hell is that?" Karine inquires.

"Maybe," Lelouch responds, "Let's go Gino. We have more important things to do."

"What about them?" Gino asks pointing at Schniezel and Karine.

"Well, it would be better if we took them out now, but I promised Euphie that she could chop their heads off with Blinky," Lelouch states, "Besides I do not want to stain Scooter with their contemptible blood."

Karine sniffles at Lelouch's comment. Gino is not sure about leaving them alive.

"Let's go, Gino. You know that Schniezel cannot be killed," Lelouch comments, "At least put on a power suit that is if you want to see your child one day."

Gino stares at Lelouch.

"What did you say?"

"I guess Isabelle has not told you yet. I noticed it right away. After all I have lots of experience with pregnant women," Lelouch says with a smirk, "Now let's go finish this battle."

Gino nods and follows Lelouch. Karine falls to the ground.

"Damn, Gino was our best chance to beat Lelouch."

Schniezel grimaces because he has been using Gino to spy on the Pendragon group and Lelouch. Now he understands how Lelouch is able to prepare so well. Gino has been telling him about everything. Once Gino gains the confidence of the Emperor and Odysseus's group, Lelouch would have cancelled his geass command. Schniezel cannot even think of a moment when Gino begins to treat him differently. Of course by then Schniezel would have been confident in Gino's loyalty. Schniezel decides to destroy them all. He will have to make it back up to his airship first.

* * *

As the stealth team approaches Pendragon from the east, they see that all knightmares are engaged in combat over the settlement. Lelouch's airships and airplanes are surrounding the city.

"General Hillis, you must understand that I cannot allow you to enter combat."

Recently promoted Brigadier General Nicole Hillis looks at her assistant, a 1st lieutenant a year or so removed from West Point.

"Lieutenant Flowers, I did not sign up with the Britannian Air Force to sit on my ass while there is a battle going on," Nicole straps on her helmet, "If I do not make it back, tell his Majesty that it was an honor to serve under him. If I do make it back, tell him I quit."

With that all two hundred thirty eight airplanes of the stealth team enter the battle.

Kallen and Anya continue to press from the west and north against the Pendragon defenders. The only hope for the defenders is for Schniezel to use his remaining FLEIA on Lelouch. However from the current position of his airships, this does not seem possible. They are completely unprepared to fight a war with Lelouch. Their early victories gives them confidence. Even though those victories are only a few weeks ago, they are completely washed away by Lelouch's dominance here. Without Schniezel's FLEIA wiping out the drones and Nunnally's force, this battle would be over.

Shirley is observing the battle from one of the airships that comes with Carolina. She has seen a few battles, but nothing like this. There are no words to describe what she is seeing. There are knightmares everywhere. Now it also appears that ground troops are entering the battle. She has only been to Pendragon a few times. Surprisingly all those times have been to Saint Darwin Street. From the little that Shirley knows about war, it appears like Lelouch is winning even with those two FLEIA blasts.

The other royal children that support Lelouch are watching from their various viceroys' palaces. Not only does Deithard place cameras on the various vehicles, but he is able to tap into various cameras throughout the city, and he has Sayoko place additional cameras. While there is very little human carnage since the ground troops are not getting involved, the physical damage to Pendragon is unimaginable.

* * *

Sergeant Luis Perea is having a hard time explaining what is going on. A few hours ago his anti-tank unit is called forward. Despite a great deal of sabotage along the way, they are able to make it there. They quickly make an impact on the battle; however the enemy is quite crafty. The enemy quickly recovers from the use of anti-tank and artillery. Once the knightmares enter the battle things begin to badly for the defenders.

"Are you insane? We work in an anti-tank unit. We don't know anything about being ground troops."

"All your men received basic infantry training. Therefore they should be able to fight."

"You cannot expect ground troops to go up against those overpowered nightmares out there."

'We do not have a choice. Prepare your men for battle."

Villetta leads Lelouch's royal guard through the collapsing enemy formation. Unfortunately this only serves to further confuse the situation. The FLEIA to the east of the city opens up a large gap that neither side can fill. Villetta's movement puts her in direct contact with the force that previously tries to surround Milly. It also leaves gaps for Marianne's force to slip into the city. Villetta wishes that Lelouch would come back to take control of the situation.

Bismarck and Nonette are steadily retreating. The Glaston Knights assist them in holding their left (south) flank. It may soon come down to elite pilot versus elite pilot. In the distance Bismarck sees Kallen. It seems like destiny is about bring them together once more. He wonders where Lady Marianne is. He is also having problems contacting Nonette. He hopes that she is not doing anything foolish.

Cornelia is aboard Schniezel's airship. They are waiting for him to return. At that point they will decide what to do with their final two FLEIA. Cornelia is sitting in her room. Over the past few days she has been putting together a communicator with things she is able to gather. She supposes that by now no one should be paying attention to her. This airship's only weapons are the FLEIA, and that is not something they will want to use at this range or with Schniezel still in the city.

Cornelia begins to think about who to call. Most of the people she can get in contact with will be involved in the battle. There is one person that she can all that will affect the outcome of this battle. Cornelia decides to try to get in contact with an old friend. After that Cornelia will have to come up with a plan to escape

* * *

Liliana Vergamon is making her way across the northern front. With Marianne's force now inside the city, the path is a little freer than it is a few hours ago. It is still quite hectic because the defenders are throwing everything they can find. Liliana swears that she sees a catapult straight out of the Middle Ages further south. She would not put anything past the ingenious minds of Gino and Faramond.

Liliana is moving towards the west of the city at the request of Kallen. Nothing much is said over the communicator. Liliana approaches Kallen and Marika's position. She simply waves with her knightmare at her old friend.

"Your highness, I am here as ordered," Liliana states.

"To south of our position the Glaston Knights are holding back our advance. You, Marika, the Gottwald sisters, and Captain Nu are to take care of them. That is all."

Liliana nods. This means that the elite pilots will begin to enter the battle against each other. Marika and Liliana move down towards the south to meet up with their partners. It is just as Kallen says it is. The Glaston Knights are leading a small group that is stopping the attacking force from advancing further south.

As soon as Marika and Liliana arrive, they attack the Glaston Knights head on. The Glaston Knights specialize in working as a team so the key to defeating them is separation. They do not worry about which one the attack since all five fight at the same level. With the Glaston Knights occupied, Kallen has the rest of her force attack. With this there is very little hope that the defenders can win. .

Sayoko leads her team out of the city before the defending ground troops begin to move through the city. Once they reach the edge of Lelouch's troops, Jeremiah has them retrieved. For the moment there is very little left for them to do as the battle enters the endgame. It will be too risky to reenter the city at this moment.

"Lord Gottwald, there appears to something to the northeast of or location."

Jeremiah looks at his monitors. He sees a few small blips coming from the north.

"I thought all the defending forces were inside the city," Jeremiah remarks, "What are these?"

"I seem to recall his Majesty encountering some troops from the EU in that direction."

"I was under the impression that those knightmares were destroyed," Jeremiah comments.

"It appears that a few remain. There are also three airships in that direction."

Jeremiah looks over at the sky. Smoke and dust from the battle is beginning to fill the sky. This makes visibility difficult especially at a distance. However there is no reason for this small force to be ignored.

"Lord Gottwald, we have a visual of the EU force."

Jeremiah begins to look at his monitors. There is a little over a thousand knightmares, but the interesting thing is the smaller objects coming out with the knightmares.

"What are those smaller objects?" Jeremiah asks.

"They appear to be individuals using some sort of personal flying device."

"Cyborgs," Jeremiah reveals, "They are most likely full cyborgs wearing power suits. We will have to deal with them."

Salzaar Gluten decides that he is better off serving Schniezel. As soon as the second prince makes his presence known in the battle, Salzaar returns to his side. He makes his way north and meets up with Kannon. Apart from Schniezel's personal airship, these three airships are all that remains of Schniezel's force. He decides to lead what knightmares are left into battle. There are also the cyborgs that are quite strong and absolutely obedient. They must do what they can to draw the enemy's attention to the north while Schniezel takes care of business elsewhere.

With all the chaos happening everywhere, Euphie is able to slip into Saint Darwin Street. Somewhere in all ruins of the various palaces are Lelouch, Schniezel, and their father. Cornelia is most likely somewhere nearby as well. Euphie decides to wait for someone else to make a move. She has not yet decided what to do first.

Marianne finds a nice little hiding spot. Her arrival into the battle is a little too late to make an impact. Her arrival only delays the inevitable as does Schniezel's attack. She decides that she will hide until Lelouch makes an appearance. The only hope is for someone to defeat him in battle. She has an uneasy feeling about what may be occurring underneath the palace ruins. In particular Marianne wonders what Charles maybe planning. She may soon find out.

Cecile and Lloyd see the EU cyborg force in the north. They are not sure what to make of it. They could use orbital weapons to destroy it with minimal effort. However they decide to see if there are any airships that can be used for this task. They may also have to move south to combat any remaining FLEIA. The defending forces are almost exhausted. FLEIA is the only real danger.

* * *

Major John Hellerman is leading a group of drone airplanes along the north of Pendragon. Suddenly he runs into something he does not expect to see. In front of him are about a thousand EU knightmares. He informs the rest of the stealth team of his discovery. This situation seems perfect for their tactics.

Anya gives the order for Lelouch's ground troops to enter the battle. The defending ground troops are becoming a bit of hassle in particular around the settlement. Naturally all of Lelouch's ground troops are equipped with power suits. This makes them much more effective than the defenders. They will have to be cautious because Schniezel may have more FLEIA, and the defenders may have rigged the settlement with explosives.

Rakshata continues to patrol the south side of the city looking for Schniezel's airship. A few minutes ago, her communications officer swears that he hears some sort of transmission. For now she must wait until an opportunity presents itself.

GG and her followers are trudging south of Pendragon. They do not really have a plan. They are just swayed by GG's offer of immortality. They have seen the proof of it with her, and now want the same thing. In the distance they can see the battle raging. GG only needs to find the other code bearers. She assumes that at some point they will gather near the palace.

Nagisa notices something peculiar about her former comrades. They do not fight true one on one battles. Senba and Asahina are constantly switching and moving around.

"Where is the loud mouth girl," Senba asks in bad English.

"_She is attending to her duties," _Nagisa answers.

Nunnally and Suzaku wisely move Urabe and Tohdoh away from the other two. Little by little the Holy Swords attempt to get closer, but Nunnally or Suzaku quickly push them back. This is more a battle of wills than anything else. Nagisa wonders how Lelouch is able to defeat the Holy Swords so quickly only two years ago. Even now Lelouch has probably yet to reach his peak as a pilot. Nagisa notices that her partners have similar potential. However they do not know how to act as a team.

Alice knows that she could probably defeat each Holy Sword in a one on one battle, but that is not the way they fight. They are wasting too much time trying to arrange individual combat. They need to come up with a better strategy to win this battle.

* * *

Being the Knight of One makes Bismarck a nature target for enemy pilots. He is fighting off half a dozen knightmares as he makes his way into the city. Still even though Bismarck is taking out lots of enemy knightmares, the defenders are outnumbered greatly.

Nonette is flying across the deteriorating battlefield. At this point the only part of the city controlled by their faction is the settlement. As the defensive circle closes, the elite pilots begin to fight. To the southwest The Glaston Knights are engaged in combat with some little girls. To the north Kallen and Bismarck are beginning to battle. Nonette does not have any natural enemies amongst Lelouch's force. Bismarck has Kallen. Merlin has Milly. Marianne has Lelouch. Thorin and Salacia have Luciano and Aphrodite. Nunnally and Tohdoh's group have each other. Dorothea has Anya. If Cornelia would be out here, then she would be Nonette's opponent, however she is not.

However after her small conversation with Cornelia, Nonette finds a new purpose in this battle. Victory for her side is impossible, but she must make things right. He opponent is before her wielding a sickle. Nonette prepares for battle.

"Hello gorgeous. Now Auntie Nonie is going to see if you are worthy of being Lulu's mistress."

* * *

Charles is waiting for Lelouch to come and confront him. It is the natural course of action. By now Lelouch's side is winning the battle, and he will soon come down to finish it. Charles hears someone approaching his location. According to his scanners the final code bearer is almost within range. He wonders what is taking so long for this to happen. Still it will soon begin.

"Now my son, let us finish this."

Charles hears snickering behind him.

"I am afraid not. We shall be your opponents, Charles zi Britannia," Evelyn states.

Charles glares at Evelyn and the twins. The kids are wearing miniature power suits. Behind them are Sancia and Lucretia. Dalque is pounding her way through the palace heading in their direction.

Faramond is watching his defensive line crumble. All order is breaking down. Now their only hope is for their elite pilots to defeat Lelouch's. He does wonder where Gino is. He should be entering the battlefield by now. Faramond hopes that Conrad has enough sense to get everyone out of the city if things begin to go badly. Neither Lelouch nor Marianne appear to be out on the battlefield although this may be for the best. However Gino's presence would really affect this battle.

Lelouch and Gino are making their way through the ruins of the palace. Above they see that knightmares are nearing the settlement. They also hear Dalque breaking things trying to get underground.

"We better get up there to even the odds," Lelouch states.

Gino looks down.

"Are you sure that it is alright to leave things as they are?" Gino asks, "Maybe we should take care of the emperor ourselves."

"I don't see the point to that. He doesn't have anyone on his side to oppose us," Lelouch remarks, "Let's get to our knightmares."

Gino is still unsure but follows Lelouch. Suddenly they are attacked by a large cybernetic man.

"Well look what we have here. Weinberg all alone with his boyfriend," Conrad states, "I always knew you were just playing us."

"Gino, get in your knightmare and join the battle," Lelouch orders, "I will deal with Conrad."

"Is that so?" Conrad questions smugly.

"I think we should take him on together," Gino replies.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle this bastard. Now go!"

Gino nods and runs over to his knightmare's hiding spot. Conrad lets him go because he does want to turn his back on Lelouch.

"I suppose you are the person to thank for me getting this new body," Conrad says, "After I am done with you, nothing will be able to save you."

Lelouch activates his power suit.

"I suppose it is time for me to finish what I began. This time no one will be around to save you," Lelouch says jumping towards Conrad.

Conrad moves out of the way. Turning he swings his right leg at Lelouch hitting him in the stomach. However Lelouch grabs hold of Conrad's leg pushes back into his body. Conrad is able to roll back away from Lelouch.

Lelouch begins to stomp away. Conrad rolls around attempting to avoid getting hit. He manages to catch Lelouch's foot and twists it hard. Now Lelouch tumbles to the ground. Lelouch flips on the ground and gets back to his feet. He continues his attack, this time with his fists. Conrad realizes that Lelouch is not actually hitting him, but is actually using the power suit's blaze luminous system to create a fist. This way only victim gets hurt.

Conrad decides that it is better to run away. He does have a surprise up his sleeve. The defending forces are not completely helpless or incompetent. Conrad releases a secret cyborg army that Guinevere has been personally and privately financing these last few years.

Lelouch is surprised by this turn of events. However it should not affect his plan too much. Lelouch heads towards his knightmare. There is no need to worry about his father's plan. He has already taken care of the situation. It is a good thing he realizes what must be done before CC loses her code and with that takes Lelouch's geass.

* * *

The time has come for the final battle to begin. Kallen is floating in the air in front of Bismarck.

"Shall we finish what we started before, Knight of One?"

Bismarck answers by withdrawing his MVS. He quickly moves towards Kallen and swings with his MVS. She uses her radiant wave to block the blow. Bismarck pulls back and swings towards Kallen's left away from the radiant wave. Kallen uses her fork knife to block the blow. He activates her radiant wave and swings her right arm towards Bismarck. He wisely disengages from her left arm and uses his MVS to deflect the radiant wave. Bismarck pulls back.

"It seems that you have improved, Miss Stadtfeld."

"Obviously I do not want Lelouch to get too far ahead of me."

"Very well. Shall we continue this?"

"I do not see how we cannot."

"I do have one request though," Bismarck states.

"That is?"

"We will not involve others in this battle."

"That sounds reasonable. Now let's finish this," Kallen states charging her radiant wave.

As the battle of number ones (Knight and wife) continues, the number twos sit there quietly.

"Those two are really going at it," Milly states.

"It appears so," Merlin replies, "We should probably get going as well.

"I guess you are right. I cannot have Kallen taking all the credit for this victory. I probably have to take you down."

Milly takes her MVS and charges at Merlin. He blocks the attack with his own MVS, but Milly slightly pushes him back. Merlin quickly realizes that his assessment of Milly is correct. He will not be able to push her around like he does to Villetta and Marika. Milly pulls back and prepare to charge once more. She realizes that this battle will not be easy.

* * *

Salacia and Thorin are approaching the battle to the north of the city. They see Bismarck and Merlin engaging Kallen and Milly. They know better than to get involved in those battles. Their own allies are as likely to attack them in that situation. Faramond and Monica are still a little further to the east dealing with the situation there. There is still no word from Gino. They decide to enter the battle and take advantage of their slight elite pilot advantage. Thorin is confronted by the pilots who previously fight Bismarck and Merlin. Salacia sees another battle she wants to join.

Nonette and Villetta are battling off to the side. Nonette appears to be winning the battle. Salacia decides to help out. From there they can attack team up against Lelouch's other elite pilots. To ensure that she only attacks Villetta, Salacia moves in to attack with her MVS, but Nonette blocks the attack.

"What the hell are you doing, Nonette? We need to finish this battle!" Salacia yells.

"We have already lost," Nonette replies, "This is personal."

"What the hell are you babbling about?"

"Take a close look. The red head and blonde are dealing with Bismarck and Merlin. The little pink haired girl has handled Dorothea and Monica. We cannot forget that Lelouch has also handled you, Thorin, and Merlin. We also have no word from Gino or Lady Marianne. Although I would rather that she and her demon spawn stay out of this battle lest we all be destroyed"

Salacia scowls and backs away. Suddenly she is attacked from the rear by a slash harken.

"What the hell?"

"Hey Salacia, I was thinking that maybe you and your little buddy there would like to fight me and my snookums," Aphrodite states.

Luciano scowls at Aphrodite's comment. He does notice that Thorin is coming down to fight

"So are we going to do this or what?" Luciano asks.

Thorin and Salacia respond by attacking.

Marika Soresi, Liliana Vergamon, Hannah Gottwald, Chelsea Nu, and Lilicia Gottwald continue to battle the Glaston Knights. Lelouch orders Nagisa to leave Nunnally's group to gather some of his forces to destroy the remaining defenders. Their number is still substantial. This leaves Nunnally's group in a three on four disadvantage. They hope that Dalque will soon return to the fight. Still they will have to make due for now.

Sayoko goes to Carolina's airship. Xingke comes over to help guard it. Jeremiah and Sora are heading towards the battlefield as are Faramond, Dorothea, and Monica. No one knows where Anya is. Much like Marianne, Lelouch, and Gino, her presence may change the course of this battle.

* * *

Schniezel walks away from Karine and decides to head back to his airship. With the launch of his remaining FLEIA, this war will be over. Cornelia will have no choice but to accept him. Just as he reaches his shuttle, he begins to feel faint. He notices that everyone aboard the shuttle has collapsed.

Euphie begins to follow Schniezel; however she is at a bad angle and loses him. However she runs into someone else that she is looking for. Karine is crawling through the rubble of the palace. The red haired princess's eyes go wide when she sees Euphie.

Euphie raises Blinky to attack Karine when she begins to fell dizzy.

Karine is already cowering on the ground waiting for the death blow. When it does not come she notices that Euphie looks ready to faint.

"So you can't do it after all," Karine says with a smirk, "Well too bad I can."

Karine reaches down to grab a piece of rubble to hit Euphie with. Suddenly time itself stops.

Cornelia decides to act. The best case scenario will result in her escaping while destroying Schniezel's FLEIA. At the very least she will destroy the FLEIA. She makes her way to the bridge of the airship. She tries not to make herself too conspicuous. Of course being who she is, this is a little difficult. She knows where the FLEIA controls are. She hopes to be able to activate the missiles before destroying the control console. Cornelia begins to move when everything suddenly goes blurry.

GG and her followers enter the limits of the Pendragon Settlement. However an intense feeling overcomes them. In the air GG notices a Jupiter like planet and an unusual structure.

"What the hell is this?"

* * *

Dalque reaches the area where the kids are fighting the emperor. It really is a sad scene, a sixty-year old man fighting his pre-teen kids. She wonders why Lelouch does not come and take care of the issue himself. Although it makes sense since the old man cannot do much. Dalque makes her way towards Sancia and Lucretia. She decides to get involved in the fight. They need to finish this battle and get on with the plan.

Charles backs away from the kids.

"It has begun. All the planning will now come to fruition. Pendragon will now be brought into the Thought Elevator. All your efforts have been meaningless."

* * *

Anya looks around but does not recognize anything. Her memories are confused. In her head are half a dozen different versions of herself. In one she is picking oranges with Jeremiah. In another she is living on a farm with her parents. She shakes her head. None of these are right. This is not her world, her life. She must find a way back.

Alice is talking with her sister about their first day of school. Over the summer they move to a new city. Due to their parents' strict nature, they make very few friends in the neighborhood. However school is completely different because there they can meet lots of people their age.

"Did you make any friends, Alice?"

"There are so many kids in my class. A lot of them are rich jerks, but there is one that I like."

"Ya what's her name."

"Nunn," Alice pauses, "Nunnally Lamperouge," several thoughts begin to flood Alice's minds, "Nunnally vi Britannia," Alice lets out a yell, "Nunners, where are you?"

Dalque is stuffing her mouth with cereal. She is sitting at a table with her grandmother talking about her new job.

"It's a really great job, grandma. I have to baby-sit these kids. The twins are a little bratty."

"That's great dear, but slow down and take your time eating."

"But the girl, she's really cool even though she's a little kid."

Suddenly Dalque remembers something and drops her spoon. She ignores her grandmother calling out to her and stands up.

"I'm coming, Evie."

Sancia's parents are waiting for her after her college graduation.

"We are really proud of you, dear."

"What do you plan on doing now? It would be good if you took some time off from school and took a little vacation."

"Well," Sancia says stretching her arms out, "I already have an offer from Lamperouge Technologies. They are leading the way in new technological advances. They are developing the new Castor and Pollux generators," Sancia pauses, "What is going here? I do not belong in this world."

Lucretia is preparing for her senior prom. Her parents are helping her make the alterations to her dress.

"Oh honey, you look so beautiful," her mother states, "When is your date arriving?"

"Lulu should be here soon," Lucretia replies, "He said he would," Lucretia pauses, "Wait this isn't right. I didn't, I mean I shouldn't be here."

Villetta is returning home for the first time since becoming Lelouch's knight. Her parents are unsure about her choice of career. However this assignment places Villetta in a very important position. Suddenly Villetta is transported to a cemetery. She is placing her ceremonial medal over a gravestone. She kneels and closes her eyes. When she opens them she finds herself standing in a base of sorts. She is also pregnant and has an uncontrollable urge to hate Lelouch. Villetta shakes her head.

"What is all of this?"

"It is the end of the world, the end of humanity, my knight."

Villetta turns to face the voice, but nobody is there.

"What?"

"This is the end of all worlds, the end of reality. From this point forward, we will live in a world of dreams. Dead, alive, things like that will no longer matter. All masks will be removed, and lies will be uncovered."

Villetta hears Lelouch but cannot see him.

"But this would mean that we would live in a stagnant world," Villetta responds, "Along with no pain or fear about the future, there would be no hope."

Villetta can feel Lelouch's smile.

"Very well. I am glad that you realize this."

Marianne looks around and surrounded by children. Not only does she have the five she has with Charles, but three more. She appears to be on some sort of farm.

"Hm this is not exactly what I had in mind."

* * *

Lucretia opens her eyes and glares at Charles.

Charles raises his left hand towards the Sword of Akasha.

"Now to complete Ragnarok."

"No!" Lucretia yells, "I will not let you."

Lelouch smiles and continues to prepare his knightmare for battle.

"Well it appears that I am as smart as I claim to be. Well done everyone. I will now personally congratulate you for you for your efforts."

A pink knightmare joins the battle above. It floats between Faramond, Dorothea, and Monica

"My name is Anya Alstriem. I am the loyal servant to his Imperial Majesty, the one hundredth Emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Lelouch vi Britannia and knight of Empress Euphemia li Britannia," Anya grabs hold of her knightmare controls, "I shall make a memory of you."

* * *

Author's Note: Before I get to the other story notes, I want to point something out. I have one of the Pendragon defenders say overpowered nightmares. This is not a typo. He is referring to Lelouch's knightmares, tanks, airplanes, and airships as overpowered nightmares.

Charles and Marianne make certain claims about what Ragnarok is or will do. Charles has Bismarck inform Schniezel that he may rule afterwards. This probably means that Schniezel will not be able to lie and manipulate anymore. They claim that it will create a gentler world and that they would be reunited with those that have died. Of course this is their mistake because Lelouch is able to see through this. They also make the mistake of invoking the names of Euphemia and Nunnally because they do not really understand their feelings and motives the way that Lelouch and Suzaku do. This is hinted at when Lelouch asks if they understand the meaning of Nunnally's smile.

What everyone experiences is what Lelouch sees when looking at the multiple worlds. The difference is that they experience them physically rather than simply observe them. Like with Lelouch and VV, the knowledge that there exist worlds where they live happier lives leads them to reject Ragnarok. The six knights lead humanity throughout the multiple parallel worlds in rejecting Ragnarok. Lelouch stops Ragnarok because Lelouch stops Ragnarok. It is his and Nunnally's destiny. There is no way around that fact. Lelouch realizes this when he sees the multiple worlds. He uses his absolute obedience geass to command the gods to stop Ragnarok if enough people reject it. In a sense it is him playing a cruel joke on his father who believes that he is successful. I wanted to make the alternate universe sequences longer, but I believe that there is no need for it since what is present is sufficient.

Lelouch's geass command to Gino is what makes him do all those things i.e., hitting on Kallen and Euphie, tracking Lelouch, becoming a Knight of the Round, etc. I cannot think of a command that would make Gino act that way, but Lelouch probably could so I will leave it to your imaginations. If someone has a reasonable suggestion, I will add it.

Some people mentioned that it was time for Lelouch and Gino to take Schniezel down. There is nothing to be gained from physically beating up Schniezel. His conflict with Lelouch is mental. Of all his opponents, Lelouch feels a sense of courtesy towards Schniezel even if the feeling is not reciprocated. Up until now Lelouch has done everything legally and righteously. Sure there have been a few occasions when he has shown a twisted sense of morality, but his speeches at the end of chapters 94 and 99 along with Euphie's at the end of 98 set the tone for his war. It is not a war for personal glory, but for the future of humanity.

Here is the reason why Schniezel would go after Karine. She has some support amongst the remaining Britannian nobles. Most Britannians also agree with her ideals. Most liberal nobles are already siding with Lelouch. He kills most of the moderate nobles at Carolina's house a few chapters ago. If she happens to survive, Karine would be the hope of the conservative nobles since she would be relatively untainted by this war. If Schniezel is successful, he will have Cornelia and Karine.

Here is a fun alternate sequence. If Aphrodite would have been killed by Conrad several chapters ago, Luciano would have buried Odysseus and Guinevere alive in the ruins of Britannia Palace. Also Nina would not have been rescued before and would have been rescued here by Naoto. Luciano's survival was also undetermined.

Does anyone else remember that the Guren's radiant wave is originally intended to be a defensive weapon? This is the reason why Kallen says that Zero should use it. However while canonically Lelouch does not respect Kallen personally, he does respect her knightmare skills so he trusts her with it.

On a completely unrelated side note, I have watched all 539 episodes of One Piece over the past two months so if any point Lelouch claims that he is the one that will be the next pirate king that is the reason although it would probably be Evelyn or Nunnally wanting to be the next pirate king.


	102. Emperors dismissed

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

"_Japanese is in italics." _

In case, anyone did not read the note at the bottom of the last chapter. During the third flashback at the beginning, Lelouch goes into the Kamine Island Thought Elevator and commands the "gods" not to stop the progress of time if the majority of humanity rejects Ragnarok. There is no concept of time during Ragnarok so during the few seconds that it is activated; hundreds of lifetimes are lived out. The five vi Britannia knights and Anya reject Ragnarok and decide to lead the collective will of humanity to reject it as well. The knowledge that all worlds will disappear aids in this. Lelouch allows Ragnarok to begin because unlike his father, mother, or brother, he does not want to force people into accepting his version of the future. If humanity wants to advance, it will. Obviously it chooses to advance and takes the pain and suffering of life along with the hope and joy.

...

How does one describe a man whose contemporaries have not the words to do so?

Michael li Britannia and Ayana kou Britannia  
Our grandfather: The true story of Lelouch vi Britannia  
Neo Pendragon Press 2070 ATB

...

To announce that there must be no criticism of the Emperor, or that we are to stand by the Emperor, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the Britannian public

Theodore Roosevelt

* * *

Charles raises his left hand towards the Sword of Akasha.

"Now to complete Ragnarok."

"No!" Lucretia yells, "I will not let you."

Charles looks at the blonde knight in half amusement, half amazement.

"Do not worry child soon the world will be kind and caring just as you want it to be."

Dalque lets out a yell and begins moving towards Charles.

In the air above Pendragon, Villetta opens her eyes and lets out a yell. The yell reaches the ears of Alice who begins to move her knightmare.

"Must help Nunners."

As Alice and Villetta struggle to move their knightmares, Lucretia and Dalque continue to crawl towards Charles. Sancia finally recovers consciousness and looks over at the twins and begins to cry.

"No, it cannot end like this," Sancia says falling to the ground.

Suddenly the five vi Britannia knights are overcome by the same feeling.

"I, Villetta Nu."

"I, Alice Liddell."

"I, Dalque Coulter."

"I, Sancia Endogen."

"I, Lucretia Giuseppe."

"I vow to become a knight." (Sancia)

"I will cast away my personal desires." (Villetta)

"I will work for justice." (Lucretia)

"I am a sword," (Dalque)

"I am a shield." (Alice)

Suddenly all five can move freely.

Dalque grins, "It's clobbering time, old man."

Dalque jumps into the air towards Charles. He tries to dodge the attack, but Dalque uses Lucretia and Sancia's geass abilities being fed into the power suit. She knocks Charles down causing him to dent the ground. Charles struggles to get up.

"This is not possible. Your geass should not affect me."

"That may have been true before, old man," Dalque states, "but you tried to fuck with humanity, and it rejected you."

Charles notices that his wounds are not healing quickly.

Dalque begins to pump her fist into her other hand.

"I guess I get to kick an old guy's ass anyways."

* * *

Euphie begins to recover consciousness. She notices that Karine is still unconscious on the ground. She decides to leave the red haired princess alone. In the air above the city, she sees what she has been looking for these past few days, Schniezel's airship. It is not there before. Euphie quickly makes her way towards her knightmare.

Cornelia recovers from whatever just happened. She realizes that the others are still frozen in a trance. She runs over to the FLEIA control systems and activates both remaining missiles. After the countdown begins, she destroys the controls. This snaps everyone out of the trance, but Cornelia is already on her way out of the room. She quickly makes her way to the FLEIA missiles. After killing the technicians, she decides that it is time to make her exit.

"I am quite disappointed in you, my dear Cornelia," Schniezel's says as he raises a gun, "I suppose that this is the end. Do not worry. I will find our son. He shall make a fine emperor."

Suddenly a pink knightmare rips through the airship's wall. A pink blur comes flying towards Schniezel cutting his gun.

Euphie stands in front of Cornelia.

"Why don't you try that with me? I guarantee that you will not like the results."

Several soldiers with rifles enter the room. Euphie swings her arm forward, and her knightmare does the same taking out the soldiers.

"Let's go, sister."

Cornelia nods and walks away with Euphie. Schniezel pulls out another gun. He wisely aims at Cornelia and fires. Euphie cuts the bullet in half and glares at Schniezel.

"Try that again and you will end up buried in a lead coffin somewhere," Euphie states glaring at her older brother, "Let's go sister."

* * *

A pink knightmare joins the battle above. It floats between Faramond, Dorothea, and Monica

"My name is Anya Alstriem. I am the loyal servant to his Imperial Majesty, the one hundredth Emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia, Lelouch vi Britannia and knight of Empress Euphemia li Britannia," Anya grabs hold of her knightmare controls, "I shall make a memory of you."

"Damn!" Dorothea scowls as charges at Anya.

Anya casually blocks the attack.

"This is not memorable," Anya states.

Faramond moves in to help the Knight of Four. Monica prepares to join the battle, but another pink knightmare stops her.

"I am Lady Sora Cummins. I don't have any cool speeches so let's fight."

Monica grits her teeth as Sora attacks her.

* * *

Gino is rising into the air to join the battle. He does not understand what happened, but it is over. In the air he sees Kallen and Milly and goes to join them. Lelouch's other elite pilots are out as well. They are going up against the Knights of the Round and the Holy Swords. The sides are matched pretty evenly. However the two most important combatants are nowhere to be seen (Lelouch and Marianne). Either of those two will change the balance of this battle.

"Lord Weinberg, it is about time that you show yourself," Bismarck states.

"I am sorry, Lord Waldstein, but I had a meeting with His Majesty," Gino says with a smirk, "Who is in command here, your highness?" Gino pauses a little before adding the last piece. There is no doubt that he is directing his question at Kallen.

"You son of a bitch!" Dorothea yells out.

"I would watch yourself, Lady Ernst. Your opponent is the deadliest person out here," Gino comments.

"Bastard, as if what Nonette said was not enough," Merlin says.

"We are to keep these people occupied until Their Majesties join the battle," Anya states.

"I guess I'll wait for my best buddy in the world to show up," Gino announces, "It looks like you have things handled here."

Dorothea moves towards Gino, but Anya pulls her back. Suddenly very loud music begins to blare.

"What the hell is this?" Nonette asks.

Nonette is still handling Villetta quite easily.

"Hey I know this song. It's from Highschool of the Dead," Gino decides to make another comment because he can feel Kallen's glare, "Hey Wolf News Channel was running an undead marathon the other day. Hey, didn't Lelouch name some of his kids after characters from that anime."

"Instead of reminiscing about zombie anime, you should be helping with this battle!" Kallen growls.

"Your highness, you must never use the z-word. Besides Little Anya said I should wait for Lelouch and Euphie."

Gino floats in the air occasionally firing at targets below. Suddenly a different song begins to play. Despite knowing that Kallen may kick his ass later, Gino decides to comment.

"Hey this song is from School Rumble."

Kallen's glare intensifies.

"Gino, could you stop pissing the princess off?" Bismarck comments because he gets the brunt of Kallen's anger, "How do you know all of this anyways?"

"CNN was running Lucky Star, School Rumble, and Ouran Host Club over the weekend. Hey what side is the head of a chocolate cornet anyways?"

"You're an idiot," Kallen declares.

"I know it's so cool, huh," Lelouch says from wherever he is, "Gino, you're Yakumo."

Whatever a yakumo is, Bismarck figures it cannot be something good because it really pisses Kallen off. Her attacks are still controlled but are more intense. Suddenly Lelouch begins to sing.

"Our life is like a comedy, a carnival so carefree." Lelouch

"We're spinning round going our own way and living out our school days." Gino

"But even though it feels as if the end will never come to this." Lelouch

"Unfortunately everything ends someday." Gino

"But still I know that it was meant for both of us to meet again." Lelouch

"That may be true but now it seems so far away." Gino

"If I ever forget you, I'm sorry." Lelouch

"And if I ever forget you, I'm sorry too." Gino

"But I will try to remember you." Lelouch

"Even though we're falling apart, I miss you." Gino

"It's hard to think we're growing apart. I miss you too. You will always be special to me." both

Having learnt her lesson Kallen asks, "Can you be serious for ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes, huh," Lelouch responds, "I guess I better make this quick then. I have to attend the birthday part of that little girl I met in St Louis."

The Knights of the Round become incensed at Lelouch's comments and attitude. For most of them this is their opportunity to pay him back for years of humiliation and ill treatment. They prepare to attack him regardless of the cost.

"Sorry gorgeous," Nonette states, "But looks like I have to end this if I stand a chance against Lulu. Don't worry you will still be useful to him even if you are crippled."

Villetta prepares for Nonette's attack. Suddenly several explosions occur to the forces fighting below. The trail of explosions leads back to the ruins of the palace.

"Holy shit!" Thorin exclaims, "He was annihilating all those knightmares while he was singing."

"I guess the psychological report on him was right," Luciano states, " Homicidal tendencies coupled with a sister and Oedipus complex. All of those cause suppressed sexual tension. Of course that doesn't explain the singing. Ask his girlfriend Weinberg about that. Although it does explain the womanizing."

"Hey that isn't nice," Lelouch says, "I am not crazy. Just ask Scooter. What was that Scooter?" slight pause, "The little part is the head of the chocolate cornet. You're right. It does stink out there. I guess it is time to get serious."

Suddenly a black blur appears in front of Nonette. She quickly moves her MVS to block the blow, but Lelouch is too quick and strong. He cuts through her sword and knightmare causing Nonette's ejection pod to activate. Lelouch quickly catches it and tosses it towards the relative safety of Aries Villa. Lelouch continues moving forward. Salacia and Thorin decide to attack him simultaneously.

"Get out of my way!"

With his first slash, Lelouch cuts through their arms. With his second slash he cuts through their knightmares. Lelouch pushes upwards. Luckily for them, his aim is only to destroy their knightmares. Monica quickly moves to protect Faramond; however Lelouch is too quick and manages to get around them. Lelouch stabs his MVS through their knightmares. He only cuts through the weapons systems. Dorothea takes the opportunity to attack Lelouch from behind. He fires his wrist slash harken using his hadron cannon. The slash harken rips through Dorothea's knightmare. Dorothea's escape pod flies away. In mere seconds Lelouch destroys the enemy knightmares.

Aphrodite looks down at her controls.

"What the hell just happened? How did he beat them all?"

"I know it's depressing," Anya responds.

"He is so cool," Luciano says like a giddy schoolgirl.

Lelouch continues on his path. Just as he reaches Bismarck and Merlin, the event that Kallen and Milly have been waiting for all battle happens. Marianne blocks Lelouch's attack. Luciano, Aphrodite, and Villetta are ejected from their exploding knightmares.

"About time my little boy comes out to fight," Marianne comments. "Mommy was getting worried."

Lelouch notices that Marianne does not attack Anya or Sora. This causes him to smile.

"Anya, Sora, dispose of the remaining enemy forces. You should find Euphie somewhere down there as well."

Marianne moves to block Anya and Sora from leaving, but Lelouch fires his chain at her. Marianne cuts the chain, however the two pink haired girls get away. Lelouch turns to face his mother. However rising behind him are Kallen and Milly

"We will take care of this," Milly states.

"Very well," Lelouch says looking down at Bismarck, Merlin, and Gino, "Gino, Conrad is still alive somewhere down there. You were supposed to kill him."

"_I got it," _Gino responds.

As Lelouch turns down to fight the Knights of One and Two, Marianne charges at him, but Kallen fires a radiant wave at her.

"We are your opponents," Kallen growls as she rushes in to attack.

* * *

Nunnally, Suzaku, and Alice are trying to figure out how to deal with the Holy Swords. They are outnumbered by one, and the old guys are really good in their knightmares.

"Euphie kick."

A pink knightmare comes flying out of nowhere.

"Hey Nunnally, I'm here to help."

Nunnally grumbles because of all the people who could come to help them, Euphie is the one whose help she wants the least.

Suzaku flies his knightmare in front of the two princesses. Alice does the same.

"Nunners, get out of here," Suzaku states, "Take Euphie down to the palace."

"We will handle this," Alice declares.

Nunnally nods, "Let's go, your Majesty. You have to get down to the palace."

The two princesses fly away.

"_Asahina, Senba, stay back we will handle this," _Tohdoh commands.

"_No sensei, we will fight all four of you," _Suzaku declares.

Suzaku and Alice activate their Zero systems. No one uses the Zero system constantly in battle except for Lelouch because it is too overwhelming. Within seconds the possible outcomes of the battle flash before their eyes. Suddenly the key their victory is shown.

Suzaku flies up while Alice goes down. Tohdoh and Urabe follow them respectively, but they move cautiously. However Suzaku and Alice streak through the sky. They quickly move towards Asahina who is trapped between them. Senba's eyes open wide. Asahina and Senba back off as Tohdoh instructs. They do not expect Suzaku and Alice to come at them.

Tohdoh and Urabe quickly move because now Senba is outnumbered. Suzaku cuts them off. He fires a blast form his energy wings. They separate to avoid getting hit, but it costs them precious seconds. Alice turns her attention to Senba. It only takes her a few seconds to finish off the oldest Holy Sword.

"_Is that how it is going to be?" _Tohdoh asks, _"Where has your honor gone?"_

"_My honor is where it has always been," _Suzaku responds, _"Unlike you, sensei, I have not allowed my pride to blind me from the truth."_

Tohdoh closes his eyes for a moment.

"_Very well. This shall be your final test."_

Closer to the Settlement, Suzaku sees that Lelouch and Marianne are now involved. He knows that Nunnally wants to fight his mother, but that does not seem likely. While the larger battle is most likely over with Lelouch's appearance, there are still many personal battles to fight.

"_Suzaku, I'm going to help Nunners,"_ Alice states.

Suzaku considers the situation.

"_Fine, just be careful. If Lady Marianne sees you, she may attack you."_

"_I think she is too busy fighting Kallen to worry about anyone else."_

Urabe prepares to chase after her, but Tohdoh stops him.

"_We have been challenged Urabe," _Tohdoh states, _"For the sake of out fallen comrades we cannot allow ourselves to be defeated," _Tohdoh faces Suzaku, "_Do not disappoint me, Kururugi."_

Tohdoh flies at Suzaku and swings his MVS. Suzaku blocks the attack with his own sword. Urabe moves behind Suzaku to attack him. Suzaku backs away from Tohdoh and fires his wrist slash harkens at Urabe. The blue haired soldier manages to hold onto his sword but is forced to back away by Suzaku's wrist cannons. Tohdoh swings his MVS at Suzaku who uses his wrist energy shield to block the attack.

Suzaku disengages and flies higher into the sky. He uses his energy wings to attack the Japanese pilots. Urabe charges Suzaku to deflect the energy blasts allowing Tohdoh to swing around unscathed. However Suzaku does not stay in one place. He continues to move while firing his energy blasts. Urabe is unable to dodge Suzaku's attack. At this distance all they can do is block the attacks. Suzaku pulls back a little before diving straight at Urabe with his MVS pointing down.

"_What the hell_?" Urabe screams.

Suzaku slams his MVS through Urabe's knightmare. He slices through the knightmare. He quickly turns to block Tohdoh's attack. Suzaku closes his eyes. Suzaku pulls his MVS back and prepares to swing.

"_I am sorry about this, sensei,"_

Suzaku swings his MVS cutting through Tohdoh's own sword. Tohdoh pulls back since he does not have any hand weapons. He still has stun tonfas and a chest machine gun, but against Suzaku those will be ineffective. Still he cannot simply admit his defeat. Before Suzaku can offer his sensei an opportunity to escape, Tohdoh charges into attack. Suzaku begins to shake as he raises his MVS.

"_Do not waver, Kururugi! I trained you to follow your heart." _

Suzaku nods and swings his MVS through Tohdoh's knightmare. Seconds later the life of Kyoshiro Tohdoh ends. Urabe watches this from his escape pod on the ground. He sees Senba and Asahina being dragged out of their escape pods as well. They appear to be alive. There is no doubt that Tohdoh is dead as the pieces of his knightmare rain down.

Suzaku simply floats in the air silently.

"Lord Kururugi, are you all right?" Sayoko calls from below, "This is Sayoko Shinozaki. Once again I ask, if you require any medical attention?"

Suzaku flips his communications button on.

"I am fine," Suzaku states, "Thank you, Sayoko. I better head south into the battle."

"I will inform her highness that you are alive and well."

Suzaku closes the communication.

"I do not know about well, but I am alive."

* * *

After Euphie takes Cornelia towards the north, the purple haired princess quickly gets into her knightmare. She will not be left out of the final battle. There are small battles going on everywhere as the defending forces attempt to flee. The logical thing for Cornelia to do is to finish off the enemy stragglers.

Merlin is battling Lelouch. It does not take very long to realize that Lelouch means business. To be truthful Lelouch always means business, but with all the crazy talking and singing, it is easy to forget. To compensate for Lelouch's overwhelming skill, Merlin attacks aggressively. However this leaves him open for Lelouch's counterattacks, but Bismarck jumps in and helps him out. It makes for a pretty effective strategy since Bismarck probably knows Lelouch's tendencies because he has seen footage of all of Lelouch's fights. Still it will be a matter of minutes until Lelouch defeats Merlin. Bismarck will have to prepare for that.

Kallen and Milly attack Marianne in tandem; however Marianne easily fends them off. Milly in particular is having problems fighting her mother-in-law. In fact she may actually be getting in the way. Milly floats above behind Kallen. She is trying to regroup.

Marianne attacks Kallen with her MVS. Kallen blocks the attack with her radiant wave. Marianne quickly pulls back and attacks towards Kallen's left. Kallen blocks the blow with her knife fork. She fires a small radiation burst that Marianne blocks with her wrist blaze luminous. Marianne pulls away.

"Damn this girl is tougher than I thought. Here I thought Bismarck was just playing with her."

Kallen charges up her radiant wave.

"You have outlived your usefulness. It is time for you to die, Marianne the Flash."

Kallen fires her radiant wave at Marianne and moves in to attack.

* * *

Gino slashes down at Conrad with his MVS. Conrad blocks the attack and pulls back. Unlike their previous fight, Conrad takes Gino seriously now. This time Conrad will let the fight come to him. He will allow Gino to be aggressive and look for an opening. Gino continues attacking knowing that he has to win this battle.

"Damn this bastard is tougher than before," Gino say with a sigh. His breathing is becoming more ragged. Unlike the others, he is not a super powered cyborg, a workout nut, or an immortal with crazy recuperative powers.

"Having trouble keeping up, Weinberg? Maybe you should just give up."

Gino sneers, "What kind of example would I be setting for my child if I lost to someone like you?" Gino raises his MVS and yells, "Let's end this!"

* * *

Lilicia admits that the Glaston Knights are a lot tougher than she imagines they would be. She supposes that it is due to them working as a team for several years. Still it would be quite embarrassing if they cannot finish the battle on their own. They must find a way to finish this battle quickly. Whatever just happened seems to be over, and Lelouch is out on the battlefield. It would be particularly embarrassing if Lelouch has to come to save them.

"Lilicia," Hannah calls out, "we have to find a separate this jerks."

"I was thinking the same thing," Lilicia responds, "It won't be easy. We may have to switch opponents to push them apart."

"Let's do it."

* * *

Lelouch continues to wear down an exhausted Merlin who has been battling for hours. Bismarck is slightly distracted by the battle between Marianne and her daughters-in-law. Merlin has nearly depleted his knightmare's energy along with having lost the use of his left arm. Lelouch notices Bismarck's distraction and decides to end this battle. Lelouch moves back a little before charging at Merlin with his MVS.

Bismarck turns to face Merlin just as Lelouch drives his MVS through the Knight of Two's knightmare. Lelouch fires his wrist hadron cannon to keep Bismarck away. He points that cannon at Merlin.

"When you get to hell, say hi to Amadeus for me," Lelouch says as destroys Merlin's knightmare.

Bismarck slams down at Lelouch with his MVS hoping to catch him off-guard. However Anya gets in his way.

"Anya, take care of things here," Lelouch commands, "I have more pressing matters to attend to."

"I will take care of the situation, your Majesty."

Lelouch flies away. Marianne quickly attempts to pursue him, but Milly blocks her path.

"You naughty child, get out of my way!" Marianne yells.

Marianne slices through Milly's knightmare cutting the legs off. Marianne pushes the remainder of Milly's knightmare away. She continues her pursuit of Lelouch. This time Kallen stops her with a radiant wave.

"I told you before this is where you die," Kallen states.

Marianne growls and points her MVS at Kallen.

"Very well, you naughty girl. I will grant you your wish. After I am done with you, I will finish the other two."

Bismarck and Anya begin to clash through the air using their MVS. Bismarck is having difficulty disengaging from Anya. He realizes that he know very little about the pink haired girl. He knows that she attends West Point with Lelouch and Gino. Before that she is a servant for the vi Britannia family. There are no records of her life before her arrival at Aries or after her graduation from West Point. At some time between then and now, she is assigned to Euphie. Other than that there are no records or accounts of any of her battles. However the fact that she is entrusted with the task of Euphemia means that she has to have quite a bit of skill. He does wonder why she returns to the battle after Lelouch instructs her to leave.

Milly floats in the air watching the others battle. She feels quite useless at the moment. She has no weapons, and her knightmare can barely fly. Still she must do something because her battle cannot end like this. She must do something quickly. Kallen and Marianne continue battling through the air using their radiant wave and MVS respectively. Milly supposes that they may run out of power some time although that does not appear to be any time soon.

Milly looks at her available weapons. She has her chest mounted cannon and stun tonfas. She remembers questioning Lloyd about the purpose of putting the latter on her knightmare. He mentions that it is a matter of aesthetics and habit. All knightmares have stun tonfas. Milly prepares to fire her cannon when a slash harken slams into her chest destroying the cannon.

"Wait your turn, little girl," Marianne states, "I am very disappointed in you, Milly. I never thought that you would turn out like this. Now to take out the competent one."

Milly lets out a yell and arms her stun tonfas. She charges at Marianne's knightmare. Milly transfers her remaining power to the flight systems as she stabs her stun tonfas into the back of the Ganymede Supremacy.

"What are you doing?" Marianne asks as Milly pushes both knightmares towards the ground.

"Ending this battle," Milly responds.

Marianne is incredulous.

"Are you insane? You will kill us both!" Marianne yells as she tries to get out of Milly's grip. However her battle with Kallen wastes most her knightmare's energy.

"Did I forget to mention that I am a code bearer?" Milly inquires with a smile as she activates her self destruct sequence, "Now die!"

Kallen fires a slash harken through Milly's cockpit as both knightmares explode. Milly manages to grab hold of the slash harken and is tossed into the air. As Milly floats through the air, she thinks of her life. She will never match Kallen when it comes to this sort of thing. She will have to find her own niche amongst Lelouch's wives. Kallen catches Milly with her left arm and sets her in a compartment inside her knightmare.

"You sure love being dramatic," Kallen states, "Well I better help Anya finish off Bismarck."

Anya and Bismarck's battle is a near stalemate. They battle through the air using their MVS. Bismarck is having problems concentrating on the battle because he is worried about the outcome of the other battle. This causes him to struggle a bit because Anya seems to be only concerned with this battle. Bismarck is unable to assist Marianne as Milly destroys both their knightmares. Bismarck has no choice but to continue to battle Anya. Bismarck feels an ominous presence behind. Kallen is floating there with her radiant wave ready to go.

"I really do not want to do it this way, but there is really no other choice," Kallen states as she fires her radiant wave destroying Bismarck's knightmare and killing the Knight of One, "Let's go, Anya. We still have work to do."

"Yes, your highness."

* * *

Gino slices through Conrad's knightmare finally killing him. Gino floats in the air exhausted. He does not see anyone else out there. Gino decides to rest a little before heading over to the ruins of the palace. He wonders where Isabelle is at the moment. Suddenly a big blue shape appears above Gino's knightmare.

"Hey Gino, need a lift?"

"Isabelle, is that you?"

"Of course, I am here to rescue you."

Gino sighs, "Well I just have to rest for a little bit."

"Is there time for that?" Isabelle asks.

"Eh, probably not," Gino responds, "but Lelouch is going to have to deal with it," Gino lets out a sigh, "because I am going to spend some time with my girl."

"I would like to meet her. She must be great to be with a guy like you," Isabelle says with a coy smile. Gino begins to sputter causing Isabelle to laugh, "Your baby says that this battle is over for you."

Gino nods and flies into the Cookie Monster.

* * *

Claudio Darlton realizes that the Glaston Knights do not stand a chance to survive this battle. They can win their current battle but not the overall battle. Their choices are surrender or flee towards the east or south and look for allies. The former is unacceptable. For the latter they will have to act quickly.

"Alfred, Bart, David, Edgar," Claudio calls out, "we are exiting the battle. There is no reason for us to remain here."

The other Glaston Knights grumble for a bit, but they all decide that Claudio is correct. Slowly the five Glaston Knights begin to move towards the south. Marika is the first to notice that their movement. She quickly moves to stop them.

"Damn!" Claudio scowls, "We are almost out of energy."

Claudio decides that some of them escaping is better then none of them escaping. He positions himself between his brothers and the enemy and activates his self destruct sequence. Fortunately for him, his brothers are moving south quickly, and his escape pod travels in their direction. The explosion damages Marika's knightmare. Marika slams her fist against her controls.

"Bastards! We cannot just let them escape like that."

Lilicia fires her Zero beam through Claudio's burning knightmare clearing a path. The beam also destroys Claudio's escape pod as it nears his brothers.

"That bitch!" Alfred screams.

"Wait, we have to retreat," David states pointing towards a group of airships heading in their direction, "If we stay, then Claudio's sacrifice will be meaningless."

The remaining Glaston Knights head towards the south looking for any remnants of Odysseus's army.

* * *

Schniezel is able to successfully escape his airship before the FLEIA missiles activate. However the blast catches up to him before it implodes and dissipates. His transport loses control and crashes into the ruins of Britannia Palace. Schniezel manages to escape the destroyed transport and heads down to the lower levels of the palace where he assumes his father is.

"Well look who we have here, another loser," GG states glaring at Schniezel.

"What are you doing here?" Schniezel asks. Suddenly a thought occurs to him causing him to laugh, "You didn't actually think that you could have revenge here. You led a foolish group of your geass contractees here. You walked right into Lelouch's trap. He will find you and have one of his own contractees take your code."

"That is why escape is our only answer," Charles's voice booms from behind GG, "We must to a place where Lelouch has little power."

Schniezel laughs at his father's bad joke.

"Where Lelouch has little power? Where would this place be, the moon perhaps? Maybe somewhere under the ocean. Let us not forget that it was you, father, who allowed Lelouch to gain this power. And for what purpose," Schniezel motions towards the Thought Elevator behind Charles, "For your mad scheme. Did you actually believe that you could convince someone like Lelouch to accept your mad desires? After all you allowed him to experience life. You allowed him to gain things that are worth keeping."

"Whatever my reasoning was, I will avenge my loss!" Charles yells, "I swear it. No matter how long it takes. One day I will destroy everything that boy holds dear."

Schniezel laughs louder.

"You do not know, do you? But Lelouch has several code bearers on his side including Euphie. Perhaps several of his other wives are code bearers as well. I reckon that at the very least his first two wives are," Schniezel remarks, "But it will be Euphemia li Britannia who you will be fighting for eternity. She will never surrender humanity's future to the likes of you."

With this Schniezel makes his exit. On his way north, he divests himself of his royal garments and finds something more suitable. He hopes that Kannon is able to survive this foolish battle. He realizes the folly of having come to this battle. He will have to take time to contemplate his next move.

Charles grunts as Schniezel walks away.

"You woman, if you want to live follow me," Charles states, "Despite what Schniezel believes there are places for people like us to hide."

GG follows Charles into the Thought Elevator. He takes her to the last bastion of the Geass Order, the South Pole. For now Charles can only observe. Even if he is to make a public appearance, Lelouch is too strong to be stopped now. However one day, Charles vows, he will have his revenge.

* * *

Smoke and dirt from the battle begin to fill the air of Saint Darwin Street. Coupled with a light evening fog this makes visibility around Aries Villa little difficult. Odysseus and Guinevere are unfortunately trapped here in the place where Lelouch and Nunnally grow up. The location is also the site of visits from Schniezel, Clovis, Cornelia, and Euphemia. This is the same garden where Schniezel teaches Lelouch to play chess. Where Lelouch has his first fencing and dancing lessons. Where Nunnally and Euphemia used to fight over their big brother. Where Clovis first discovers his love for the arts. This garden and palace are all that remain of Saint Darwin Street and most likely the entire Settlement.

There is no way that Lelouch can be defeated. They wonder if perhaps they should have waited a few weeks or months. Not years because that would also give Lelouch time. Still if they wait a few weeks then Lelouch will have to invade Europe because of the Emperor's orders. If not then he will, at least privately, be declaring rebellion against the Emperor. At the moment they do not have any information on what is happening in the battle. Although they can see that Lelouch's airships are now surrounding Saint Darwin Street so that is some indication about what is happening. They decide to head out to the garden. They may have to begin planning an escape.

Odysseus sighs, "Clovis always talked about this garden."

Guinevere glances at Odysseus but says nothing. At this point the only thing standing between them and the enemy are her cyborgs. She does wonder where Karine is at. It would be very much like the red head princess to sneak off. This will definitely allow her to look for allies outside of the city. They simply cannot allow Karine to be the only one that escapes. Suddenly they hear footsteps approaching from inside and outside the palace.

Dalque is leading the kids, Sancia, and Lucretia through the ruins of the palace towards Aries Villa where they are to gather. She is just punching through the walls. From inside the palace Euphie, Nunnally, Alice, and Sora are making their way to the garden.

Lelouch lands a good distance away from Aries Villa. He sees something on the ground that startles him.

"Damn, the cyborgs are still here."

Lelouch pulls out Scooter as Jeremiah, Sayoko, and Naoto land nearby. They engage the cyborgs.

Kallen, Milly, and Anya are making their way towards the south side of the palace to prevent any escape.

Karine is exhausted as she crawls through the settlement. Fortunately the southern part of the city is not extremely damaged. Karine also receives some good fortune when she encounters the Glaston Knights gathering leftover defenders. Now she just needs to make her way east. Nobles loyal to the cause are making their way to Boston and Toronto. Karine knows that she will have to put some distance between herself and Lelouch, but there are very few places that will be friendly. Still Karine cannot simply stay here.

The kids and the knights reach Odysseus and Guinevere first. There is an uneasy standoff between them. Thankfully Euphemia and Nunnally arrive to take care of the situation. Alice and Sora stand in front of their respective princess.

"Stay back Nunners," Alice states, "Who knows if they have any tricks left."

Guinevere grins at that comment.

"You correct, child," Guinevere replies, "While our soldiers are gone, we still a few tricks left."

Guinevere pulls out a gun and fires at Evelyn who has been slowly moving forward since arriving. Luckily Evelyn's power suit is undamaged by her fight with her father, and her blaze luminous slows the bullet causing it to fall harmlessly to the ground. Dalque growls and leaps at Guinevere. Dalque's punches are strong enough to knock most people out. Now they are fueled by anger and a power suit, Guinevere will be lucky to survive one.

Dalque knocks the first princess to the ground and pulls her fist back to punch her in the face. Guinevere is semi-conscious after receiving the first blow. Dalque scowls at the sight of the pathetic looking princess. She sighs and lowers her fist. She sees Evelyn walking towards her.

"That will be enough, young lady," Odysseus says as he calmly points a gun towards Dalque's head. The feel of the metal object against her head does nothing to calm Dalque's anger. Odysseus states, "It seems like these suits respond to the user's needs. Regardless of whether Guinevere's actions were correct or not, you hit a princess of the Empire. That is an action punishable by death."

"Father, what are you doing?" Faramond asks, "This battle is over."

Odysseus does not look at his son or at the other people coming into the garden. He looks into Evelyn's eyes. Her glare is enough to kill. Suddenly a few boisterous people join the party.

"That's why I hate cyborgs," a blood covered Lelouch announces.

Jeremiah appears to be crestfallen, but Naoto grins.

"Maybe cyborgs hate you as well."

"Look how dirty Scooter is. Cecile is going to kill me. She will probably make me clean Scooter myself. I wonder how you get blood off a maser vibration sword. Not to mention my new flight suit. Stupid cyborgs."

"Your Majesty," Jeremiah states noticing the situation.

Lelouch looks up and frowns, "You guys are supposed to take care of the bad guys. Do I have to take care of everything myself?"

Before Lelouch can move, two figures come out of the fog. One stabs a sword through Odysseus. The other pushes Dalque away and kills Guinevere. Monica holds Faramond back realizing who the two figures are.

"Damn that was too easy," Luciano says with a scowl, "I told you we should have landed on the other side. Look his Imperial Luluness probably killed all the cyborg bastards. At least we got some revenge on these bastards."

"Ah snookums, don't be mad," Aphrodite replies, "If you want you can do that thing you like tonight."

Luciano's face turns redder than his hair.

"At least let me fight Monica."

Aphrodite hits Luciano on the head.

"Don't be stupid. Monica is a girl. You are not fighting a girl."

"Are you two done?" Lelouch asks.

Luciano looks at Lelouch and glowers.

"See I told you he killed all the cyborgs," Luciano says with a pout, "That could be me all covered in blood."

"If you want to be covered in blood, I can always have Monica let go of Faramond," Lelouch states, "It is getting late. Sancia, Lucretia take the kids up to the airship. Euphie, go up with Sora and prepare a speech. The rest of us will stay here to clean up what is left of the defenders."

"What about Faramond?" Euphie asks.

"I will keep my promise not to kill him," Lelouch replies, "or Monica.

"If it is okay, Monica and I will board an airship to rest," Faramond remarks.

Euphie nods, "Yes, that will be fine. I have also secured sister Cornelia," Euphie states before leading everyone aboard the Excalibur IV.

Lelouch waits for Kallen, Milly, and Anya to arrive.

"What happened to you?" Kallen asks.

"Eh, Scooter and I got rid of some cyborgs," Lelouch replies, "I better change clothes."

On cue Cecile lands with a new flight and power suits. After Lelouch changes clothes, he looks out over Pendragon. There are still small skirmishes happening.

"Have Ayame or Lilicia contact what is left of the enemy. They will be allowed to go free if they surrender now. If they wait, they will be destroyed."

"I will take care of it, your Majesty," Anya states.

Lelouch continues to look towards the city. Kallen and Milly join him. They stand there quietly as the sky gets darker.

Lelouch sighs, "It's been a long day you two should get some rest. Tomorrow will probably be the same."

Kallen and Milly ignore Lelouch's advice and stay by his side. Lelouch sits in the garden and watches the stars peaking out through all the smoke and dirt in the air. Kallen and Milly sit beside him as January 11, 2021 ATB comes to an end. With it the Third Pendragon also ends. The battle destroys most of the city. At the moment there is no way to know what the total number of casualties or damage is. The repercussions of the battle will be felt for years.

* * *

Author's note: What the five vi Britannia knights say is a modified version of their vow to become a knight. All references to Britannia are eliminated. I thought I have each one saying what fits them the best. Alice is Nunnally's shield as her knight. Suzaku would be Nunnally's sword. Dalque is Evelyn's sword since the princess is too young to act on her own. Lucretia tries to work for justice. Villetta put away all her personal desires to become Lelouch's knight. Even though she gains titles and rank because of her service, people can assume that it is mostly because she is Lelouch's mistress. Sancia has been the most non-descript knight throughout the story and gets the most non-descript statement. However even the act of becoming a night for someone who is supposed to be the brains of her group is saying something since knight is a bit of a physical profession. The names they use are the same they use during their knighting ceremony which I decided to make their birth names. Those are not the names that they are actually using at the moment.

Charles does not disappear, but his code does not work properly. He heals at a very slow rate. Charles uses the Thought Elevator to create a secret base at the South Pole. That is where he has been hiding since the rebellion by Odysseus begins.

Bismarck, Merlin, and Conrad are dead, and they cannot be brought back (probably). Ironically canon survivors Tohdoh and Claudio Darlton are also dead.

Everybody including Lelouch is exhausted mentally and physically from the battle. For Suzaku it is the fact that he has to kill one of the men responsible for making him the man that he is. For Gino is is finally defeating the person that justifies his position. For Kallen, Milly, and Anya it is defeating the people that they will replace. For Euphie and Cornelia, it is the fact that they cannot reconcile with their older siblings.

The Theodore Roosevelt quote originally refers to the president of the United States.

Hey did you know that you can make the Gawain, Guren, Lancelot, Shinkiro, or Tristan the main characters of a story?


	103. Chasing the Future

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters. I do apologize for the time it took to finish this chapter.

Britannia City is Mexico City. Elizabethtown is New Orleans.

O quam cito transit gloria mundi (How quickly the glory of the world passes away)

De Imitatione Christi (The Imitation of Christ)  
Thomas a Kempis

...

To be, or not to be, that is the question:  
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer  
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,  
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,  
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep  
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end  
The heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks  
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation  
Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep,  
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Ay, there's the rub

Hamlet  
Act 3 scene 1

* * *

**January 12, 2021 Ascension Throne Britannia**

Dorothea Ernst is lying unsure if she is alive or dead. Well she supposes that she must be alive because she feels pain throughout her body. She attempts to sit but finds that she is restrained to the bed.

"Ah Lady Ernst, you are awake," one of the nurses states.

"Why am I being restrained?" Dorothea asks.

"For the purposes of safety," the nurse replies.

"Safety, but I will not harm anyone. I just want to know what is going on."

The nurse sighs, "Believe me, Lady Ernst, no one is worried about what you might do. The soldiers guarding this medical tent look like they do not fuck around. No, the restraints are in place to protect you from yourself. Your injuries are not light. In fact if Princess Cornelia does not recover you when she does, you might be dead."

Dorothea nods and looks around. The other patients in the tent appear to be gravely injured or unconscious.

"We have been instructed by Their Majesties to move you to a more secure location once you are conscious."

"Their Majesties," Dorothea says more to herself than anyone else.

"As far as we can tell you are physically able to move. I will inform one of the doctors that you are awake. They will make the final determination. It is likely that you will be moved so that we can bring in other more injured patients."

Dorothea nods once more. She can tell that the nurse is tired simply by the tone and pitch of her voice. She wonders about the situation outside. All of the soldiers in the tent appear to be from the Pendragon defenders. A doctor comes over to evaluate Dorothea. After a series of questions and tests, she is declared capable of leaving the tent. Dorothea is transferred to the airship Boudicca which is once more serving as a prison ship. There she will await Lelouch and Euphemia's judgment.

* * *

Faramond and Monica are sitting aboard the Excalibur IV. Several bodyguards accompany them around the airship. Of course they are also there to make sure that Faramond and Monica do not do something stupid. Like the other prisoners, they will have to wait for Lelouch and Euphemia's judgment. They do what they can to stop the fighting by contacting remaining defenders.

"What should we do now, Monica?"

"I do not know," Monica replies, "I suppose I will have to officially resign my position as a Knight of the Round."

"I did not think about that, but I suppose you are correct. I believe that Lelouch and Euphie will at least give you that."

"I think it may be some time for me to get the opportunity."

"I suppose that I can ask for an audience with Euphie," Faramond comments, "Nothing is official yet, but I think that she will reign alongside Lelouch. You can probably give her your resignation."

"What do you think will happen after that?"

"I do not know. All we can do is wait."

* * *

Nonette is Cornelia's guest aboard her airship. Unofficially all the Knights of the Round have been fired with the exception of Gino. For the moment there is nothing for her to do. She is able to order her units to stop fighting. She is also able to stop a few other units from fighting. It is not much, but it is all that she can do. She should be grateful that Lelouch does not kill her like he does Merlin.

"Lady Enngream, you are to come with us," one of Nonette's bodyguards orders.

Nonette does as she is instructed. Waiting for Nonette are Anya and Sora.

"You will come with us," Anya orders.

Nonette is a little confused because Anya just walks away.

"What Anya means to say is that you are to come with us because there is a small force coming up from Area 3," Sora states, "It should not be too much trouble. But if you can get a few of them to surrender, it will be better."

Nonette follows Anya and Sora to the knightmare hangar. The two pink haired girls are getting fitted with power flight suits. Nonette wonders what she will be using since her knightmare has been destroyed by Lelouch.

"Ah look what we have here, little Nonie."

Nonette cringes at the sound of Lloyd's voice.

"Well since little Lulu destroyed your knightmare, he is letting you borrow one of these monsters."

Nonette looks up at the black knightmare.

"What is this thing?" Nonette asks.

"This is the Titan Mk. V. Cecile created this monster at the request of his Majesty," Lloyd says tapping the knightmare, "So far it has only been used as a drone or by regular pilots," Lloyd smiles, "We will see if a Knight of the Round can bring out its full potential."

"Hasn't his majesty used this knightmare?" Nonette asks.

"Yes, but only Cecile knows the results of those tests," Lloyd sighs, "I suppose it is to not scare the others about the knightmare's potential," Lloyd hands Nonette a flight suit, "Put this on. It will improve your performance because it has been tailored to your abilities."

How is that possible?" Nonette inquires.

"Cecile and Rakshata spoke with an old friend of yours to get your information. Now hurry up."

Lloyd walks so that Nonette can get dressed. Nonette boards the knightmare and looks over the controls. Like all knightmares based on the original Titan, there are simple controls and more complex controls that only elite pilots can use. As Nonette activates her knightmare, Anya's image appears on her screen.

"Listen to orders or I will kill you myself."

Nonette nods, "I understand."

"Hey Nonie, are you ready for action?" Cornelia questions.

"Nellie, is that you?"

"You better be careful because Euphie's knight is quite vicious."

Nonette sighs and prepares to head out. It appears that this day will be as long as the previous one.

* * *

Karine is traveling towards the east coast rapidly with the remaining Glaston Knights. Sometime during the night, they reach Dallas. There they are able to gather a few followers. It certainly helps that they are being pursued by Lelouch. Once they reach Memphis, they must decide whether to head north or south. In the northeast in Toronto and Boston, the remaining conservative nobles are gathering. However they will most likely get trapped by Lelouch's forces. Towards the southeast, there are other possible allies. However Karine does not know much about them because she has never been to the area. She spends all her time along the west coast and New York.

Still Karine is one of the few remaining people that can legally challenge Lelouch and Euphie. She will have to find allies that she can control. For that she needs a base of operations. There is no way such a place can be on the North American continent. Actually the entire New World is out of the question. Africa will be the best place for Karine to go. After all the entire continent is a mess after Lelouch allows Luciano to go wild. Karine should be able to slip in and take over. This will give her a place to gather allies. With the current situation around the world and especially Britannia, people will tire of war. This will allow Karine to slip into Africa and take over.

For the moment Karine will have to force her allies to public change some of their views. After all Karine has not been tainted by the war. Other than the attack on New York to put down Purists rebels, Karine has not participated in this war. The situation could not be more perfect.

"Take us towards the southeast," Karine commands, "We will head down to Miami. From there we will make our way across the Atlantic to Africa."

"Is that wise, your highness?" Bart Darlton asks.

"Yes, although our potential allies are gathering to the north, there is no escape from that area. Inform the nobles gathering in the northeast of our intention. I will speak to them personally if they have any questions about our intentions."

Karine smiles as they follow her orders. Having an elite group of pilots, like the Glaston Knights, on her side is a huge bonus. Karine understands where Odysseus and Guinevere go wrong. They are worrying about the wrong enemy. Lelouch and Schniezel have always been the bigger issue. The emperor is nothing more than a figurehead. He is lucky that Lelouch and Schniezel allow him to reign as long as he does. Karine will not lose focus on her real enemy.

"Your highness, we are being hailed by some interesting people."

"Who is it?" Karine asks, "Never mind, put them on the screen."

Salacia appears on Karine's screen.

"Greetings your highness, I was thinking that we could make some sort of alliance."

Karine wonders what the soon to be former Knight of Five is up to. Still having such a person on her side can only help.

"Perhaps you would like to come aboard to discuss matter, Lady Ravenguard?"

Salacia nods in agreement.

"That is acceptable."

Salacia ends the communication.

"I do not like this idea," Salzaar comments, "I think we should be looking for Prince Schniezel."

"Don't be stupid," Thorin remarks, "Not only did Schniezel not return to this airship, but Kannon is gone as well. It is obvious that neither is planning on coming back so just stop with that nonsense."

"Thorin is right. We have to begin to think about our future," Salacia states, "Princess Karine may not be much, but she will do for now."

Thorin nods in agreement.

"Fine, but I will not attend this meeting of yours," Salzaar states.

"You are an idiot," Thorin comments, "Nobody wants to meet with you. Just stay here and let us deal with the spoiled brat."

"Actually I wish to attend the meeting alone," Salacia says, "It will be better that way. We cannot reveal too much of our hand to Karine."

* * *

While Anya and Sora prepare to head south towards Area 3, Kallen and Gino get ready to head east.

"Don't you think it was a little foolish to let Karine and the Glaston Knights to slip away?" Gino inquires.

"I am certain that you know by now that only Lelouch's opinion matters in this situation," Kallen replies, "Are you positive that you want to leave so soon?"

Gino nods, "This isn't over yet. I can't rest until the enemy is completely defeated."

"Alright let's go."

* * *

Luciano and Aphrodite are recovering aboard their airship. Technically they are still Knights of the Round since neither Charles nor Odysseus fires the. Like Nonette ad Dorothea, they will be allowed to retire with dignity. Although they do not have any official duties because of their status, they are assisting in cleaning up Pendragon. Despite the heavy fighting, most of the city remains undamaged. Only the Settlement and Saint Darwin Street are destroyed. This makes it rather simple to get the majority of the city up and running. The few nobles, military and government leaders are rounded up. This is Luciano and Aphrodite's task since they are quite familiar with those groups of people.

"This is boring," Luciano states.

"Would you rather be chasing Karine across the country?" Aphrodite asks.

"No, I would rather be looking for Thorin and Salacia. I am certain that they are not still here. They are probably trying to hook up with Karine."

"We cannot do anything about that. Although I would prefer to be out there. This kind of thing is not for cute girls."

"We found some of the people on the list," James Trevor Goodley states, "Sanderson, Carter, and Wiggins are going to check it out. I doubt if they have any knightmares, but they might have something old or something used for construction purposes."

"We will send of VTOLs and mini knightmares," Aphrodite instructs, "Make sure that all your men are suited up with the latest power suit."

Colonel Goodley smiles, "Of course, my lady. Who do you think acts as guinea pigs for those things? We know how to things with the power suits that even His Majesty has not thought of."

"Is that so? I hear that little Lulu is quite inventive. I saw him jump off his knightmare mid-air at a collapsing airship and back."

Luciano grunts, "We all know His Imperial Luluness is badass. Let's just get to work."

During the night the rubble from various palaces is cleared away and a makeshift platform is built. Above the platform are the airships carrying knightmares and other vehicles for the various operations being conducted. Lilicia and Ayame are currently organizing the missions around Pendragon. Lelouch, Euphie, and Milly are attempting to organize the government.

Luciano and Aphrodite begin to organize an assault team. They must strike quickly before the nobles can organize.

"Look here if it isn't little Luciano."

Luciano cringes at the sound of Lloyd's voice.

"What do you want?" Luciano asks with a grunt causing Aphrodite to elbow him in the stomach.

"Oh Dr. Asplund, how may we help you?" Aphrodite inquires.

"Actually I am here to help you," Lloyd replies, "I see you are using mini knightmares and power suits. For this particular mission, His Majesty wants you to use something new."

Several small black objects roll up behind Lloyd. They appear to be small personnel carriers with four legs. Luciano blinks several times.

"What the fuck are those? They look like something out of some crazy sci-fi cartoon," Luciano states.

"It is not polite to cuss, sir."

Luciano glares at the black objects.

Did that thing just talk? Hey who the hell is in there? Come out and say that to my face."

The black objects appear to cower behind Lloyd.

"Actually there isn't anyone in there although there is room in there to carry a person. They are built as individual troop carriers and battle tanks," Lloyd replies.

"Are they controlled like drones?" Aphrodite asks.

"No not quite."

"Wow she looks hot," one of the black objects comments.

Aphrodite blushes slightly.

"What do you mean not quite?" she asks, "If they are not being controlled by someone and they are not drones, how do they move?"

"They use an AI program that His Majesty designed."

"Let me get this straight Lelouch just thinks of something and you make it for him," Aphrodite remarks.

Lloyd nods, "That's pretty much how our relationship is. Just tell them your mission objectives, and they will do their best."

Luciano and the others are looking over the black objects.

"What are the called?" Aphrodite asks.

"Well their technical name is Mobile Personal Carrier Tanks. Informally they can be referred to as Think Tanks," Lloyd's voice turns into a whisper, "His Majesty like to call them Nunners Tanks because their AI makes them act like teenage girls."

"Wow! Do they like to go shopping?"

"Oh shopping."

The Think Tanks begin to talk excitedly.

"That's enough!" Luciano booms, "Our mission to seek out any remaining dissidents within the city and settlement of Pendragon. We will give you a more detailed plan and mission objectives on the way to the site."

Luciano and Aphrodite's team begins to board their VTOLs and small airships.

* * *

Liliana Vergamon, Hannah Gottwald, and Chelsea Nu are leading a small force of knightmares cleaning up after the battle. First they send in some drones to make sure that no enemies are hiding nearby. Their main objective is to gather the destroyed knightmare and vehicle pieces and take them up to Saint Darwin Street. There Lloyd, Cecile, and Rakshata will look the pieces over to see if anything is salvageable. For the most part it is a safe task, but there may still be enemies lurking within the rubble.

Lelouch is sitting in his office looking over the situation. For the most part the Homeland is under his control. It certainly helps that he has Euphie and Cornelia on his side. The first issue is how to organize the government. As he begins to work here, he cannot allow the situation in other parts of the world to deteriorate. At some point he must return to Asia to observe the situation there. For now he will send Kaguya and Lihua back. As soon as things are settled in Pendragon, Lelouch and Euphie will have to tour the Homeland. Of course Lelouch can always use the Thought Elevator to travel between Pendragon and Kamine Island. Lelouch knows about the Thought Elevators at London and in China, but he wonders if there are other Thought Elevators elsewhere. However it will be risky to try to reach locations that he does not know about.

* * *

Jeremiah and Sayoko are on their way towards Portland. From there they will help escort Lihua and Kaguya back to China and Japan. They are also escorting the three remaining Holy Swords and the body of Kyoshiro Tohdoh. Obviously Suzaku would prefer to handle the final task on his own, but he has other matters to take care of alongside Nunnally. Naturally Jeremiah would rather stay here and assist Lelouch, but this task is crucial as well. By sending someone as important as Jeremiah back to Asia, Lelouch is reminding everyone that he is still master of the continent. It will be up to Jeremiah to make sure that Lelouch's orders are being followed.

Nunnally and Suzaku are traveling through California looking for any remaining rebel elements. Hopefully the task will not take too much time so that they can travel to Japan for Tohdoh's funeral. They simply to have to check with the commanders of the various military bases and heads of district law enforcement offices. They are also to station airships with drones at certain strategic places.

* * *

Luciano and Aphrodite arrive at their target.

"Who is this jerk we are after?" Luciano asks.

"Lord Regal is the ring leader," Aphrodite answers, "There are a few other nobles with him. They have a small group of bodyguards with them. They have also been secretly training a small private army. Nothing too big so it should not be a problem. Like was stated in the initial report, they may have converted civilian frames into knightmares."

"I guess we can't just bomb the shit out of them because they may be non-combatants with them."

Aphrodite is pensive about the situation.

"Anybody inside the building is an enemy regardless of who they are. We want to take the building intact because they may be tunneling underneath. We need to find out where those tunnels go if they exist."

"Let's get moving," Luciano states, "Is everyone in position?

"Let's send in the little tanks. I was looking over their manuals on the way here, and I discovered something interesting. These little guys have a camouflage feature that makes them invisible."

Luciano smiles, "Is that so. Connect their audio and video systems to our power suits so that we can see and hear what they can."

"I have a better idea," Anthony Michael Sanderson comments, "Why don't we have someone ride inside the little buggers?"

"Would the camouflage still work?"

"It should. It worked in our tests. Although we have not tested them in a real situation, and they do not have blaze luminous because that would produce a heat signature. I don't think that we have to worry about volunteers."

Luciano grunts, "Fine, just do it. You have five minutes before we begin the main operation."

Luciano and Aphrodite continue planning their attack. For this battle they are using mini knightmares so that they can get into the building.

The building they are attacking is located in the factory district. During the night, Lelouch sends troops to quickly inspect each of the factories and warehouses. He quickly wants to eliminate any opposition. It is not until the afternoon that they find some rebel elements in one of the factories.

"Your friends sent us a signal that they are in place," Aphrodite states.

"Those guys are crazy," Luciano comments, "Let's begin."

* * *

Lelouch observes Luciano and Aphrodite's operation from his airship. This sort of mission is perfect for Sayoko's team; however Lelouch decides to send her with Jeremiah back to Japan. Still Lelouch has other operatives that can be used for such an operation.

"Alice, Dalque, have you found the tunnels near the factory district?"

"We have discovered several tunnels throughout," Alice responds, "Some appear to have been used by the factories and warehouses to transport supplies. A few appear newly excavated and are small."

"Destroy the smaller tunnels and guard the larger ones with tanks. Look for any potential new excavations. I leave the matter in your hands, Alice."

Lelouch cuts the communication. These particular rebels do not expect to be discovered so soon. In any other situation Lelouch would be with Luciano and the others, but at this moment he has to appear imperial. This means that he cannot be seen out fighting with his knightmare. He will have to rely on his subordinates.

Villetta and Nagisa enter Lelouch's office.

"You sent for us, Your Majesty," Villetta comments.

"Yes, I want the two of you to go back to Japan and China. Take the next few days to gather some things."

"As you wish Your Majesty, although I expected to stay here at least until your coronation. I also expected your wives to remain here for that as well."

"For now, plan on heading back to Asia. If the plan changes, I will inform the necessary parties."

"I will do as you order, Your Majesty."

They exit Lelouch's office. Lelouch sits there quietly for a few moments before making a call.

"Cecile, how is the project coming along?"

"We have successfully recovered three of the specimens. We will begin preservation as soon as possible."

"Very well. I will leave the matter in your hands."

Lelouch closes the communication and begins to plan his week. At some point he will have to make a public appearance alongside Euphie. For now he must finish the task at hand.

"Big brother, there is a call from Luciano," Evelyn says with a groan.

Lelouch is not sure if it is because it is Luciano or because Lelouch is having the kids act as his secretary for the day.

"If he is finished with his part of the operation, tell him to get back here. Alice and Dalque will handle the remainder of the mission."

Evelyn groans and does as Lelouch instructs. Lelouch sighs and gets back to work himself. Who knew that taking over would involve so much work. Fortunately this day is going a lot faster than the previous ones. Even so Lelouch is not closer to ending the war. He does not blame Luciano and Aphrodite for killing Odysseus and Guinevere nor does he blame Euphie for letting Karine live, but those actions will make the post war period difficult. Since Karine was not publicly part of the Odysseus faction, she has some influence. At least that is what she will claim. Her actions in New York notwithstanding. Karine may become the face of a new anti-Lelouch, and there is little that he can do about it. A part of him hopes that some greedy power hungry noble or general kills Karine, but that is unlikely since she represents a sense of legitimacy for them.

"Lelouch," Euphie calls out entering his office.

"Oh Euphie, I didn't see you there."

Euphie responds shaking her head, "I just arrived. Anya and sister have sent their first report. They have reached Britannia City and have encountered very little resistance. It seems that most of the soldiers are hesitant to fight with sister."

"Thank you Euphie. I will call her later after I check in with Kallen and Gino."

Euphie nods. She knows that they are chasing after Karine who is only alive because Euphie did not deal with her.

"I will be down for dinner in a few minutes," Lelouch states, "I assume that that is the real reason why you are here."

Euphie smiles and nods once more.

Lelouch sighs and looks down at his paperwork. He decides that it can be finished later. At the moment he will have dinner with the members of his family aboard the airship. Unbeknownst to him, despite all of Lelouch's planning everyone is returning to Pendragon.

* * *

Kallen and Gino reach Memphis a few hours after Karine. They are currently fighting a small force using older knightmares. Kallen recognizes them as the troops that were stationed in Virginia and throughout the East Coast.

"We should have destroyed this bastards when we came west," Kallen comments.

"They had to have known that they did not stand a chance against us," Gino states, "I wonder what their real aim is."

"It must be to allow the other jerks to meet up with Karine. Some of the nobles snuck off to Toronto and Boston while we were moving west. They abandoned the fight before it even began."

"So you are saying that they are buying those nobles time to time to move south to unite with Karine for a possible move towards Africa or South America."

"Yes," Kallen replies with a growl.

"Your highness, it seems that the enemy is surrendering," Marika states.

"We barely got to fight any of them," Gino comments.

"What would Lelouch do in this situation?" Kallen asks.

"Do you mean the real Lelouch?" Gino questions.

Kallen nods causing Gino to smile.

"He would say that he did not receive any request from the enemy asking for surrender."

"Marika, order the troops to engage and destroy the enemies."

"Your highness?"

"They are traitors to Britannia. They stand in the way of a force led by the Knight of Three," Kallen responds, "Marika, have them prepare my knightmare. I will teach these rebels a lesson, myself."

"As you wish, your highness," Marika states as she follows Kallen's orders.

"Don't you think Lelouch will be a little angry about this?" Gino remarks, "He is trying to create a new Britannia."

Kallen smiles, "Don't worry about it. I am his favorite wife, after all. Just make sure none of those bastards live to anyone about this."

Gino grins, "Yes, your highness."

* * *

Cornelia, Nonette, Anya, and Sora are thinking about the conference they just have with local leaders. Despite having previously sided with Odysseus, the locals do not want to fight the superior force that Anya brings south. Many of the soldiers are uneasy about fighting against Cornelia or Lelouch. In spite of all the proclamations that Odysseus make over the past few weeks, many of the soldiers still see those two as the highest ranking military officers. In addition Nonette carries a certain prestige with her.

Anya begins to assign guards to keep watch over the airship fleet. She also has several airships travel further south. There have been rumors that Theseus will use the opportunity to expand his domain beyond the boundaries of Area 6 (South America). It is an obvious thing to do since Lelouch will be too busy reorganizing the Homeland. Still Anya cannot simply allow any part of North America to be taken.

* * *

Nunnally and Suzaku are meeting with Jeremiah and Sayoko. They receive a message from Euphie asking them to return to Pendragon. They suppose that it must be important so they begin planning the return trip. However before that Nunnally leaves subordinates in Portland to keep watch over the situation,

"What do you suppose this is all about?" Suzaku asks.

"I think Euphie wants us all to return for big brother's coronation," Nunnally responds.

"Isn't Euphie getting crowned as well?"

Nunnally grumbles, "Let's just go back."

Suzaku scratches his head in confusion as Nunnally walks away. Jeremiah shrugs his shoulders and gets back to work. He cannot simply return to Pendragon without making some initial preparations for the eventual trip back to Asia. Even with Euphie's request to return, Jeremiah or someone important will have to make a trip to Asia. Given the condition of Pendragon at the moment there is no way that a coronation can happen. Jeremiah will have to discuss this matter with Lelouch before continuing.

* * *

Luciano and Aphrodite are waiting for Alice and Dalque to drive the rebels from their hiding spots underneath the factory district.

"Looks like people are coming out," Aphrodite says with a sigh, "and it looks like they are surrendering."

"Kill them all," Luciano remarks, "There is no mercy for any traitors at this stage in the game."

Aphrodite is shocked a few moments but realizes that Luciano is correct.

"Is that an order from his Majesty?" Sanderson asks.

"No, his Majesty has nothing to do with this. I am commander of this operation. I order that every person not associated with us in the immediate perimeter be dealt with permanently."

"As you wish, Lord Bradley."

"As soon as the others are backing out of the tunnels, use the airships to flatten the area."

Aphrodite stands there silently as Luciano's orders are followed. Over the past few years she gets to know the man called the Vampire of Britannia. She understands that he has a side that very few ever see. She assumes that Anya, Kallen, and Gino are doing similar things if they encounter any resistance. However Luciano is ordering this in Pendragon where there are still millions of eyes. It will most likely lead to Lelouch dismissing him from the Knights of the Round, an action that would have happened eventually.

Alice and Dalque order their force to retreat from the factory district tunnels as Luciano begins to bomb them.

"What the hell is that bastard doing?" Dalque questions, "Doesn't he realize that those people will probably surrender?"

"He does not care," Alice responds realizing that Luciano is following Lelouch's orders. Although Lelouch will probably denounce the actions later, "Let's go Dalque. We have to report to His Majesty."

* * *

Naturally Kallen and Gino do not completely obliterate the enemy, however their point is understood and all potential threats along the east coast stand down allowing them to head straight for Karine's location.

Karine is boarding an airship just north of Miami. Luckily Lelouch's forces do not damage the city too much nor do they bother with the small amount of forces loyal to Odysseus in the Caribbean. Hopefully those forces will quickly unite behind Karine and follow her to Africa. Karine realizes that she only has a few ours to make her plan work.

"Your highness several airships have been spotted entering Florida."

"Damn!" Karine scowls, "I thought that those fools would put up more of a fight. Not only that but I thought that if they surrendered, it would take some time to process everyone."

"Yes your highness, we are receiving information that the force near Memphis attempted to surrender, but was ignored."

Karine cannot believe what she is hearing.

"What do you mean they were ignored? How do you ignore a request to surrender?"

"To put it bluntly, the Knight of Three's force is so superior that they could fight there way here without losing a knightmare. We have to face the fact that the Homeland Defense Force is extremely outdated."

Karine grumbles some more.

"Maybe we should get out of here as soon as we can. There is no point in taking any more useless people with us. Those that can help us in Africa are already onboard. If any of the Caribbean forces wants to join us, they can do it."

"I will give the order, your highness."

Karine knows that this is her only chance to survive. If she can make it to Africa and bring some order to the continent, Lelouch will not be able to do anything. If he does, it will make him look like the bad guy. Not that Karine cares about those sorts of things, but up until now Lelouch has always had the excuse that he is following the emperor's orders. In a manner of speaking most of the conquered people actually benefit from Lelouch's rule. Even Lelouch's invasion of Britannia can be seen in a positive light. However after almost a decade of war Britannia and the world are tired. Moreover more war will go against all of Euphemia's rhetoric. Lelouch cannot risk that. Of course Karine has to escape from Britannia before any of that can happen.

"Your highness, the majority of the airships that we have gathered are beginning preparations to depart. It seems the news of the Knight of Three's imminent arrival has been spread."

Karine nods. She is certain that Gino is the least of her worries. With her own eyes she is able to see the skills of Lelouch's wives. Karine will not make the mistake of ignoring them from this point forward nor will she will ignore Nunnally and her husband. Karine will not repeat the mistakes of her older siblings.

* * *

Kallen is not sure how to classify her mission. Although the eastern portion of the Homeland is firmly pacified Karine is able to escape. Chasing her across the Atlantic will prove fruitless without knowing her destination. Informing Kewell of the situation will also be useless since he is heading back towards Damascus.

The peace treaty with the EU has been finalized. Lelouch gets to keep the British Isles and Siberia. The EU gets the portions of Turkey on the European continent and guarantees of safe passage for merchant ships through the Dardanelles. The EU will also receive reparations for the damage that Schniezel's FLEIA causes. There is also some vague language alluding to possible elections in Africa and the Middle East Federation. Iran and the rest of Central Asia will remain under Britannian rule because of the danger they will pose of China and India.

The latter also is a bit of an interesting situation. India is basically beaten into submission after Lelouch demonstrates the power of FLEIA to them. Now that the whole world knows about the weapon, there will soon be voices calling for its restraint. Despite basically having control of the entire world, Lelouch cannot simply have his way. Many parts of the EU have never seen a Britannian soldier. South America is on the way to autonomy with Theseus. Australia has always been ignored. Africa is a mess because of Luciano and the fact that its viceroys have long abandoned it. While Lelouch now firmly controls Britannia, the situation is far from perfect.

"Your highness, we are approaching Pendragon. Will you be disembarking?" Marika asks.

"No Marika, my report can wait until the morning. Lelouch will be busy with something else. In the morning the situation will, hopefully, be clearer."

"As you wish your highness. I will have them dock the airship and order the crew to rest."

Kallen sighs. Although this day is not as hectic as the previous, it is still tiring because of all the traveling she does. She crosses the Homeland twice in one day. The day ends like the previous with calm settling over the city of Pendragon. The effort to rebuild the city is only beginning.

**January 13, 2021 **

CC is sitting quietly within the former headquarters of the Geass Order. She has been getting an uneasy feeling about some of Lelouch's subjects. Particularly those residing in the western section of what was once the Chinese Federation. She understands that in his mind, Lelouch thinks of it as Area 24. Lelouch does not believe in the superiority of Britannia or its people. He believes in the superiority of Lelouch vi Britannia. She will inform of him of her suspicions. While she is no longer a code bearer, over the centuries CC has been able to pick up a few useful skills. Spying is among these skills.

CC looks down at her hands. For almost three weeks the stench of mortality surrounds her body once more. CC is an anomaly amongst code bearers. Most commit suicide immediately after losing their code, although the last few have been killed as a result of losing their code.

"Lady CC, the Emperor has received our message."

"Good, I guess it will be up to him on how to resolve this issue."

CC grabs a slice of pizza and looks over at the two knightmares being worked on.

She wonders why Lelouch would have such a monster built. She knows that many are already being used during this war, but none of the current pilots will be able to match Lelouch or, CC assumes, Kallen.

* * *

Lelouch is up early in the morning. By now all rebel elements in Pendragon have been take care of. The majority of the rubble from the various palaces on Saint Darwin Street has been removed and replace with several large platforms. There is already talk of constructing a new capital towards the southwest along the Colorado River. Lelouch decides to look into how the reconstruction efforts are going. Although it has only been a day since the battle ends, it is important to make an effort to begin.

He is not necessarily surprised by the failure of Kallen and Gino. He assumes that all his enemies will support Karine. However he does not expect her to receive so much help from the military not that they are of much help. Still Lelouch will have to punish those that help Karine, or he can magnanimous and forgive them.

He is also not surprised Euphie begins to ask the others to return to Pendragon. Their official coronation appears to ready to happen sooner rather than later.

Lelouch sits quietly in his office looking over several maps.

"Your Majesty," Lilicia calls outs, "Her highness Empress kou Britannia is here."

"Send her in," Lelouch replies.

Kallen walks into Lelouch's office wearing an exquisite yellow dress.

"You are certainly dressing the part," Lelouch comments.

"Yes, I suppose I will have to from now on," Kallen remarks, "Your little assistant seems to be fitting into her role nicely."

"Yes, Lilicia is quite adept at adapting to the situation," Lelouch pauses for a moment, "As soon as it gets dark, we will head down towards Britannia Palace to the Thought Elevator. From we will make out way to the Thought Elevator in China. CC has noticed something suspicious in the area. We will investigate."

"Shouldn't we take some knightmares with us?"

"No, they have some for us on the other side."

"Does anyone else know about this?" Kallen asks.

Lelouch shakes his head.

"Are you sure that you can trust CC's suspicions?"

"Over the centuries CC has acquired certain skills. She is quite proficient at espionage and surveillance."

"It is quite amusing to think that there are still rebel elements in China."

Lelouch smirks, "Why? Would you rather they be Japanese?"

This causes Kallen to glare at Lelouch. Kallen quickly changes her demeanor with a coy smile.

"Why should we wait until it gets dark?"

"That will make it easier to sneak out of here. Obviously you know the excuse that we will be using."

"Like I said why wait until dark to get started."

Lelouch shakes his head and presses a button on his intercom.

"Lilicia, cancel any appointments I have for the rest of the day."

* * *

A few minutes after landing in Dakar, Karine realizes that she makes the correct choice. Landing any further to the north would leave her open to an attack from Lelouch's Atlantic and Mediterranean forces. Heading further south would do the same since Lelouch's control of South Africa and the Indian Ocean is well known. Western and Central Africa are the only places for Karine to go. The backing of the Glaston Knights and several Knights of the Round makes her claims of bringing peace to this troubled region of the world sound feasible.

She smirks at the sight of the older man approaching her.

"General Thompson, it is a pleasure to see that you are well."

Karine means this in a manner of ways. For now she needs the general as much as he needs her. Karine's presence adds legitimacy to the general's control of even a small portion of Africa. Rather than being a warlord that Lelouch or perhaps the EU will have to take care of, the general and his subordinates are acting under the orders of a member of the royal family. As long as Karine does nothing to upset the peace of the world, she will be left alone. For now she will have to go against some Britannia's (and her own) more steadfast beliefs.

"Your highness, I was not expecting someone of your status to be coming here."

Karine understands that he means, we did not want someone of your status coming here with such a large force. With nothing official or unofficial coming out of Pendragon about Karine's status, the general cannot refuse her. Once Karine settles in, she will be able to begin her plan. Lelouch and the others are simply too weak and humane. Karine is certain that Odysseus, Guinevere, and Faramond are still alive. She is not certain about he Knights of the Round since they would be too prideful to simply surrender. Of course that bastard Luciano or Cornelia might want to kill Odysseus and Guinevere for things that have happened in the past.

"General, it is exactly because of my status that I am here. I am here to heal this continent of the sickness that has afflicted it this past year. The world around us is changing, should we not change along with it? "

"I suppose you are right, your highness."

"If you would please gather the rest of your staff, general, I would like to begin as soon as possible. If you can contact any of the other nearby," Karine slightly pauses and smiles, "military leaders who may be willing to cooperate with us in this endeavor. My assistant will give you my contact information, but for now I would like to speak with you in private, General Thompson."

Karine leads the general away. She will allow her followers to begin working on those in the area. She must also prepare some sort of speech. She has never been good at this sort of thing. However it cannot hurt to try. She will have to make it something sappy like the sort of speeches that Euphie usually gives.

* * *

Schniezel and Kannon are traveling high above aboard their last remaining airship. There is really no place for them to go. Schniezel supposes that he can go to Lelouch and have someone take his code. After Schniezel will probably be sent somewhere where he can be constantly observed. Schniezel notices that their present course is taking them towards the north. Schniezel wonders if there is still any activity at his former Greenland base. It will make a decent refuge for now.

* * *

Lelouch and Kallen are approaching their target.

"This knightmare is kind of hard to maneuver," Kallen comments, "Why would you have them create such a thing?"

"Really," Lelouch replies, "I kind of like this knightmare. I cannot wait to get started on the Titan MK VI," Lelouch chuckles, "Now that will be something. I can already see it with all kinds of lasers and stuff."

"I think you're getting your imagination get the best of you. I can see the target. It looks like they are gathering weapons, but I do not see any sort of vehicles other than some transport trucks. They do not honestly expect to rebel with just some foot soldiers and a few trucks."

"Perhaps they are expecting that they will be able to start a larger rebellion through their efforts," Lelouch replies withdrawing his MVS, "This time we kill them all."

"As you wish, Your Majesty," Kallen says withdrawing her own MVS, "Zero system activated."

"The time for talking is over," Lelouch becomes as serious as he has ever been, "This is the death of an era. After this I assume an opportunity like this will not happen for some time. It is a good thing I brought Scooter because this will likely get messy."

Kallen smirks, "The winner gets to name our next kid."

Lelouch responds by attacking.

* * *

Author's note: Lelouch does not say anything about the results of the Battle of Pendragon because he wants to keep the world in suspense. Given the actions of the next few days, it is obvious that he has won. He will have to make an announcement soon. Euphie has good intentions in calling everyone back to Pendragon, but Lelouch also has reasons for sending them away. Lelouch will obviously get his way.

Lelouch and Lloyd just invented Tachikomas. This chapter took some time because I had to rearrange some things as the story nears the end. Also I was watching some anime on Netflix. I talk about them in the usual spot at the bottom of everything.

Lelouch's wives are all technically empresses, but in in Britannia proper Euphie is the only one that will be referred to as Majesty. In China Lihua is also referred to as Majesty/Empress or rather Tianzi (literally Son of Heaven). The others will be referred as Highness or Lady depending on the situation.

Here is a list of the current code bearers. The first list is of when they gained their code. The second list is of the code bearers' biological age when obtaining their code. Without her code GG would be in her late fifties. This is the first time in several centuries that all eight code bearers are in their natural life span. Biologically speaking Lelouch is a month or so older than Alice. At this point in the story Lelouch has to wear make-up and facemasks to look older. The girls do not have to use anything yet although they are beginning to think about it. Obviously whoever applies the cosmetics will have to be trusted.

GG, Lelouch vi Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia, Kallen Stadtfeld, Milly Ashford, Schniezel el Britannia, Charles zi Britannia, Alice Liddell

Charles zi Britannia 60, GG 38, Schniezel el Britannia 30, Milly Ashford 19, Kallen Stadtfeld 18, Euphemia li Britannia 18, Lelouch vi Britannia 17, Alice Liddell 17

I have recently seen several new anime series (Baka and Test, Chobits, Angel Beats, and Spice and Wolf). The first season of Baka and Test is pretty funny. I think the second season suffers from what most school comedy anime suffers from, a lack of focus. The first season ends with the idiot of idiots defeating the school's smartest student. The second season has a few arcs. The last one only makes sense if you have seen the OVAs. Chobits is funny up to a certain point. The certainly push the "fish out of water" angle a little too much. You would think that someone that wants to get into college would get serious about it at some point.

Angel Beats is awesome. Everything from the storyline to songs seems to flow. I really love all the songs they use, both versions of the opening song, all the insert songs, and in particular the ending songs from episodes 10 and 13. I pretty much like anything involving Yui. Girls Dead Monster rocks.

Spice and Wolf is interesting. During the first season the conversations between the main characters kind of have Lelouch and CC vibe because of the whole ancient woman teasing young man thing. This is particularly funny since the Japanese voice actor of the main character is Jun Fukuyama who is best known for doing Lelouch's voice. After watching it, though you wonder if the creator had to learn all that stuff about being a merchant and markets or if they just made it up.


	104. Point of no return

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

While anybody can enter the Thought Elevator, only code bearers can travel around using them at least in this story. I probably should have said that before.

_Japanese is in italics. _

...

There is no substitute for hard work.

Thomas A. Edison

...

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

Woody Allen

* * *

**January 14, 2021 **

Dorothea Ernst is being transported from the prison airship Boudicca to Aries Villa. They have some mercy on her and allow her to come without shackles. Not that she would be able to do so much in her present condition. Dorothea's escape pod malfunctions after it is ejected. She is tossed from the pod and loses consciousness. She is informed that Princess Cornelia recovers her body from the battlefield. Although not gravely injured, the wounds are still enough to kill her if not treated properly.

"Have a seat, Lady Ernst. Her Majesty will see after she is finished with her current meeting," Ayame Futaba states.

Dorothea nods. She supposes that both Lelouch and Euphemia are quite busy at the moment. She wonders about their choice of secretary. Of course she assumes that the young Japanese girl has been serving Lelouch for years. Dorothea expects Britannia and the world to change from this point forward although she wonders what the changes will bring. She serves under the previous emperor simply because of his title. She wonders if she would not have been better off serving Britannia rather than its leader. However that may no longer be an issue because even if she does want to continue serving, there is not guarantee that Britannia's new rulers will desire her to remain. The best scenario that Dorothea can hope for is to be allowed to retire of her own accord. The worst is being hat she is executed. The latter does not seem likely.

"Lady Ernst, Her Majesty will see you now."

A slender gruff looking man steps out of the Empress' office. He looks at Dorothea and scoffs. Dorothea clearly remembers the man having something to do with the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Office. Dorothea wonders what the state of the Imperial Treasury is at the moment. The manner in which the city is surrounded leaves a small window for the city defenders to leave. Still Dorothea does not believe that it would be possible for anyone to escape with large amounts of gold or silver bullion.

Dorothea walks slowly walks into the office. Euphemia is sitting at a large desk and is flanked by two blonde girls.

"Have a seat, Lady Ernst," Euphemia states, "I hope you did not wait to long outside. That incorrigible man from the Exchequer's office did not know when to be quiet. I suppose we will have to deal with him."

Dorothea slowly takes her seat.

"Are you in pain, Lady Ernst? If that is the case, we can move the meeting to another location where you would be more comfortable."

"That is not necessary, Your Majesty. I will have to become accustomed to this pain. The doctors assure me that it should get better."

"Very well. Let us begin," Euphemia announces, "What can I do for you today, Lady Ernst?"

Euphemia's casual manner unsettles Dorothea even Lelouch has more formality in such matters.

"Simply put, Your Majesty. I would like to resign from my position as a Knight of the Round. In my present condition, I will not be of much use."

"I suppose that that is acceptable. It is better to take care of such matters quickly. I will have Ayame expedite the paperwork. For now you shall have to remain aboard the Boudicca until other accommodations can be provided."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Is there anything else, Lady Ernst?"

"No, Your Majesty. I will no take my leave."

Euphemia lets out a sigh after Dorothea exits the room.

"Is something wrong, Your Majesty?" Alice asks.

"No. When is our next appointment?"

"In an hour."

"I see then perhaps I should take a small break. Do you know where Lelouch is at the moment?"

"His Majesty is with Princess Cornelia reviewing the military situation. There is a possibility that she may return to her position of Commander-General."

Euphemia thinks about the statement.

"Let's take a small break," Euphemia states, "Dalque, Alice, take a break. Come back in forty minutes."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

The two blonde girls leave Euphemia's office. After arranging some papers, she exits the office. She supposes that Gabriel will probably be taking a nap. Still it could not hurt to check on him just in case.

* * *

Kewell and Carmina Soresi are in Damascus waiting for orders from Lelouch.

"The situation does not look to promising," Kewell states.

Carmina sighs, "I suppose you are correct. It almost seems like he is doing it on purpose."

Does it?" Kewell questions thinking about the situation, "I suppose you are right. Now Karine will come to the forefront."

"Yes, along with several others. Once their true intentions are made public, he will put his plan into action."

"I guess for now we just have to keep pushing forward. I will continue with the reorganization of the army. A few of the units that Schniezel left in Europe tagged along. We have to keep an eye on them. Most of them will probably be discharged as soon as we receive the orders."

"Speaking of that, have you sent the request to Pendragon?"

"It was in my last message."

"Well then, we should take a little break until we receive orders."

"I guess you are right."

* * *

Rakshata is looking over battle data from the Guinevere Avalon. Despite Rakshata's contributions in the field of knightmare technology, this is the only knightmare that she can call hers although they do attach Cecile's energy wings to it. Kallen is the perfect pilot for the knightmare. A part of Rakshata wonders how Lelouch would perform in it. Rakshata knows that it is not just Cecile's relationship with Lelouch, but his trust in her. Rakshata wonders what the future will hold for her. She wonders what Lelouch will do now.

Lucretia and Sancia are resting aboard the Excalibur IV. The battle leaves them both mentally exhausted. They are definitely disappointed that they do not capture Charles. For Lucretia that is especially painful because she is hoping to take the former emperor's code. However they cannot rest for too long because peace appears to be trickier than war. They will continue to work as Lelouch continues to shape the world.

* * *

Milly has some free time for the first time in several weeks so she decides to check on Nina. Milly finds Nina aboard one of the science airships. They have not had much time to converse since Nina arrives in Beijing almost a month ago. It is also the day that all this craziness begins. However it seems that Nina is quite busy at the moment. All over the ship people are scurry about. Milly is certain that she is one of the few "civilians" that is allowed on this ship.

"Oh Milly, I do not really have any free time now," Nina states, "There is so much work for us to do."

"Well I just wanted to see how you were doing," Milly explains.

"Ah my dear Nina, there you are. I have been looking for you," Cecile states as she enters the room. Nina immediately seems anxious as Cecile approaches her. The blue haired scientist puts her arm around Nina and continues, "Everyone is waiting for us in the other room. They are waiting for you to present your new theory."

"I'm not sure if I am ready, Miss Cecile."

Cecile gently caresses Nina's cheek.

"Of course you. Let's go. Everybody wants to here what you have to say."

Cecile hooks her arm around Nina's, and they begin walking away.

Milly notices the way that Nina reacts to Cecile's touch. Milly does not know what Nina has been doing these past few years while she is working for Odysseus. She does know that previously Nina has been dependent on her, but that does not seem to be the case. This does not mean that Nina is independent just that the object of her obsession is different. Milly will have to ask Gino if he knows anything. On second thought she may also ask Dorothea and Nonette.

"Your highness, Dr. Croomy wants to know if you would like to attend the meeting."

Milly nods, "Yes, I will attend."

The meeting involves several people speaking about different projects including someone talking about the new Think Tanks and new knightmare weapons. Throughout the meeting Milly notices the slight touches if Nina by Cecile. Until now Cecile has never shown any signs of being interested in women. As far as Milly knows Cecile is completely devoted to Lelouch. Milly will have to discuss things with him as well. She cannot believe how uninformed she is about several things. That is something else that she will have to discuss with Lelouch.

After the meeting Milly makes plans to spend some time with Nina as soon as their schedules clear up. Immediately after this Milly goes to Lelouch's office.

"Your Majesty, Her Highness Empress ash Britannia requested to see you immediately," Lilicia says as she enter Lelouch's office.

Lelouch nods, "I will get back to you at a later time about this issue," Lelouch says as he ends the communication, "Have a seat Milly, my love. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"No thank you," Milly replies. She waits for Lilicia to leave before continuing, "Can you explain what is going on between Cecile and Nina?"

"Nothing much. I just someone to keep an eye on Nina since you did such a poor job of it before."

Milly glares at Lelouch.

"You're the one that let then take her."

"I suppose I did," Lelouch says shrugging his shoulders, "Not that it did them any good."

Lelouch stands and walks over towards Milly. He begins to massage and kiss her neck.

"Don't worry about Nina. We will take care of her. Perhaps it is time that you start thinking about yourself."

Lelouch's hands move down to massage Milly's breasts.

"Lelouch, I have."

Milly's words are stopped by Lelouch's lips pressing against hers. Lelouch continues his assault on Milly's body. Milly does nothing to stop him.

"You know how much I love you," Lelouch states, "I won't do anything to hurt you or make you unhappy."

Milly succumbs to Lelouch, and she allows him to take her over to his bed.

An hour later, Lelouch and Milly are lying on his bed. Milly has her back to Lelouch who is tracking his fingers down her body.

"You are absolutely perfect," Lelouch states, "I could spend all day make love to this perfection."

Milly sighs, "You are really cheesy."

Lelouch pulls Milly towards him and kisses her neck.

"I suppose so, but it gets the job done," Lelouch says as he stands and heads for the shower. Milly quickly follows after him. Thirty minutes later Lelouch lays Milly back on the bed and heads back to his office.

Kallen and CC are waiting for him there.

"Having fun, Your Majesty?" CC asks, "Charles may have had ten times the number of wives, but you have ten times the fun."

Lelouch sighs and sits back at his desk.

"What do you want, CC?"

CC smirks, "You should be glad I came because you little wife here was about to kill your little assistant."

"I will have to have a conversation with Lilicia about who to let into this office."

"Who do you have on your bed?"

"Milly, and you cannot go in there."

CC groans, "But she seems like so much fun," CC sighs in frustration, "I still get to play with the little orange haired girl."

"Yes, you can still with Shirley for now."

"What that little girl with the glasses? I can keep her in line if you want."

"Leave Nina alone for now. Cecile is determining whether or not Nina has any useful ideas."

"Fine, I will be going now. I can see that you are busy."

Kallen lets out a sigh when CC leaves.

"I thought she would never leave. What do you really plan on doing with Nina?"

"Like I said, Cecile is attempting to sort through Nina's various theories," Lelouch responds, "When we are done with her, I will give her to Milly. According to the information I received from Gino and Dorothea, Nina was basically a sex toy for the members of the royal family."

"I thought they wanted to use her ideas in regards to the FLEIA."

"Yes, but they realized that they could not build one in the time they had so they concentrated on building a counter measure."

"Did they realize that they did not need Nina to do either one?" Kallen asks.

"Yes," Lelouch replies, "they figured that Nina would still be useful in case anything happened."

There is a knock coming from the wall behind Lelouch's desk. Lelouch presses a button on his communicator.

"Lilicia, I will be busy for the next hour so hold all appointments and calls."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

Kallen raises her eyebrow. Lelouch opens up the secret door behind his desk.

"Get Milly from the bedroom and join me in the secret lab. The specimens are being prepared."

Kallen nods and goes into the bedroom.

* * *

Lilicia Gottwald decides to take a break since Lelouch will be busy for at least an hour. Naturally she takes her communications earpiece with her. Other than his family and a few subordinates, nobody has access to Lelouch's office. Now that Lelouch is emperor, her job is only going to get more difficult. She will have to enjoy these small breaks whenever she gets them.

Like all the other high level subordinates, Marika Soresi and Liliana Vergamon are having some trouble finding something to do. Of course there is a lot of work to be, but most of it is being done at a lower level. As the royal guards to two empresses currently meeting with the Emperor, there is very little for them to do.

"What do you think they are doing?"

"I would rather not think about it."

"Why does it make you think about not having anyone?"

"Like you're one to talk."

"Hey serving under an empress takes up a lot of my time."

Both girls sigh heavily. They decide not to speak about the issue.

"Lt. Colonel Soresi, Major Vergamon, His Majesty wishes to see you in his office," Lilicia states.

Sancia, Nagisa Chiba and Xianglin Zhou are traveling with Alice and Dalque through the Thought Elevator to India, Japan and China respectively. Officially they have been traveling since yesterday, however Lelouch keeps them to discuss important matters. They will travel to Kamine Island and board their airship at once it reaches the island. Once there they will make sure that everything is going according to plan. At this stage Lelouch cannot have any dissent within his territories. Of course they can return back through the Thought Elevator in time for the coronation. Alice and Dalque will return back to Pendragon immediately since they have been reassigned to Euphemia.

* * *

**January 15, 2021 **

Karine is meeting with Thorin and Salacia to discuss their alliance. The biggest issue is finding a way to get rid of the Britannian African warlords. They could always have Lelouch take care of the issue, but he cannot disrupt Karine's control over the continent.

"Your highness, there is a communication from General Thompson," Karine's assistant states.

"Put him on the communication screen."

A few seconds later the elderly general's face appears on Karine's screen.

"Your highness, everything is moving according to the plan."

Karine ignores the general's breach of protocol when speaking to a member of the royal family. Everyone knows that members of the royal family are to speak first especially in situations when the royal is a superior.

"That is good to hear, general. Is there any problem? I would not think that you would be wasting your time (and mine) to tell me this."

"While most of the Britannian military forces remaining on the continent have gladly joined us," Karine thinks you mean join me, "there is some opposition towards the south of the continent."

"Well we do not want to force anyone to join our union. If they do not want to join then leave them alone,"

Karine remembers hearing that material to build those super bombs along with lots of gold and diamonds are located in southern Africa. Of course Karine cannot be the one that suggests that they attack an uncooperative part of the continent. Her goal is peace after all at least publicly it is.

"Your highness, we must do something or else the peace on this continent will be affected."

"Despite my reservations about the issue if you feel it necessary take what ever actions you must."

"I will see to it, your highness."

This is a bit of a dangerous game for Karine. She supports the action but must appear to do the opposite. If it is successful, Karine will have to find a way to take credit while avoiding the possible counterattack from Lelouch. If it fails, Karine will have to distance herself from the operation. Karine is now playing the most dangerous of all games. It reminds Karine of the high stake poker games her mother used to be involved in.

"We will continue to spread out our forces," Salacia remarks, "It will take a few weeks for our men to influence those that were already here."

"How long do you think it will take for that old fool to organize an army to take south?"

"What makes you think he will bother with organizing an army?" Thorin inquires, "Knowing him, he will head straight for Pretoria and Cape Town."

"Yes, that sounds like him," Salacia comments, "We should continue with the plan. He may still wait a few days to assure that we are not openly opposing his move."

"Very well. Let's continue with our own plans. It seems like our friend General Thompson is going to do us the favor of eliminating himself. We must be ready to pick up the pieces."

* * *

Hannah Gottwald and Chelsea Nu are southeast of Cape Town with those two guys and the members of the stealth drone airplane team. At the moment General Charles Cunningham is discussing the situation with local leaders. Southern Africa is a unique case amongst Britannia/Lelouch's conquests. The local leaders mostly retain control over their own affairs while Lelouch controls their mining industry and Britannia controls foreign affairs and trade. Of course Lelouch gives them a portion of what he is able to get out of the ground. There are still arguments about who is really benefiting the most.

"Captain Gottwald, Captain Nu, we are retuning to the airship," General Cunningham announces.

Both girls are a little unhappy about being left out of the meeting. They realize it is because of their rank, and the fact that General Cunningham has his own staff. However they did not travel all the way here just to stand around. The walk to the transport is quiet. However once they lift off, General Cunningham lets out a sigh.

"Damn local politics. I signed up to be an airman not a politician."

"Rough day?" James Trevor Goodley asks.

Hannah and Chelsea notice that the general's staff and transport crew are made up of Lelouch and Gino's West Point friends.

"You heard what they said in there."

James smiles, "I suppose I did. Looks like you two girls are up."

Everyone aboard the transport stares at Hannah and Chelsea.

"Sir?"

"What my friend means to say," Anthony Michael Sanderson remarks, "is that we are to hand you these orders in case something like this happens. They are from His Majesty."

Hannah takes the sealed envelope.

"In case what happens sir. I do not understand."

"Over that past few weeks several generals throughout Africa have been consolidating their power. There was sort of a power vacuum after Luciano went wild on pretty much anyone who had any sort of power and then left. Since this part of the continent is a loyal only to His Majesty, they decided to wait out the war in the Homeland. However with the arrival of Princess Karine, our friends to the north are growing restless to take over the mining operations here."

"You mean they are attacking us, and we have to stop them."

"Yes, to more specifically you will have to stop them. You will also have to deal with that man."

The others in the transport shuttle shudder.

"What man?" Chelsea asks a little frightened.

"Hello down there," Lloyd calls out, "Are my subjects err I mean, pilots there."

"Is he looking for us?"

"Yes, he probably brought along a few toys for you to play with," General Cunningham replies, "I figure that you have a few days before General Thompson comes here with a large force."

"Are we to stop them?" Hannah inquires.

"Your precise orders are in that envelope. We do not have any idea what is in there. His Majesty did not tell us. He only ordered us to hand you the envelope during a situation such as this one."

The transport docks within the airship. Once everybody else exits the shuttle, Hannah opens the envelope containing Lelouch's orders. After she is finished reading, she tears the paper up and eats it.

"Don't you think that is a little extreme?" Chelsea asks.

"Let's go, Chelsea. Dr. Asplund is waiting for us."

Hannah takes the transport over to another airship where Lloyd is waiting along with Marika Soresi and Liliana Vergamon.

"Did you receive His Majesty's orders?" Marika asks.

Hannah and Liliana nod.

"Good then let's begin. Lloyd has brought some new knightmares for you to use."

"We brought some Titan Mk. Vs with us," Hannah remarks, "because our new knightmares are being repaired."

"Ah yes, Cecile's little monster is good for fighting against other knightmares, however for this operation I have something else for you to use," Lloyd says as he waves towards two knightmares, "These are the Callisto and Europa Mk IV. Unlike the Guinevere Avalon and Morgan le Fey which have been tailored to their specific pilots, these two knightmares are more like their original namesakes."

The two girls look up at the two knightmares. Like the Titan Mk V, they are black not the colors that Kallen and Milly use.

"I will take the Callisto," Hannah states causing Lloyd to slightly and creepily smile.

Chelsea wonders why. She remembers that Rakshata is behind the Callisto. Lloyd and Cecile worked on the Titan and Europa together with him taking control of the latter's development. However that does not explain Lloyd's smile.

"Come on, Chelsea. We do not have much time."

* * *

Karine establishes her headquarters at Kinshasa because it is a central location located near the west coast of Africa. Most would think this foolish since it puts her closer to the Britannian homeland. However Karine understands that Lelouch's power lies not in North America but in Asia. For one Kewell has a large force currently stationed around Damascus. Secondly eastern Asia is loyal to Lelouch so being further east would be dangerous. Thirdly it puts Karine within hours of any potential dissenters from Britannia or even the EU. However Karine still have on large problem, the former Britannian warlords of Africa, but she does have some that that particular issue will be taken care of soon enough.

* * *

Hannah and Chelsea only have a few hours to run some quick simulations before beginning their operation. Their orders are quite simple. They are to destroy offensive capacity of the force that is gathering north of Harare which as far as Lelouch is concerned is within Area 18 therefore his. This operation only involves the four girls.

"After we leave the city, we will maintain radio silence," Marika announces, "Do not communicate unless you are in extreme danger. Let's go."

Lelouch is certain that the operation to destroy the Britannian African forces is beginning. This will cause an upheaval throughout the continent forcing Lelouch to get involved. Anya and Villetta are along the Britannian east coast looking over the situation. They will also lead the possible attack on Africa. Lelouch hopes that Karine has not been able to gather sufficient support over these past few days. Of course there is the possibility that Salacia and Thorin will be able to handle such matters for her. He could always leave Africa alone and prepare for his coronation which has been scheduled for January 18. He figures he has until then to take care of the Africa issue.

**January 16, 2021 **

Nagisa is in Tokyo meeting with government officials. She hopes to finish her meetings soon. As with Xianglin in Beijing, she is only here to make sure that Lelouch's work over the past few years does not go to waste. They must reassure people that everything is going according to plan.

There is another private matter taking place later during the day, Tohdoh's funeral. Suzaku and Nunnally are secretly traveling to Tokyo to attend. Nagisa has to quickly organize the funeral and provide security because Senba, Urabe, and Asahina are attending as well. This is an important detail because their involvement in the Britannian Civil War is not publicized in Japan. So they will have to be guarded, but it cannot appear that way.

* * *

Karine receives word that something has happened to General Thompson's attack force. She travels to Harare with Salacia and Thorin to investigate. From the air they can see the carnage caused by unknown forces. Fortunately it seems that their contribution to the force seems mostly undamaged.

"I will check on our troops," Thorin states, "I figure we are going to need them to be ready to move."

"Salacia, check on the overall capacity of this force," Karine says, "I will pay General Thompson a visit."

"Perhaps I should accompany you, your highness," Salacia comments, "The general's staff may not take to kindly to your visit."

"Do not worry. The general does not scare me," Karine remarks, "Have you ever seem my father upset? I mean really upset because I have twice after I walked in during a meeting."

Salacia and Thorin know about the former emperor's anger. Over the years they have seen the consequences of interrupting the emperor.

"Very well if that is what you wish, your highness."

Karine waits for the two former Knight of the Round to leave before making her exit from the airship. In the past Karine would have a large procession as she exits her airship, however this time she only has one assistant with her.

Karine quickly makes her way across the hectic makeshift military base. Her clothes and manner of walking differentiates her from the others around her. It sends a loud message that she is more important than them. A few members of General Thompson's staff attempt to stop Karine, but she stares them down. She enters the general's tent. She finds the general lying down surrounded by members of his staff. She assumes that he has been injured in the attack.

"It is a shame that you were injured in the attack, general," Karine says with a faux worried look on her face, "Perhaps it would be better if Lady Ravenguard and Lord Odinus take command for now."

"That will not be necessary, your highness," the general responds, "We have everything under control here."

"Is that so?" Karine asks, "Why on the way here I heard several people speculate that very few knightmares were involved in the attack. If that is the case, then your intelligence divisions need a lot of work."

Of course Karine hears no such thing, but sending a small force seems like something Lelouch would do to minimize the potential loss.

"That is simple a rumor, our highness. Given the nature of the attack, a substantial force attacked us last night."

"I see so you are saying that your radar technicians missed a large force attacking this location."

The general and his staff are growing uncomfortable at Karine's implications.

"In addition during our last meeting you stated that force would only be used as a last resort. Any fool can look at a map and notice that we are within the borders of Area 18. Since Regina is still viceroy and according to various reports in Cape Town as we speak, it is possible that she views our being here as an aggressive action."

"I have heard nothing about the viceroy being back in Area 18."

Karine smiles, "Of course not, why would you."

Karine statement is simple. If the general and his staff were important somebody would have attempted to recruit them for the war in Britannia. Of course very few of them have ever met with a member of the royal family until their meeting with Karine a few days ago. Karine hears lots activity outside of the tent

"Well I have wasted enough of your time, general," Karine states, "I will let you get back to your work."

As Karine leaves the tent, she notices that Salacia and Thorin are successful in accomplishing their tasks. While the general attempts to get things under control, Karine will take his army away. She sees several of members of the general's staff running in and out of the tent. Karine notices that Salacia and Thorin are speaking with several other high level officers. Karine decides to do something she has never done in her life, socialize with commoners.

Despite their accomplishments and patriotism, there is no denying that most of these soldiers are of the lowest class. They would have to be to remain in Africa with no official word coming out of Pendragon. However Karine only has to make a great first impression in order to accomplish her goals. Once she has the soldiers under her control, things will begin to go the way she wants.

* * *

Hannah and Chelsea are looking over the satellite pictures of what they attacked last night.

"Looks like we will have to go again tonight," Hannah states.

"It's too late for that," Marika remarks as she places more pictures on the table, "They are beginning to evacuate the area."

"So we failed," Chelsea comments, "His Majesty will be upset."

"His Majesty understands that there is a chance that something like this might happen. If you look at the pictures you will see the Princess Karine arrives with the former Knights of Five and Seven. It is possible that she is now in control of the situation."

"What do we do now?"

"We will return to Pendragon for Their Majesties' coronation."

Marika leaves them to ponder the situation.

"Hey do you want to have some fun with our new knightmares?" Hannah asks.

Chelsea smirks, "What do you think?"

* * *

By now they are very few people left at the funeral. The Four Holy Swords are standing in a line. They are surrounded by soldiers wearing helmets. One would assume that this is so no one knows their identity. While this is partly true, it is also to hide the fact that they are Britannian and that three of the Holy Swords are prisoners. Senba is the first to leave. Asahina quickly follows him leaving Urabe alone with Nagisa. There are two soldiers standing nearby. While they certainly stand like soldiers, Urabe notices something unusual about them especially the short one.

"_What do you think he would say about this?" _Urabe asks.

"_I think he would dislike the fact that all this commotion is due to his death," _Nagisa replies.

"_I guess he would," _says Urabe looking pensive, _"I think he would have regrets about how things ended."_

"_How things ended?" _Nagisa inquires.

"_Yes, how things ended up between all of us," _Urabe comments, _"I think he would hope that we could come together after his death."_

Nagisa sighs, _"I suppose so. But given what happened, I don't think we will ever work together again."_

"_I think he would he disappointed with the fact that he never stated how he really felt about certain things."_

Nagisa glances at Urabe. All Four Holy Swords know Tohdoh's feelings about personal relations between comrades. In addition, General Katase once saw Tohdoh as a potential successor. For that Tohdoh would mean having to marry into Japanese high society.

"_I think we know that nothing would have ever happened,"_ Nagisa says with a sigh, _"Besides once you see things from this side, nothing is the same."_

"_It's that good," _Urabe comments causing Nagisa to blush, _"I get what you mean. When that guy took us down in China, I couldn't believe what happened. He was nothing like the people we were fighting before."_

Urabe notices that his last comment causes the shorter soldier to bristle.

"_We should get going," _Nagisa remarks, _"We can continue this conversation in the transport."_

Inside the air transport two older teenage girls are waiting. Urabe believes that he recognizes them (Alice and Dalque). He also has a theory about the two guards assigned to him.

"_Like I was saying that guy really is something," _Urabe states, _"We were handling those other guys pretty easily, but that guy is a monster."_

Nagisa glances at Urabe wondering where he is going with this. Just as Urabe suspects his two guards appearing to be silently arguing about something.

Urabe continues, _"I mean those other losers are nothing compared to him."_

"_That's it. This jerk is going down." _the shorter guard says taking off her helmet to reveal that she is a teenage girl who Urabe recognizes as Nunnally vi Britannia (Kururugi).

"_Nunners, calm down," _Suzaku says taking off his own helmet.

"_Please your highness, His Majesty will not want you to do anything rash," _Alice comments.

"_I tend to agree with Nunnally. This jerk is asking for it," _Dalque remarks.

"_Dalque's right," _Nunnally declares, _"I don't see why onii-sama wants with this guy."_

"_Whatever His Majesty wants with this man is his business," _Alice replies.

Suddenly Urabe realizes that they have been speaking in Japanese the entire time, and it most definitely is not for his benefit. Urabe notices that the transport had landed. Outside he already hears the ground crew assisting in securing the air transport to the ground.

"_Wait why are you people speaking Japanese, and what do you mean he wants something from me?" _Urabe asks as the door to the transport opens.

"_If you want the answer, Urabe Kosetsu, you will have to follow me," _says Lelouch standing at the door wearing a similar uniform to what the others are wearing. Xianglin Zhou is standing beside him.

Urabe notices that they are not in Tokyo but rather on an island. Given the time they traveled, they cannot be very far from Tokyo.

"_What is this place?" _Urabe asks.

"_Kamine Jima," _Lelouch replies, "The Island of the Gods."

Urabe notices the airships and knightmare surrounding the island.

"_Is this a military or royal transit point?"_

"_Something like that," _Lelouch says walking away, _"The answer is this way. I am sure that you understand that once you set foot on this island there is no turning back."_

* * *

**January 18, 2021 **

It is amazing what can be done when a large amount of people work together. Little more than a week ago Pendragon is a battlefield, and Saint Darwin Street is completely destroyed. While it may take months or years to rebuild the various palaces and villas that once stand as the symbol of Britannian power, at least the rubble has been cleared. Of course Aries Villa and its gardens are still intact. Lelouch and Euphemia's coronation will take place there. This is a fitting situation since it is the place that hosted many of their more precious and delightful memories.

The few nobles left are in attendance along with luminaries from various other nations and countries. Most of the EU's Central Hemicycle members and other various national leaders are here. In fact the only important world leaders not in attendance are Theseus ju Britannia and Karine le Britannia. One would have to be a fool to insult the new Britannian emperor and empress. Those that cannot attend or are not important enough to be invited watch from elsewhere since Lelouch has once more taken over all forms of broadcasting.

The coronation is taking place outside in the garden. Two thrones are on one side of the garden. To the left of the thrones are the family members and their significant others of the new Britannian rulers. Starting from the center are Maximus va Britannia, Cassius ru Britannia, Annabel pe Britannia, Isabelle vu Britannia, Victoria ka Britannia, Gwendolyn ti Britannia, Regina ha Britannia, Selene ge Britannia and their mothers. Next are Nunnally and Suzaku Kururugi, Evelyn vi Britannia and Jinta Futaba, and both sets of twins (Castor, Pollux, Emily, and Miranda). Cornelia is watching from an airship since she is back in her post as Commander-General of the United Britannian Armed Forces.

To the right of the thrones are Lelouch's wives and their families or friends. Starting from the center are Kallen and her parents. Naoto is with military watching over the city. Next are Milly and Nina, Carolina and Lilicia, Kaguya and Ayame, Lihua and Xianglin, Shirley and her parents, and finally Lucretia and Sancia. Behind Lelouch's wives are Lloyd, Cecile, and Villetta. Jeremiah is also with the military. Sayoko and her team are deployed throughout Saint Darwin Street. Nagisa and Ichiro are in charge of the security around the palace.

Along with the coronation the identities of the new members of the Knights of the Round will be revealed. The previous day it is announced that Dorothea, Nonette, Luciano, Monica, and Aphrodite have resigned. Salacia, Thorin, and Salzaar are declared AWOL. Bismarck and Merlin are declared deceased. All this leaves Gino as the only living and active member of the Knights of the Round. Of the former KOR only Dorothea is in attendance. The others are with their significant others. There is quite a bit of mystery about who the new members will be. In reality only Lelouch, Kallen, Milly, and Cornelia know. Euphemia and the other vi Britannias know who some of the members will be.

Attendants enter informing the guests that the ceremony will soon begin. Behind the attendants enters the Archbishop of Canterbury. With the British Isles once more a part of Britannia, the Archbishop can actually return to Canterbury. Although many follow Charles in his anti-religious crusade, most Britannians adhere to some form of their traditional religion. Once the Archbishop is in place, everyone turns to face the twelve individuals standing to the rear. Half are wearing black hooded robes while the other half is wearing white robes. For the most part they are of average height although a few are on the short side. To an observant person this would indicate that there are several females and that they are ranked highly.

The ones with the black robes move towards the throne on the left from the audience's point of view. Naturally the white robed figures move to the right. The two closest to the thrones are quite a contrast. The black robed figure is tall and appears quite loose. The white robed figure is short and stiff. However one has to consider the position that they are in and what it takes to get there. One does not get to stand near the throne without having some skill. The tall black robed one steps forward and is now standing between the two rows.

"Now presenting Lelouch vi Britannia and Euphemia li Britannia," he says leaving no doubt who it is (Gino), "by the Grace of God, of Holy Empire of Britannia and its Dominions beyond the Seas Emperor and Empress, Defenders of the Faith, Emperors of China, Japan, and India, King and Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, King and Queen of Jerusalem and Cyprus, Duke of Edinburgh, Count of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Duke of Lancaster, Lord of Mann, Duke of Normandy, Head of the Order of Knights Templar, Grand Duke of Malta and Gibraltar, Inheritors of the wills of Byzantium, Rome, and the Pharaohs."

The twelve robed figures immediately drop to their knees. The others in attendance do the same regardless of their nationality or position. Lelouch and Euphemia walk in side by side. As they walk by, they indicate it is alright that the people they pass by to stand. The twelve robed figures remain kneeling with their hoods still covering their faces. Lelouch and Euphemia stand before their thrones as the Archbishop of Canterbury places their crowns on their heads. They do not kneel to him nor does he kneel for them. After the crowns are place, the Archbishop bows and walks away.

Lelouch places his crown on a table between the two thrones and steps forward. Euphemia sits on her throne.

"To all the nations of the world," Lelouch states, "the people of the Holy Empire of Britannia desire only peace. We wish to unite with those around the world to bring forth peace. We will not allow anyone to interrupt this age of peace. That is the will of the people."

Lelouch takes a seat on this throne but does not take his crown. Lelouch's speech is a little shorter than most expect it to be, but he says what everyone expects him to say.

However what everyone is actually waiting for is the unveiling of the Knights of the Round. Villetta's presence amongst the onlookers shows that she is not one despite having been Lelouch's knight. The twelve KOR stand in a line before the thrones facing the audience. One can assume that they are standing in order of rank. The white robed individuals appear to be the odd numbered while the black robed are the even.

The first two are no surprise, Anya and Gino. Many wonder how such a young looking girl can be Knight of One, but the look in her eyes lets them know that she is serious. The next ones are a surprise those that know Nunnally (Alice and Dalque). They continue to remove their hoods in pairs. Marika Soresi and Liliana Vergamon are next. Kewell is not sure whether to be proud or worried about his sister. Although her previous duty as Kallen's guard is just as dangerous. The next two are not really a surprise, James Trevor Goodley and Anthony Michael Sanderson. Although this is one of the few times that they are publicly recognized for the efforts.

The final four bring mixed reactions. Hannah Gottwald and Chelsea Nu reveal that they are Knights of Nine and Ten. Much like Kewell, Jeremiah and Villetta are unsure how to feel. Lilicia gasps, but quickly regains her composure realizing that Deithard will likely put her on camera. The final two are even more mystifying. Sora Cummins reveals that she is Knight of Eleven. To many she is nothing more than a dainty noble. However those that truly know her, know that she has been guarding Cornelia for most of the past year. In addition she has been working with her father in the perfecting knightmare weaponry for over five years.

The revelation of Kosetsu Urabe causes even the most liberal noble to gasp. Even Sayoko and Ayame are shocked that Lelouch would make such a man a Knight of the Round. Watching from his prison cell, Shogo Asahina glares. He knows that placing Urabe within the Knights of the Round along with placement of Naoto Kouzuki, Nagisa Chiba, and Ichiro Futaba on Britannia's General Staff are a trick to get the Japanese people to continue to be loyal subjects. Of course with the economy doing so well the trick will work.

There are a few moment of silence as people consider what they are seeing. The silence is broken by Lloyd who begins to clap. As if on cue, Maximus and Cassius quickly follow suit. The rest of the royals and the other nobles begin to clap slowly. Euphemia sits there seriously while Lelouch sits with a bored expression on his face.

* * *

Like others around the world, Karine is watching Lelouch and Euphemia's coronation. Karine decides to stop watching once the Knights of the Round start revealing their identities. Salacia and Thorin stay to watch their replacements.

Karine's assistant call out, "Your Excellency, the expedition has returned."

"Very well," Karine replies, "I shall meet with them."

Since Karine wishes to distance herself from Britannia, she is not longer referred to as princess or your highness. Given her current situation, she is probably better off this way. Karine boards a shuttle and heads towards a facility outside of the city.

"Thank you for coming, your high, Excellency."

Karine notices that it may take some time for the others to get used to not referring to her as a princess.

"It is my pleasure to be here," Karine states, "Now what did you find."

Karine is taken to a room containing several large containers marked hazardous.

"As you can see, Your Excellency, we have gathered much of Britannia's hazardous and bio-chemical supplies."

"We can make weapons with these."

"Yes, it will take some time to train individuals, but it is quite doable."

Karine smiles, "Fortunately time is something that we have, at least for now. See that it is done. Do not allow anyone else down here."

"As you wish. I will see that it is done."

Karine leaves the building quite pleased. A week ago she is in grave danger, but now she is in control of much of Africa. Not only have they found the chemical weapons, but they also discovered hundred of knightmares and other vehicles being stored in various warehouses throughout the continent. Before Karine even thinks about moving against the Britannian African warlords, she has her people look for these materials. Odysseus and Guinevere may have seen her as a junior partner that they could marry to the highest bidder, but Karine has been plotting her takeover since the beginning. She is only just getting started.

* * *

The Geass Order has been through a lot over the last two decades. As long as geass has existed someone has been trying to uncover its secrets. Many centuries ago, XX creates an organization that branches over many different continents. From the shadows this organization seeks to unite geass users and code bearers to serve its purposes. However given that there are eight code bearers, this is a difficult task. Out of this organization the Geass Order is formed. Once Charles and VV come into contact with geass, they begin to exert their control over the Geass Order.

However the past few decades have seen purges by Charles, VV, and Lelouch have left the Order struggling. At the same time various parts of the Order are loyal to certain individuals. It is one of these elements that scours the battlefield of Pendragon and secures two bodies. Using the cybernetic technology created by the Order these two bodies can be given a new life. Unfortunately they do not have much time or funds. Still they must do what they can. It is the mission of the Geass Order to guide humanity.

* * *

Lelouch sits up on is bed. Euphie is sound asleep. The day has been quite tiring, but there is one thing that Lelouch must check on. He walks over to his office. Despite everything that has happened, his various airships fell like home so he will live there until a proper palace can be built.

Lelouch taps a spot on the underside of his desk. A keypad suddenly appears on his desk. Lelouch quickly taps the code, and a secret door behind him opens. Lelouch enters the room. He walks towards two giant glass containers filled with liquid. Inside the containers are two bodies. The bodies are badly burnt but are salvageable.

As Lelouch stands there silently, the door from his office opens. Nunnally walks in and stands by Lelouch. He takes her hand in his. They realize that they have only just begun to recreate the world.

* * *

Author's note: I apologize for taking so long with this chapter. It was a combination of writer's block, trying to fit things in, and agitating role players on Facebook. Before I begin with the chapter notes, I want to mention something very important. It may seem quite abrupt, but this is basically the end of this portion of the story. I have one more chapter to tie up a few loose ends. After that an epilogue/ranting chapter and then a chapter with bonus material. I have two continuations planned. The first will continue with Lelouch's rise. It will basically start where this one ends. The second is a far future continuation. I am separating the story into various parts because I think people want to see Evelyn, the twins, and Lelouch's kids when they grow up. I have mentioned before the amount of extra notes I use to keep track of everything. Basically things have become unmanageable, and I have decided to just start over. I am already working on the next part.

I guess I better mention something abour Schniezel and Charles in the next chapter.

For those that do not know AWOL means away from position without permission in other words a deserter.

Nina is dependent on other people. Canonically she seems to be dependent on the student council in particular Milly. Later on she develops an obsession with Euphie that nearly drives her insane.

If anyone knows what a traditional Japanese funeral is like, I would like to add more information about Tohdoh's funeral. If not then I will just leave it as is. It is not that important. One of the consequences of not having Japan invaded in 2010 is that Japanese society, government, and military change drastically. Even though Japan was technically a democracy, there is an upper class that controls things. To advance in any of the various spheres of society, one has to make the right connections and marry the right person. Basically without the invasion and subsequent rebellion, Tohdoh could have replaced Katase and would have had to marry into Japanese high society.

The Urabe stuff may have seemed rushed but that is the point. It is pretty much as Asahina thinks. Urabe is there as an example of what a loyal non-Britannian can do. He also wants to make sure that Lelouch is not going to try anything although he understands that there is very little he can do about it. However it is easier to influence Lelouch from this position than from a jail cell.

According the rankings I listed before the Third Battle of Pendragon, Urabe would actually be Knight of Four. Lelouch's West Point friends are unranked, but they are skilled enough to challenge for much higher spots. The same goes for Sora who has only recently been taking knightmare piloting seriously, but she has been around knightmares all her life. By any standards Hannah and Chelsea should be the last two or not even in the group. They could be replaced by more West Point friends, but they all have secret tasks in military forces around the world. New KOR are at the bottom along with updated character ages.

Some of the titles given to Lelouch and Euphemia are from the monarch of the United Kingdom. Others I made up or adapted. For various reasons there is no mention of the Middle East, Iran, Central Asia, and Siberia in Lelouch's titles. That is on purpose as are the numerous mentions of titles traditionally belonging to the British monarch although Lelouch did not add King of France which many English monarchs had in their titles. Legally speaking Euphemia is Empress of China, Japan, and India along with the other parts of Britannia, however each of those situations is unique.

For some reason I have begun to re-watch Code Geass. I will talk about that after the next chapter or so.

I also watched Clannad. Is it unmanly to say to it was beautiful and made me cry?

Knights of the Round  
1 Anya Alstriem  
2 Gino Weinberg  
3 Alice Liddell  
4 Dalque  
5 Marika Soresi  
6 Liliana Vergamon  
7 James Trevor Goodley  
8 Anthony Michael Sanderson  
9 Hannah Gottwald  
10 Chelsea Nu  
11 Sora Cummins  
12 Kosetsu Urabe

Character ages as of January 18, 2021

Lelouch vi Britannia 21, Gino Weinberg 20, Jeremiah Gottwald 32, Suzaku Kururugi 20, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia 8, Lloyd Asplund 34, Naoto Kouzuki 30, Jinta Futaba 12, Kosetsu Urabe 35, Thorin Odinus 32, Deithard Reid 36, Kewell Soresi 30, Ichiro Futaba 25, Li Xingke 27, Theseus ju Britannia 24, James Trevor Goodley 24, Anthony Michael Sanderson 24, Salzaar Gluten 23, Maximus va Britannia 29, Cassius ru Britannia 28, Charles Cunningham 45, John Hellerman 40, Schniezel el Britannia 30, Luciano Bradley 26, Kannon Maldini 32, Faramond eu Britannia 17, Asahina Shogo 34, Ryoga Senba 46, (Bismarck Waldstein 44, Merlin Suzerain 40, Kyoshiro Tohdoh 42, Odysseus eu Britannia 36, )

Kallen kou Britannia 20, Milly ash Britannia 21, Nunnally vi Britannia 17, Euphemia li Britannia 20, Anya Alstriem 18, Alice 17, Dalque 19, Cornelia li Britannia 29, Lucretia 20, Sancia 21, Sayoko Shinozaki 27, Villetta Nu 30, Cecile Croomy 27, Ayame Futaba 20, Rakshata Chawla 33, Lilicia Gottwald 17, Hannah Gottwald 18, Chelsea Nu 19, Nagisa Chiba 32, Marika Soresi 20, Liliana Vergamon 19, Dorothea Ernst 35, Salacia Ravenguard 23, Monica Kruszewski 25, Aphrodite Venitus 26, Nina Einstein 20, Shirley vu Britannia 20, Evelyn vi Britannia 10, Kaguya yama Britannia 17, Tianzi (Jiang Lihua) 16, Carolina sfo Britannia 20, Zhou Xianglin 23 , Karine le Britannia 18, Nonette Enngream 31, Sora Cummins 18, Isabelle vu Britannia 18, Annabel pe Britannia 19, Victoria ka Britannia 18, Gwendolyn ti Britannia 17, Regina ha Britannia 17, Selene ge Britannia 17, Midori Futaba 21, Nicole Hillis 39, (Marianne vi Britannia 41, Guinevere su Britannia 34)


	105. Setting the Stage

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

Sorry about the wait.

_Japanese is in italics. '_German is in single parenthesis.' _'French is in italics and single parentheses _

The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation, it cannot be just a Britannian peace, or German peace, or a Russian, or a French or a Chinese peace. It cannot be a peace of large nations-or of small nations. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.

The only ones, who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed.

If the king does not move, his subordinates will not follow.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Ichiro Futaba  
The Wars and Times of Lelouch vi Britannia  
Tokyo Towers Press 2081

**January 22, 2021, Detroit, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Rick Hunter and his associates have several problems. The most important of which is the fact that they are being pursued by the new Knight of One. It is to be expected after such a violent change at the top. The Emperor deems the Organization of Secret Intelligence (OSI) to be of no use to him at least in its current state. Perhaps it would have been different if the old emperor had passed away of natural causes, but that is unlikely. In either case they should have been more prepared for this to happen. The chances of the OSI surviving in its present state are slim no matter who the new emperor is.

* * *

Gino is backing up Anya on her mission. Their task is to hunt down any remaining members of the OSI. Even the old Knights of the Round do not know the identities and purposes of all the OSI members, however Lelouch knows. Not only does he know the identities of the current agents but of the former agents, their families, and even those that simply do paperwork for the Organization. This operation is most definitely not for people with weak stomachs.

"Lord Weinberg, we have found the targets."

"Take care of it, Captain Higgins. We will handle things up here."

Gino cuts the communication. Lelouch knows exactly what sort of people to choose for an operation like this. Captain Mark Higgins, in particular, is an example of this. The man would long have been court-martialed, despite being the son of a minor noble, if not for Lelouch.

Gino looks at his monitors and notices that some of the targets have escaped and are running away not that that will actually help them.

"P6, there are some stragglers in section 2C take care of them."

"Yes, my lord."

Gino sits back and watches as Anya finishes up the operation. A part of him feels sorry for the people unfortunate enough to serve the former emperor.

* * *

Lelouch watches as another group of visitors takes the shuttle down from his airship. Since taking control of the Pendragon, there have been endless meetings. The last one is with representatives from the EU who represent the governments in exile of the Middle East Federation, Iran, and several African nations. While Lelouch does not wish to control the world with an iron grip, he does not want his work of the last decade to go to waste. He did not simply conquer parts of the world for the glory of his father or Britannia.

If the Middle East Federation is given any sort of autonomy, then the rest of world will quickly fall apart like dominoes. With all the petty rivalries, hatred, and jealousies, that is the only course the world can take. At least that is how Lelouch feels. Soon he will have to resume his conquest. Once this is accomplished, he can slowly begin to build a kindler and gentler world.

Lelouch looks around the table which is occupied by his wives. They are going over the various parts of his plan. Despite not really knowing what is going on Shirley and Lihua are attending the meeting as well. Kallen is in charge of technology. She is not just in charge of overseeing its progress but making sure that it is all under the control of the government. No one will be able to do what Lelouch and Schniezel have done. Milly is charge of the administration. She will have to form a government to manage the minute details.

Carolina will help manage the remaining nobles. She will also help Milly with the administration of the Britannian homeland. Kaguya and Lihua are to help appease their homelands. Shirley serves more obvious purposes for Lelouch, but she still would like to help. Cornelia is in charge of the military once more. Without interference from her father or Schniezel, she is beginning to get rid of the more corrupt officers. Many of course flee when it becomes apparent that Lelouch will win the war. They are most likely offering their services to Theseus or Karine.

The situation is a huge change for everyone. While Lelouch has always had an eye on the global situation, from now on they will be the ones who determine the fate of the world. Going forward they will not be able to blame others for their actions.

Jinta Futaba, Evelyn vi Britannia, Castor and Pollux vi Britannia, and Emily and Miranda Sforza are preparing to do something they have not done in many years, go to school. A fact they are not very happy about.

**February 17, 2021, Greenland**

Kannon is watching over Schniezel. After leaving Pendragon, they travel towards the north. At first they do not have any real direction because Kannon is not sure where to go. They travel towards the north to get away from everyone else. Now that Kannon thinks about it. It may have made some sense to head toward Africa or South America. However for that to work, Schniezel would have to do something. For the past month he has been in a near catatonic state. Even the arrival of Salzaar does not help.

However the arrival of the former Knight of Twelve has boosted the morale of the few soldiers left. It is also because of Salzaar that they have a place to go. Much of Schniezel's Greenland base remains intact. It is here that the remnants of Schniezel's contingent are hiding. For now all Kannon can do is wait for Schniezel to want to act.

**Kinshasa, United Areas of Africa **

Salacia and Thorin are in a conference with the military and civilian leaders chosen by Karine. General William Westmorland has been chosen to be Military Chief of Staff. Lyndon Baines Johnson and Robert Taft have been chosen to run the administration. Legally Karine will not have any power, but her influence is being felt even now. After the meeting the former Knights of the Round ponder the situation

"Do you know where the princess is?" Thorin asks.

"She is probably on one of her humanitarian visits," Salacia replies.

Over the last two weeks Karine has been making trips to some of the poorer areas of her dominion. Much like South America, the situation in Africa is unsettled. The EU wants all Britannian troops and officials out, but Lelouch is unlikely to concede to this even if it means that Karine gets to rule the region. Karine understands the situation better than most people think. In fact she grasps the situation even as she begins to flee from Pendragon.

"Is there any way to find out exactly where she is?" Thorin inquires.

"You will have to contact her assistant," Salacia answers, "However you do know that she may not tell you. It is better to leave it alone."

Neither of them is happy with the current situation. They expected Karine to be a figurehead that would lend them the prestige of her name, but she is not playing along with their plan.

Thorin sighs and returns to his work. Whether or not Karine is in charge, they still must re-organize the military. Over the past month more troops have been pouring in from parts of Britannia. Those that come from Asia have checked because they maybe spies for Lelouch. A bit unnerving is that fact that many of the soldiers want to leave the military, but at the moment this is not acceptable. All those between the ages of sixteen to forty-five will have to serve in the military for at least three years until they can feel secure. Most of the newcomers understand the situation so it is not that much of an issue.

**Somewhere in western Africa**

Karine spends some of the morning delivering medical and food supplies around the poorer parts of the continent. Thanks in part to these efforts all of Africa with the exception of the south are joining Karine's union. She begins to realize what Lelouch figures out many years ago. The fact that people from around the world are just as brilliant and capable as Britannians. In fact several are just as devious and brutal. Karine will have to find a way to use them to her advantage.

"My Lady, we are here," Karine's assistant calls out cautiously. Even though Karine publicly refuses the honors due to her because of her status as a Britannian princess, that does not mean she does not want a formal atmosphere in private. Everyone understands the public situation is to keep Britannia officials away.

Karine stands and prepares to exit her transport. She can sense the nervousness of those around her. This is not the place that someone of Karine's stature would be even if she were captured by the enemy. Several men in uniforms approach her.

"Welcome to Bioko, your highness. The prison is in this direction."

Karine is currently on the island of Bioko just off the coast of west-central Africa. The island houses one of the more notorious prisons in the world. In particular this prison is left alone because it contains military prisoners. For the most part Karine is content to let the prisoners remain here, but there are a few that may be useful.

Karine is led across a large courtyard. The prisoners are being kept in their cells. Due to the lack of funds over the past few months conditions have really deteriorated. There was some talk of simply executing the prisoners and discharging the guards. Karine is already maneuvering to provide this prison with funding and supplies. The prisoners here, in particular, would be dangerous if freed.

"The prisoner you requested is in here, your highness."

"Very well, you may leave us alone."

The guards and Karine's people look at her nervously. Karine's glare settles the matter. The prisoner is restrained and appears to be passive. Karine sits across from him and spends a few moments studying him.

"You are Paciano Bradley, aren't you?"

The prisoner nods and looks up at Karine who recognizes the look in his eyes from the pictures that she has.

"Your mother had such hope for you and your brother. She named him after the Latin word for light and you for peace."

"Do you find it amusing, your highness?" the prisoner says.

Karine is a little surprised that he is able to figure out that she is a princess since she did not bother to change after her humanitarian trip this morning.

"How do you know that?"

"How do I know that you are a princess? The answer is quite simple. It is the way you carry yourself. Also I recall a little red headed brat during a visit to the palace. To think that that same spoiled child would be seated before me. Also," the prisoner smirks, "The guard called you, your highness."

"I see so we have met before," Karine remarks, "I do not suppose that you know anything of what is going on in the outside world."

"No, they keep that sort of news well hidden," the prisoner comments, "but everyone here figures that things are out of sorts. Conditions have never been great or even decent, but recently they have gotten worse. In addition to that the arrival of several recent high level transfers such as myself makes people wonder."

"So you have figured out that much. I will not lie to you about this. Lelouch and his faction have taken control of Britannia. He controls North America along with his previous conquests in Asia. The EU is still independent. Africa is a bit of a mess in part thanks to your brother. In South America Theseus is trying to stay independent."

"I take it that you have gathered some influence here in Africa."

"Yes," Karine replies, "however I no longer use any royal titles."

"Of course proclaiming yourself a Britannian princess would require you to submit to the emperor or be declared a rebel. The EU and those elements that wish to remain loyal would have to turn against you. If you simply declare yourself some sort of protector or representative, then they have to accept you given the current situation."

Karine is still not sure about the prisoner.

"What is the purpose of your visit?" the prisoner asks.

"I am here to gauge what sort of man the brother of the Vampire of Britannia is."

The prisoner grins a huge smile showing almost yellow teeth. By now Karine has become accustomed to this sort of thing, horrible smells, teeth etc.

"What sort of man, am I?"

Karine never forgets that the man sitting before her was once too sadistic and violent to be a member of the Knights of the Round. In fact that man never had any command responsibilities. Simply put he is a killer and nothing more.

"You are the sort of man that may be able to assist in this particular endeavor," Karine replies, "I assume that you have been assessing the prisoners and guards to possibly attempt an escape."

"Perhaps, this is not the place I wanted to spend my late twenties in. I thought about a nice beach house near Acapulco."

"I suppose you will know which prisoners can be rehabilitated to fit our needs and which guards may also be useful."

"This prison is full of both since it houses military prisoners. If you have a list of all the prisoners in Africa, perhaps something can be done with them as well."

"Yes, I have considered that," Karine answers, "I had someone quickly tap into the prison network to assess who can be useful. For now this group of individuals is being kept separate. However it will not be long before Lelouch asserts control over the Homeland and the EU recovers. By that time we will have to be ready to defend ourselves."

"Do you have the authority to make such moves? What if the warden does not allow you to take any prisoners?"

The door opens, and Karine's assistant walks in.

"My Lady, we have control of the prison."

"Very well. Prepare to move the prisoners that we discussed earlier. Mr. Bradley, will, hopefully, provide us with a few names we did not think of."

The prisoner nods. He understands that Karine is performing not only for his benefit but for the guards as well. He assumes that someone on Karine's staff must know either a high level guard or a respected prisoner. Karine tosses keys onto the table.

"Join us for a small banquet that we are having in honor of the men who have defended this prison in spite of all that is going on in the world," Karine says walking out of the room.

The prisoner takes the keys and undoes his shackles. He is previously resigned to his certain death by starvation, but now he has the opportunity to go down fighting. He wonders what other surprises and toys Karine has prepared.

**Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Hannah and Chelsea nervously step into Lelouch's presence. Unlike Marika and Liliana who are also with them, they are not used to being around Lelouch. The other KOR have their assignments. Gino and Anya are securing the Homeland. Alice and Dalque are with Euphemia who is touring the Homeland. Goodley and Sanderson are doing what they do (Nobody actually knows what that is though). Sora and Urabe are escorting Lihua Jiang and Kaguya yama Britannia back to China and Japan.

"You Majesty, we have the report on the raid of the island," Hannah states.

Lelouch nods for her to continue.

"It seems that some of the targets have recently been removed, and we encountered some resistance."

"Very well. I will look at your report. Lilicia has your new assignment. That is all."

After Hannah and Chelsea leave, Marika and Liliana give their report.

"We had slightly more success, Your Majesty," Marika reports, "We also encountered resistance. It would have been easier if we had had newer model knightmares."

"But we understand the need for using Ios and Gloucesters, Your Majesty," Liliana adds while looking at her friend.

Even though it is Lelouch, there is still the need to be formal. Even Nunnally has been heard calling Lelouch Your Majesty recently.

"I will look at your reports. I believe that Lloyd wants to see you."

Both girls hesitate slightly before nodding, bowing, and leaving.

"You can be quite scary at times," CC states as she walks towards Lelouch, "Do you want to here my report?"

Lelouch sighs, "I suppose that it is similar to the others. Where is Kallen?"

"I believe she is consoling the little girls."

"That's silly. It isn't like I yelled at them."

CC smirks, "Your silent demeanor makes you so much more frightening than Charles could ever hope to be. His size always gave him an advantage."

Lelouch growls a little.

"Little Lulu is very scary."

Lelouch glares at Nonette.

"Size isn't everything, CC. Besides I could finish the two of you off before you even now what hit you."

Nonette smirks at the opening Lelouch leaves.

"Well I never thought I would here the Emperor say that size does not matter."

"Do you have to report, Nonette or are you just hear to talk about your penis envy?"

Nonette sighs, "It seems that someone else stole your idea."

"Yes, I am getting the same feeling," Lelouch says as he stands, "Hand you report to Ayame and rest. We will discuss the issue at a later time."

After Lelouch leaves, Nonette glances at CC.

"So what do you think?" Nonette asks the former immortal.

"What do I think about what?"

"Do you think he is angry because he moved too slowly or because someone else outsmarted him?"

CC ponders the question for a moment.

"Both, neither, if he had sent those little girls to Africa a few hours sooner, they would have killed Karine. Then he would be questioning whether or not that is what he wants. He can no longer pretend to be his father's puppet. Rather he is now the puppet master who will make the world dance to his tune."

Nonette grins, "So you are a philosophizer. Little Kalli tells me that you are a pizza connoisseur. One of my father's oldest friends descends from Italian immigrants who moved here over a century ago. I believe you may enjoy what he has to offer."

As always CC is intrigued by the possibility of pizza so she follows Nonette.

Meanwhile Lelouch is meeting with his wives once more to discuss the most recent operation. Given the militaristic nature of the missions, Cornelia receives briefings on them as well. By the expression on Lelouch's face, they can tell that things do not go according to plan.

"Which one did they miss?" Euphemia asks.

"The one I wanted dead the most," Lelouch responds.

This does really tell them anything since all the targets are considered high priority. However Kallen has an idea because she discussed the issue with CC earlier.

"Are you going to tell him?"

"I do not see the point in that, at least for now," Lelouch replies, "We should concentrate on our other projects. Karine is not about to tell the world that she is employing people so violent that my father had them imprisoned."

The others are not pleased that Lelouch and Kallen are the only one that know what they are talking about.

"Would you mind telling us what you two are talking about?" Cornelia asks.

"No," Lelouch curtly replies, "Now on to more important issues. The war did not seem to hurt too much of the agricultural production. Much of the local production is returning to normal."

"We have also cut the imperial quota in half," Milly comments, "In addition we are using available funds to purchase large quantities of food for the various food banks and soup kitchens throughout the city."

"The California factories are also picking up production once more," Shirley states nervously glancing at Kallen who nods, "The armament factories will up to capacity with the newest technology within two months."

"Very well, I will look at the reports tonight," Lelouch remarks, "We will reconvene in the morning."

Everyone leaves except for Cornelia and Lelouch.

"I do not like being left in the dark on matters that affect the military," Cornelia states, "I also do not like how," Cornelia pauses, "Kallen seems to know more than the rest of us.

Lelouch sighs, "I have more important matters to take care of than to deal with your petty jealousies," Lelouch says as he stands.

As Lelouch leaves, Cornelia realizes that Lelouch is much more efficient at playing this game than their father. Whereas Charles has them compete against each other simply to see who is the best, Lelouch offers his affections to those that do well. It is not that simple, but it is the general gist of the matter.

Lelouch heads towards the rooms of his younger siblings. On his way there he notices that Suzaku is training with Kallen. Lelouch knows that this is usually the only time that he and Nunnally get to spend alone so it makes him wonder about it. However upon reaching Nunnally's room, he understands the reasoning for the Japanese man's exit. She is listening to some sort of loud music.

"Nunnally, can you turn that down? Lelouch asks (actually it is more of a yell).

"Hey big brother, what's going on?" Nunnally inquires, but she does not turn down the music.

"Turn down the music!"

"What? I can't here you," Nunnally states, "Here let me turn it down," Nunnally turns down her music, but does not turn it off, "That's better."

"Nunnally, what is that?" Lelouch hesitates before calling Nunnally's taste in music noise.

Nunnally lifts up a case.

"They are the Beatles. Don't they sound cool?"

"Um yes," Lelouch replies in an inconclusive manner. Lelouch remembers his mother liking a singer from the southeastern part of the Homeland. During his final year at West Point, he remembers that the man entered the military as regular soldier. Lelouch wonders what happened to that man.

"Suzu doesn't like them," Nunnally remarks, "He is too much of a square," Nunnally forms a square with her fingers.

"Yes, well remember that marriage is all about compromise," Lelouch does not really want to get into this sort of conversation with Nunnally as he is already having to deal with such issues in regards to Evelyn. Also because he thinks that Nunnally will be able to find allies amongst his wives.

Nunnally simply shrugs her shoulders.

"Fine, I will keep that in mind. Is there anything else?"

"No, I just came to check on you."

Nunnally smirks, "So you wanted an excuse to get away."

Lelouch sighs, "Not quite, but it is not easy just to keep working without being questioned."

Nunnally grunts, "So you plan on working through the night."

"Yes, I don't see why it should be a problem."

"Well don't forget to use some that time for your family."

Lelouch sighs once more.

"Yes, yes, I will not forget. Don't you forget to spend time with Suzaku while you listen to your… um music."

Lelouch kisses Nunnally on the forehead and exits her room. Lelouch makes his way to his office. Kallen and Milly are waiting for him there.

"Did you tell Cornelia the specifics of today's missions?" Milly asks.

"No, there is no need," Lelouch answers, "Let's go. There is still a lot of work to do. They are waiting for us on Kamine Island. Alice and Euphie are already there."

Kallen and Milly nod. Tonight they will be exploring the Thought Elevators to discover the locations of the others. Lelouch wants to use the Thought Elevators to keep control of the world. Lelouch also hopes to track down his father, but he is not sure what to do once that is accomplished.

**March 23, 2021, South Pole**

"When are we going to leave this horrid place?" GG inquires (well it is actually more of a scream).

Charles ignores her as he has been doing since their arrival at the South Pole. Obviously he would have preferred to find Marianne and have her take this woman's code, but his agents could not find her. Not to mention the fact that Lelouch completely controls Pendragon. That boy is much too prepared for this. Charles should have done something about it, but he expected Lelouch and Nunnally to accept Ragnarok. He expected them to accept the world without lies. It must have been CC; no it must have been those others in their lives that changed them. That red haired girl and that Kururugi boy turned Lelouch and Nunnally.

GG continues ranting. By now Charles and his Geass Order minions are used to it.

"Silence woman!" Charles shouts, "If you do like it, you are free to leave, but remember this. Lelouch controls most of the world and the access points to the Thought Elevators. If we had not taken extra measures here, he would have control of this base as well."

Charles and GG are able to use their codes to seal the South Pole Thought Elevator from the outside world.

GG sighs and sit down. Charles continues to plan his revenge. He knows that at some point GG will leave to try to get her own revenge. However that is not Charles' concern because he has his own vengeance to plan. No matter how long it takes he will destroy Lelouch and Nunnally's world and bring about his own vision.

**Bermuda**

Edward Kensington Ashford realizes that the easiest path is to surrender, however he cannot do that. If not for certain knowledge gained over the past year, he would be seeking asylum through his daughter. However his true loyalty will not allow him to do that instead he fights the current world order. In this regards there are very few allies available. For the most part he has to rely on these Order/Cult goons. However now as Lelouch's reign enters its third month, other dissenters are coming out. Most of these are former government agents and soldiers.

Being the father of a current empress who was also once allied with the current emperor's mother does not exactly bode well for Lord Ashford; however most of these people do not have anywhere else to go. For now they will have to continue to use safe houses throughout the east coast of the mainland. There one unusual place that is under their control, the island of Bermuda. In fact the Britannia-EU war leaves the status of several North Atlantic territories unsettled. Even as Lelouch moves across the Homeland, several nobles and high ranking officials begin looking for a way out. The Caribbean, Atlantic, and Africa are the most obvious locations. There is also one last available, but it is not something that Lord Ashford wants to do, however many of his allies at least want him to attempt that option.

**Greenland**

"Is this really necessary?" Salzaar asks, "I think we should try to make our own moves."

Kannon looks at the former KOR. He does not doubt the knight's loyalty to Schniezel. Why else would he keep coming back? Still Salzaar is not exactly the brightest of people. Of course Kannon would rather have Schniezel's faction move on its own, but they do not have the resources or allies. Due to Lelouch's purges, there are plenty in Britannia who they can use, but none have the resources to be useful. The news of what Schniezel did in Europe is probably spreading so there so that will be a deterrent.

Kannon understands that Schniezel will one day rise out of his dormant slumber and rise to take power however when that will happen is unknown. In fact it may not even happen in Kannon's lifetime. This what Kannon must prepare for. He must prepare for Schniezel's future rise. Out of all the groups containing a code bearer, Schniezel's is the least informed. Kannon will have to find a way to overcome this. For now he will provide assistance to others. He hopes that this aid will destabilize the world enough to encourage Schniezel to move.

"Just provide Lord Ashford with necessary material and information. Theseus will need the knightmare diagrams. For now we will not aid Karine unless she asks for it. As for the EU, that is another matter."

Salzaar grunts, "As you order, Lord Maldini. I would like to add that the men are growing restless at the inactivity of the prince."

"Well there isn't much that we can do about that. If the men do not like it, they have other options. Personally I would like to keep this garrison at a minimum at least until his highness chooses to act."

Kannon dismisses Salzaar and goes to check up on Schniezel. There is nothing physically wrong with Schniezel. In fact even without his code, he is quite healthy, however his state of mind if not the best. Kannon supposes that it is to be expected given the fact that Lelouch has been outsmarting Schniezel for years. Kannon must do what he can to serve his lord.

**May 1, 2021, Berlin, Germany, European Union **

The old Chancellor is walking through the streets of Berlin. It is not where he would like to be on this particular day. Throughout the continent so-called workers' parties of varying degrees are celebrating Worker Solidarity. The Chancellor is not a particular favorite of these groups due to his breaking of their unions. The Chancellor can do nothing about Germany being part of the EU, but he can stop foreign ideas form entering his nation. More importantly this is not the time to be discussing such foolish matters as international worker solidarity. Britannian workers are not worrying about such matters. At the moment he is preparing a speech to confront the lies of the un-patriotic left wing extremists.

'Your Excellency, they are ready for you,' the major in charge of his detail states.

The old Chancellor makes his way towards the podium. As he organizes his papers, he looks up and notices that there are several younger people in his audience. They must have been sent by his opponents to disrupt his speech. It has been happening for years, but he is too calm and composed for that to affect him. Throughout the years he has been the force keeping Germany dominant within the EU. He looks over the notes given to him about the opposition's speech. Suddenly there is a large commotion in the audience.

'Death to tyrants!'

A muscular private knocks the Chancellor down. The private quickly rises to his feet and begins to fire. The four assailants are quickly taken down. One of the Chancellor's bodyguards is dead, and several are wounded, however the Chancellor, himself, is not shot. His bodyguards move quickly to get him away, but he stands his ground.

'I will not leave. That is what they want. I will stay and give my speech.'

The old Chancellor stands firm and gives his speech in which he admonishes the people of Europe to stand against the Worker Solidarity Movement.

'The enemy is Britannia as it has been for over a century!'

After the speech the Chancellor is taken away. Despite the flow of adrenaline that courses through his veins after the failed attack, the fact that he is in his late seventies is taken into account.

'Bring me the boy who saved me.'

'Yes, Your Excellency.'

The old Chancellor knows, having been a soldier himself, that his attackers are complete incompetents. Despite being at near point blank range, they missed him. Hell they didn't even hit that podium or the private who jumped on top of him. The fact that any of his men got hit probably is due to luck. That certainly does not stop the old man from using the attack to his advantage. The nervous private is brought into the room.

'Take a seat, my boy. I have been reviewing your file. You seem like the type of person that I can use to continue my goal of a strong united German-led EU.'

The private nods. Both men realize that having been assigned to guard the old Chancellor is a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in that he is a high profile person, but a curse in that he is being marginalized. However the old man has other ideas. To him, Britannia is even more dangerous now than ever. Charles zi Britannia was always full of rhetoric. That man always allowed others to do the work for him. Lelouch vi Britannia is much more dangerous. After all he is the man who conquered half the world in less than a decade. The old Chancellor looks at the young man before him. It will have to be young men like this who will stop the Britannian menace.

**May 27, 2021, Santa Lucian Mountains, California Military District, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Since it is the twins' birthday, Lelouch is allowing them to tour a top secret knightmare factory. Naturally he has other reasons for being there.

"Okay you guys have to be good for Nina."

"Ah Ninas, we wanted Uncle Lloyd," Castor states.

"I likes Auntie Cecile better," Pollux remarks.

"Unfortunately they are occupied with other matters. Don't worry Sora is going with you guys, and she is proficient in all that techno-babble."

Milly and Nina are walking towards Lelouch, the twins, Evelyn, and the Knight of Eleven.

"Well that is my cue to leave," Lelouch states, "Oh, did I forget to mention that Milly is upset because you guys didn't let her throw a huge birthday bash?" The twins shake their heads, "Don't worry about it. I am sure that it is nothing."

Lelouch quickly makes his exit.

"Where does he think he is going?" Milly asks.

The twins think about it for a moment.

"He is sneaking off to meet Uncle Lloyd and Auntie Cecile," Castor answers.

"Ya, they probably gots something cool," Pollux remarks with a sigh.

"Don't worry because we are going to have lots of fun," Nina remarks.

"Can we use knightmares?" Castor asks.

"Of course not," Evelyn quickly responds before Milly can say anything, "You are still too young for that."

"I has an idea," Pollux states, "What if Milly and Soras have a duel."

"Well that is up to them," Evelyn replies, "Lady Einstein, you may begin the tour."

Lelouch makes his way through a hallway to get to Lloyd's laboratory. Against the wall are several large containers. Lelouch spends a few moments looking at them.

"It is a pity that we could not find the other," Lloyd observes

"Yes, I wonder what happened to them," Lelouch says with a sigh, "No time to ponder on what could have been. Let's see this new power suit that you have developed."

"Just follow me, Jeremy-kun and Sayo-chan are already here."

Lelouch smirks at Lloyd's use of Japanese honorifics. He assumes that Jeremiah finds it annoying. It does not surprise Lelouch that Lloyd learns new languages quickly. Obviously he would find learning Japanese useful since it is the language that Nunnally and Suzaku use.

Lelouch can tell by the look in Jeremiah's eyes that Lloyd has been particularly annoying today. A way to remedy that problem appears when Kallen walks in with Cecile.

"How about we test out these new power suits with a little match?"

Normally the ultra loyal Jeremiah would reject such an offer from his emperor, however today is a little different.

"That is acceptable, Your Majesty."

**The Azores**

Lord Ashford is able to use some of Schniezel's European connections to secure the Azores. A part of him would like to unite resources with Schniezel's group. On some level they may still do that, but more importantly will be the contacts within the EU.

"Lord Ashford, the subject is ready."

"I will be there shortly."

For Lord Ashford, this project will be his legacy. Hopefully it will change the course of the world.

**August 3, 2021, Paris, France, European Union**

Layla Makal is a unique situation. While the EU has a democratic system, most of its member states do not. The continent is full of royalty and nobility, and not the figurehead type. The situation is particularly tricky for people like Layla who comes from a long line of Britannian nobles. She is not the only one. With many ties to the Europe, over the years many Britannian nobles conduct business in Europe. Naturally these are the times when there is no war going on. Over the past decade fewer nobles come to Europe. Those that disagree with the emperor flee to areas controlled by Lelouch vi Britannia and others.

For Layla the decision is made by her father over ten years ago. Layla does not regret the decision. Even with new rulers, Britannia is still the same while the European Union is making strides to improve. According to her father, she has met the new Britannian emperor several times; however Layla does not remember the occasions. She also sees this as an attempt by her father to accept her nobility. During the decade long war with Britannia, Layla is able to escape her fate by joining the military. Due to her nobility, she is able move up the ranks quickly although her skill also helps.

She takes interest in units made up of people whose nations are conquered by Britannia in particular the Japanese. Her current unit is made up completely of displaced Japanese. While it may seem like a long way, they have vowed to retake their homeland.

At the moment Layla is meeting with a representative from the Central Hemicycle. There have been rumors that her unit being mostly Japanese will provide protection for the Japanese government in exile located in Marseilles.

'_Lady Makal, please have a seat.'_

Layla does as she is instructed.

'_Thank you for meeting with me, Representative Foucher,' _Layla states.

'_Yes,' _the representative remarks, _'I believe that you have some idea why I have called you for this meeting.' _

'_I have hear rumors, and I must say that it is quite honor to be considered for such a position.'_

'_I am glad that you think so because your father believes that you would be against the assignment.'_

Layla is a little surprised that her father is informed of her assignment; however she recalls his many connections in the government. Suddenly she realizes that they may not be talking about the same assignment.

'_My father, I do not understand why he would be involved in this matter.' _Layla states.

The representative clears his throat.

'_Lady Layla Makal along with your unit, the 23__rd__ Irregular Japanese Knightmare Company, will provide protection for the new ambassador to the Holy Empire of Britannia. Naturally your capacity will be junior military advisor to the ambassador. General Romanov will be the primary military advisor.' _

'_What is the extent of our assignment? You cannot expect someone of my caliber and background to simply backup someone like General Romanov.'_

Normally Layla does not use her rank to get out of assignments, but this mission seems insulting.

'_We considered your concerns. Your primary task will be espionage. At least that will be the primary task of your unit. You must not endanger yourself personally. If need be, use your social status to escape any difficult situations. If necessary you may have to be exiled,'_

'_What about the rest of my unit? They do not have the social status to escape.'_

'_That will be up to you, Lady Makal. You will only take those that volunteer for this mission. The rest will be reassigned to something else. You do not need to answer immediately,'_ the representative pauses, _'but remember that others will want this prestigious assignment.'_

The representative does not push too hard. He understands Layla's apprehension. By now she must know that her father set this up.

'_Allow me to discuss the matter with my unit. I will have an answer for you tomorrow.'_

The representative nods and sets up another meeting with her for tomorrow. As Layla leaves that office, she begins to ponder the situation. The new ambassador is said to be Italian. Considering that his main military advisor will be a Russian general distantly related to the Russian rulers. There are also other rumors about who will be on the ambassador's staff. Taking all of this into account, now they also want to send Layla's unit of Britannian and Japanese exiles. It seems that the EU embassy to the Holy Empire of Britannia will be full of people who dislike the nation and its emperor in particular.

Layla enters her unit's work station. Since it is peace time, they work in an office rather than a knightmare hangar.

"_Akito, gather the rest of the unit. We have a new assignment," _Layla sighs, _"It is not quite what we believed it to be." _

It takes a few minutes to gather the unit. Once they are all there, Layla begins to go over their assignment. Many are not pleased with the situation. Others surmise that the secondary assignment is actually what they want, and that the mission to Britannia is for Layla and anyone crazy enough to follow her.

The next day Layla returns to meet the representative.

'_Lady Makal, have a seat.'_

Layla takes her seat and places a piece of paper on the representative's desk. There are only seven names on the paper: Layla Makal, Akito Hyuga, Ryo Sayama, Yukia Naruse, Ayano Kosaka, Kenta Sato, Keiko Takahashi.

'_Is this all that will be accompanying you, Lady Makal?'_

'_Yes, unfortunately most of my unit does not see this as the sort of assignment that they would like to do. Also I assume that they will not simply allow us to have a small garrison at the embassy.'_

'_Yes, I suppose that you are correct. I gather that most of them figured out that the consolation prize is what they are really after. I must ask you why you have decided to take this assignment.'_

Layla shrugs her shoulders.

'_Does it matter? I have accepted the assignment and will await my orders. Is there anything else?'_

The representative looks at the list and sighs. He dismisses Layla with a wave.

Layla leaves the office with a small sense of satisfaction. She wonders if they realize why she is really taking this assignment. If she is spying in Britannia, then her father cannot play matchmaker unless he hopes to set her up with a Britannian noble, but she highly doubts that. Layla will make the best of this assignment. If Lelouch vi Britannia is plotting anything, she will uncover it.

**August 31, 2021, Kinshasa, United Areas of Africa**

For Karine the arrival of opening of An EU consulate is huge. It is the first step towards establishing diplomatic relations. Though technically Africa is under Britannian control, Karine hopes that the recognition of the EU leads to true independence. Hopefully it will start a domino effect that tears Lelouch's empire apart.

**the site of Neo-Pendragon, about 190 miles southwest of Pendragon**

Villetta Nu and the newly arrived Kewell Soresi are making their way to the site of Lelouch's new capital city. Along with reports on the reconstruction of Pendragon, there is also information about the arrival of the new EU ambassador and his staff which includes a small military contingent. Obviously several meetings will have to be set up. It takes as long to dock and disembark the airship as it does to travel. Still it is a fairly quick way to travel. Jeremiah is waiting for them at the airship dock. In the span of five years, airships have replaced all other forms of long distance travel for military and government purposes. According to Lelouch's State of the Empire address given a few months ago, airships and magnetic trains will soon be widely available and affordable to the general public.

"Their Majesties are waiting for your reports, Lord Soresi, Lady Nu."

Kewell nods and looks around. He notices that Neo-Pendragon is already developing quite well. A shuttle comes for them and takes them to a large palace complex which dominates the center of the city.

Waiting for them is Sayoko who quickly takes them through the hallway. Kewell simply glances at the dozens of soldiers standing guard are moving throughout. Jeremiah, Villetta, and Sayoko ignore them as if they were part of the wall. Kewell supposes that that must be the way that things are conducted here in the Homeland. After walking for a few minutes they reach a door with no guards. Sayoko signals for them through the door.

Inside the dimly lit room are three thrones. In front of the thrones are giant tinted windows that look down upon the city. Along the wall to both sides of the door are the Knights of the Round. In front of the KOR are Sancia, Lucretia, Cecile, and Lloyd. Standing in front of them are Kallen, Milly, and Suzaku. The red head signals for them to come forward. A flash of pink lets them know that Euphemia is on the right throne. Suzaku standing behind the throne on the left indicates that Nunnally is there. The sight of Evelyn wiggling lets them know that Lelouch is obviously in the middle throne. Jeremiah, Kewell, and Villetta present themselves before their master. Lelouch simply extends his hand and takes their reports. From this angle, they now notice that the twins are sitting on their older sisters' laps (actually they are sleeping). Evelyn motions towards the rear with her eyes signaling them to stand behind the thrones. Jeremiah, Villetta, and Kewell stand and do what they have been doing for over ten years, watching Lelouch, Euphemia, and Nunnally. Lelouch stretches out his hands towards his sisters.

* * *

Author's note: Lots of notes here. Over the past week in particular the occupants of the room have been changing. At first I did not have Euphemia and Milly in the room. It was just Lelouch and Nunnally sitting on two thrones. I decided to add them because I felt that it went along with the rest of the story in particular the first few chapters. The first scene of chapter one has Lelouch, Nunnally, and Euphemia playing. Of importance is who is not in the room.

The next chapter will contain a small epilogue. It will also contain a history of knightmare technology in this story. There may some other stuff like rants on Code Geass and other stuff. I had a rant about Suzaku planned at the bottom, but it will have to wait.

The first five people on Layla Makal's list are from Code Geass: Akito The Exiled. The last two names I made up. Ayano and Keiko are females for those that care to know.

I have discussed the Code Geass timeline before. At the moment it is 2021 ATB which means it is 1966 AD. Now the use of real world people is meant to give everyone a scope of where things are. They will mostly continue to be background characters. I found it interesting that most of the today's world leaders would be Lelouch's age. However since he is royalty and they are not, he is the leader of the largest nation in the world, and they are probably college students or soldiers.

I always wanted to make the EU war a bigger deal. The problem is that the Code Geass timeline does not fit, and I just did not want to create a bunch of OCs. The major problem is that by the 1960's most of the European leaders that I am familiar with would be dead even if allowed to live out their natural lifespan. These being from the two World Wars. I found it interesting that most WW II German military leaders were in their 50's and 60's while those for Hitler's other projects were in their 30's and 40's.

Have I stated what the locations of all the Thought Elevators are? These are the ones shown on a screen shot or in the series. The screen shot from the Code Geass wikia page is my source. It shows one in Siberia, but I think this should be the Gobi Desert (China) one. It also shows one on Cuba, but I think this really should be the Pendragon one. Well I have given all four of these locations one along with New York and India. The total is eleven. The ones without a specific location are not yet decided. I suppose they are still up for debate, but they will still be in that general location. For some the location name is where it is in the real world.

1 South Pole  
2 Pendragon  
3 London  
4 India  
5 Havana, Cuba  
6 New York  
7 S. Zaire  
8 Azerbaijan  
9 Siberia  
10 Gobi Desert  
11 Kamine Island

The next sentence is sort of a spoiler so if you don't want to know a little about Evelyn's future, ignore it. However if you are a semi-intelligent person you probably already figured out who Evelyn is marrying. Ichiro Futaba is Evelyn's grandson named after his granduncle.

On a final humorous spoilerish note, nice to see that the creators of the Avengers movie stole my idea of a battleship that turns into a stealth capable airship. Of course they could have also gotten the idea from someone else, but I did write about it over a year ago.

Knights of the Round

1 Anya Alstriem  
2 Gino Weinberg  
3 Alice Liddell  
4 Dalque  
5 Marika Soresi  
6 Liliana Vergamon  
7 James Trevor Goodley  
8 Anthony Michael Sanderson  
9 Hannah Gottwald  
10 Chelsea Nu  
11 Sora Cummins  
12 Kosetsu Urabe


	106. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters.

_French is in italics. _

While this is the end of this part of the story, it is really the middle of a much larger saga. There will be quite a few notes at the beginning.

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited this story. Starting with Alecx0001, falcon askael, FictionReader553, Gertsong LK, United88, and 0208 who favorited it from the beginning. In addition Wes, NoLifeKing666, Mats Forsen, Erifrats101, Ionic Amalgam, Teucrian, god of all, the dark euphie, Ai-no-tsubasa, and Slices who reviewed the early chapters. I would also like to thank Karndragon, clr2, SeigZeon, 107602, AnubisGundam0, Observer01, Kevblkred, The true not important, Sephiroth 12285, Umbra8191, and Sil Arion who began reviewing later on into the story. Most of these people also gave ideas and suggestions for this story and beyond. In case I missed anyone I want to thank anyone who reviewed and those that put me on story or author alert.

**Lelouch's wars (so far)**

Britannian-EU war (African war) 2014  
Invasion of Southeast Asia 2015  
African Invasion 2016  
Britannian-EU war (North Africa) 2017  
Conquest of Middle Eastern Federation 2017  
Japanese revolts 2017-18  
Britannian-EU war (Siberian invasion) 2018  
Chinese takeover 2019  
Chinese Civil War 2020-21  
Britannian Civil War 2020-21

This epilogue has spoilers coming out every orifice so if you don't want to know how certain things turn out, don't read it. Although they should not necessarily affect the continuation. If you do read it, I hope that it gets you excited for the two continuations. The author's notes have some good stuff including a short history of knightmares up to seventh generation knightmares. The next chapter will contain sections that did not make it in to Rise of the Black Prince for various reasons.

**July 4, 2100 ATB, vi Britannia Mausoleum, Neo-Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Evelyn makes her way home from Lelouch's funeral. Very few people are surprised that he makes it past on hundred years. Many thought that he would even outlast Evelyn, but she would rather not think about such matters. Despite not having been the actual ruler for over two decades Lelouch continues to impact Britannia and the world. Evelyn wanted her brother to continue living. It certainly is not fair to force him to continue living while many of his contemporaries are dead. Having sixty-three year old grandson certainly does not make one feel young. At least Lelouch survived long enough to see his great-great grandchildren. Obviously he will see many more generations, but it is still an amazing feat. Of course Evelyn has several great grandchildren of her own.

"Grandmother, we have arrived at Aries Villa."

"Thank you, Jinta dear. I will be out in a moment."

Unlike some of the others like Cornelia, Evelyn does not mind not living in Lelouch's new grand capital. It helps keep her away from all the political nonsense although many in Pendragon like to pretend that it is still the most important city in the world.

Evelyn exits her car and heads towards the garden. She tries her best to maintain its appearance, but she is beginning to relinquish many of those duties to her grandchildren and their spouses. Evelyn sits and states at the sky.

"Is something wrong, Jinta?"

"No, grandmother, however Sarah wants to know if you would like any refreshments.

Evelyn shakes her head.

"No dear, I do not need anything. Tell your wife to take a break. I will just sit here in my mother's garden."

Jinta nods and goes into the house. Evelyn sighs. She has nothing against her granddaughter-in-law, however if given the choice she would have chosen for her grandson not to marry the granddaughter of Jeremiah Gottwald, although it means that the palace is in good hands.

"Lady Evelyn, it is cold out here. I asked Jinta to bring you inside or at least get you a blanket."

Evelyn smiles, "It is alright, Sarah," Evelyn pats the bench next to her, "Have a seat. I just want to sit in my mother's garden and look up at the sky."

**November 14, 2090 ATB, vi Britannia Mausoleum, Neo-Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Jinta Futaba is surprised that his grandmother lasted this long. Having lost her husband many years ago, her older sister about a decade ago, her little brothers a few years ago, and finally her older brother a few months ago, there is only so much that a person can handle. At least they all lived long and fruitful lives. Instead of returning home to Pendragon, Jinta decides to spend some time in the Mausoleum. His wife, Sarah, keeps watch. It is one of the benefits of having married a Gottwald.

"It is quite an impressive structure, is it not?"

Jinta turns to see who it is. He does not immediately recognize the purple haired man.

"The name is Charles vi Britannia."

"Are you related to my grand-uncles?" Jinta asks. Jinta is not quite the vi Britannia historian that his wife is which is sad given that they are his family.

"Not quite, my family tree branches out a little sooner."

Jinta remembers that some of Lelouch's wives got to use the vi Britannia name although he does not recall which ones. Although given that the man before him has purple hair, it must be Cornelia.

"The Emperor has an unusual sense of humor," Charles states.

Jinta begins to nods until he notices the words that Charles uses. Lelouch is the only the Emperor in the world. All other rulers are referred by their name. Charles signals for Jinta to follow.

"Your life will change the moment you follow me," Charles states, "If you wish to maintain the sort of life that your grandmother, then you should join your wife outside."

Jinta closes his eyes for a moment and decides to follow Charles.

**January 1, 2201 Ascension Throne Britannia/Year 1 After Colony**

The black haired boy and the pink haired girl are holding hands. They are waiting for the flight to begin boarding. The Neo-Pendragon Space Port is the busiest in the world. Although the fact that it is one of four on the North American continent has to do with that as does being the oldest. The other space ports are located at Britannia City, Dallas, and New New York. The black haired boy still finds it silly that they added another new to the name of the city. Naturally now nobody remembers who or why the city is once destroyed, but he remembers. He also knows that that person is still out there somewhere, waiting.

"Space Shuttle One going to Lelouch Colony, Nunnally City, and Evelyn Town now boarding!"

The black haired cringes at the names given to the space colonies. The pink haired smiles and pulls him forward. The others waiting in line wonder why they are the first to board. Since this is the first civilian shuttle to the space colonies, it is naturally expected that certain individuals should go first. Of course in these sorts of situations money and influence talk, and nobody has more than these two lovers.

The pink haired girl takes the window seat since she has never been into outer space. The black haired boy has made many trips over the years.

They decided a few months ago to live in Lelouch Colony. The pink haired girl is looking over the eight different sections (Kallen, Milly, Euphie, Shirley, Lucretia, Ayame, Cornelia, Anya). Despite having an attachment to a certain section, the pink haired girl concedes to them living in the Kallen section.

Despite this being the official opening of the colonies, residents have been able to move their personal items for a week. Those with connections have been coming to the colony for two months. The two lovers forgo the opening ceremony and head to their residence. The pink haired girl begins to consider the black haired boy's choices in terms of decorations and furniture. Feeling satisfied with what she sees, she heads up the bedroom where the black haired boy is already lying down on the bed. The girl sighs.

"I guess we are home."

**Year 170 After Colony, Space Colony 4 Castor-Emily**

Demetrio Maldini is holding his newborn son in his arms.

"You shall be named Kannon."

His wife glances at him and sighs. This has been an issue between them for the past nine months until she finally gives in. The Maldini has a particularly unusual custom. Whenever a son is named Kannon, they are sent to a certain temple on Earth to be trained for an unknown task. Demetrio firmly believes in the tradition, but his wife sees it as superstition. In a few years, they will find out who is right.

**Year 175 After Colony, Asteroid Colony **

The old antagonist is preparing to make his move. Over the years he has been working on undermining everything that the boy has been building. The most important thing to remember about being immortal is that one has all the time in the world. Time is of very little consequence. What does it matter if something happens today or in twenty years? However the time for action will come soon enough.

**Year 180 After Colony, Shinjuku, Japan, United Federation of Nations**

Despite having lived most of her life in comfort and luxury the red head has a rebellious streak in her. It is something that she cannot explain. Perhaps in some other life she rebelled against the powers of the world. Notwithstanding the long kept peace that Lelouch establishes, she begins to get an uneasy feeling. A part of her misses her companion even though she is the one that left. She looks over at her small arsenal.

"I guess I better start looking for people who can pilot these things."

**Year 185 After Colony, Milly World (Pendragon), Holy Empire of Britannia, United Federation of Nations**

Immortality has many drawbacks. Obviously it is possible to live like a god and have people worship you and attend to your every desire. Then again it is not exactly that simple when there are seven others like you. However what good is the adoration of millions of people when you only want the attention of one person. For some reason she gets the feeling that she will have the opportunity to prove herself once more. This time se will not lose.

**Year 190 After Colony, Lelouch Colony **

Like she has done may times over the last few centuries, she takes another identity Perhaps one day, she will be able to use the name se was born with. In fact now she barely remembers it. Only the memory of her former master keeps her going. She pulls out a memento from the past, a photograph. Of course over the years she has had to replace it since the original is dust by now. Two teenage girls, one with light brown hair always smiling, the other with blonde hair attempting to look serious. That is the life she once lead. Now her life is one of constant change. Every few years, she takes on a new identity. Unlike the others she must always be watchful. She cannot simply hide. Luckily it seems as if her vigilance has been successful although she will not know for many years.

**Year 195 After Colony, vi Britannia Mausoleum, Neo-Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia**

Unlike most teenage girls, Evelyn vi Britannia has duty to the world if not the solar system. Due to her distinguished lineage, she has many suitors and duties. It is the latter which she curses on this day. Unlike her younger twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, she cannot simply enjoy life. This is what happens when you can trace your ancestors back for over four hundred years. She looks up at the monument of her namesake and wonders what she would have done.

"I wonder."

"Wonder what, child?"

Evelyn turns around and sees old man Lulu standing behind her.

"Oh, I didn't see you there Master Lulu. I was asking her," she says pointing up at the original Evelyn, "what she would do."

Old man Lulu grins, "What she would do or what she wants to do? Above all Evelyn vi Britannia would attend to her duty as a princess of Britannia."

Evelyn sighs at the answer. For some reason her parents and grandparents respect old man Lulu because somehow he has lots of knowledge about ancient times. Some of the other kids consider him some sort of wizard. Evelyn does not believe that sort of superstition. To her, he is just an old man that knows a plethora of useless information. Truth be told Evelyn only pays attention to him because of his cute grandson, Lelouch Lamperouge. Too bad he is not a member of the upper nobility that way Evelyn could marry him.

Suddenly Evelyn hears some a loud noise coming from outside the mausoleum. Old man Lulu stops her from going to investigate it.

"Stay inside, child. You do not want any part of what is about to happen. You should be safe in here."

"What's going on outside?" Evelyn asks.

"It's the end of my world," old man Lulu says as he leaves the vi Britannia Mausoleum.

**July 3, 2023, Paris, France, European Union**

Layla Makal is meeting with the French representatives to the Central Hemicycle. It is very likely that after next months' election one of these men will be the chairman of the EU's ruling body.

"_Sit down, Lady Makal," _the chief representative states, _"We have all read and are impressed by your reports about the current situation in the Britannian homeland."_

"_Thank you, Your Excellency," _Layla replies.

"_You are here for two reasons. The first is that sadly our domestic military situation is in disorder, and a few individuals would like to take advantage. We would like for your team to deal with these situations," _there is a slight pause which intrigues Layla, _"Secondly, there is another mission that we would like for you to undertake, however, we cannot discuss it until you agree to take the mission. We will give you some time to consider it." _

As Layla leaves the meeting, she begins to think of the many possibilities. There is only one mission that she can think of that will require such secrecy. She is not sure whether or not she wants such a dangerous mission, but she knows that it must be done and that she is the most qualified for it.

A few days later after a second meeting with the French representatives, Layla looks at the file on her target.

"Lelouch vi Britannia," Layla says with a sigh, "Things are about to get interesting."

* * *

Author's note: Here is a short history of knightmares in this story. I end at the use of seventh generation knightmares since after this it becomes mostly about personalized specialized knightmares.

Sometime in late 2008 Britannia finalizes the plans for the fourth generation knightmare, the Glasgow. By late 2009, the Glasgow is being mass produced. After a knightmare demonstration in early 2010, Lelouch vi Britannia begins drawing plans for a personal knightmare. He creates the original plans for the Titan, Callisto, and Europa.

After the success of the Glasgow during the invasions of Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines in 2009 and 2010, the EU and Chinese Federation begin to develop their own knightmares. These are the Panzer Hummel and Gun-ru respectively. Britannia also begins to develop the next generation of knightmares, the Sutherland. In early 2012 Lelouch contacts several scientists who may be able to assist him in the creation of his knightmares. In June 2012, Lelouch, Kallen Stadtfeld, and Milly Ashford begin to show that children are capable of using knightmare simulators with ease when they defeat three Knights of the Round. Along with Suzaku Kururugi, Gino Weinberg, and Anya Alstriem, they demonstrate that knightmare piloting is mostly about intelligence and skill rather than physical strength and conditioning. After this Lelouch meets with several scientists who are to build his knightmares. By the end of 2012 Britannian scientists complete the Sutherland.

In early 2013, Lloyd Asplund and Cecile Croomy finish construction of the Titan. Along with Rakshata Chawla, they begin construction of the Europa and Callisto. These are completed by December 2013. At the same time the Sutherland begins to become the knightmare of Britannia's elite pilots. Using the data from the Titan during a large knightmare demonstration over the summer, the three scientists begin work on creating the first mass production sixth generation knightmare, the Io. On April 2, 2014 the Io makes its appearance during a rebellion in Area 10.

In 2014 Lelouch influences several Japanese companies to begin building pieces for what will eventually become the first Japanese knightmare, the Burai. By late 2014, Lloyd and Cecile construct the Titan Mk II and Europa Attack. Theses are slightly more offensive versions compared to their predecessors. Rakshata continues to work on improving the radiant wave surger. By 2015 the Middle East Federation begins working on its own knightmare that is adept at desert fighting, the Bamide. The EU also begins working on improving the Panzer Hummel. Leaked footage of knightmare demonstrations of Lelouch's knightmares, encourages the EU to begin working on specialized knightmare for its elite pilots.

During his invasion of southeast Asia in the spring of 2015, Lelouch begins to experiment with drone knightmares. The majority of these drones are captured enemy knightmares. A few are Burai that Lelouch builds. By late 2015 knightmares surpass other military vehicles as the weapon of choice because of their mobility and relatively low cost. In the summer of 2015, Britannia led by Lelouch develops the Gloucester, the first knightmare created to fight other knightmares. At the same time Japan begins to consolidate its knightmare project.

With the success of the Moons/Io series, Lelouch begins construction of the next generation of knightmares in 2016. He is not alone. At the same time, Schniezel commissions the construction of two unique knightmares, the Lancelot and the Gawain. The pilot for the latter is to be the Knight of Two, Merlin Suzerain, while the former has not pilot at the time of construction. Due to some collaboration between the two princes, Lloyd Asplund completes the Lancelot while Suzaku Kururugi becomes its pilot.

With war in Africa looming, the Knights of the Round commission the building of personal knightmares. Lelouch gains the right to build these knightmares which are based on his Titan. In June of 2016, the Mordred, Guinevere, Morgause, and Lancelot become the first seventh generation knightmares to see combat. By 2017, Lelouch secretly tales control of Japan's knightmare project. By this time the gap in technology between Britannia and the rest of the world is widening to unimaginable levels. Most of this is due to Lelouch and Schniezel's competition.

Below I have three lists dealing with knightmares.

The following is a list of knightmares by generation. First are the mass production models, and then specialized models if any. Also listed is the series name of Lelouch's knightmares. The first is the Moons/Io series. It is named like this because the knightmares are named after moons. With the Io being the name of the mass production model. The second is the Caerleon/Bors series. Caerleon like Camelot is a name for one of Arthur's homes. Bors is the name of the mass production models and is also a Arthurian Knight of the Round. The third is the Moons Legacy series. The knightmare names are mostly takes on the first series. A few continue the Arthurian/northern European naming convention. The fourth is the Caerleon Supremacy series.

4th Glasgow, Burai, Gun-ru

5th Sutherland, Burai Kai, Panzer Hummel, Bamides

6th Io, Gekka, Gloucester, Musketeer, Cossack, Panther  
Moons/Io series 2012-15  
Titan Mk I Titan Mk. II, Callisto Mk I, Europa, Europa Attack, Io

7th Bors, Vincent, Akatsuki, Napoleon, Leopard, Jaguar  
Caerleon/Bors series 2016-17  
Bors, Mordred, Guinevere, Morgause, Callisto Mk. II, Galahad, Epona, Pelleas, Loki, Andarta, Chrysalis, Iseult, Lucan, Lancelot, Gawain, GX-01 Alpha, Titan Mk III,  
Ganymede Princess, Freyja, Tristan, Vlad, Pellinore, Andraste, Shen Hu, Zangetsu, Orochi, Susanoo, Kusanagi, Amaterasu

8th Legacy, Eowyn, Caesar, Alexander, Ashford Legacy, Ashford Eowyn, Boudicca  
Moons Legacy 2018-20  
Titan Mirage, Callisto Ultima, Europa Queen, Ganymede Legacy, Lancelot Conquista, Iseult Ice, Siegfried, GX-01 Beta, Freyja Vanir, Charon, Amaterasu Yamato, Shinigami, Valkyrie, Chrysalis Fantasica, Thanatos, Cerberus, Oberon, Elmo, Tristan Divider, Vlad Taranis, Venus Amore, Persephone, Galahad Grail, Epona Carriage, Pelleas Death, Loki Carnage, Andarta Fire, Merlin Magica, Andraste War, Ares Martius, Percival, Odin Titan Mk IV

9th Supremacy, Titan Mk V  
Caerleon Supremacy 2020-2022  
Arthur Excalibur, Guinevere Avalon, Morgan le Fey, Lancelot Albion, Ganymede Boudicca, Iseult Silencer, Siegfried Dragon, Tristan Legend, GX-01 Omega, Siegfried Sieg, Ganymede Supremacy

This is a list of who used what knightmare in combat. For the sake of simplicity, we can assume that everyone uses Glasgows and Sutherlands until Lelouch begins to build knightmares and gives people options. Some people like Isabel or Faramond never really used knightmares in combat until they use their specialized knightmare.

Lelouch: 6th Titan I/II, 7th Mordred, 8th Titan Mirage 9th Arthur Excalibur  
Kallen: 6th Callisto, 7th Guinevere, 8th Callisto Ultima 9th Guinevere Avalon  
Milly: 6th Europa, 7th Morgause, 8th Europa Queen 9th Morgan le Fey  
Nunnally:7th Ganymede Princess 8th Ganymede Legacy 9th Ganymede Boudicca  
Suzaku: 6th Io, 7th Lancelot, 8th Lancelot Conquista, 9th Lancelot Albion  
Anya: 6th Io, 7th Callisto Mk II/Chrysalis/Iseult, 8th Iseult Ice, 9th Iseult Silencer  
Jeremiah: 6th Io, 7th Lucan, 8th Siegfried, 9th Siegfried Sieg  
Irregulars: 7th GX-01 Alpha, 8th GX-01 Beta, 9th GX-01 Omega  
Euphemia: 7th Freyja, 8th Freyja Vanir  
Villetta: 6th Io, 7th Titan Mk III/Mordred, 8th Charon  
Nagisa: 5th Burai Kai, 6th Gekka, 7th Amaterasu 8th Amaterasu Yamato  
Marika Soresi: 7th Bors/Guinevere, 8th Shinigami  
Liliana Vergamon: 7th Bors/Morgause, 8th Valkyrie  
Sora: 7th Chrysalis, 8th Chrysalis Fantasica  
Hannah Gottwald: 7th Titan Mk IV 8th Thanatos  
Chelsea Nu: 7th Titan Mk IV 8th Cerberus  
Kewell: 6th Io, 7th Bors 8th Legacy Command Model/Oberon  
Isabel: 8th Elmo  
Li Xingke: 9th Siegfried Dragon  
Cornelia: 6th Titan Mk I, Gloucester 7th Bors, 8th Persephone

Faramond: 8th Percival  
Conrad Keyshavrin: 6th Io/Gloucester, 8th Odin  
Marianne: 9th Ganymede Supremacy Bismarck: 6th Io/Titan Mk II, 7th Galahad, 8th Galahad Grail  
Merlin: 6th Io, 7th Gawain, 8th Merlin Magic  
Gino: 6th Io/Europa, 7th Tristan 8th Tristan Divider, 9th Tristan Legend  
Dorothea: 6th Io, 7th Pelleas 8th Pelleas Death  
Salacia: 6th Gloucester, 7th Andraste , 8th Andraste War  
Nonette: 6th Europa Attack, 7th Epona, 8th Epona Carriage  
Thorin: 6th Gloucester, 7th Loki 8th Loki Carnage  
Luciano: 6th Io/Titan Mk I, 7th Vlad , 8th Vlad Taranis  
Monica: 6th Gloucester, 7th Andarta, 8th Andarta Fire  
Aphrodite Venitus: 7th Pellinore 8th Venus Amore  
Amadeus Doedilus 6th Io, 7th Vincent  
Salzaar Gluten: 6th Io, 7th Vincent, 8th Ares Martius

Naoto 5th Burai Kai, 6th Gekka, 7th Shen Hu  
Tohdoh: 5th Burai Kai, 6th Gekka, 7th Zangetsu  
Urabe: 5th Burai Kai, 6th Gekka, 7th Orochi  
Shogo: 5th Burai Kai, 6th Gekka, , 7th Susanoo  
Senba: 5th Burai Kai, 6th Gekka, 7th Kusanagi

This next list is a little more confusing. It shows the paths of development for all knightmares. The knightmares are listed by when they are built not by generation. For example Cornelia's Persephone is completed after Milly's Morgan le Fey despite being of a lower generation. Some knightmares have no immediate predecessor and are unique ideas. I will explain each list.

The Glasgow is in a sense the predecessor to all military knightmares. Unlike the Ganymede, the Glasgow proves that regular soldiers can pilot knightmares over a long period of time. Most non-Britannian knightmares draw ideas from the Glasgow. The Gloucester is sort of personalized version of the Sutherland although it does have many unique features. The Panzer Hummel is a unique European take on knightmares. It is created with the idea to repel a Britannian naval invasion. While its sixth generation knightmares take a Britannian look, the seventh generation returns to the EU form. The Chinese Federation and Middle East Federation copy and adapt the Panzer Hummel to their needs.

Glasgow, Burai, Burai Kai, Musketeer, Cossack, Napoleon,

Sutherland, Gloucester

Panzer Hummel, Gun-ru, Bamides, Panther, Leopard, Jaguar

The Titan has the most variations and successors. Lloyd and Cecile's work on Lelouch's vision for knightmare combat is the most influential thing in the field of knightmare construction. Along with the different variations of Lelouch's knightmares, the Titan is responsible for Euphie, Anya, Villetta, Hannah, and Chelsea's knightmares. The EU also bases their eighth generation knightmares on captured Ios and Bors. The Titan is also the basis for all of Lelouch's mass production knightmares including the Rakshata/Japanese built Akatsuki. Along with the Lancelot, it is the inspiration for all the Knights of the Round knightmares.

Titan MK I, Io, Titan MK II, Titan Mk III, Mordred, Iseult, Freyja, Titan Mk IV, Titan Mirage, Iseult Ice, Charon, Freyja Vanir, Arthur Excalibur, Iseult Silencer, Amaterasu Yamato, Titan Mk V, Thanatos, Cerberus, Caesar, Alexander,

Titan, Galahad, Epona, Pelleas, Loki, Andarta, Vlad, Pellinore, Andraste, Vlad Taranis, Venus Amore, Galahad Grail, Epona Carriage, Pelleas Death, Loki Carnage, Andarta Fire, Andraste War, Ares Martius, Percival,

Titan/Lancelot, Tristan, Tristan Divider, Tristan Legend,

Titan. Io, Bors, Akatsuki, Legacy, Supremacy,

The Europa is based on what the Ganymede would look like given the technological advances. The Callisto is Rakshata's vehicle for the radiant wave. Kallen's masterful use of the Callisto's weapons leads to the radiant wave further development.

Ganymede, Europa, Europa Attack, Morgause, Europa Queen, Valkyrie, Morgan le Fey, Persephone,

Callisto, Callisto Mk II, Gekka, Guinevere, Callisto Ultima, Shinigami, Guinevere Avalon,

The Lancelot is a unique concept created by Britannian scientist Leonard Labie and Lloyd. Since it is funded by Schniezel, he uses it to create the Vincent mass production model. All of Suzaku and Nunnally's knightmares are based it. The plans are stolen by Lord Ashford through connections with Schniezel. Due to this the Ashford Foundation begins to build a series of knightmares based on the Lancelot.

Lancelot, Vincent, Ganymede Princess, Lancelot Conquista, Ganymede Legacy, Lancelot Albion, Ganymede Boudicca, Ganymede Supremacy, Ashford Legacy, Ashford Eowyn, Ashford Boudicca,

The GX-01 series of knightmares are created to enhance the geass powers of a certain group of irregular Britannia military forces. After Lelouch takes control of these forces, the knightmares are also created by his team.

GX-01 Alpha, GX-01 Beta, GX-01 Omega

The remaining knightmares are unique and a few are stand alone models or series.

Gawain, Merlin Magica,

Chrysalis, Chrysalis Fantasica,

Shen Hu, Shen Long,

Eowyn

Lucan, Siegfried, Siegfried Sieg, Siegfried Dragon

Gekka, Zangetsu, Orochi, Susanoo, Kusanagi, Amaterasu

Elmo

Oberon

Odin

**Cornelius li Britannia, 103****rd**** emperor**

Chapter 43 has a quote from Cornelius li Britannia, 103rd emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia. Here is his family tree. After Lelouch, emperors tended to only have one wife therefore their children have the father's name. I tried to make it as easy to read as I could. Lelouch is both a paternal and maternal great grand father to Cornelius. Charles takes three of the eight available great-great grandfather slots. A deeper look tells you that most of Cornelius's genes are those of commoners. Not that it matters but still. Also two of his great grandmothers and one of his great grandfathers are Japanese.

Charles zi Britannia-Marianne vi Britannia= Lelouch vi Britannia 1999, 100th emperor  
Charles zi Britannia-Gabrielle li Britannia= Euphemia li Britannia 2001, 100th empress  
Genbu Kururugi-Midori Kururugi= Suzaku Kururugi 2000  
Joseph Fennette-Valerie Fennette= Shirley Fennette 2000

Lelouch vi Britannia-Euphemia li Britannia= Gabriel li Britannia 2017, 101st emperor  
Suzaku Kururugi-Shirley Fennette= Elizabeth vu Britannia 2017

Gabriel li Britannia-Elizabeth vu Britannia= Michael li Britannia 2037, 102nd emperor

Charles zi Britannia-Marianne vi Britannia= Lelouch vi Britannia 1999, 100th emperor  
James Stadtfeld-Ayana Kouzuki= Kallen kou Britannia 2000  
Stephen Gottwald-Lauren Gottwald= Jeremiah Gottwald 1989  
Shinichiro Shinozaki- Imari Kururmi=Sayoko Shinozaki 1993

Lelouch vi Britannia-Kallen kou Britannia= James kou Britannia 2017, Knight of One  
Jeremiah Gottwald-Sayoko Shinozaki= Kagome Gottwald 2023, Knight of Three

James kou Britannia-Kagome Gottwald= Ayana kou Britannia 2040, 102nd empress

Michael li Britannia-Ayana kou Britannia =Cornelius li Britannia 2060, 103rd emperor

Cornelius li Britannia-Kallen vi Britannia- Lelouch li Britannia 2080, 104th emperor


	107. extras

This is the last piece dealing with Rise of the Black Prince. I discuss what this chapter is about in the next paragraph, but first I want to give a few updates. For anyone waiting for the continuation to this story, it is on its way. I just have to make a few minor adjustments to the plot. For anyone waiting for Black Empire which won that poll I did a while back, it is also on its way. To be completely honest, I am waiting to get more information on Akito the Exiled and Oz the Reflection since I will feature characters from both works. I will begin and slowly add characters as they are introduced and I see fit.

These are things that I wrote but decided not to use. The first and third were written some time before I reached that point in the story. The second I actually had in the particular chapter but decided against using it. The fourth would have been part of the epilogue. I did not bother proofreading them too much.

The first piece is after Clovis dies. Euphie is still sub-viceroy of Area 11. Lelouch arrives slightly before Cornelia. The difference is that they spend a little more time in Pendragon and this happens. It was also supposed to be the beginning of the Lelouch-Cornelia situation. Also Lelouch would not have been married to Kallen or Milly yet or it would not be public knowledge.

Cornelia and her force arrived in Area 11 but they were too late. Lelouch and his men had put down the rebellion. In the distance she could see her brother approaching with his men. She remembered the last time she saw her brother back in Pendragon. He hadn't been alone.

It had been a while since she saw her brother. He finally came home after spending time away at a military academy and Japan. Cornelia approached Lelouch's apartment. Empress Marianne had taken the children and Euphemia out for the day. As Cornelia approached she swore she heard odd noises. She wanted to talk to her brother about something serious. He had gained a reputation as a promiscuous young man.

She freezes at the sight in front of her. Lelouch and Euphemia are sitting on the couch. Her sister is straddling him. They have their tongues down each others' throats. They're taking the term swapping spit to a new level. Cornelia relaxes a little because they still have their clothes on. Then she notices it. A pair of lacey panties on the floor. Euphemia was going up and down slowly. Lelouch's hands were on her hips. Cornelia is seconds from storming in there to stop them, but the look of ecstasy on her younger sister's face stops her.

Cornelia drops to her knees. She is so wet. She couldn't believe watching her younger siblings having sex was having an effect on her. She looked up and noticed Lelouch pulling down the top of Euphemia's dress. He reached back and unhooked her bra. He lowered his head to suck on her nipples. After a few seconds of that, Lelouch pushed Euphemia onto the floor. He lowered himself to the floor. He kneeled down. He lifted Euphemia's legs over his shoulders. Cornelia was lost in herself.

After a few minutes she noticed they were finished. Lelouch was sitting back on the couch. Cornelia was going to leave when she notices Euphemia get to her knees in front of Lelouch. She took him on her mouth. Cornelia gasped when she saw her younger sister sucking Lelouch's cock. Cornelia goes back to the floor. She can't help notice the size of her younger brother's member. After a few minutes Lelouch was hard again. Lelouch lifted Euphemia up and removed what was left of her dress. Euphemia got back on the floor. This time on all fours. Lelouch got back on his knees. This time he entered her from behind. Cornelia couldn't believe it. She couldn't handle any more. She needed to relieve herself. She left the room.

Everybody was looking at Cornelia as she stared off in to space.

"Princess Cornelia." Her knight called out to her.

Lelouch looked at his sister. He smirked. He leaned into his older sister. Guilford bristled at what the prince was doing.

Lelouch got right in front of his sister. He gathered himself. "Nellie! Wake up!"

Cornelia is startled by him more so because they are practically nose to nose. She pushes him off. "Lelouch, what are you doing?"

"That is Viceroy," He smirks as he says this.

She glares at him. She knows he is mocking her normally professional behavior.

"Let's go, Viceroy. I want to check on Euphemia."

"Follow me, Your Highness," Lelouch responds.

* * *

In this sequence Lelouch would have been present when Cornelia meets her nephew for the first time. This section was actually in the chapter, but I decided to change it.

Lelouch is on his way to Greece. Of course his path is anything but easy. He travels east from Irkutsk to Vladivostok then south to Tokyo. From Tokyo he head to Manila to pick up three very important people well two important people and a munchkin. He flies through all the southeast Asia areas making small pit stops in each. Then west over the Indian Ocean north into Area south is as sparsely populated as it is when Lelouch conquers it. Selene establishes her capital in Baghdad which makes sense since the entire city is no practically Britannia after Lelouch destroys it the previous year. Despite Selene's best efforts the city is surrounded by slums. Lelouch sighs and prepares to head north to see Jeremiah. As he does this Euphemia and Anya prepare for an important meeting with Cornelia. It is time the Euphie's older sister finds out about her little secret. At the same time Lelouch is traveling the others are preparing for a trip to Britannia.

After a short meeting with Jeremiah, Lelouch continues his trek towards Greece. Lelouch has been on the move for a week. It will be nice to be out of the airship for a few days. Of course he does wonder what the situation around Cornelia is like. She will probably be upset that Euphie is with him. Lelouch will let Euphie take care of her sister while he waits aboard the Aphrodite.

"Too bad that Euphie took Anya with her," Lelouch states with a sigh, "I should have brought someone else with me."

Down in at Cornelia's headquarters the two sisters are catching up as their knights sit quietly outside. Although not a chatty person Guilford feels a little uncomfortable sitting in silence with Anya. Thankfully the silence is broken by the arrival of Prince Lelouch. In fact the pink haired girl seems to brighten up with the arrival of the raven haired prince. A nod form the prince reminds the girl of her duty. Her slight smile rescinds. Guilford wonders about the small exchange between he two. They seem to be telling each other everything with only slight nods of the head, movement of the eyes or nose, and pursing of the lips.

"Are they still in there catching up?" Lelouch asks,

Guilford realizes that the question is for him, naturally being the senior knight.

"Ah yes your highness, the two princesses are still discussing matters."

"Do you think that Cornelia is scolding Euphemia for making the dangerous trip here?" Lelouch asks with a smirk, "Or is Euphie scolding Cornelia for not being in Vienna?"

Guilford can't help but smile at the question as he imagines the pink haired princess scolding her big sister for not meeting expectations. He is quickly snapped out of his daze by a cry.

"So you're awake you little lazy bum. You're just like your mom."

Guilford sees a servant hand Lelouch a baby. One look at the hair immediately lets you know who the father is. Guilford gasps when he gets a good look at the child's face.

"Look Gabriel, it is your Uncle Guilford."

The baby giggles after being put in front of Guilford.

Lelouch shrugs, "I guess he likes you. Come on, Gaby. Let's go meet your aunt Cornelia."

Lelouch opens the door to the room where the two princesses are meeting. They are watching some sort of internet video produced by the twins. Lelouch shakes his head at Euphie's attempts to soften Cornelia up. Neither princess pays attention to him entering the room. The particular video they are watching is the twins' adaptation of anime they are watching.

They twins are in a go-cart chasing after Evelyn, Jinta, and James.

"About the Dollars, they're not an angel that flies through the sky, shouting 'Pi-piru-piru-piru', flashing her panties, right, Dotachin?" Emily asks.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Castor yells.

Cornelia appears a little confused at what is going on. Euphie's explanation is not helping any. In fact it is confusing Cornelia even more. She will have to have a conversation with Lelouch about Evelyn and the twins' education. On the screen Lelouch's fifteen month old son is taking on his uncles and their friends.

"Is that Lelouch's son?"

Euphie nods, "Yes that's little James."

"Who is that a little girl that he is hugging?"

"Charlotte, Milly's daughter."

Cornelia ponders the situation. Her lifestyle doesn't allow her much time for a private life. Her hope is that Euphie finds someone to love. She hopes that her failed marriage to Suzaku Kururugi doesn't affect her. That is another thing she will have to speak with Lelouch about. With a scheduled return to Britannia in a few days, there will be plenty of time for that. Cornelia hears a giggle. Her attention turns to the screen where the twins are playing with their nephew and niece. The giggling gets louder, and Cornelia realizes that it is coming from the door. She notices that Euphie is avoiding looking in that direction. Cornelia turns slowly and sees Lelouch holding a baby boy.

"Are you two done watching those silly videos? I really need to get more involved in the free time of the kids."

Cornelia stares at the child in Lelouch's arms. The child has the delicate features of his parents along with long messy black hair and royal blue eyes. Euphemia continues to avoid looking at Cornelia or her son.

"Cornelia li Britannia, allow me to introduce Gabriel li Britannia."

Lelouch hands Cornelia her nephew. Cornelia slowly takes him in her hands. She controls her shaking as she brings the child closer. Gabriel giggles and grabs hold of Cornelia's breasts pulling himself towards her. Gabriel snuggles

Lelouch chuckles, "Looks like Gaby has good taste."

Euphie gasps and smacks Lelouch, "Lelouch vi Britannia."

Lelouch scowls, "What did I say wrong? Besides Guilford agrees with me."

The two princesses notice that their knights are now in the room. Anya pulls out her camera phone and begins snapping away. Cornelia is quite stunned at the turn of events. There is now another thing to talk about on the trip to Britannia. For now she will enjoy the time with her sisters and nephew. Lelouch takes the opportunity to inspect Cornelia's soldiers.

* * *

This section requires a little explaining. Odysseus or Schniezel would have started a rebellion against Charles. While they fight it out, Lelouch will sit quietly in Asia. This is how he would deal with his parents. Also Evelyn and the twins are living in Pendragon not Lelouch. The aftermath of this scenario would extensively use Castor's geass in connection with Lelouch and Kallen's to create a large scale hallucination. I added a few notes in parentheses to explain certain things.

Marianne has been unable to contact Charles all morning. There is lots of ruckus going on up at Britannia Palace. She has to investigate what it could be. She just hopes that Charles is safe. She hasn't been able to get in contact with Bismarck either. Before she goes over to the palace, she will have to secure the children.

"Guards."

….

"Guards."

….

"Guards!"

Marianne lets out a scream that is probably heard around the world.

"Where are those damn guards?" she asks as she begins to look around.

"They're gone, mother."

Marianne freezes and turns to see her three youngest children standing there. Evelyn standing between the twins holding a gun. From this angle she looks so much like Lelouch only with long hair and a developing bosom.

"You shouldn't have taken me away from Jinta!" Evelyn screams as she points the gun at her mother.

Marianne quickly dodges, and the bullet just misses her.

Evelyn snarls, "After her. I guess that's why the call her the Flash."

Marianne is able to get out of the palace. Luckily for her the old Ganymede is brought back to Aries Palace on its way to the Britannia Historical Museum. Only it has no weapons which doesn't matter since she only wants to use it to head over to the palace. In distance she can see knightmares battling. Either Schniezel or Lelouch must be attempting a coup. She can see that the kids are coming after her in their Titan minis.

Marianne makes it safely to Britannia Palace. Luckily for her everyone's attention is drawn to the knightmare battle. She slips into the throne room which thankfully is empty. She sees blood and dead soldiers. She hopes that Charles manages escape. She makes her way over to the Thought Elevator. She is quite pleased that is not undamaged. She makes her way in and heads up towards platform before the Sword of Akasha. If Charles escaped, he would head here. When Marianne reaches the top, she sees Charles shooting Lelouch in the chest.

"It had to be done, Marianne. He could endanger Ragnarök."

Marianne nods and is then suddenly sent to the floor when someone hits her in the back. Her first thought is that the kids caught up to her, but then she sees some she did not expect.

Kallen hits her mother in law with a wooden stick causing her to fall down. She looks up at the emperor who raises his gun at her.

The emperor is quite amazed at the girl's bravado for coming here after Lelouch and not flinching as he points his gun at her. Before he can ask her if she has any last regrets, a demonic laughter comes up from Lelouch. Bullets tear through Charles's knees causing him to fall and drop his gun.

Lelouch casually walks over and picks it up. He looks over at Kallen and smiles.

"Hello my Kalli. Did you take care of the little pissant?" Lelouch says this as he kicks his father in the gut. (Lelouch is speaking about Rolo who makes an unfortunate discovery about Kallen)

Kallen nods and pushes her mother-in-law to the ground.

Lelouch grins, "It seems as if you dressed for the occasion better than I did," Lelouch looks down at his clothes, "Milly is never going to forgive me for ruining this coat," Lelouch adds as he takes off his coat and shirt revealing the code on his chest.

At the same time Kallen brushes her face to reveal her code. Charles tries crawling over to his son who keeps kicking him away. Lelouch signals for Jeremiah to pin the emperor down. Marianne wants to jump up and strangle her least favorite daughter-in-law (well she actually hates them all but Kallen is her least favorite). Kallen lifts her wooden stick to take on more swing.

"That will be enough, Kallen, We'll take it from here"

Marianne never expected to be so glad to hear Nunnally's voice except that she is accompanied by Evelyn and the twins. Evelyn walks over towards Marianne still carrying a gun. She nonchalantly waves the gun around. Marianne knows that this is her chance. If she can only get the gun away from Evelyn, she will be able to take her hostage. Lelouch won't be able to do anything then. Maybe she and Charles can still get away. However those thoughts die with a jolt of electricity.

Marianne falls to the floor after Nunnally jams an electric rod into her side.

"That will be enough of that mother."

The worst part of it now is that Marianne cannot defend herself because nothing comes out of her mouth. As the twins tie up he feet, she can hear Charles screaming at Lelouch.

"If you deny me, you are leaving the world to him. You are leaving the world to Schniezel."

Lelouch laughs, "Don't be a fool father. I have been playing all of you since the beginning, In fact I almost feel sorry for Schniezel. He is going to get mind fucked so badly that he won't know what hit him" Lelouch instructs Jeremiah to lift the emperor so that Lelouch can look him in the eyes, "Every obstacle that you set up for me I used to my advantage. You thought that leaving me Nunnally, Euphie, and the kids would slow me down," Lelouch laughs, "Don't be ridiculous. I love them. Where there is love there can be no hindrance. You thought that by forcing me to marry that I would be slowed down. You just gave me more allies," Lelouch spits in the emperor's face, "Do you why I am where I am, your majesty? It is because of trust," Lelouch shows Charles the DNA tests from Cornelia's son, "Do you see this, father? Looks like I'm not the only one lusting after his little sister." (Lelouch is referring to the fact that Schniezel is the father of Cornelia's son)

Marianne hopes that Lelouch maintains eye contact with Charles who is probably waiting for the opportunity to use his geass. Then it hits Marianne that since Lelouch is a code bearer, Charles's geass won't affect him. She sees Jeremiah lift the emperor as Lelouch speaks a command to his father. Marianne wonder how Lelouch is able to retain his geass. Then Evelyn taps her head with the gun.

"Forget about them. You have us to worry about," Evelyn takes a few steps back, "I think that you should taze her again, Nunners, to teach her a lesson."

This time the shock is not as great. Marianne is slightly grateful that Nunnally is in control of the electric rod. At least she shows some compassion for her mother.

Evelyn looks over at her big sister with disappointment.

"What should we do with her? I think we should make her forget who she is and send her to work in a whorehouse."

Marianne looks up as Jeremiah carries the emperor away. Why isn't that damn fool helping her? He swore allegiance to the vi Britannia line. Lelouch is making his way over towards them.

Nunnally responds to Evelyn's comment, "Evelyn, she is still our mother."

Marianne sighs as she sees Lelouch wrapping his arms around Nunnally. From this angle they look a little like Charles and herself. Marianne gasps a little. From the manner in which Lelouch is holding Nunnally one could assume that they are lovers. It is a pretty open secret that Lelouch and Euphemia are lovers. What would stop him from sleeping with his true sister. Marianne manages to get a question out.

"What did I do to deserve?" She cannot speak coherently, but her children understand it.

She already knows Evelyn's answer.

"Jinta."

The twins respond with snarls and growls.

"You tooks us away from our girls."

"Ya you took us away from them."

Nunnally glares at her mother with the electric rod ready to go.

"You forced Suzu to marry Euphie."

Marianne thinks about that statement and wonders if it isn't backwards. She has no idea that Nunnally is in love with Suzaku and has been having an affair with him since the annulment of his marriage to Euphemia. (Nunnally and Suzaku would have been having an affair during his marriage to Euphemia before the marriage is dissolved)

Lelouch is standing there with a bored look on his face. Marianne remembers CC having the same expression. Marianne looks up at him.

"What?" he asks impassively.

Marianne glares at her son.

He laughs off her glare, "Even now you are trying to be a mother. You aren't very good at it. I'm actually quite pleased with your shoddy and neglectful parenting. Look where it has taken me. In a few days Britannia will be spilt between Schniezel and those who oppose him. All while I sit in comfort in my palace. I just not sure which one since I have so many now. I also don't know which of my wives to enjoy it with," He moves away from Nunnally and over to Evelyn. He continues, "However I'm upset with you mother. Upset at your insane attempt to change the world to a world where you will be happy. It isn't just us you never bothered to care for. It is the whole world. You never cared about anything but your plan."

Lelouch put his arms around Evelyn and whispers into her ear. Marianne hopes that her son hasn't developed some sort of Oedipus complex because of her 'neglectful' mothering. Marianne wasn't always there for them but that didn't mean that she didn't care. Lelouch leaves Evelyn and comes to Marianne. He puts his arms around her and forces her eyes to remain open.

"Don't worry, mother. You will enjoy your new life."

Evelyn activates her geass.

"Evelyn vi Britannia commands you…"

* * *

This section is short and would have been part of the epilogue. It is set several years after the Britannian Civil War. In this scenario Lelouch and Cornelia do not have come together. Some time before the final war, Cornelia and her son would have been kidnapped by Schniezel. This probably would have been the moment when Lelouch and Cornelia become lovers.

Cornelia is playing with her son. They are in the villa given to her by Lelouch on the outskirts of Neo-Pendragon. The older city of Pendragon is a shell of its former self. Cornelia plays with her son's hair and considers her love life. As a child and adolescent she has a crush on Schniezel. It is still a mystery how he felt about her. Perhaps she should have let him live long enough for Evelyn to geass him into telling the truth. Then Cornelia grows out of it or more correctly meets other men. Darlton is her first actual lover. Even though she and Guilford meet many years before, Darlton is the first to take her innocence. After a few years of being with the older man, Cornelia settles in with Guilford. For almost a decade the two share a secretive affair.

Then it all ends with Lelouch and Schniezel going at it. She wonders if Lelouch and Euphemia becoming lovers has anything to do with Schniezel's actions. Somehow Schniezel gains a geass that allows him to distort the senses of others to what he wants them to see. For her Schniezel appears as Guilford. They have a passionate night and the result is her son. Schniezel kills Guilford soon after that and blames it on Lelouch. With all of Lelouch's other sins, it is easy to add one more to the pile. Cornelia does nothing to help either side. Perhaps if she helps Lelouch; Guilford or Darlton live. Now they are gone as are most of the people in Cornelia's life.

"Mom, look it's uncle Lelouch."

Cornelia looks up and sees Lelouch walking towards them.

* * *

At some point I was going to do a series of omakes dealing with the twins and their series, Converters. This is part of what would have been the first omake. In it the twins are casting voice actors. Some would have been serious while others would involve them taking advantage of the situation.

**Omake**

The twins are holding auditions for their Converters' spin-off movie, Lulu and Nunners Save the World. At least that's what Evelyn thinks is going on. Castor and Pollux are a little vague about what they are doing. With everyone else busy with other things, Ayame and Midori are watching the twins (both sets), Evelyn, Jinta, James, Gabriel, and Charlotte. Today they are interviewing possible voice actors. Their first appointment, Norio Wakamoto, comes in.

"_Have a seat, Wakamoto-san."_

"_Now read a few lines with Ayame-chan."_

After a few lines are read, Castor and Pollux nod.

"_You sound a lot like our father if he were Japanese."_

"_Your father?"_

James nods and pulls out a picture of his grandfather, _"Jii-san Oats Guy."_

"_That's a good idea, James. Wakamoto-san, can you please say ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"_

"_AAALLl HAAAILL BRIIIITANNNIA!"_

The twins both nod.

"_Hm that was good. We will get in touch with your people. I think we may have something for you."_


End file.
